10. MR. URBAN,-I have been much struck by Dr. Robson's suggestion in his able article, "Julius Cæsar in Kent," that the existing parishes represent the Civitates of the Commentaries. Being an admirer of Mr. Toulmin Smith, and a partaker of his heresies, I have long believed that parochial clergy were appointed to communities already existing, not parochial communities formed for the

convenience of ecclesiastics; and the Latin word pars, lengthened by the sibilant Saxons, has commended itself to my mind as a far more likely root of the word "parish," than the very far-fetched, though more generally received, derivation from Пopoikia.—I am, &c.,

ETYMOLOGICUS MUS. Serjeant's Inn, Nov. 2, 1866.

FAMILIES OF WILLIAMS AND EVANS.

11. MR. URBAN,-Perhaps the following may assist "E. C. A." in THE GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE for March last, p. 377.

Gwaithvoed Vawr's arms were vert, a lion rampant argent, head, feet, and tail gules. Descendants the Powysians. Bleddyn ap Cynfyn. Or, a lion rampant gules, crowned or. (“ Owen's British Remains," p. 28.)

Cadwgan ap Bleddyn Lord of Nannan, in Merionethshire, dignified by Camden by the title of "The Renowned Briton." This prince bore or, a lion rampant azure. ("Burke's Landed Gentry," p. 1465.)

Morgan ap Cadwgan. From this Morgan is stated to have derived 8th in descent, Jevan ap Morgan ap Jevan, of Newchurch, near Cardiff, &c. (Ibid. 1465.)

William ap Jevan, an attendant upon

Jasper Tudor, &c., ibid, 1465. He had two or more sons, viz., John and Morgan Williams: the last had sons John, Richard (alias Cromwell), Walter, and another Richard.

Sir Richard Williams', alias Cromwell's, arms were sable, a lion rampant argent. ("Noble's Memoirs," vol. i. p. 16, ed. i.)

A William ap Jevan, alias William Evans, Chancellor of Llandaff, who died in 1589, had arms-1st, three lions rampant; 2nd, two chevrons in a plain field; 3rd, a lion rampant within a bordure gobonated; 4th, as the first. (See Browne Willis, "Survey of Landaff," p. 23.)

Can any reader trace the descendants of either of the above Johns, or Walter, or the second Richard?-I am, &c., GLWYSIG.

4, Castle Street, Abergavenny.

Antiquarian Notes.

BY CHARLES ROACH SMITH, F.S. A.

Quid tandem vetat

Antiqua misceri novis ?

ENGLAND.

Yorkshire. During the past year the Rev. William Greenwell has been prosecuting, with much success, his excavations in the tumuli of the Yorkshire Wolds. Nothing can be more satisfactory than the manner in which Mr. Greenwell conducts his researches ; and, consequently, the enormous mass of facts which he has accumulated will become, when printed and illustrated, of high value, and will probably lead to certain modifications in classifications, which, as they at present appear, can only be considered as provisionary. Past generations, with all their enthusiasm, neglected much of what should be the chief consideration of the antiquary, namely, scrupulous attention to facts of all kinds connected with the subjects of their study, while at the same time they were ever running off to all sorts of speculations and theories which often perfectly distracted their readers, and left the really useful evidence confused and inextricable. On the contrary, Mr. Greenwell is cautious in generalising. "In a few years" he observed, after delivering a lecture at York, based upon his excavations, "he looked forward to such careful examinations being made as would throw much additional light on the subject of his lecture." He added: "On the Wolds the barrows were disappearing under the course of cultivation, and in a few years there would be no remains of burial mounds there. Several had been destroyed (many it is to be feared) from careless and reckless opening by mere curiosity-hunters."

