states as follows: "Dignum Cæsareâ nostra Celsitudine et Consentaneum arbitramur eos qui vitæ ornamentis, præclaris virtutibus atque erga nos officiis præstant, nostrâ munificentiâ et liberalitate vicissim prosequi meritisque honoribus et domus exornare,"―proceeds to give a grant of arms, "nobis dilecto Joanni de Laughe," etc. The arms are beautifully emblazoned on the parchment, which bears the signature of the emperor, but has unfortunately lost the imperial seal. On the back, "Hoc mandatum Cæsareæ et Catholicæ Mts proprium Alexander Schweif." Dr. W. V. Pettigrew exhibited the tiller of Queen Elizabeth's rowboat, as it was denominated whilst in the museum of its former owner, Mr. T. Dawson, of Grasmere, Cumberland; at whose sale, at Christie's, it was disposed of in 1851. It is of wood, forty-six inches in length, perforated with rich scroll-work decorated with green and gold, and carved on either side with a fox pursued by two hounds, followed by a huntsman carrying a spear and blowing a horn. Along one edge are representations of five serpents. It is said that this tiller belonged to the vessel in which Elizabeth visited Tilbury Fort in 1588, and that it was obtained "from the government stores." Without questioning the statement, it must be observed that the costume of the two figures forbids its assignment to an earlier period than the middle of the seventeenth century; so that if it really be a part of the queen's boat, it must have supplied the place of the original tiller. The carving is clever, and is probably Spanish workmanship. Mr. C. Ainslie exhibited a gold crown of James I, found in Bagnigge Wells Road. Obv., crowned profile to the right,-IACOBVS. D. G. MAG. BRIT. FRAN. ET. HIB. REX.; rev., royal arms surmounted by a crown between the letters I. R.,-HENRICVS ROSAS REGNA IACOBVS (alluding to the union of the two roses by Henry VII, and the two kingdoms by James). Weight, 1 dwt. 14 grs. Dr. Kendrick exhibited an impression of the seal of Prince Charles (afterwards Charles I). It is octagonal, having a file or label across the royal arms, which are flanked by palm branches and surmounted by a coronet placed between the letters C. P. Mr. H. Syer Cuming exhibited an impression of the seal of King Charles I. It is of the same form as the above, bearing the royal arms between the letters C. R. surrounded by the garter and surmounted by the crown. Mr. J. O. Halliwell, F.R.S., F.S.A., read the following paper A NOTE ON SOME UNPUBLISHED WORKS OF WILLIAM BASSE, THE AUTHOR OF THE EARLIEST ELEGY ON SHAKESPEARE. The name of Basse would hardly have been familiar, even to the advanced student of our early English literature, had he not, in a moment of enthusiasm, thus wrote, in lines far superior to all else that emanated from his pen, as soon as the intelligence of the death of Shakespeare reached him-lines which are not so well known that they may not be repeated; and even to those who are acquainted with them they are fresh and pleasing at the fiftieth reading "Renowned Spenser ! lie a thought more nigh For Shakespeare in your three-fold, four-fold tomb. A fourth to have place in your sepulchre, Under this carved marble of thine own, Sleep, rare tragedian, Shakespeare, sleep alone! That unto us or others it may be Honour hereafter to be laid by thee." These lines were not printed with the other verses of a similar character prefixed to the folio edition of Shakespeare; but that they were extremely popular is manifest from the large number of copies of them found in early manuscript poetical miscellanies. I cannot have collated fewer than twenty old copies of it; and I believe there are five or six in the British Museum, and as many, if not more, in the Bodleian Library. Ben Jonson, indeed, alludes to them as familiar to all readers in that noble testimony to Shakespeare which alone suffices to extinguish the possibility of any lengthened ill-feeling having existed between the two dramatists"Soul of the age, The applause, delight, the wonder of our stage, A little further to make thee a room; And we have wits to read and praise to give." These verses prove that Basse's elegy was well known as early as the year 1623; but a copy of it was found by Malone in a MS. written soon after 1621, entitled, "Basse his Elegie on poett Shakespeare, who died in April, 1616." From the last words, Malone well observes that it may be inferred that these lines were written recently after Shakespeare's death, when the month and year in which he died were well known. At a more distant period the month would probably have been forgotten; and that was not an age of such curiosity as would have induced a poet to search the Stratford register. From the address to Spenser and Chaucer, it should seem that when these verses were composed the writer thought it probable that a cenotaph would be erected to Shakespeare in Westminster Abbey. The MS. of Basse's works recently discovered is entitled, "The Pastorals and other workes of William Basse, never before imprinted, 1653, Imprinted at Oxford," folio; in fact, a collection prepared for the press when the author was a very old man, but never published. The manuscript is undoubtedly that alluded to in Bathurst's Life and Remains, for immediately following the title is Dr. Bathurst's poem addressed to Basse, the same which was printed by Warton. The first portion of the manuscript contains "Clio, or the first Muse in nine Eglogues in honour of nine vertues," dedicated "to the Right Honourable Sir Richard Wenman," in whose family Basse was a retainer. One cannot say much for the poetical merit of these eclogues, but they contain some curious allusions. Of greater value as a composition is the next article in the manuscript, a poem entitled, "Urania, the Woman in the Moone, in foure Cantoes or Quarters, by William Basse," dedicated "to the honorable