Letters to Archdeacon BATTELY.

6

"SIR, Wye, Oct. 12, 1700. "I had not heard of your indisposition till by the return of my servant last Thursday, and, indeed, I should have been extremely concerned for it, had he not informed me that you are recovered again: I most heartily wished you a perfect re-establishment of your good health. I have for some time designed communicating to you a surprising account (at least it is so to me) of some medals which my Lord Weymouth * purchased last winter in town. Not knowing what credit to give to what I had heard of them, I wrote to my Lord, and had the following Account:-Two amongst them, the most remarkable, are these: a medal of gold (weighing above twenty-two ounces, the gold worth 51. per ounce) of Joannes Palæologus, Emperor of Constantinople; on the Reverse is written, OPVS PISANI PICTORIS.' This, I believe, you will allow may probably be a true one, Pisani being famous for having engraved very large ones of several great persons, and particularly one of that Emperor: besides that, my Lord assures me it is not cast, and is of the finest gold, and not being very ancient, it might easily be preserved. But that which startled me, was the account of an Antoninus, whose diameter is 4 inches, half an inch, and a 20th part of an inch; weighing 21 ounces 12 penny-weights, at 41. 10s. per ounce. On one side are the heads of Antoninus and his Empress Faustina; on the other, Cybele in a chariot drawn by lions; in the exergue, AETERNITAS. My Lord says, that besides their being of so extraordinary a size, and of the finest gold, that of Antoninus and Faustina is most exquisitely stamped; the other by Pisani, rude in comparison of the former. He says that my Lord Pembroke, who is the best judge he knows, examined them nicely, and declared he saw no marks of spuriousness; that they were certainly struck not cast, and concluded it was not worth any one's labour to counterfeit medals of that metal and value, for the bare keeping them seven years would make the author a loser. My Lord says he agrees with me, that the size might make it doubtful, having never read of any so large. Whose they were, he knows not, the person who sold them being enjoined secrecy; but he guesseth they came out of some great cabinet. He bought at the same time above forty more gold medals, the finest and best preserved he ever saw, both ancient and modern, as of Galba, Ptolemy, Augustus, Marcellus, Domitian, Licinius, and many of the Greek Emperors. These are certainly a noble addition to my Lord's Collection, though I know not yet what to think of his Antoninus; much is said for it. My Lord Pembroke understands them very well, as does my Lord Weymouth : yet its bulk makes it almost incredible that it should be ancient; for where can it have

Thomas Thynne, the first Viscount Weymouth, so created in 1682. He was a Nobleman of strict piety, honour, and integrity; and died July 28, 1714, aged 74.

been

been so well preserved and concealed? Mr. Evelyn, in his book of Medals, reminds me of a passage in Dr. Burnet's Letters of his Travels in Germany, who speaks of a prodigious piece of forgery discovered at the siege of Bonne, where, he says, clearing the ground to raise a battery, there was found a cart-load of gold Imperial medals, of the finest ducat gold, and of so a great a size, that some of them weighed two pounds; and that, by the rude manner of their sculpture at first sight, every one concluded them to be false, and to have been counterfeited 4 or 500 years ago; and he wonders who could be at so expensive a piece of forgery, for they amounted to the value of above 100,000 crowns when found, and, he says, must have been worth ten times as much when made, supposing them to be but of the antiquity he mentions. If there is any truth in the story, I should believe those medals to be ancient (though of ill workmanship), and possibly coined by some Prince in confederacy with, or tributary to, the Romans. And I should be apt to think that my Lord Weymouth's was one of these; if I did not find it described to be admirably engraved.—I should not have troubled you with my conjectures, which will but shew my ignorance; yet I could not but give you an account of the five medals; for I think there is something curious even in the bare description of them, from which I doubt not but you will be able to judge whether the Antoninus be true or false. I must, however, beg your pardon for so tedious a letter, and shall need it no less for offering you a parcel of such trash as I fear is most of what I send with it; but they are all the duplicates I have met with since I saw you. I shall be pleased if there are any tolerable amongst them, and desire you will throw away what are not so; I wish they were more and better. I have taken the liberty of describing some of them which are the most defaced, they being, I doubt, hardly worth your examination. The best thing I can do now is to release you, after having desired you will, with my wife's, present my most humble services to your lady, and accept them yourself from her and from, Sir,

"Your most obliged and most humble servant, H. FINCH." Wye, May 14, 1702.