Mr. Greenwell remarks, that in the Wold district and in other places in the north, there are numerous ancient fortresses and lines of defence, some of which are of great extent, and their purpose it was not easy to understand, on account of the vast army that would be required to hold them. I have on several occasions ventured also to question the soundness of the common belief that these earthworks were ever intended for military purposes: it is, at a glance, evident they never could be held against an enemy except by an immense force; and then comes the question, what could have been the object of such lines of defence in these particular districts? To me they seem to have been boundaries of land, and in this point of view they are perfectly intelligible. It may scarcely be necessary to point out to Mr. Greenwell and his colleagues the excellent work of Drs. Davis and Thurnam, on the skulls of the aboriginal and early inhabitants of the British Islands ("Crania Britannica "), for it has become indispensable to all engaged in such researches. It may here be remarked that in the museum at York are a considerable number of funereal urns, labelled "from

the Yorkshire Wolds," among which are many Romano-British and Saxon; and some of the latter, if I mistake not, contain burnt bones. It would be most desirable if Mr. Greenwell, when he publishes his own researches, would also give some account of these urns, with illustrations.

Old Malton.-Discoveries have been making for some weeks past at Norton, on the river Derwent, opposite Old Malton, which there is every reason to believe occupies the site of the Roman Derventio. It would appear that Norton stands upon a Roman cemetery; and some rather extensive excavations for drainage have brought to light large quantities of those miscellaneous remains usually found in Roman burial-places; individually, perhaps, of no great consequence, but collectively worthy of preservation, especially in connection with what has heretofore been found at Old Malton, and with what may yet be discovered. Two inscriptions have been, in past times, dug up there. One of them (engraved in Mr. Wright's "The Celt, the Roman, and the Saxon ") is a kind of invocation to the Genius of the place, that one Servulus, a goldsmith, may prosper in his business; and the other records, the Pedites Singulares, a body of troops, often mentioned in the "Notilia," horse as well as foot. The first of these was, a few years since, in the possession of Mr. Walker, of Malton, who also had several large brass Roman coins dug up at Norton, including Vespasian, Antoninus Pius, Faustina Junior and Commodus; and others in past times had been collected by his father. Recently it appears those of the Lower Empire have chiefly been met with. One is a plated or forged denarius of Caracalla. Mr. Walker, in his collection, had an ancient forgery of Geta.

Northumberland.-Dr. Charlton has recently published his translation of a Runic inscription, discovered in 1864, at Baronspike, a range of crags, or huge stones, about two miles to the north-east of Bewcastle Church. It was first noticed in "The Builder," for October 8th, 1864. Dr. Charlton's reading is as follows:

Tradition goes to show that Robert de Vaulx, who founded Lanercost Abbey, in 1169, slew Gille or Gilbert, son of Beuth, Lord of Bewcastle, at a meeting appointed between them. The truth of this story has been questioned; but Dr. Charlton assigns reasons for its validity, which are confirmed by this remarkable inscription. It is in old Norse, and the Runes are purely Scandinavian or Norse. Dr. Charlton remarks it is singular that the crag where the runes are incised should bear the name Baronspike, "that being the name too of the writer of the inscription." The "Archæologia Eliana" (Part 21, 1866), which contains a full account of this inscription, and an engraving of the Runes, gives an elaborate essay by the Rev. D. H. Haigh, on the Coins of the Danish

Kings of Northumberland, which embraces a searching inquiry into the various classes of silver coins found, some years since, at Cuerdale, in Lancashire, respecting which an illustrated paper, by Mr. Hawkins, appeared in the "Numismatic Chronicle." Mr. Haigh's paper is also well illustrated, and will, no doubt, receive every attention from numismatists on the Continent as well as in this country.

London. The extensive excavations made during the last nine or ten years in and about London must have intersected foundations of houses and streets upon what we may term the level of Roman London; and from what has been brought to light in previous years, we had every reason to look for discoveries at least equally interesting. The City authorities have had it all to themselves; but we seek in vain for any account of their stewardship. Strict guard has been kept over the approaches to the various excavations, and ever and anon it is stated that the authorities are deeply interested in their antiquities, and take every precaution to preserve them. But if this be true, nothing seems to come of it; and excepting a notice now and then in the papers of an exhibition of miscellaneous objects at the meeting of some society, but little transpires as to what has been brought to light. No report has been issued on the part of the City, and no report is promised. It will probably turn out that, but for a few individuals, including Mr. J. E. Price, Mr. Gunston, Mr. J. W. Bailey, and Mr. Cecil Brent, the world will be nothing the wiser on the subject, and that golden opportunities, as heretofore, have passed away without profit.

