Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/269

THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL INSTITUTE. 189 inches long, with the hone haft in -which it had hecn fixed hy an iron tang passing through the entire length of the haft ; another piece of iron eight inches long, with a projection on each side, hut not opposite each otlicr ; a comb composed of tlirec pieces of bone, joined by iron rivets disposed at intervals of half an inch. Here again the diminution of the thickness of the ashes, and the rapid approach to the side of the mound, intimated the propriety of a change in the direction of the excavation. The ashes were again a guide as before ; as they diminished towards the edge of the fire, the pottery increased in quantity until both ceased. A space of twenty feet square had now been searched ; teeth of deer, boars, and cattle ; the bones of these animals as well as those of birds ; implements of bone and iron ; portions of Roman bricks, tiles, and of not less than forty vessels, as determined by the various rims ; flints, charred wood, and the ashes of a very large fire, of which the limits had been traced ; all these had been found, and yet what was sought had not been brought to light. No human bones, no sepulchral urn were discovered. In so large an area, of which onl_y about twenty feet square had been examined, the precise spot of the position of the person interred might easily escape detection ; but sufficient had been discovered to prove to those acquainted with the contents of similar tumuli opened in diff'ercnt parts of England, that this mound is commemorative of the cremation of some Romanised Briton, and at whose funeral solemnities numerous off'eiings of honey, milk, blood, &c., were probably made. Mr. Nesbitt gave the following notice of some curious sepulchral slabs, of which rubbings were exhibited. — One of them is in the church of Playden, about a mile from Rye, in Sussex, The casks, with the crossed mash-stick and fork, tell plainly enough that it commemorates a brewer; the legend is in Flemish, and appears to read : " Ilier is begraue Cornelis Zoctmanns, bidt voer de ziele ; " i.e., " Here is buried Cornelius Zoct- manns, pray for the soul." For the sake of comparison, Mr. Nesbitt also sent a rubbing of a remarkable brass, existing in the cathedral of Bruges, in the legend of which the same formula will be seen to occur. The slab is not dated, but it seems to be not ver}"^ dift"eront in date from the brass, i.e. of the early part of the XVth century. This last is one of the finest memorials of its age now existing. It represents a knight, " Maertin heere Van der Capcllc," who died in 1452: he is in armour, with an heraldic tabard ; his helm, with crest and lambrequins, is under his head. The diapering of the field, and the enrichments of the bordurc, are sin- gularly elaborate. The other slab is in the church of All Saints', Hastings, and appears to be also of Flemish work. It presents the broad border for the inscription, common in Flemish slabs and brasses, and the panels enclosing shields at the angles correspond most closely in form with those of the brass at Bruges. The legend was in low relief ; it is, unfortunately, entirely obliterated, excepting the word " anno." This slab is mentioned in a paper by Mr, Price, in the Journal of the Archaeological Association, Vol, II. p. 180 ; he surmises that it is the me- morial of Richard Mechynge, of Hastings, whose will, dated 1430, is there given. The material of both these slabs is a hard blue-grey marble, not the ordinary Sussex marble, but the carboniferous limestone, which composes the hills of the neighbourhood of Liege and of the banks of the Mouse, and which lias long been largely employed in the pavements of the