Page:VCH Northamptonshire 1.djvu/311

 ANGLO-SAXON REMAINS Lastly, two well-preserved glass drinking cups of an amber colour, one being 4I inches in depth and 7^ inches in diameter, while the other (fig. 1 1) was 2| inches deep with a diameter of 4;^- inches. Both have the peculiarity so often observed in Anglo-Saxon drinking glasses, that from the form of the base they cannot stand upright, a circumstance which has been assumed to indicate habits of intemperance. Some remarks in illustration are appended by Mr. Baker to his account of the excavations, and references given to similar objects found elsewhere. Weights and scales have been more than once found in graves of this period, and to the Kentish specimens there mentioned may be added a very similar pair of scales found in a Merovingian cemetery in the Department of the Aisne, France. The pattern on the clasp is not derived from interlacing ribands, but from the disjointed limbs of the quadruped which figures so often and in such various forms on Teutonic antiquities. Spoons of the pattern already described are indeed rare in Anglo-Saxon graves, though somewhat similar specimens have been recovered from refuse-pits at Southampton, likewise associated with glass drinking cups. The spoons occasionally found with crystal spheres in Kent, the Isle of Wight and elsewhere are of a distinct character, and throw very little light on the Desborough specimen, which seems a direct descendant of the Roman model. The connection with Roman civilization is, however, rather overstated by Mr. Baker when he classes the bronze bowl described above with others found at Irchester' as being late Roman. This latter find consisted of eight bronze vessels in such a good state of preservation that the burnish remained on some of them, giving almost an appearance of gilding to the interior. They were found packed together, one inside the other, and all enclosed in a large iron-bound copper bucket. Some of the vessels are like colanders, of fine Roman workmanship, but others, as figs. 2, 4, 5, 6 on the plate accompanying the account, are of a pattern that seems to be essentially Anglo-Saxon ; one such was certainly found with Anglian objects in a cemetery at Sleaford, Lincs,^ and several of the same pattern are in the national collection from sites presumably of the same period. The four circular bowls from Irchester were between 10 and 12 inches in diameter, and 4 to 5 inches high ; and, curving in underneath, had a slight ' kick ' at the base so as to stand firm. The rim is narrow and turned in at an angle, no doubt to prevent spilling the contents ; and in some cases the plates for attaching rings and chains for suspension remain riveted to the brim. Their use is not determined, but that they were, like the Roman vessels found with them, ceremonial rather than domestic, is suggested by their delicate structure and the care taken to repair them. A very similar discovery was made in the year 1807 at Sturmere, Essex, by the side of a Roman road, and about 500 yards from a Roman station. ' Nine thin culinary vessels of copper were found closely packed within each other and covered with a large flat vessel, three feet below > JssMiated Jnkitectural Societies (1875), Vlortkanti, p. 90. 239
 * Anhirolopa, vol. 50, p. 395.