Mr. William Pettit Griffith, architect, died in October. The son of an architect of repute, he was born in 1815, and, adopting his father’s profession, followed it for more than half a century. Devoting much of his leisure to archæology, he became a member of several societies of antiquaries, and wrote “Grecian Architecture,” “A Natural System of Architecture,” “Mediæval Architecture,” “Ancient and Gothic Churches,” besides many papers published in archæological journals and magazines, especially the serial of the Surrey Archæological Society. He designed various schools and other minor public buildings, and restored St. John’s Gate, Clerkenwell, and parts of the church of St. Sepulchre, Holborn.
Mr. Octavian Blewitt, K.L., F.R.G.S., many years secretary of the Royal Literary Fund, died recently, aged 81. In early life Mr. Blewitt travelled much in Italy, Egypt, Greece, Turkey, and other countries, and on his return to England was, in 1839, elected to the post of secretary to the Royal Literary Fund. In this capacity Mr. Blewitt spent many years in arranging the papers, literary, financial, and historical, which constituted the records of the association. Mr. Blewitt was the author of several well-known works, including “The Panorama of Torquay,” published in 1828, and afterwards reprinted in an enlarged edition as “A Descriptive and Historical Sketch of the District comprised between the Dart and Teign,” also the “Handbook for Central Italy and Rome,” and the “Handbook for Southern Italy and Naples,” being two of the series of Murray’s Hand-books.
Signor Luigi Bonfatti, the archivist and librarian of Gubbio, in Umbria, died suddenly at the end of October. “Every seeker into the strange and eventful history of what is now but the time-worn relic of a mediæval city,” writes Mr. W. Mercer, “has lost in him a guide, philosopher, and friend. Only a week before his death he climbed with me the picturesque tower of the Palazzo Pubblico, that often served as a prison-house for captives taken in battle. His pen, fertile with a knowledge of the local antiquities, may be traced in numerous brochures and collected records of recent date. He strove to pierce the shadows that cluster round the memory of Maestro Giorgio and others who made Gubbio famous for his porcelain manufacture, marvels truly of the potter’s art that are scattered far and wide. One small plate only is left to witness in the Municipio to the brilliant reverberi that distinguished the work of artists whose successors from time to time have vainly imagined that they also have caught the secret of the changing colours under flashes of instantaneous light. I left him busily arranging rare books, with a promise that he would send me an early copy of a history of Gubbio, now nearly ready for the press in the able hands of a learned notary, Signor Lucarelli. Those who have known Signor Bonfatti will join me in lamenting the loss of a scholar whose name may sound strange outside Umbria, and unfamiliar to most Italian ears, but which is, nevertheless, an enduring name, notwithstanding its closest connection is with a half-forgotten, ruinous city that itself lies out of the beaten track of wayfarers.”
Meetings of Learned Societies.
METROPOLITAN.
Royal Archæological Institute.—Nov. 6, Mr. J. Micklethwaite, F.S.A., in the chair. The Rev. H. M. Scarth, Rector of Wrington, read a paper on the “Recent Discoveries of Roman Remains at Bath,” in which he explained the various additions to the ancient Thermæ which have lately been brought into the open air, including the large central bath, with its ambulatory, &c. The discovery of antiquities at Zoan, in Egypt, formed the subject of a discourse by Mr. Flinders Petrie, who exhibited some of the objects which had been found. Many of these were taken from the residence of a man of consequence in Egypt, and included articles of domestic use and personal ornamentation,—statues, combs. The last paper read was by Mr. E. Peacock, F.S.A., and comprised some interesting notes on the curious custom of swan marking, or “swan-upping.”
London and Middlesex Archæological Society.—A crowded conversazione was held at Skinners’ Hall on Wednesday evening, Nov. 12; Mr. Alfred White, F.S.A., presided. Mr. G. Laurence Gomme read a paper on “The Early Municipal History of London,” touching upon its charters and institutions, its corporations and public bodies. Mr. J. D. Mathews followed with some “Reminiscences of the Church and Parish of St. John the Baptist upon Walbrook.” Mr. John E. Price then read a paper “On the Recent Discoveries made on the Line of the Inner Circle Railway and at Bevis Marks.” He said the antiquarian treasures turned up in the course of tunnelling for the new railway were numerous and interesting. There were, first of all, Roman sculpture and masonry in position, and the same disjointed and used for other purposes by builders of more recent periods. The fragments of Roman statuary were numerous, and for the most part well preserved along the route taken by the excavations; scrolls and inscriptions being also found. Roman art now and then came to light. The remains of pottery discovered were slight, and not of exceptional interest. At the close of his address the lecturer suggested that a fund should be started and subscriptions invited, in order to purchase or protect the numerous relics constantly being brought to light in London and elsewhere. Among the most interesting articles exhibited was Mr. Walford’s portrait of Dr. Johnson by Sir J. Reynolds, which was engraved in our July number for 1883; there was also a collection of plans, maps, and archæological fragments relating mainly to the city.
Society of Biblical Archæology.—Nov. 4, Dr. S. Birch, President, in the chair. Mr. P. Le Page Renouf read a paper “On some Religious Texts of the Early Egyptian Period preserved in Hieratic Papyri of the British Museum.” The President described four fragments of papyrus belonging to the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art, and exhibited by the Secretary of the Science and Art Department. Mr. E. A. Budge read some notes on Egyptian stelæ, principally of the eighteenth dynasty.
St. Paul’s Ecclesiological Society.—Oct. 28, Mr. J. P. Seddon in the chair. Mr. Hugh Stannus read a paper on “The decoration of St. Paul’s Cathedral,” in which he described the principles of treatment which he regarded as correct, including the “articulation” of the dome design with the architectural substructure. A short discussion followed, in which Mr. Micklethwaite, Mr. G. H. Birch, and Mr. Statham took part. Mr. Micklethwaite urged the desirability of first settling the future arrangement of the cathedral for worship, and its complete furniture (in the widest sense) for that purpose, before deciding on the treatment of the culminating point in the decoration. Mr. Statham recommended a treatment of the dome in eight partitions, such a treatment being rather suited to an octagon dome, such as that at Florence, and being, in fact, a contradiction of the actual architectural structure of a hemispherical dome, and tending to weaken its effect of space and mystery, and reduce the dome from poetry to prose. Mr. Seddon summed up in favour of this latter view.