"SIR, Having been lately at work upon the famous antiquity at Chilham, vulgarly called Julaberry's Grave, I supposed you would hear of it, and that you might have a curiosity of knowing my success. I would have given you an account of it sooner, if business had not prevented me. My success was so bad that you will hardly find the relation of it worth reading, because I have not been able to make any useful discovery. That it has been a burial-place is manifest, but of what people or time I find no marks. It is above 60 yards long, and between seven and eight fect high in the middle; above 40 foot broad at the base, but narrow at the top; in shape it differs from a common grave only in the largeness of its dimensions. I sunk a well in the middle, five feet diameter, from which I afterwards dug a trench five feet

broad,

broad, and 16 feet long, up towards the East end of the grave (for it lies East and West, inclining something to the South and North). A little below the turf we found two or three pieces of large bones, I believe the thigh bones of a horse, and perhaps buried there by a dog. I found the earth of a chalky substance, but loose and broken till I came about five feet from the top, when we came to a dark mould, soft and damp, like what is found in church-yards when they dig in an old grave; and in Chilham park there is such earth, full of the bones of men, women, and children, as appears by the sculls. Here we found a few bones, but imperfect, and most of them so rotten that they crumbled in handling, which must either proceed from the length of time they have lain there, or from the weather penetrating to them, for the chalk above lies very loose and hollow in many places; I cannot tell whether these are the bones of men or of beasts, finding none entire enough to make any judgment from them. We found some pieces of deer's horns, and two or three large teeth, I believe of horses. This is all we met with except a few bones of rabbits, or vermin, as I believe, if not of fowl, for some of them are of the shape and bigness of the thigh-bones of pullets. This earth is about two feet thick, and lies in a straight line; beneath it we dug a little way into a white chalky earth as at the top, and presently came to the rock of chalk, so that I find whatever has been buried here, was laid upon the surface of the ground, and lowered afterwards, according to the Roman manner of burial, but I do not remember whether the Roman tumuli are ever of this shape. The earth seems to have been thrown up at once, and is too great a body, I should think, to have been raised without a great many hands, and probably it must have been the work of part of an army. If it had been the burial-place of a family, I believe, it would not lie so even; nor would the earth within, which seems to be compounded of the bodies laid there and the earth about them, be in a line, but would have been met with in patches. However, I am much in the dark, and my conjectures must needs be very uncertain. If bodies were buried here, how should the bones of horses and horns of deer be among them, unless if it was a Roman work, they might sacrifice beasts and throw them into the heap. If I had dug farther, perhaps, I might have made a better discovery; but I undertook the work at my Lord Weymouth's desire. If he is inclined I should make another attempt. With Mr. Digges' leave I will try what I can make of it, and should then desire the favour of your advice what method I had best observe in my work. I should be very much obliged to you if you please at your leisure to give me your opinion concerning this place, if it is possible to make any judgment from so imperfect an account as I send you, for which I very much need your pardon. I am, Sir, &c. H. FINCH*."

The Finches of Wye Court were a respectable family, descended from those of Sewards in Linsted, a younger branch of the Finches of Eastwell, descended from Vincent Herbert, alias Finch, of Netherfield, Sussex. They lived at Wye Court. Hasted, vol. III. p. 176. H

VOL. IV.

