Antiquarian News & Notes.

The Earl of Ducie is collecting materials for a history of the Spanish Armada of 1588.

The daughters of the Dean of Westminster are engaged in writing a handbook to the Abbey.

Mr. Austin Dobson’s new work, “Thomas Bewick and his Pupils,” based upon his articles in the Century Magazine, is announced.

Messrs. F. Hilton Price and J. E. Price have just published the tenth edition of their Guide to the Roman Villa near Brading, in the Isle of Wight.

The two-hundredth anniversary of Watteau’s birth will be celebrated at Valenciennes on October 10, when a monument by Hiolle and a statue by Carpeaux will be inaugurated.

A Fund is being raised to preserve the Saxon tower of Earl’s Barton Church, near Northampton, under the direction of Mr. T. L. Pearson, R.A.

Mr. E. A. Freeman intends to inaugurate his professorship at Oxford next term with a course of lectures on “The Method of Historical Study.” He will also lecture on “Gregory of Tours.”

Dr. Phenè, F.S.A., is engaged in investigating the museums and private collections of antiquities in Scandinavia, and also the Mounds of Norway, and the stone monuments of Denmark and Sweden, in continuation of his researches in Iceland and the North American continent.

The Abbot Pietro Pressutti has completed the first volume of the “Regesta” (i.e., the letter-books) of Pope Honorius III., dating from 1216 to 1227, compiled by order of the Pope from the Codices in the Vatican archives.

The “History of the Church of Manchester,” compiled from ancient documents and authentic records, by the Rev. Ernest F. Letts, M.A., Precentor and Minor Canon, is announced for publication, by Mr. Henry Gray, of Cathedral-yard, Manchester.

The suggestion of the Mayor of Lichfield that Dr. Johnson’s centenary should be celebrated in December next, was anticipated by a letter from Mr. Walford, the editor of this magazine, which was published in the Athenæum several months ago.

An order has been made by Mr. Justice Chitty, authorising the Trustees of the Marlborough Estates and Heirlooms to sell to the Trustees of the National Gallery the Madonna Ansidei, by Raphael, for £70,000; and the equestrian picture of Charles I., by Van Dyck, for £17,500. The Trustees were also authorised to sell two pictures in the Blenheim Collection by Rubens, namely, one of that artist and his second wife and another of that lady and her page, for £50,000.

The extensive collection of coins and medals, and also of antiquities, belonging to the family of the late Dr. Jacob Amiet, ex-Attorney-General of the Swiss Confederation at Solothurn, Switzerland, is announced for sale. The coins and medals include Greek, Roman, Swiss, French, English, and Italian; and among the antiquities are Egyptian idols and Babylonian cylinders; also weapons, tools, ornaments, &c., of the stone, bronze, and iron ages; potteries and implements of earthenware, stone, and glass, &c. Full particulars of the collection can be obtained from Mr. F. Schulthess, 16, Cantlowes-road, Camden-square, N.W.

Lord Granville is about to erect a monument at Ebb’s Fleet, near Pegwell Bay, in commemoration of the landing there of St. Augustine on his mission to England in the sixth century. The memorial will consist of a reproduction of one of the famous Saxon crosses at Sandbach, near Crewe, and stands twelve feet in height. On the west front will be carved a representation of the landing of Augustine, the annunciation, crucifixion, the transfiguration, saints, early Christian martyrs, &c.

General Pitt-Rivers, as Inspector of Ancient Monuments in Great Britain, has printed, by permission of Her Majesty’s Commissioners of Works, his official report to them on excavations in the Pen pits, near Penselwood, Somerset, made for the purpose of ascertaining whether any portion of these ancient pits should be placed under the protection of the Ancient Monuments Act. The excavations took place in October, 1883.

Catalogues of rare and curious books, all of which contain the names of works of antiquarian interest, have reached us from Mr. William Downing, 74, New-street, Birmingham; Mr. Frank Murray, 26, Strand, Derby (includes purchases from the Gosford Library); Mr. Andrew Iredale, 3, Cary-place, Torquay; Messrs. Jefferies & Sons, Redcliff-street, Bristol; Mr. William Withers, Loseby-lane, Leicester; Mr. A. B. Osborne, 11, Red Lion-passage, W.C.; Mr. W. P. Bennett, 3, Bull-street, Birmingham; Mr. James Aston, 49B, Lincoln’s Inn-fields; Messrs. Fawn & Son, 18, Queen’s-road, Bristol; Mr. J. Whiteley, 2, Princess-street, Halifax, Yorkshire.

The following articles, more or less of an antiquarian character, appear among the contents of the magazines for September: Macmillan, “The Northumbrian Border,” and “A Genealogical Search;” English Illustrated Magazine, “Covent Garden;” Contemporary Review, “The Purgatorio of Dante;” Art Journal, “Preservation of the Monuments of Cairo,” “The Port of Leith,” and “Delft Ware;” Fortnightly Review, “Sport and Travel in Norway; “ Magazine of Art, “A Cartoon by Leonardo,” “Strand and Mall,” “Head-gear in the Fifteenth Century,” “Menzel and Frederick the Great;” “The Inns of Chancery,” by Rev. W. J. Loftie, and “Old Church Plate,” by Rev. H. Whitehead; Century Magazine, “From Coventry to Chester;” St. Nicholas Magazine, “The Queen’s Museum.”

Mr. J. T. Wood, writing from Blenheim House, Brighton, draws attention to the marbles from the Temple of Diana at Ephesus which are now arranged in what is designated “The Ephesian Gallery” at the British Museum. He does so with the hope that the sight of these interesting relics of the temple will induce some of those who can well afford it to subscribe to the fund for the completion of the excavations on the site of the temple, which his committee wish to renew in the course of the month of October under his direction. By completing these excavations Mr. Wood hopes to secure for the British Museum treasures of Greek art equal in value and interest to those which are already in our possession.

The works in connection with Peterborough Cathedral are progressing rapidly. An oblong underground chamber—not a tomb—has recently been discovered. It has sides of stone and lime, a floor of stone flags, and a roof formed of the floor of the cathedral itself. This chamber measures 6 ft. 3 in. in length, by 4 ft. in width, and has a depth of 6 ft. A curved range of steps of about two yards in extent, and hitherto quite concealed, leads down to an entrance on the flank side of the cavity. The chamber was filled with lumber of all descriptions, including fragments of the famous choir screen which fell a prey to Cromwell’s zealots, scraps of leathern work, iron, steel, half charred wood, and a quantity of bones. Its original use is uncertain.