Mutemua, wife of Thothmes IV, sculptured in black granite in the Egyptian Department of the British Museum, where the feathers are conventionally so wrought; or the same type is afforded in the squamæ of the fish or serpent, which probably in like manner suggested the scaly armour made of pieces of horn described by Pausanias.1 With these few remarks I have hoped to show that we have, in the Horn of Ulphus, a tangible instance of the influence of Eastern art having been felt at this period as far west as Britain, and that its benefits are reflected, however humbly, in the design wrought upon this drinking-horn of Ulphus. The horn was not improbably an heirloom; but in any circumstances Ulphus valued it so highly as to relinquish it only that he might, by such a votive act, impart greater solemnity to an occasion thus rendered memorable to posterity as well as in the history of York Cathedral. Time is too short to admit of more than the barest mention of the considerable number of these horns which are still scattered over the country. Amongst the more noteworthy are the "Nigel Horn", which Mr. C. A. Aubrey of Dorton Thame, Oxon., has been good enough to inform me is still in his possession; and in a similarly kind communication Mr. Bouverie Pusey, of Pusey, vouches for the existence of the celebrated "Pusey Horn". 1 Lib. i, cxxii. Whilst Pausanias may be said to be correct in citing the scales of the dragon, which were imbricated (i.e., they grew downward), as resembling this horn-scaled armour, he is not so successful in seeking a similar resemblance in "the pine-nut while yet green", whence was more probably derived the lozenge-shaped diaper ornament, and whose scale-like pistils grew upward, suggesting rather the ornament so frequently seen upon the outer surface of Durobrivian or (though not so frequently) upon that of Cypriote and Samian pottery. (See Cesnola's Cyprus, and Jollois' Antiquités du Grand Cimetière d'Orléans, planche 8.) 2 Engraved in Archæologia, vol. iii, p. 1. See also Parochial Antiquities, by Kennett. 3 First mentioned in Camden's Brit. (Berks.), p. 203, ed. 1607. Engraved in Archæologia, vol. iii, p. 13. Mr. Pusey himself appears to think the story of Canute and this horn legendary; but there does not seem to be any reason to doubt its authenticity. With equal hesitation Camden's editor, Bishop Gibson, holds the inscription to be of much more recent date, which it undoubtedly is; but he assumes the horn itself to be necessarily of the same age. The inscription, however, The "Bruce Horn" was in the possession of the Marquess of Ailesbury up to the time of the transfer of the Ailesbury estates (1892); and the "Tutbury" in that of Mr. W. H. G. Bagshawe, Ford Hall, Chapel-en-le-Frith; whilst that in the possession of the Dover Corporation' was among the Cinque Ports exhibits at the Royal Naval Exhibition. Others of note are the "Hungerford Horn", of brass ; the Wirrall and Delamere Horns; the "Warder's Horn", of the fifteenth century, in the Tower of London; the Queen's College, Oxford, and Corpus Christi, Cambridge, Horns; the "Huntingdon Horn", a Byzantine horn of the eleventh century, now in the South Kensington Museum ; the "Kavanagh Charter Horn", in the Museum of Trinity College, Dublin; and others, the identity of which is unknown; not, however, omitting those in the possession of the Chapter of Ripon Cathedral, and which will probably be viewed in the course of our visit there. Since inditing the foregoing, I find myself, happily, in a position to exhibit a most skilfully executed series of water-colour illustrations of the horns I have mentioned. This is owing to the kindness of our Vice-President, Mr. H. Syer Cuming, who executed and exhibited them in illustration of his exhaustive remarks upon the Phonic Horn, published in vol. v of the Journal. The majority of the horns are, with their associations, described in Blount's Tenures of Lands and Customs of Manors (Hazlitt, 1874), whence it may be gathered that the horn was by no means the only instrument used may well have been renewed on account of the horn, like that of Ulphus, having been denuded of its original embellishments, whereas the horn itself would hardly have been worth stealing, or of use to any one but its owner. 1 Engraved in Archæologia, vol. iii, p. 24. 2 First mentioned in Blount's Tenures. Engraved in Archæological Journal, vol. xiii, p. 175. A paper by Dr. Cox, which the owner of the horn characterises as "excellent", is published in the Journal of the Derbyshire Archæological Society (1886), p. 7. 3 See Journ. B. A. Ass., vols. ii and xxvii, and The Antiquary, vol. i, p. 252. It is believed to be of the twelfth century. 4 Given to the town by John of Gaunt. See Lysons' Berkshire. 5 For the Wirrall Horn, see Ormerod's Hist. of Cheshire; described p. 189, illustrated p. 196. The Delamere Horn, ibid., p. 55. 6 Said to be the finest in existence. Engraved in Barnabæ Itinerarum, and in Meyrick's Ancient Furniture, plate lxiii. * Archæologia, vol. iii, p. 19. anciently in this unchartered method of conveyance, though it does not seem to have been a custom to thus convey estates later than the Norman period. Almost any personal requisite was used for the purpose, namely a cup, a dirk, a sword, a helmet, a spur, a horse-comb, a bow and arrow, a silver cross, a chalice, a branch of a tree, a clod of earth or "glebe" (hence glebe-land), a knife, and a gold ring. Those who are familiar with the Ingoldsby Legends will recall how, in "The Spectre of Tappington", Hugh de Bolsover, as a reward for services in the Holy Land, was enfeoffed in certain lands, to which he gave his name, and which were held in grand sergeantry by the presentation of three white owls and a pot of honey; whence his name, "Bee-owls-over", -a bee in chief over three owls, all proper, being his armorial ensigns. By the tenure of a knife, which it appears was a common appendant to deeds of the kind after the Conquest, but not before, the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris (like that of York Minster by a horn) holds or did hold the parvis, or square, in front of the Cathedral; a gift, as the inscription runs, of "Faucher de Beuil, by which Guy hath given to the Church of St. Mary the areas or open space before the said Church, which belonged to Drogo the Archdeacon, for an anniversary service for his mother."" 1 Archœol., vol. xvii, p. 314. 2 The handle of the knife bore the inscription, in Latin, as follows: "Hic cultellus fuit Fulcheri de Buolo, per quem inde dedit areas Drogonis archidiaconi ecclesiæ sancte Mariæ ante eandem ecclesiam sitas pro anniversario matris suæ." |
