Coburg and Hefner specimens named above; and Mr. Lovell, inspector of small arms, informs me that there are two more in the Arsenal at Venice. The two German examples are furnished with pipes in front, for holding a plume of feathers. The picture of a broken bassinet, with its adornment of feathers, may be seen in Willemin's Monuments Français, vol. i. pi. 134, from a manuscript in the Paris Library.
"For various representations of the beaked head-piece, see also Cotton MS., Claudius, B. vi., and Strutt's Horda, iii. pi. 28; Harl. MS. 1319, and Archæologia, vol. xx.; Harl. MS. 4411; figure of St. George at Lille, Millin's Antiq. Nationales, vol. iv. No. 54; and the very curious MS. illumination copied at page 160 of Mr. Planché's useful manual of British Costume.
"On removing the visor from the helmet under examination, a new field of instruction opens before us. In this state it distinctly shows us the mode of construction of that type of head-piece so frequently seen in the first half of the fifteenth century; examples of which may be found in the brasses of Sir Thomas Swynborne, and Peter Halle (Waller, pts. 3 and 7), of Norwich and Framlingham (Cotman, vol. ii. pls. 10 and 11), of Parys in the 'Oxford Manual,' and those of Fitz warren and Ferrers in Boutell's 'Brasses of England.' And we thus perceive that those head-defences are in fact nothing more than the old-fashioned bassinet, from which the visor had been removed, in order to show the face of the person commemorated. In Stothard's fine work will be seen some examples slightly varying from those we have cited. The effigy of John, Earl of Arundel, indeed, has been described as exhibiting 'a beevor which lifted up, or put down under the chin,"[1] but it is clear that the pieces are all fixed, as in the helmet before us.'
The Rev. Joseph Hunter, F.S.A., communicated the following notice of an entry relating to medieval ink. It occurs amongst the expenses of the Exchequer of North Wales, in the time of Launcelot Puleston, Deputy Chamberlain. 22—23 Henry VIII.
"Et Will'mo Bulkeley, Mercer, pro iiij or libr. Gallez, ij. s., viij. d., ij. libr. Coperas, xvi. d., et pro iij, libr. Gummez, iij, s., ad Encaustum inde faciendum ad usum scribendi in Scaccario,—vij. s."[2]
The distinguished archaeologist, Mr. E. G. Squier, whose important works on the Antiquities of America had been presented to the Institute, at the previous meeting, by the American Ethnological Society, brought for inspection the illustrations of a work, which he was about to publish in this country, relating to the Antiquities of Nicaragua.[3] That district, as he observed, appeared to have been early occupied by a people in advanced civilisation, probably a colony from Mexico, as appears by the curious sculptures, the monoliths which surround the high places,—bases of the temples, and the deities, which are to be recognised as derived from the Mexican Pantheon. At the request of the Chairman Mr. Squier gave an interesting sketch of the character and extent of archaeological researches in America. He stated that these investigations had been prosecuted over a great part of the continent, from the St. Lawrence and the vast earth-
- ↑ Meyrick. Crit. Inq. ii. 117.
- ↑ Various recipes occur in middle age MSS. showing the composition of the inks formerly in use. See especially those for "Ynk lumbarde and tyyxt ynk," Cott. MS. Julius D. viii. f. 89; Sloane MS. 4, pp. 4, 126; and Reliq. Ant. I., p. 318.
- ↑ This highly curious publication has subsequently been produced by Messrs. Longman: "Nicaragua, its People, Scenery, Monuments, &c. By E.G. Squier." 2 vols. 8vo.
