[53]. Besides the fragments that occurred in the Cuerdale hoard, two entire brooches of this type have been found in England—one near Kirby Lonsdale, in Westmoreland, 5½ inches diameter; and one near Penrith, in Cumberland, which is the largest on record, the ring being 8¼ inches in diameter, the pin 21 inches long, and the weight of the whole brooch 25 ounces avoirdupois.
[54]. One of these brooches occurred in the remarkable hoard of silver objects found in the Rath of Reerasta, Ardagh, in Limerick, in 1868. The hoard consisted of a silver chalice of exquisite beauty, one other vessel of bronze, three brooches of pure Celtic type, decorated like the chalice with interlaced designs in panels, in the best style of the art, and a fourth brooch of the bulbous or “thistle-headed” form.—Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, vol. xxiv. p. 433.
[55]. This and many of the other objects referred to in this Lecture have been described in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland by Dr. John Alexander Smith, who has specially illustrated the interesting relics which I regard as belonging to the closing period of Scotland’s Paganism. They have been referred by Mr. Franks and others to a special school of art which they have denominated the “Late Celtic,” but from my point of view I must regard them as the work of the early Celtic school, which was the precursor and parent of the greater school of Celtic art of the Christian time which I have already described.
[56]. The common denarius of the family Furia exhibits a trophy formed of the horned helmet, the tunic of mail, the peculiarly ornamented oval shield, and the large war trumpet. On a denarius of Servilia a Gaul wearing the horned helmet appears aiming a back-handed blow with his long sword at a Roman antagonist. The name “Cornuti” itself is suggestive of this peculiarity.
[57]. A bronze shield, found in the river Witham, 3 feet 8½ inches long, and nearly 14 inches wide, with straight sides and rounded ends, is decorated with studs of red coral, and had the figure of an animal attached to it by rivets. Another, found in the Thames, 2 feet 6½ inches long and 14½ inches wide, is ornamented with enamelled patterns in this peculiar style, and of singular beauty and remarkable excellence of design and workmanship. They are figured in colours of the originals in the Horæ Ferales, edited by A. W. Franks, of the British Museum (4to. London, 1863), Plates XIV.-XV.
[58]. The specimens of these iron swords with bronze sheaths found in different parts of England are enumerated by Mr. Franks in the Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of London, vol. iv. p. 166; and several are figured in Horæ Ferales, Plates XIV.-XVIII.
[59]. Proc. Soc. Antiq. Scot., vol. v. p. 111.
[60]. They have been figured by Dr. Daniel Wilson in The Prehistoric Annals of Scotland, vol. ii. p. 156.
[61]. They have been found at Polden Hill, near Bridgewater (Archæologia, vol. xiv. p. 90); at Hagbourn Hill, Berkshire (Archæologia, vol. xvi. p. 348); at Stanwick, Yorkshire, with chariot-wheels (York Volume of the Archæological Institute, p. 10); at Arras and Hessleskew, in the same county, with chariot-wheels and the bones of horses (Ibid. p. 28), and other places. A synopsis of the whole group of objects characterised by this decoration is given by Mr. Franks in Horæ Ferales (4to., London, 1863), pp. 172, 196, and many figures in the coloured plates (Plates XIV.-XX.).
[62]. Described in a paper by Mr. Spence Bate in Archæologia, vol. xl. p. 500.