Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 29.djvu/334

 2*>0 rUOCEEDlNGS AT MEETINGS OF Juno 7, 1872. Sir Edwaku .Smii{K!: in the Cliair. The Hun. Secuet.vuy nnnouncoil tluit 'J'ticbihiy, July 2, was fixed for the special Kxciii"si<>n to Ciuiklfonl, vi»en Mr. Clarlc would give a lecture upon the Castle founded on that he had already given at the rooms of the Institute, and Mr. Parker would discourse upon the church of St. Mary, Abbott's Hospital, and other objects of interest in the town. Mr. V. .S. CInKAvns read " Remarks upon a Kunic comb, jet ami glass beads, arrow heads, and other t)bjects of llint, lately found near Whitby," and which were exhibited by him. He was able, through tiie courtesy of Mr. John und Mr. Villi;uu Dotchon. of Wliitby, to exhil)it several articles of anticjuarian interest which they had found in the neighbourliood of that i)laco. The most interesting of them was a comb, upon which there was a llunic inscrip- tion. He Confessed that he was unacipiaintcd with Uuues himself; l)ut the comb had been examined by Mr. Haigh, one of the highest authorities upon such a subject, and b}- whose kind i)ermission he (Mr. Greaves) had had the great ailvantagc of reading the remarks he had made upon the comb. From them, and from such other s >urces as had been accessible, the following statement had been prepared. '• Mr. Haigh thought that the comb consisted of three i)ieces : two ])ieces of the leg-bone of a deer on the outside, and a plate of ivory between them in which were the teeth. iJut some doubt may exist whether the middle part does not consist of several pieces ; as the closest examination that was practicable, whilst the comb wjxs fastened up in its case, led to the inference that there was a division at tlio left of the teetli now remaining, and another between two of the heads of the teeth at the right hand. It seems probable that this may be the case, as teeth cut across the grain of a bone would prol)ably break, and .several jtieces would make it easy to cut the teeth lengthways. The comb was united by rivets of iron. When it was founJ a piece of each end of the cond) had lieen broken oft' and, unfortunately, ])art of the inscription at each end was gone. There is a small indented ornamentation along the bottom of each side, and ahjng the top of the midille at intervals there are what appear to lic intended to represent the heads of the teeth. 'J'he teetli arc cut with great regularity, and the whole is an excellent Hpccimen of workmanship for the period at which it was nuulo. The figures of all tlje Uunes that remain are perfectly clear and distinct, and are l)eautifidly engraved. They are Anglo-Saxon Runes, as appeal's plainly from liallhorn's Runic alphabets,' but they are al)out double the iengtii of liis K|»ecimens. Mr. Haigh ut once read all the remaining Rimes, ai^d lie then endeavoured to conjeetiu'c wliat the missing Itiines might have been. The woodcut has a correct copy of the llunes still visible on the comb, and beneath it is the insi'ri|)tion as first restored by Mr. Haigh, with the corrcKpondiiig Kiiglish letters under it. 'I'he letters which remain are dl'sm.kuh (ioHAi.rwAM; im»iii;i.iim:(V (hd and iii:i, being moniigiains) ; ami .Mr. Haigh thinks that there is no dillicully in rccogui»ing two vcrlm, * sniio ' and 'helip:e,' apparently in the subjunctive present tcuBo, 'Sincnn ' i« * to look closely/ 'consider,' i^c. ; lulpau ' to ' ,. TJ.