that as he was pleased or displeased, he could send thunder, tempests, plagues, &c. or fair seasonable weather, and cause fertility. From him our Thursday derives its names, anciently Thorsday; among the Romans, dies Jovis, as this idol may be substituted for Jupiter. 6. Friga; this idol represented both sexes, holding a drawn sword in the right hand, and a bow in the left, denoting that women as well as men should fight in time of need: she was generally taken for a goddess, and was reputed the giver of peace and plenty, and causer of love and amity. Her day of worship was called by the Saxons, Frigedaeg, now Friday, dies Veneris; but the habit and weapons of this figure have a resemblance of Diana rather than Venus. 7. Seater or Crodo, stood on the prickly back of a perch: he was thin-visaged, and long-haired, with a long beard, bare-headed, and bare-footed, carrying a pail of water in his right hand, wherein are fruit and flowers; and holding up a wheel in his left; and his coat tied with a long girdle: his standing on the sharp fins of this fish, signified to the Saxons, that by worshipping him they should pass through all dangers unhurt; by his girdle flying both ways was shewn the Saxons' freedom, and by the pail with fruit and flowers, was denoted that he would nourish the earth. From him, or from the Roman deity Saturn, comes Saturday. 1748, Nov. XXV. Human Bones found filled with Lead. MR. URBAN, IN digging a vault, very lately, in the parish church of Axminster in the county of Devon, were found several bones of a human body, very ponderous, which, when opened, appeared to be full of lead, particularly the thigh bone. This, so surprising a thing, has puzzled the most curious in those parts. You are, therefore, desired to give this a place in your next magazine, in order to have the sentiments of your learned readers hereon. Yours, &c. 1748, May. J. J. Oxon, Oct. 11. In your magazine for May, p. 214, is an account of some human bones lately found at Axminster in the county of Devon, filled with lead. An affair of this nature is mentioned by Weever in his Funerall Monuments, p. 30. I shall here transcribe Mr. Weever's own words. In the north isle of the parish church of Newport Painell, in Buckinghamshire, in the year 1619, was found the body of a man whole and perfect; laid downe, or rather leaning downe, north and south: all the concauous parts of his body, and the hollownesse of euery bone, as well ribs as other, were filled up with sollid lead. The skull with the lead in it doth weigh thirty pounds and sixe ounces, which with the neck-bone, and some other bones (in like manner full of lead) are reserued, and kept in a little chest in the said church, neare to the place where the corps were found, there to bee showne to strangers as reliques of admiration. The rest of all the parts of his body are taken away by gentlemen neare dwellers, or such as take delight in rare antiquities. This I saw.' By the position of this body mentioned by Mr. Weever, I should judge it to have been buried before, or, at least, very soon after Christianity was received in the island. 1748, Nov. I am, Sir, R. M. MR. URBAN, Gravesend, Dec. 15, 1748. Waving all encomiums on the usefulness of your canal to the learned, as well as to the curious and inquisitive, I observe, in your magazine for May last, a letter from Axminster, the writer of which is in great surprise on finding, in digging a grave in that parish church, several human bones filled with lead, particularly a thigh-bone, which, he says (justly, no doubt) was very ponderous; and desires, by your means, to have the sentiments of the learned upon it. Though I have no pretensions to be ranked in that class, yet, observing in your magazine of November last, p. 506. another letter on the same subject from Oxon, of a human skull, &c. mentioned by Weever, dug out of a grave in the church of Newport Pagnel, filled with the same metal, as if it had been an ancient embalming, never till now heard of or discovered; I beg room for a few lines, to give you my thoughts upon it. In the year 1727, the greatest part of this town, together with the parish church, were consumed by fire. The roof of the church was covered with lead, which, being melted, ran in all parts among the ruins; and being afterwards digged for among the rubbish in order to be new-cast, was tracked into several graves, in the body of the church; out of which were taken many human bones filled with it, and particularly a thigh-bone full of that melted metal, which I both saw and handled. A great many more, perhaps, would have been found, if more