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FIRST ANNUAL MEETING OF THE

with bronze statuettes and other articles of Roman art found in Loudon.— By William Chaffers, jun., Esq.

7. Drawings of some Roman statues recently found in Northamptonshire. A wax model of a Roman kiln for pottery, with specimens of various kinds of pottery found therein, and in other Roman kilns discovered in Northamptonshire.—By Edmund Tyrrell Artis, Esq.

8. Drawings of Celtic, Romano-British, and Saxon remains, found at Sittingbourne, Kent, together with a map of the locality, shewing the relative position of the sites of their discovery.—By the Rev. Wm. Vallance.

9. Roman vases of very remarkable and elegant shapes, said to have been excavated in a barrow in Wiltshire.—By Joseph Clarke, Esq.

10. Roman urn, and a basin, apparently of later date, found in the garden of W. G. Gibson, Esq., of Saffron Walden.—By Joseph Clarke, Esq.

11. Plan of foundations of extensive Roman buildings, near Weymouth.—By Professor Buckland.

12. Full-sized copy of an inscription on a stone at the east end of the churchyard of Thursby, near Lincoln.—By John Gough Nichols, Esq.

Mr. C. Roach Smith read a communication from Mr. Edmund Tyrrell Artis, on a recent discovery of Roman statues, and a kiln for pottery, in the vicinity of Castor, Northamptonshire. The statues were discovered on the site of the brickyard, at Sibson, near Wansford. They are of fine workmanship, and sculptured from the stone of a neighbouring quarry. The kiln described by Mr. Artis, had been constructed upon the remains of an older one. It appears to have been used for making the bluish black, or slate-coloured kind of pottery, so frequently met with wherever Roman remains are found in England. This colour, Mr. Artis has ascertained, was imparted to the pottery by suffocating the fire of the kiln at the time when its contents had reached the proper state of heat to insure a uniform colour. The entire process of making these urns is minutely described by Mr. Artis.

The Rev. C. Hartshorne observed that he had seen the statues mentioned by Mr. Artis, which he considered to represent Hercules, Apollo, and Minerva, executed in a good style of art. The Duke of Bedford has taken pains to preserve them.

Mr. Smith then read a paper by James Puttock, Esq., on the Roman Itineraries in relation to Canterbury; an account of Celtic, Romano-British, and Saxon remains found at Sittingbourne, Kent, by the Rev. William Vallance; and notices of Roman and British encampments near Dunstable, by Mr. W. D. Saull.

Mr. Pettigrew read a paper on a bilingual inscription, from a vase in the treasury of St. Mark at Venice, which had been forwarded to him by Sir Gardner Wilkinson. The inscription was in the arrow-headed character and in Egyptian hieroglyphics, which in a cartouche contained the name of Artaxerxes.