COUNCIL FOR 1849. 11 



indebted to the Yorkshire Antiquarian Club, some of the mem- 

 bers of that club having obtained permission from Richard 

 Jennings, Esq., to complete the examination of a large tumulus 

 in his possession at Driffield, partially explored by him four or 

 five years ago ; on w^hich former occasion he found some very 

 curious Anglo-Saxon remains, and presented them to the 

 Museum. 



The result of further excavations by the Antiquarian Club 

 has been the discovery of several similar but still more curious 

 articles of the Anglo-Saxon period, which, added to those pre- 

 viously received from the owner of the tumulus, form a highly 

 interesting and instructive portion of the collections of the 

 Society. 



A relic of a period not so remote, but of a very interesting 

 character, has been presented to the Society by the Rev. J. 

 Thompson, Vicar of Easeby : an Epitaph, or rather four 

 Epitaphs on a Mr. J. Swale, in four diiferent Languages, Hebrew, 

 Greek, Latin, and English, written (as it is with great 

 probability conjectured,) by that eminent reformer and translater 

 of the Bible, Miles Coverdale, in the year 1538. The epitaphs 

 are written on a folio sheet of paper, framed in oak, and 

 guarded by a sliding panel of the same material, by which 

 they had been long and effectually concealed. It had been 

 deposited in the Church of Easeby, by whom or when it is not 

 known ; and, there, had served as a trencher, on which the 

 Sacramental bread was cut. A copy of the epitaphs is given 

 by Dr. Whitaker in his history of Richmondshire. 



The Council have the satisfaction to state that the many 

 valuable services, which have been rendered to the Antiquarian 

 departments of the Museum, by their Curator, will soon be 

 crowned by the completion of an arranged description of the 

 principal remains of Roman and Mediaeval art, which are in the 

 possession of the Society. The publication of such a work 

 will be at once honourable to the Society and gratifying to the 

 public. 



It will be found, from an examination of the list of donations, 

 that several additions of unusual interest have been made to 

 the collection of stove and hardy plants, in the Society's Hot- 



