Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 29.djvu/346

 290 PROCEEDINGS AT MEETINGS OF dim, is met by a weird and haggard figure of the demon of famine, float- ing above him ; before are liis starving children, the younger, Oaddo (an exquisite jiiece of mudeHing) just sinking in death. Tiie nionient repre- sented is probably that wiaii, in Dante's words : — I'oscia die fmnino al (iuaiti> ili vemiti, Gaddo my si gitto distc-^o ai i)ie(li Diando : ' Padre mio, cbc luiu uii ajute ' ' C^iuivi uiori. . . . '■• next day to be followed by — Vid'io cnsoar li tie ad vuio ad uno Fra '1 qiiiuto de c'l scsto.'* " Beneath is the allegorical figure of the river Arno, into whose waters the Keys were hurled. " Tier Francesco, more generally known as Piorino da Vinci, was born at Vinci, a cadtllo near Knipoli, about the year 1.3 1'O. lie was the .son of Bartolomeo di Ser Ticro, the brother of the great Leonardo. Pierino died of fever at Pisa, whither he had conveyed himself from Genoa, not having completed his twenty-third year." Mr. Pnrtt drew attentiou to a remarkable seal attached to a small deed, brought by Sir John Maclean. " The seal was an antique gem in a mediaeval setting, having Arabic characters in the centre, of which no previous example had come before tlic Institute. The characters were, however, so faint that they had defied the skill of one of the best Oriental scholars of tiie day, who could only ju-ononnce them to be Arabic, and a^5 licing i)robably a personal name, 'i'he isc of anti(|ue intagli as settings for mediieval seals was common, and there are many notices of them scattered among archaeological ]>ulilications. ^'ery few, however, of the matrices of such seals have been fcuiKl, and none have yet been met with having inscribed letters in Aral)if. Mr. Henderson had kindly sent, for the gi-atification of the Institute, his well-known example of such a gem in a mediieval setting. It is a small oval, representing Mercury cngi-aved on cf»melian, with a silver setting, inscribed "Sigillum Secreti." Some years ago the Duke of Northmnberland exhibited a gold ring set with a gem apparently of the 13th or 1 fth century, found at Prudhoe Castle (Arcli. Journ., iv., ]•. UII). Ami on another occasion, the Kcv. (". P. Manning (.•xhil)iteil (Anii. .b.urn., vol. xiii., j). liSO) an imjircs- bion from a i»rivy seal of silver which seems to have greatly resembled that shown «»n the present occasion l)y Mr. Henderson. Other examples iire donl)tIcss known. The late Mr. Hudson Ttirner gave sonic " Pe- niurks on Pei-sonal Seals," wiiieh is printed in the lifth volume of the Journal (if the Institnte, in which are instiuieed some grotesipie mis- applications of legends to the sulgeets engraved. " The earliest-known instance of the use of an antique gem as a personal 9 Ak tranMlntcd hy lAHigfcllow. — " Wtic-n wo li.-ul otno unto tho fixirtli ilay, na<1di) TliffW liiinMolfd'iwn oiiUtrctclicd before my ffct, iS.iyiii^ * My fftthcr, why doitl thou not help mo ]' Any oiio, iHtwctn 1 he (iflh day mid tlic «ixtli."