On the Lepidopterous Insects of the District around Liverpool, with some of the causes of the Abundance or Scarcity of Insects. By Soiree to the British Association for the Advancement of Science....... On the Powder-proof Solid Lock and Safe Door. By W. Milner, Esq. Description of two Ancient Carved Oak Panels. By John Clements, Esq. 10* + Some Notes on the Parish of West Kirkby, in the Hundred of Wirrall. + Description of the Parish and Church of Over, in Cheshire. James Stonehouse + Analysis of the Subscribers to the Various Liverpool Charities. By Notice of the Inventory of the Effects of Mrs. Milton, the Widow of + Remarks on the Rainfall at Warrington, during a period of eleven years. By T. Glazebrook Rylands, Esq.... Notes on the Old Church at Leyland. By Miss ffarington ......... XII. .Part I. .Part II... [Of these larger Illustrations, I. is the gift of Mr. Mayer, and VIII. of Mr. T. G. Rylands. The etchings for II. and XIII. have also been lent by Mr. Mayer, and the woodcut for X. No. II. in part a donation of Mr. Fairholt.] PAGE 22 Supposed Key from Kingston Down.. 24 Urn from Kingston, near Derby 26 Large Fibula from Stow Heath... 27 Large Fibula from Little Wilbraham 28 Example of Small Fibula from Stow Heath.. 29 Fibulæ from Fairford, Gloucestershire 30 Object from Little Wilbraham 31 Supposed Crown from Xanten, in Prussia 32 Hoop from the Valley of the Eaulne, Normandy 33 Fragment from Kingston Down 34 Bucket from Wilbraham, Cambridgeshire 35 Bucket from Envermeu, Normandy 36 Anglo-Saxon, Old German, and Frankish Glasses.. 37 Battle Axe from Londinières, Normandy.. 41 A West Prospect of Great Crosby, 1716 42 Arms of the Merchant Tailors' Company 54 Barnes's Pottery Show-room and Warehouse. 56 Bone Skates, found in Moorfields, London [The whole of these woodcuts have been lent to the Society. Nos. 33, 34, 37, 40, 56, and 58, were lent by Mr. Roach Smith; 35 by the Abbé Cochet; 55 by Mr. Fairholt; and 57 by Mr. Bateman, of Youlgrave, Derbyshire. No. 11 was procured through Mr. Wright. All the others, forty-eight in number, belong to Mr. Mayer, by whom they were lent to the ON ANGLO-SAXON ANTIQUITIES, WITH A PARTICULAR REFERENCE TO THE FAUSSETT COLLECTION. By Thomas Wright, Esq., M.A., F.S.A., Corr. Mem. of the Inst. of France. (READ 27TH SEPTEMBER, 1854, BEFORE THE MEMBERS OF THE HISTORIC SOCIETY, AND THOSE OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE.) There is scarcely any part of our islands in which we do not find here and there scattered over the surface of the ground, artificial mounds, or tumuli, of various elevations, from one foot, or even less, to more than a hundred. It has been long known that these tumuli covered the last remains of the different peoples who lived here in the ages preceding the introduction of the Christian faith, subsequent to which the interment of the dead was differently regulated. Accidental discoveries must often have brought this truth to light, if the knowledge of it, or at least the belief in it, had not been, as I think there is every reason for believing that it was, handed down to us traditionally from the time at which they were made. In fact, it is no unfrequent occurrence, when we open a tumulus which as far as we could judge from its outward appearance, cannot have been touched for many ages, to find that at some remote period it had been broken into and its contents either abstracted or broken and scattered about. Great numbers of such tumuli have been destroyed unobservedly in the various processes of agriculture or in the adaptation of their site to modern purposes. Others have been opened through mere motives of curiosity, or even of superstition, and any object of interest they contained was carried off under the indefinite character of an old relic. It has only been in more recent times that these monuments have been explored with care and order, in the hope that an intelligent examination and comparison of their contents might make us acquainted with peoples and races concerning whom we learn little from the pages of written history. Thus has the practice of "barrow-digging"-to use the phrase which has become popular within the last few years-passed through three distinct phases; during the first long-extending period its object was mere plunder, consequent on the knowledge that articles of value were often deposited with the dead; during an intermediate period, the object was curiosity; and during the third period, it was knowledge, or, to use at this meeting the more appropriate word, Science. It is this latter period alone with which we are at present concerned. The difficulties with which sound English archæology has had to contend in its beginning, arose chiefly from the vague spirit of curiosity which preceded it. Instead of the careful and extensive comparison from which alone we can hope to deduce facts of importance, people looked at each article only with regard to itself; and, for the course of inductive reasoning which science requires they thoughtlessly substituted mere irrational conjecture. This had become a sort of habit. People assumed, without knowing why, that the tumuli of which I have been speaking covered the remains of battle-fields, and never questioning the fable or tradition which made the heroes of these battles Danes or Britons, Saxons or Normans, (popular tradition knew little of Romans), they followed that tradition in calling whatever articles were found in them Danish or British, or Saxon or Norman. It is quite wonderful, when we look back into the writings of the old antiquaries of note, how few escaped from the influence of such popular errors. Although accustomed to classification in other branches of science, they seem never to have thought of applying it to this; and museums were simple collections of curiosities, instead of being the materials for scientific investigation. It may be said to have been in the AngloSaxon tumuli of Kent that a better spirit of investigation first showed itself, and that the foundations were laid for the higher cultivation of archæological science which now happily prevails. There are various circumstances characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon interments, which contributed much towards this result; because they led people almost necessarily to follow a new course of reasoning. The larger and more remarkable tumuli, those which are known to be Roman and those which are believed or supposed to be British, were in general found singly by themselves, or in a group of not more than two or three; they were probably memorials of respect or attachment to persons of distinction, while people in general were buried in a less ostentatious or less durable manner. As the interments had in most cases been preceded by cremation, it was only in particular instances that the contents offered anything remarkable or characteristic. On the contrary, the Anglo-Saxon tumuli are arranged in extensive groups, forming regular cemeteries, each probably belonging to a sept or to a district. Each grave contains almost invariably |