The London and Middlesex Archæological Society has published an account of antiquities discovered on the site of the old Steelyard in Upper Thames Street, which does credit to the exertions and to the pen of Mr. Price, the author. On a future occasion we may probably refer to some of the more remarkable of these.

Mr. Gunston has kindly submitted to me 584 small brass Roman coins, which were found, together with others, amounting to about 1000, in an earthen vessel, at the depth, it is said, of twenty feet, at the corner of Grove Street, Southwark. Excepting a few of Victorinus, they are all of the Tetrici, father and son. They are of very small module, and present the appearance of having been struck from dies prepared for larger coins, with pieces of metal not sufficiently large to fill the dies.

FRANCE.

Lillebonne.-The researches of the Abbé Cochet, who so worthily fills the office of Inspector of Monuments of the Lower Seine, are so continuously successful, and so numerous, that it is somewhat difficult to keep pace with him, even in referring to all his discoveries.

Lillebonne (the Juliobona of the Romans) was one of the chief towns of the north of the province of Gaul, and its monuments yet attest the wealth and splendour of the place. Unlike Rouen and most of the great commercial towns, after the downfall of the Roman rule, it never maintained its position, but gradually decayed, its ruin having been, no doubt, hastened by violence. The theatre yet stands, a grand relic of the taste and luxury of its inhabitants; and marble statues, bas-reliefs, and decorations of tombs, preserved in the Rouen museum and at

Lillebonne itself, are not surpassed for good workmanship by the monuments of any Roman town or city in France; while, at the same time, it would be difficult to point to many such bronze statues as that of the Antinous, now at Paris. There can be no doubt but that other remains of public buildings are yet preserved beneath the soil, as must be evident to any one who has examined the district immediately adjoining the theatre; but it is only from time to time, as a site is wanted for building purposes somewhat remote from what was the heart of the ancient town, that villas and portions of cemeteries are laid open. The latter extended to a considerable distance in several directions; and one of the more recent of the Abbé Cochet's explorations was upon the site of that which bordered the Roman road to Rouen and the south, and about 200 yards from the villa which he excavated in 1864. Here, at the depth of upwards of six feet, he discovered a square, paved chamber of masonry, in which was a funereal deposit of unusual interest, which betokened the high social position and wealth of the person whose ashes rested there.

The various objects about to be described were grouped round a large glass urn, which contained the burnt bones of the corpse, which had been subjected to fire of violent heat. This urn was inclosed in a leaden cylinder, resembling one in the Rouen Museum, which I have figured in the third volume of my "Collectanea Antiqua," p. 62. These cylinders are not uncommon in this part of France, and the ornaments upon them resemble those upon the leaden coffins found in this country, which apparently belong to the 4th and 5th centuries. Six other glass vessels were ranged around this urn, upon the bottom of one of which are the letters S V B. Of these the most remarkable is a phial in darkcoloured glass representing a fish: it is highly decorated, and has been gilded. With the objects in glass may be classed some hemispherical boutons (resembling boys' marbles cut in half), of which six are white and seven black, in vitreous paste. There was also a circular jeton or tessera, in worked bone, such as the Abbé states he has repeatedly found, usually to the number of three, in Roman graves, a sheath of a poignard or knife in ivory, and the poignard itself in bronze, are among the rarer objects in this rich tomb. The Abbé states it resembles in form the knife engraved in Rich's " Companion to the Latin Dictionary and Greek Lexicon," under the word Secespita.

The objects in bronze amount to ten, all of which had been either gilt or silvered. They comprise two strigils; two bowls; a cup; a handle with rings, ornamented with lions' heads, and foliage exquisitely worked; a bust representing a youthful male head, the breast draped in the skin of an animal, the eyes in coloured paste, of good workmanship. It looks like a steelyard weight; but M. de Longpérier considers it was used for oil (being hollow), and chemical analysis shows it contained a fatty substance. Two elegant jugs with handles conclude the objects in bronze.

In silver there are two spoons; a small cup, thick and richly decorated with foliage and flowers; and a kind of small oval lanx or dish, not unlike what is still used in churches in France for the mass. This last is a very beautiful example of the perfection to which the Romans, and Roman Gauls, had attained in works in silver. It is elaborately N.S. 1867, VOL. III.

H