23 



that there does not appear to be any religious symbolism, either in the 

 design or their arrangement, though Mr. Ward thought that the tiles 

 might contain an allusion to the chequered path of life, and that the 

 narrow course in one part of the church might typify the straight gate 

 and narrow road which lead to heaven. 



Mr. Pritchett called attention to the revival of the manufacture of 

 encaustic tiles in modern times, especially by Mr. Minton, of the 

 Staffordshire Potteries, and produced a number of patterns of his 

 workmanship, far exceeding in colour and design any remains of 

 mediaeval art. 



December. — The Rev. J. Kenrick read a paper on the Sarco- 

 phagus of a king of Sidon, called Asmunezer, recently discovered in 

 the neighbourhood of that city, and exhibited a facsimile of the 

 inscription, in the Phoenician character, with a transcript in Hebrew 

 and a translation by Dr. Dietrich, Professor at Marburg, in Germany. 

 The first part contains a warning against the violation of the tomb, 

 enforced by a variety of imprecations; the second, an account of the 

 great works which the king had performed for Sidon, and a supplica- 

 tion to the " Lord of kings" on behalf of its inhabitants. The age 

 of the monument is not easily ascertained, as the name of 

 Asmunezer does not occur in any list of kings, and he dates by his 

 own regnal years. But it is probable that he lived between the 

 conquest of Phoenicia by Cambyses, 526 B.C., and that by Alexander, 

 332 B.C., therefore during the time when the kings of that country 

 enjoyed their titles and power, though dependent on Persia. The 

 language is closely allied to the Hebrew, and several instances of 

 correspondence between this inscription and the Scriptures were pointed 

 out. 



January, 1856. — A drawing was exhibited of an altar, 

 recently deposited in the Museum of the Yorkshire Philosophical 

 Society, by Geo. J. Jarratt, Esq., of Doncaster, in whose house it was 

 found in 1781 . By the kindness of the Rev. Joseph Hunter, V.P. S. A., 

 the Society is enabled to give the annexed wood-cut, originally used 

 in his History of the Deanery of Doncaster. This altar is dedicated 

 to the Dese Matres, goddesses not known in the older Roman 

 Pantheon, but extensively worshipped at a later period in Gaul, 

 Germany and Britain. The inscription has been variously read: 



MaTRIBUS • MaGMS • NONNIUS • AnTONIDS OB • ROMANORUM ' TOTAM ' 

 AIiAM • VOTUM • SOLVIT ' LUBBNS * MERITO ' or MaTRIBUS * MaRCUS * 



