Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/419

 THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 3U3 differing from the scoring of common occurrence, serving to retain the mortar firmly : another tile, apparently for roofing, was formed with a knob at top, as a means of attachment. Lyon, in the History of Dover Castle, speaks of wall-tiles in the Roman jjharos, formed with hemispherical knobs at the ano-les, but this contrivance is unusual. Mr. Allies produced also impres- sions from a small British coin found at the same time, the Rev. exhibiting the horse galloping towards the left. Sir EvERAiiD Home, Bart., communicated, through Mr. Birch, impressions from the inscriptions on three bells iu the church of Long Sutton, near Odiham, Hants. They are deserving of notice as unusual examples of the early use of English legends upon bells. The characters were considered by Mr. Westwood to be of the fourteenth, or even of the close of the thirteenth, century : they are capitals, of the forms usually found upon sepulchral monu- ments of that period. The inscriptions are as follows: — *h I BELEUE IN GOD THE FATHAR— ►!< OUR FATHAR WICH ART IN HEUEN, and ^ HAL MARI FVL OF GRAS. Under each initial cross are the letters W R, probably indicating the name of the bell-founder. Several of the letters are inverted, the stamps having accidentally been turned in a wrong direction in imprinting the character on the inner surface of the mould, preparatory to casting."* Mil, RoBSox, Local Secretary at Warrington, communicated a notice of an example of the early use of Arabic numerals, apparently the date 1427, carved in relief on a piece of wood inserted in the lintel of a door at the Talbot Inn, Sankey Street, Warrington. The lower stroke of the Arabic 4 seem to have been cut away, possibly with the intention of making tiiis date appear of a remote antiquity, so that it seems to be 1027. By Mil. J. Nightingale. — Several specimens of the elegant decorative tiles, anciently fabricated iu Spain, and termed azulcios, from the pre- valent blue colour in the designs with which they are enriched. Also, an interesting ornament of terra-cotta, from Tangicrs. By Mr. Henry Farreh. — A remarkable painting by Lucas Cranach, of unusual value as an example of the early productions of the German school, and on account of the historical interest of the subject. It represents a grand battue or entertainment given by John Frederick, Elector of Saxony, the friend of Luther, to the Emperor Charles Y., after the Diet at Spires, a.d. 1544, at which the Emperor was present with the seven electors, and formed the convention by which they were bound to assist him in his second expedition against Francis I. The Elector of Saxony invited them to his summer palace, on the banks of the Elbe, after the Diet ; and this Imperial visit has supplied the subject of this striking- work of early German Art. Nearly in front are pourtrayed the Elector, armed with his cross-bow, the Emperor, his brother Ferdinand, King of the Romans, and other German magnates, occupied in the chase of a large herd of deer, which, hemmed in by retainers, are driven into a piece of water, and shot at iu their endeavour to escape by the hunters, who are seen in a thick forest. Amongst the trees are seen the Electress of ^ It is obvious that tlie bell-fouiulcr kept tlicy were handed down uith the stock in at hand a set, or alphabet, of letter-stamps, trade, and might serve several generations of and that each character was impressed sepa- cavipanaril. Tliis consideration is not rately upon the mould. As these stamps, undeserving of notice, if it be sought to assign unless formed of wood, were little liable dates to eliurch licUs by the evidence of to injury in the process, it is probable that legends in old characters upon tlicni.