"I have met with two other opportunities of sending an account of what was some time ago found in what we call the Mount, just before the entrance into our City from Tadcaster,― a bad and false account of which was given in the Newspaper; and, three days ago, I heard that a Roman Pottery was found about a mile and a half South of York, near Middlethorpe. I yesterday went with a friend to examine the premises; and found as follows; viz. the soil, at and near the surface, a good rich brown corn-mould soil, about two feet deep; upon a hillock, under that, appear many fragments of Roman urns, and other earthen ware of a large size; under this stratum is a bed of fine gravel for a turnpike-road, above a foot thick in general. Digging for this gravel made the discovery of the fragments of urns, some of which are of as fine red clay, and as beautiful as I ever saw. As I am intimately acquainted with the Lord of the Manor, I intend to ask the favour for liberty to dig there, and see that the workmen do not break any whole urns, if any such should be found: for my own part I am really at a loss to know what the place has been for, because no whole urn has yet been found. I have all the previous symptoms of a severe fit of the gout upon me; but yet Mr. Smith, with pleasure, will attend the diggers if I should not be able, for he is very eager after these researches, and spares no expence to obtain knowledge of any thing relating to Antiquities,-which is a spirit I rejoice to see in a gentleman of fortune, about 33 years of age, and a close student; and spares no expence in collecting Roman Coins, &c.one of which was found in digging the foundation of a wall in the rampart of this City, and well preserved, being very fair, and every part very distinct. An account of which was published in the York Weekly Courant; on which some person, in an ill-natured manner, pretended to make remarks, and signed 'A Medallist ;' to which I have made, I hope, a proper reply, which I expect will be published in the next Gentleman's Magazine, with a drawing of the Coin, which yesterday I sent up to London for that purpose. When you see the account I shall be glad of your real sentiments thereon, for I should be sorry to mislead any person, and should always stand corrected when shown to be in an error. "When the inclosed has been shown to the respective Societies, I shall be obliged to you to acquaint me thereof, and if either of them think them worth printing, and to have a copperplate engraven, I should be glad of a copy.

"Pray how does the printing of Domesday Book go on? or when may it be expected any part will be published?

"I fancy, by this time, your patience will be tried; and I assure you, although this letter has been written at different times, I yet am tired and in pain; nevertheless, I remain, dear Sir,

Yours most sincerely,

"DEAR SIR,

J. BURTON." York, May 16, 1770.

"It was with the greatest pleasure I received your letter, written by yourself.

"Mr.

"Mr. Smith is with me; and desires me to pay his respects to you, with thanks for the List of the Members of our Antiquarian Society, some of whom he is acquainted with, and will write to two of them. He also is obliged to you for your recommendation to our worthy President, to whom also Mr. Pegge has recommended Mr. Smith,-who desires the favour of you to have his name to be entered as a Subscriber to the late Mr. Russel's 'Anecdotes and Observations on the Antiquities of Rome,' &c. and also my name for the small paper; his name is Francis Smith, jun. esq. of York, and New-building near Thirsk.

"Since my last I have received a letter from a Friend, giving me an account of the Roman Coins found three miles near East of Howden, an extract of which I here inclose, which please to communicate to our President.

"Pray favour me with a line as soon as you can conveniently and whether Mr. Smith's name be up or not.

"I have nothing else new to add; and being very unfit for writing, must conclude in wishing you a perfect recovery, and assuring you I am, dear Sir, your most obliged humble servant, JOHN BURTON."

Letters between the Rev. GEORGE BURTON

and Dr. Ducarel.