"SIR,

"SIR,

August 23, 1703. "In the year 1699, digging for the foundation of a house, one of the labourers turned up several round pieces of brass, not flat, but concave; they were of different sizes, between three quarters of an inch to three inches over. The smaller had in the middle one, the middle size two, and the largest three rivets fixed to them. These are supposed to have been ornaments used by the Romans on the furniture of their horses. The same person (by name John Mizred) immediately after dug up a medal of Faustina junior, of the large kind of brass medals; after which, taking a more peculiar care in opening the ground, which was (being then about two feet and a half lower than the street) a mixture of rubbish, ashes of burnt wood, &c. like to a vein of earth, in thickness about a foot, in which I found several small medals of brass, silver, and plated. From this depth to about a foot and half lower, the ground was full of bones, as sculls of heifers, swine, and a considerable number of boars' tushes; amongst which was abundance of pieces of urns of several colours and (as by the pieces appeared) shapes. The colours were black, two kinds, one ragged coarse earth, the other a smooth fine shining earth; a reddish brown, very thick, the inside stuck full of small stones as big as the heads of great brass pins; a kind also of ash colour, wrought on the outside with whitish colour; another a beautiful red, some plain, and some finely wrought, finely glazed. I have most of the pieces of a dish or plate of the red, with the letters Annas in the middle; it is about nine inches over. Several pieces of marble I found, and of several colours. Below this, to two feet deep, I found scattered about abundance of brass and copper medals of the large kind. These things lay within a circular foundation, about 18 foot diameter of bricks 17 inches long and 12 over, 14 thick; some 2 thick. It had an opening Eastward five feet wide; the thickness was above a foot. Through this, and on the right hand as you entered, was an arch turned with the same brick, a foot and half wide, within which passed a strong spring; just without the entrance, I found an iron bolt or bar of a great length (though it came up in pieces, being eat near asunder by lying in the earth), which had on it three knobs covered with copper, washed with silver.

"The digestion of this account I must surely refer to your better capacity. The truth hereof I can affirm, having dug the whole (except the brass pieces of horse ornaments and one medal) with my own hand; and which, if it prove any way useful to you, it will be very satisfactory to yours, &c. JOHN PHILIPS."

"REVEREND SIR,

Dover, Aug. 24.

"I have made the best enquiry here I could of our most experienced pilots concerning the distances of those places you was pleased to mention to me, when I last had the honour of waiting on you; and I find them, according to the best information I can meet with, to be as follows, viz.

"From land to land, i. e. from Dover to Blackness 21 miles.

"From

"From Dover to Calais 24 miles.

"From Dover to Boulogne 30 miles; some make it but 27. "From Dover to the Downs 8 miles.

"From Dover to the mouth of Sandwich River 12 miles. "From Dover to the South Foreland, one league.

"From thence to North Foreland, five leagues.

"From North Foreland to the Goor, two and a half leagues. "From the Goor to Land's end, three leagues; is somewhat more. "Thence to the Noor, two leagues.

"Then to Gravesend, six and a half leagues.

"Then to London, six and a half leagues. Each league is accounted three miles.

"Sir, it is the judgment of the best pilots, that it is in the whole from Dover to Billingsgate, eighty miles and a half.

"From the Goor to Land's end is more than three leagues." "I had given you this account sooner, but I was willing to be the best informed I could before I did it, being for that reason obliged to wait the return of some of our pilots from London. I should think it a great honour to be able to serve you in any thing else; and am, Reverend Sir,

"Your most humble and obedient servant, MICHAEL BULL*."

"REV. SIR, Milton, near Newport Pagnell, Bucks, July 9, 1704. "When I had the happiness last summer to wait upon you at Canterbury, I was entertained with the agreeable sight of admirable Collection of Roman Antiquities; and among others of your urn in which you keep your tobacco. The other day I had an opportunity of procuring a very fair and entire urn (which will hold three or four pounds of tobacco) that was dug up at Sandy in Bedfordshire, where was a Station antiently of the Romans. I immediately thought of Mr. Archdeacon Battely, whose civilities to me formerly, and of a fresher date, are not forgotten. This paper, therefore, is sent to desire his acceptance of that urn. is accompanied with a larger one, which is considerably damaged, and therefore of no value. By Mr. Battely of Westminster's direction, they will be left, either this week or next at farthest, at Mr. Knaplock's, a bookseller in St. Paul's Church-yard, directed to yourself at Canterbury. They are inclosed in a wooden box, and will, I hope, arrive safe. If they are agreeable to you, Sir, it will be a very great satisfaction to, Sir,

I

"Your most obedient servant,

" SIR,

W. WOTTONT.”

It

Faversham, Sept. 22, 1705. presume to give you the trouble (by Mr. Cole) to explain the seven medals inclosed, which my great desire to know the meaning, makes me thus bold: and being not ignorant of your profound skill in such venerable antiquities, made me resolve to desire your judicious thoughts thereon. They are medals which have lately been found at Wroxeter, co. Salop, which, with several * Rector of St. James's, Dover, 1700; which he resigned in 1703. + Of this very learned Divine, see the Literary Anecdotes, vol. I. p. 253. H 2 more,