vertuous and renowned lady, the Lady Penelope Dynham"; but this was only a second dedication, for the poem was one of our author's earlier productions, and had received the approbation of Prince Henry "This Muse's story, that a Prince's ears Did once vouchsafe to grace, and such a one In greatnes match'd with goodnes was alone." Next, we have the "Metamorphosis of the Wallnut-tree of Borestall," in three cantos; and the volume concludes with a religious drama, entitled, "The Fall of Angels, or Man in Innocency," the last being written in a different hand, and unaccompanied with the distinct evidence of Basse's authorship which we find in the other pieces. It is singular that the contents of this curious volume should, with the single exception of the short poem by Bathurst, consist of works by Basse hitherto unknown to poetical antiquaries; and that the pieces by him heretofore known, such as the Shakesperian elegy, Polyhymnia, etc., should not be included. As none of the poems in the volume are worth entire republication, and it is difficult to select extracts that would be fully understood without a reference to the context, perhaps we cannot do better than give the poetical dedication to the prince which accompanies the copy of Urania, a composition which affords a favourable specimen of Basse's style"When Cynthia, sitting on her silver throne, First told my muse the story you shall heare, She strictly charge'd her not to make it knowne 'Till it was related, as it once should be, "The reason was, it seemes, that since herein To them, great prince, it should at first be knowne. To heare and judge of such occurrents best. "This muse, therefore, as Cynthia did her binde, Till now, that in your gracious forme, a minde The Delian queene directed her unto. "May 't please you then to lend the moon your light, And to your greatnesse purchase more diviness, As I see nothing superior to these verses in the whole volume, it will probably be conceded that the single specimen will suffice. Without being above mediocrity, they exhibit a power which would entitle the author to a place amongst the minor poets of the Shakesperian era, and that is pretty well as much as one can say. Basse, but for one little poem, would never have ranked higher than as an inferior Breton, whose style he sometimes appears to imitate. But for that poem-only thatthe mention of his name would hardly excite curiosity. Those few lines, however, have endeared his memory to Shakesperian readers, and invested all particulars respecting him and his works with interest-for do they not refer to the first English writer who paid an eloquent tribute of respect and affection to our beloved author-the myriad-minded? Mr. E. Levien, F.S.A., read a paper "On some Unpublished Documents relating to the Captivity of Charles I.", which will appear in a future Journal. Mr. Thomas Wright, F.S.A., exhibited a photograph of one of the entrances of a Roman lead mine, viewed by the Association at Shelve Hill, Salop, on occasion of the Congress at Shrewsbury in 1860 (see Journal, vol. xvii, for that year, pp. 212, 213). 1862 37 MARCH 26. GEORGE VERE IRVING, ESQ., V.P., IN THE CHAIR. William G. Marshall, Esq., of Colney Hatch, was elected an associate. Thanks were voted for the following presents: To the Canadian Institute. For their Journal. No. 37. Jan. 1862. 8vo. To the Authors. Analysis of Ancient Domestic Architecture. Nos. 24, 25, 26, 27. By F. T. Dollman and J. R. Jobbins. 4to. 1861-2. Mr. C. Ainslie exhibited a delicate (wedding?) ring of gold, weighing but seven grains and a half, consisting of a hoop five-eighths of an inch diameter, with a little heart in front, on which is stamped a V or a reversed A, the initial, according to tradition, of its original Scottish owner, a Lady Arrol (qy. Errol). That finger-rings bearing the device of a heart were worn in Scotland during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, is apparent from portraits of that period, and discoveries made from time to time. In the Gent. Mag. (March 1831, p. 209) is engraved a silver ring found at Denebury Hill near Andover, which has on its front a winged heart surmounted by a coronet, which is conjectured to have belonged to the Douglas family; and there is preserved in the Museum of Scottish Antiquaries, at Edinburgh, an ancient ring with the device of two hands holding a heart, which is stated to have been given to Flora Macdonald by the young Pretender when parting from her. This may also appertain to the Douglas family, and refer to the hands of Sir James de Douglas bearing the heart of King Robert to Jerusalem. In February 1857 there was exhibited to the Association a silver ring of the early part of the seventeenth century, on the front of which was wrought a heart, the hoop on either side being perforated. Most of the old Scottish heart-shaped rings were of silver: the example in gold is therefore an interesting exception. Mr. Geo. Maw, F.S.A., exhibited three articles discovered between fifty and sixty years since in pulling down an old building in King-street, Norwich. They consist of-1st, a letter of thirty-one lines, dated Feb. 1615, addressed to his "good cosen" by Martin Calthorp, informing her of his ill state of health, and that he sends 20d. by Mr. Watson, "to distribute to the midwife and nurses as you thinke fittest, knowinge that women can best judge in this case." In a postscript he adds: “Colonel Crumwell for certaine was alive and well since the printed newes of his beinge slaine, and there was no such duell in Holland."-2nd, iron spur, the neck bent at an acute angle; and the five-spiked rowel measuring two inches and three-eighths diameter. Date, end of the reign of Charles I.-3rd, toilet implement of silver, six inches long, apparently combining in itself an ear-pick, tooth-pick, and bodkin for tape and |