"SIR, Elden, near Thetford, April.., 1757. "The above Silver Coin* is undoubtedly Saxon, one of their penigs, or pennies, and the more valuable as it opens to us a field of history all our Historians are silent about. That Girthe, a younger brother of Harold, was designed to succeed him, and actually living after his brother's death, is evident from the Coin itself, though the generality of our Historians assert his fall in the Battle of Hastings, and even peremptorily insist on his being buried in Waltham Abbey, and that the other brothers fell in that fatal battle; which might occasion this tradition, and seems confirmed by Camden, in his Remains, London, 4to. p. 188:

"When the fatal period of the Saxon Empire was now complete, and battels were marshalled betweene William Duke of Normandy, and Harold King of England, Girthe, Harold's younger brother, not holding it best to hazard the Kingdom of England at one cast, signified to the King that the success of the warre was doubtful, that victory was swayed rather by fortune than valour, that advised delay was most important in martial affairs ;-and if so bee, brother, said he, you have plighted your faith to the Duke, retyre yourselfe, for no force can serve against a man's own conscience; God will revenge the violation

The Coin, of which a rude drawing accompanied this Letter, was found at Icklingham, in Suffolk, in 1749. It is inscribed, "SANCTVS NICHOLAVS," round an Archiepiscopal Mitre. Reverse, “REX GERTIS AVE.” It proved to be a Danish Coin (see p. 398); but the historical discussion it occasioned is curious, and worth preserving.

of

of an othe: you may reserve yourself to give them a new encounter, which will be more to their terrour: as for me, if you will commit the charge to me, I will performe both the part of a kinde brother, and a couragious leader, for being cleare in conscience, I shall sell my life, or discomfit your enemy with more felicitie.'

"But the Kinge, not liking his speech, answered: I will never turne my backe with dishonour to the Norman, neither can I in any sort digest the reproach of a base minde: well then be it so (said some discontented of the company) let him beare the brunt that hath given the occasion.'

"Camden hath unfortunately related the above without quoting his Author, who most probably would have furnished out some further hints to have elucidated this piece of dark history;-but thus much is evident, as well from Camden's quotation above as the Coin itself, that Harold had a younger brother, Girthe; that he was actually living, both after the death of Harold, and the Battle of Hastings, notwithstanding the peremptory assertions of all our Historians to the contrary; that Girthe was one of great power, and beloved by the army, and to that degree that even Harold himself was become jealous of it, which appears from Harold's answer to him. From these few data, with the assistance of the Coin itself, we may, I think, be able to draw out as connected a piece of history as the distance of time will admit of. All histories agree that Stigand, Archbishop of Canterbury, was a great advocate for the continuance of the succession in the line of Harold; and it is natural from thence to imagine that he would support it as long as was consistent with the safety of the kingdom, and his own personal security;-accordingly, though William the Conqueror, through the rapidity of his success, had silenced Stigand for a while, yet upon his expedition into Normandy we find a new diversion made in favour of the line of Harold, anno 1068, when they fled into Scotland to Edgar Atheling (England's Darling, as he was called) ;-before this, therefore, it is plain the Coin could not take place, because that would have been opposing the younger brother to the elder, and dividing the interest of the whole line. The most probable time, therefore, for this Coin to have been struck, and intended to be made public, was when Stigand took part with the Kentish men, and brought the Conqueror to terms by that memorable stratagem of carrying branches of trees in their hands, and thereby concealing their strength, and shewing their intrepidity: in all probability by that time, through various flights and adverse fortune, the line of Harold was extinct all but Girthe-a further recommendation of him to the favour of those sons of liberty:

"Stigand is generally represented to have been as artful as powerful; and, therefore, cannot be supposed to have overlooked so favourable an opportunity of fixing the right of succession in the only son of Harold, and thereby avoiding the determined vengeance of William the Conqueror upon him. He well knew

