my loving frendes John Wylkynson and Wyllie Ianson, balyves of Tyndall, gyv theys and yourselfes that same daie." On the same paper is a memorandum in the handwriting of Sir John Forster::- "That Jone Hall of Otterburn, Launcelot Tysley of Gosforth, William Charleton of the Leyehall, John Hall of Brayneshaugh, William Charleton of Bellingham, and Clement Hall of Burdcheppes (Birdhope), is joyntelie and severally bounde to the right hon'ble th' Earle of Northumberland and Francis Slyngsbye, keper of Tindall, in c. and xlu for the personal appearance of Jarret Charlton of the Howehill at Newcastle the xvth daye of Januery next comynge. The bonde is taken to the Quene's use. His appearance is in Robert Youngs house in the Newcastell." (p. 615.) In spite of Sir John Forster's activity the Borders continued to be a scene of rapine and confusion. George Heron of Chipchase writes in this year to Sir John Forster:-"The Liddesdaille menne are disorderlie, and are aided by the menne of Tyndaill and Ryddesdaill. Lyddesdaill is myndit to mayk misorder and to do the evel that they can in these quarters. I knowe theye cannot doe it withoute the helpe of some, both off Tyndaill and Ryddisdaill, as they have had even now this last Fryday at night, when they dyd tak up Swethope. For one parte off them went away thorow Tendall with the prysoners, and another thorow Ryddesdail with the nowt. And theves off Tyndaill, that wis goyng estellying [a stealing] into Scotland, found the Scots with the nowt lying in the shells at Uttenshope, in Ryddesdaill as fyers, and had gotten meate bothe for horse and man at som of Ryddisdaill. And when the theves off Tyndaill perceved the Scots were at rest, they stale the nowt from the Scotts, and in the morning when the Scotts mest the nowt, they dyd com into Reddisdayll again, to boro a dog to follo, and then theye got knowledge whyche of Tyndaiil had the nowt." (p. 627.) Towards the end of the same yeare, we find that several of the Tyndale men were in the gaol at Hexham. How they escaped from thence the following letter shows."NICHOLAS ERYNGTON TO SIR JOHN FORSTER, Hexham, xviith daye of December, 1559. Plesyth yt youre mastershyppe to be advertysed that George Herone, of Chypchace, dyd sende Edward Charlton, Harrye Charleton of the Larnerburne, and one John Charlton of Thornybourne in Tyndall, the sayd George Herone sent theys said three prisoners unto Hexham, to the Queene's Majestie's gavel [gaol] there. This yt is chansyd that the xyth daye of this instaynt, the gaveler and all the reste of the presoners, be what meanes I canne not tell, nor no other that can be knowen of sertentye, but that the saide three Charltons and Thos. Mylborne (alias Thome Headman), with xi Scotts pledges, that was comandyt to ward for surety of John Eryntoun is goyn the said nyght, and all the dorrys left opyn, savyn the outter doore, which is the newe house doyr that Mr. Slyngsbye buildit, whayr the gaveller laye nyghtlye for the safe guard of the sayd presoners, as I thoughte was most surest." The gaoler of Hexham was perhaps a reclaimed outlaw himself, and the ties of flesh and blood proved too strong for him. The calendars of State Papers of the early part of Elizabeth's reign, do not give us much information regarding this portion of the Borders. In 1586, however, a long and grievous list of outrages committed by the Elliotts and others of Liddesdale was forwarded to London. These complaints chiefly refer to raids into Redesdale, and injury done to the property of those of the surnames of Hall and Read. John Hall of Otterburn and Edward Charlton of Hesleside are named in this document among those who can give information "if they be sworne or strictly examined." Ten or cleven years later North Tyndale was again a scene of bloodshed and ruthless rapine at the hands of the Laird of Buccleuch, Sir Walter Scott. Buccleugh, as he is generally termed, seems to have made repeated inroads into North Tyne, and to have directed his attacks chiefly against the surname of Charlton, partly on the score of ancient grievances existing between them, and partly in consequence of recent and ample reprisals made by them in Scotland. One great raid was made on the 17th of April, 1597, when he burnt ten houses in Tyndale, and took the lives of thirty-five persons. He had, however, frequently invaded Tyndale previous to this date, as appears by letters in the State Paper Office, of which unfortunately we have no copy, and know of them only by the short notice attached in the calendars now publishing. Two letters, however, are in print (Transactions of Border Club, pp. 14 and 16) which throw considerable light on these outrages. The first is from Sir John Carey, Marshall of