minutely traced. Whether this is a satisfactory solution to your inquirer, is humbly submitted by Yours sincerely, 1748, Supp. A. L XXVI. The ancient custom of Dunmow. MR. URBAN, I HAVE here sent you a copy of the register of the form and ceremony observed at Dunmow in Essex, on a claim made fifty years ago, to a flitch of bacon, by William Parsley, of Much Easton, and Jane his wife, founded upon an ancient institution of lord Fitzwalter, in the reign of Henry III. who ordered, "that whatever married man did not repent of his marriage, or quarrel with his wife in a year and a day after it, should go to his priory, and demand the bacon, on his swearing to the truth, kneeling on two stones in the church yard." This custom is still kept up, and by inserting the manner of it in your magazine, you will perhaps excite fresh claimants, as many of your young married readers, as well as the ancient wool-comber of Weathersfield,* may be as justly entitled to it. Yours, &c. F. D. Dunmow, Nuper At a court baron of the right worshipful sir Priorat Thomas May, knt. there holden upon Friday the 7th day of June, in the 13th year of the reign of our [* "Thursday, June 20, 1711, John Shakeshanks, wool-comber, and Anne, his wife, of the parish of Weathersfield in Essex, appeared at the customary court at Dunmow-parva, and claimed the bacon according to the custom of that manor."-Gent. Mag. E.] sovereign lord, William III. by the grace of God, &c. and in the year of our Lord 1701, before Thomas Wheeler, gent. steward of the said manor. It is thus enrolled; Be it remembered, that at this court, in full and open court, it is found, and presented by the homage aforesaid, that William Parsley, of Much Easton in the county of Essex, butcher, and Jane his wife, have been married for the space of three years last past, and upward; and it is likewise found, presented, and adjudged, by the homage aforesaid, that the said William Parsley, and Jane his wife, by means of their quiet, peaceable, tender, and loving cohabitation, for the space of time aforesaid, (as appears by the said homage) are fit and qualified persons to be admitted by the court to receive the ancient and accustomed oath, whereby to entitle themselves to have the bacon of Dunmow delivered unto them, according to the custom of the manor. Whereupon, at this court, in full and open court, came the said William Parsley, and Jane his wife, in their proper persons, and humbly prayed, they might be admitted to take the oath aforesaid; whereupon the said steward, with the jury, suitors, and other officers of the court, proceeded, with the usual solemnity, to the ancient and accustomed place for the administration of the oath, and receiving the gammon aforesaid, (that is to say) the two great stones lying near the church door, within the said manor, where the said William Parsley, and Jane his wife, kneeling down on the said two stones, and the said steward did administer unto them the above-mentioned oath in these words, or to this effect following, viz. You do swear by custom of confession, Or since the church clerk said Amen, As when you joined hands in holy quire. And immediately thereupon, the said William Parsley, and Jane his wife, claiming the said gammon of bacon, the court pronounced the sentence for the same, in these words, or to the effect following. Since to these conditions without any fear, And accordingly a gammon of bacon was delivered unto the said William Parsley, and Jane his wife, with the usual solemnity. Examined per Thomas Wheeler, steward. The same day a gammon was delivered to Mr. Reynolds, steward to sir Charles Barrington, of Hatfield Broad Qak. 1751, June. XXVII. Methods of Embalming. THE ancient Egyptians had three ways of embalming their dead, and artists were particularly trained up for that purpose: the most costly method was practised only upon persons of high rank; of which sort are all the mummies that have remained entire to the present times: it was done by extracting the brains through the nostrils, and injecting a rich balm in their stead; then opening the belly and tak ing out the intestines; the cavity was washed with palm wine impregnated with spices, and filled with myrrh and other aromatics; this done, the body was laid in nitre seventy days, at the end of which it was taken out, cleansed, and swathed with fine linen, gummed and ornamented with various hieroglyphics, expressive of the deceased's birth, character, and rank. This process completed, the embalmer carried home the body, where it was placed in a coffin, cut in human shape, and then enclosed in an outer case, and |