that

that had the Mint-master's name been put on the Coin as usual. it must have been at the peril of the Mint-master's life, and therefore not to be brought about. Had his own name been put on, he had thereby exposed himself to the rage of the people as well as William the Conqueror (a people to whom he was grown formidable by the greatness of his wealth and power), and to a punishment he could not have evaded due to an overt-act of rebellion, and which would have been readily laid hold of as an article of his impeachment: according to his usual policy, therefore, he chose to utter it under a fictitious name, a name of the highest veneration amongst the people-and as it was of Archiepiscopal Mintage might give it a further sanction-and, as Girthe was a minor, be a further plea in his favour-that of St. Nicholas the Boy-Bishop. That this must have been the fact is evident, since there was no Archbishop of that date that bore the name of Nicholas, nor could the word Sanctus be properly applied to one in his life-time on a Coin; the cross-bar of jewels proves it of Archiepiscopal Mintage; the singular form of salutation of Rex Gertis ave' shows it to have been designed as a prelude to his coronation; and that at that time he was not actually crowned. It is therefore probable that Stigand, just before his march to oppose William the Conqueror, ordered the matrix to be made, and the Coin to be struck, with a design to have uttered it, could he have succeeded against the Conqueror, and then would have uttered the Coin on St. Nicholas' day, December 6; but meeting with a defeat, like a wise Politician, ordered the whole impression to be destroyed, and the die to be broke, which has prevented any more from coming to our knowledge; and that it should have been found in these parts of the kingdom may have been owing to the great possessions he had here, and to the negligence of some Favourite rather than himself. But, a few days after, William the Conqueror succeeded to that fortune, which was designed for Girthe, and was crowned on the 25th day of December. This I take to be a solution of the rise of this curious Coin, such as the length of time and want of regular proofs of distant facts will admit of; which, after all, must be merely conjectural, and can admit of credit only so far as it carries with it plausibility, and some degree of connexion."

"SIR, Thetford, Feb. 21, 1757. "The favour of yours I received on the 11th instant; and am glad it has afforded you any entertainment, and shall have great pleasure in the honour of your correspondence,-as well convinced, if by chance I can afford you the least entertainment, I shall be a gainer by improvement too. For though you are so liberal as to bestow upon me the title of Fellow-labourer, I carry about me daily conviction that I am but a sprig of Antiquity, though I am extremely fond of the study, and greatly revere the professors of it. As to the Coin you mention, it would be an unwarrantable presumption in me to pronounce it Saxon after it has already been deemed by you to be otherwise: for my own

part

part a consciousness of my own ignorance in these matters will ever make me diffident of my opinion in these dark affairs. But as we both profess to aim at truth, as far as distance of time, and a coincidence of circumstances will support us, you will excuse me, I hope, taking the liberty of a reply to your conjecture, which, though both ingenious, and a strong instance of that depth of learning you have acquired in this kind of study, yet will not, I fear, absolutely reach the point in question; for the C is almost as plain in the Coin as when first stamped, and there is the clearest proof that there never was any bar across it to pronounce it to have been an E. The likewise appears clearly to have been designed for a letter, and not a stop. Nor are there any stops throughout the inscription, but by round dots, and those in the following manner: which, as I may have misled you by a wrong representation in the draft of the Coin, I will here insert again, BOXICSVIS. DEIATOII. This is the exact description, from whence I cannot help thinking that by the difference in the right hand stroke of the third, and last letters of the second word, is meant to distinguish between the V and the N, the stroke of the V contracting inwards at the bottom, the N dilating outwards; and I cannot find in any of my Coins of this sort (the two plainest of which I have inclosed for your inspection) any letters on the reverse. In No. 2 you will please to observe that the cross is directly over the top of the escutcheon; so again in No. 1; the mark of distinction in No.. 1 is in the same place; and in the few Coins I have seen I have generally observed that the inscription began directly over the head (if there was one) and not on the side;-but this I submit to your better judgment. In No. 3 I have sent you a fresh draft of the Coin of Gertis, which I am inclined to think must have been struck by Archbishop Stigand upon the defeat of Harold at the Battle of Hastings; our Historians, indeed, one and all, till of late, declare that Gyrth and Leofwin were both slain with him. But the distraction of the times may sufficiently account for such a mistake. It appears plainly from all our Histories that Stigand was the most strenuous stickler for a continuation of the succession in the line of Harold, and even at last stood alone for a while in the support of Edgar Atheling, when Gyrth was no more; and Mr. Carte expressly says, folio 390, that Harold being killed, Gyrth and Leofwin still animated the Saxons to stand their ground. It was natural, as Stigand had engaged himself so strongly in opposition to William, that he should resolve to stand or fall with the line of Harold. His great possessions in these parts may account for the Coin being found here rather than elsewhere. As we may rather suppose it a Coin to have been uttered occasionally, and not current; and as Gyrth was a younger brother, and seems to have gained the affection of the Nobility, by expressing his concern to them for the loss of their lands and honours in case they accepted William's terms of accommodation: the former accounts for the matrix, and the

whole