Some of the vases of this ware have ornaments, and sometimes letters painted on them in white slip upon their black ground, as represented in our engraving. They are generally of a small size, and of the nature of bottles or cups, with inscriptions, such as AVE, hail! VIVAS, may you live! IMPLE, fill; BIBE, drink; VINVM, wine; VIVA, life; VIVE BIBE MVLTIS; showing that they were used for purposes purely convivial. Such are the vases found at Etaples, near Boulogne, the ancient Gessoriacum, and at Mesnil.
Some rarer and finer specimens from Bredene, in the department of Lis, have a moulding round the foot. Great quantities are found in England, Holland, Belgium, and France. It is found on the right bank of the Rhine. A variety of this ware has been lately found at a spot called Crockhill, in the New Forest, together with the kilns in which it was made, and a heap of potter's sherds, or pieces spoilt in the baking. The paste was made of the blue clay of the neighbourhood, covered with an alkaline glaze of a maroon colour, perhaps the result of imperfect baking; for the pieces when submitted again to the action of the fire, decrepitated and split. They were so much vitrified as to resemble modern stone ware, yet as all of them have proofs of having been rejected by the potters, it is probable that this was not the proper colour of the ware. Almost all were of the pinched up fluted shape, and had no bas-reliefs, having been ornamented with patterns laid on in white colour. The kilns are supposed to be of the third century of our era, and the ware was in local use, for some of it was found at Bittern.
FRENCH BIBLE.
There was a French Bible, printed at Paris in 1538, by Anthony Bonnemere, wherein is related "that the ashes of the golden calf which Moses caused to be burnt, and mixed with the water that was drank by the Israelites, stuck to the beards of such as has had fallen down before it; by which they appeared with gilt beards, as a peculiar mark to distinguish those which had worshipped the calf." This idle story is actually interwoven with the 32nd chapter of Exodus. And Bonnemere says, in his preface, this French Bible was printed in 1495, at the request of his most Christian Majesty Charles VIII.; and declares further that the French translator "has added nothing but the genuine truths, according to the express terms of the Latin Bible; nor omitted anything but what was improper to be translated!" So that we are to look upon this fiction of the gilded beards as matter of fact; and another of the same stamp, inserted in the chapter above mentioned, viz., that, "Upon Aaron's refusing to make gods for the Israelites, they spat upon him with so much fury and violence that they quite suffocated him."
SARDONYX RING WITH CAMEO HEAD OF QUEEN ELIZABETH, IN THE POSSESSION OF REV. LORD THYNNE.
This is said to be the identical ring given by Queen Elizabeth to Essex, and so fatally retained by Lady Nottingham. It has descended from Lady Frances Devereux, Essex's daughter, in unbroken succession from mother and daughter to the present possessor. The ring is gold, the sides engraved, and the inside of blue enamel; the execution of the head of Elizabeth is of a high order, and whether this be the ring or not, it is valuable as a work of art.
CURIOUS WAGERS.