Berwick-uponTweed to Lord Burghley and dated Berwick, June 13, 1595, wherein he says "I did synce by my letter of the 29 of Maye certifye your honnor of Buckcleughe, howe he came into the Myddle Marches to a place called Grenehugh (Greenhaugh), a wyddowes house in Tyndalle, where he sought for certen of the Charletons; and not fynding them he burned the house and all the corne in it and all that was therein, and so went hys way; he had in his company, as it is reported, very nere three hundred men, and within eight dayes afterward he came in agayne to a place called the Bowte hill, and killed foure of the Charletons, very able and sufficient men, and went his waye, threatning he would shortly have more of theire lives." In a second letter, dated Berwick, July 2, 1595, Carey refers again to this subject:-"In your honour's letter you write in a poscript that you would gladly understande the quarrell that Buccleughe had against the Charletons, and that Sesforde had against the Stories, which would be too long and tedious to sett downe at large: but for that your honnour requyres yt, I will as breifly as I can sett it downe. First the quarell Bucclughe hath to the Charletons is said to be this: Your honnour knowes long synce you heard of a great rode that the Scottes, as Will Harkottes and his fellowes, made uppon Tyndale and Ridsdale, wherein they took up the whole country, and did very neare beggar them for ever. Bucclughe and the rest of the Scottes having made some bragges and crackes, as the country durst scarse take any thing of theire owne, but the Charletons being the sufficientest and ablest men uppon the Borders, did not only take theire owne goodes agayne, but also so hartned and perswaded theire neyghbors to take theires, and not to be afraide, which hath ever synce stuck in Bucclughes sto mach, and this is the quarell for taking theire owne. Mary! he makes another quarell that long synce, in a warr tyme, the Tyndale men should goe into hys countrie, and there they tooke his grandfather and killed divers of his countrye, and that they tooke awaye hys grandfathers sworde, and would never lett him have yt synce: this, sayth he, is the quarell." Our object in drawing up these notices has been to collect together from various sources the scattered incidents referred to in the State Papers and Border histories relative to the doings of the leading families in North Tyndale. That it was a wild and lawless district at the period referred to there can be no doubt, but how much of this was not to be ascribed to the position of the country, the border land of a hostile kingdom, where the inhabitants were in constant peril of their lives, and exposed to the loss of cattle and goods without any warning given. Much, too, of this lawless spirit was evoked by the Border wars of Henry the Eighth with Scotland, when the Tyndale and Redesdale men were constantly excited by the English crown to make inroads into Scotland, harrying and destroying all before them. We must not judge the wild Borderers by our standard of the present day: had we lived in those times, and had we heard that Tyndale and Redesdale were about to be " slipped" against the Scottish lands, we should very likely, with old Norfolk, have devoutly wished them a "God Spede." MONTHLY MEETING OF THE SOCIETY. Matthew Wheatley, Esq., Treasurer, in the Chair. DONATIONS OF BOOKS.-From Sir W. Calverley Trevelyan, Bart. Explanatio Notarum et Litterarum quæ frequentius in antiquis lapidibus, &c. Auctore Sertorio Ursato serenissimi Veneti senatûs equite: Parisiis, 1723. From the Archeological Institute. The Archæological Journal, Nos. 63, 64, 1859. NEW MEMBER.-Richard Lawrence Pemberton, Esq., Barnes, Sunderland. ROMAN BRIDGE AT CILURNUM.-Mr. Clayton stated that Mr. Coulson, who formerly was usefully employed at Bremenium, was now excavating the approaches to the Roman bridge piers at Cilurnum, on the east side of the North Tyne. The works revealed a masonry larger than usual, and would settle the question of the exact direction of the bridge piers. [See under 4 July and 15 August, post.] ROMAN MEDALLET.-Dr. Bruce exhibited a silver medallet, larger than a denarius, purporting to be of Agrippina. Obv. apparently struck from the die of a denarius, a bust, AGRIPPINAE AVGVSTAE. Rev. Indecent. FOSSIL.-Mr. W. R. Carr presented a fossil found in the Beaumont coal seam, View Pit, Montague Colliery, at the depth of 28 fathoms from the surface. MONTHLY MEETING OF THE SOCIETY. John Fenwick, Esq., V.P., in the Chair. DONATIONS OF BOOKS.