found to contain calcined bones, fragments of Roman pottery, and other relics."

When our friends of the Archæological Institute met at Winchester, the Rev. Chas. Moberley contributed an exhibition described,1" Roman lamp of terra-cotta found within the camp on Old Winchester Hill, near West Meon; fragments of pottery found in a barrow near the same encampment, with bones, the favilla, or cinders of the burnt corpse; and other remains. The earthwork appears to have been the castra æstiva formed by the Romans in the country of the Meanveri, a tribe commemorated in the names East and West Meon, and Meon Stoke."

Surely, if the pottery were Roman, it should have been figured or described, so as to leave no doubt about it, and the discovery of the lamp should have been authenticated. If it had been found within the oppidum (which I doubt), it would not be of the slightest use as evidence of the origin of what is erroneously called a Roman camp. many instances British oppida were resorted to by the Romans, not for purposes of war, but for residence or burial. For example, see the discoveries made at the remarkable oppidum called "Maiden Castle", near Dorchester. I could not discern at " Old Winchester" the slightest trace of Roman occupation; but the country around abounds in Roman remains. Occasionally, as at Hod Hill, near Blandford, a Roman camp is to be traced within a British oppidum; but the character of the Roman subjugation of South Britain renders it not only improbable, but impossible, that such a spot as "Old Winchester" should have been selected even as a temporary camp.

The name "Meon" appears to have been that of the river. Mr. W. de Gray Birch reminds me that "there is an interesting charter3 which speaks of flumen quod appellatur Meonea.' The river is now called by a different name. On the Map the river takes a semicircular sweep including a large area, with Meon Stoke, East Meon, and West Meon; no doubt now isolated places of what was originally a powerful Meon district, or Meonwaras."

With respect to the name "Old Winchester", it is one of those popular misconceptions of which there are many examples, as in "Old Carlisle", a Roman fortified station having nothing whatever in connection with Carlisle proper beyond a road; "Old Poitiers", "Old Evreux", "Old Le Mans", etc. Most of these in France are, however, remarkable for extensive Roman ruins.

1 "Proceedings" of the Annual Meeting held at Winchester, September 1845, p. xl.

2 For Hod Hill and Maiden Castle, see C. Warne's Ancient Dorset, which also is the best guide published to British oppida, and it is well illustrated. 3 No. 258 of the Cartularium Saxonicum.

Mr. Brock read a paper :

NOTES ON AN ANCIENT CHAPEL AT DOVER.

BY E. P.

LOFTUS BROCK, ESQ., F.S.A., HON. SECRETARY.

It will be within the memory of many now present, that during the recent Congress at Dover we had an interesting paper on the old churches of the town by the Rev. Canon Scott-Robertson. At its close a discussion ensued, in the course of which Edward Knocker, Esq., F.S.A., said he had heard of the existence of some ancient masonry behind the houses and shops in Biggin Street, not far from the Maison Dieu, which belonged possibly to one or another of the churches, the sites of which he considered were not ascertained. I learned from Mr. Knocker, after the lecture, that the remains were difficult of access, and that he had heard of them from a gentleman resident in Pencestre Street. I made it a part of my duty to this Association to survey the spot prior to my leaving the town, and I now report the result.

There is more to be traced than some mere masses of masonry. There is a small building all but perfect. The walls are intact, except that they have been cut into and altered; and the original roof, covered with tiles, remains. It is a small chapel built east and west, and measuring 28 feet in length by 14 feet in breadth. The walls are of rubble masonry, 2 feet thick, having quoins and dressings of Caen stone. There is a plain pointed western doorway of two orders, having roll-mouldings. There has been a small lancet window in the gable once, of which the jambs and sill remain. Two simple, lancetheaded windows, widely splayed, have given light on the north and south aisles alike; and the east end has had, apparently, a couple of similar windows. There are no buttresses and no ornamental portions, if we except a moulded stringcourse which has existed internally below the sills of the windows. It can be traced at intervals here and there, in mutilated condition.

The roof is of fairly high pitch, and it has had tie-beams, collars, and strutts; the former having only recently been sawn through and removed when the upper part of the roof was filled up for storage purposes, lining it with match-boarding and inserting sky-lights. The present use is entirely for trade purposes. A blacksmith has the east end. Doors are broken through the walls, a fireplace erected, a division-wall inserted, new windows, and a floor over the whole. The building is hemmed in by either the backs of the shops in Biggin Street, or by the newly built shops in Priory Road, from which the blacksmith has a narrow approach to his workshop. The chapel, therefore, as a whole cannot be seen at once, and its exterior can only be made out piecemeal from the various surrounding build

ings. It is, therefore, not at all remarkable that its existence has not been hitherto generally known. The south side is quite hidden, and it is a matter of some difficulty now to realise that this was once a detached building in full view of every passer by.

The position must have been a conspicuous one, standing at the entry of the town, at its northern or principal approach, and close under, and outside, the boundary-wall of the great Priory of St. Martin's, which was on the opposite side of Priory Road. The details of the simple architecture show clearly that the date is of the end of the twelfth century or the beginning of the thirteenth. It has been one of the once numerous wayside-chapels; but whether or not belonging to St. Martin's Priory, probably future observations may determine. Although of such moderate dimensions, its existence is worthy of record, not only as a matter of local interest, but as an example of a class of buildings of which we possess few examples.

In the absence of the Rev. Preb. H. M. Scarth, V.P., F.S.A., Mr. Birch read the following

NOTE ON AN ANCIENT HARPSICHORD, A RELIC OF TASSO
AND HIS FAMILY.

BY THE REV. PREBENDARY SCARTH, V.P., F.S.A.

It is well known that Tasso was a native of Sorrento, at the southern extremity of the Bay of Naples. Born A.D. 1544. A statue has been placed to him in the Market Square of that town; but there are also other more intimate memorials of the poet and his history. Tasso's sister married for her first husband Signor Sersale, and after his death was married to Signor Spatiano. There are descendants of these families still living at Sorrento; and a musical instrument resembling a piano, which belonged to the sister of Tasso, is still in existence. It bears the following inscription on the inside:

"Tales in altis sentivnt sonos beati spiritos opos.

"Neapoli, anno MDLXIIII."

It will be seen that the v is here used for u, and the o also for the u. This interesting relic now numbers its three hundredth year. When it is opened for playing there is scen a painting of Apollo and the Muses. The figures are wonderfully fresh. The interior of the instrument is beautifully carved and ornamented with mother-of-pearl, and painted with the Graces. The notes are of wood. But this relic is now voiceless, the strings having been left to decay.

The tradition preserved in the family is that Tasso being put under confinement by Alfonso, Duke of Ferrara, in the Convent of St. Francis, under the plea of insanity, escaped from thence, and made his way