-From the Canadian Institute. The Canadian Journal, N. S., No., 26, March, 1860. From the Kilkenny Archaological Society. Its Proceedings and Papers, Vol. ii., N. S., No. 24., Nov. 1859. From Mr. Joseph Willard, Boston, U. S. Willard Memoir, or the Life and Times of Major Simon Willard, with some Account of his Family, Boston, 1858: An Address in Commemoration of the Two Hundredth Anniversary of the Incorporation of Lancaster, Massachusets, by Joseph Willard, Boston, 1858. From Mr. George Tate, of Alnwick. The Proceedings of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club. NEW MEMBER.-Edward Peacock, Esq., The Manor, Bottesford, Brigge. BOOKS PURCHASED, by subscription.-Records of Roman History from Cnæus Pompeius to Tiberius Constantinus, as exhibited on the Roman coins collected by Francis Hobler, formerly secretary of the Numismatic Society of London, 2 vols. 4to, London, 1860. SWEDISH LITURGY.-The Rev. E. H. Adamson exhibited a Lutheran Prayer-book published at Stockholm in 1679. ANCIENT VASES FROM MALTA.-Dr. Charlton read the following paper in elucidation of his valuable addition to the Society's collections referred to therein. The vases we exhibit and present to the Society this evening were all excavated within the last few years from tombs in the island of Malta. That island has produced but very few of the richly painted vases so frequently discovered in Greece and Italy. Indeed, the character of Maltese fictile art is that of a rude and early period, approaching nearer to the Egyptian and Phœnician type than to that of Greece and Southern Italy. Among the vases here exhibited there are one or two with rude lines and dots, indicating the early stage of ornament; but most of them are perfectly plain, and formed of a coarse clay, though not destitute of elegance of shape. Indeed, in these early vases, which may probably be ascribed to a period not later than two or three centuries before the Christian era, and perhaps are much earlier, we find the types of some of the best later productions. We cannot, however, always accurately determine the age of antiques from the type of art they present; especially when they are found in islands lying somewhat out of the track of communication. In these localities, the carly types are perpetuated for generations after they have ceased to be employed in more civilized states; and it is therefore quite possible that the Egyptian and Tyrian types that are found in Malta are not older than the Greek vases of the finest period. The tombs in which these vases are found in Malta are extremely numerous; and from an examination of them we can form some idea of the age of their contents. The distribution of these tombs seems to show that in early times the hill-country about Citta Vecchia, and the range towards Marsa Scirocco, were the most populous parts of the island; and in those districts the marks of wheels deeply worn in the rock may still be traced where no roads exist at the present day. Sometimes these tombs are found in very large groups, as if special places of interment were particularly favoured; but often they are discovered in remote districts, or scattered over the face of the country. They are often found in the vertical faces of rock a little below the level of the soil; or, again, the entrances of the sepulchres are in one side of a square or oblong pit, from six to ten feet in depth. Probably the shape of the tomb depended a good deal on the locality selected for interment. Some of these pit-tombs have only one sepulchral chamber, while others have three or four. In one near Nadur Tower, examined by the late R. Milward, the hole at the bottom of the pit, about five feet below the surface, was closed by several large stones, on removing which the interior was found nearly filled up with the redcoloured soil of the neighbourhood. Within, there was an oval cavity about six feet long, and not more than four broad. The back part of the floor was raised six or eight inches into a dais or bier wide enough for the corpse. At the right hand was a slightly raised ledge for the head; and in the right hand corner was a small rude hole for a lamp. Some pottery, and an armilla of bronze, was all the spoil yielded by this tomb. It is well known that most barbarous nations buried with the dead the costliest treasures of the departed warrior; not only his armour, but his gold ornaments and vases. The latter were, it is supposed, filled with food and wine for the sustenance of the departed on his long journey. Thus, vases for the toilet table, containing, no doubt, precious oils and unguents, are often found in the same tomb with swords and shields, while amphora of wine, cylices for drinking cups, and lamps to illumine the darkness of the grave, were placed along the walls. Among the vases here before us, we have, first, the huge amphora, with its carlike handles, and pointed base for setting in the earth. These |