ARCHEOLOGY. 371 



Christian symbols. These hist have taken their place in science, 

 revealing, as they do, the commencement of Christian art, and a sym- 

 bolism especially peculiar to our country. A gold buckle, set with 

 red glass, reminds us of the importation of an oriental art. A small 

 balance, found, together with a sword, in a tomb at Severi, indi- 

 cates that the person buried there had been a judge. Necklace-beads 

 present curious resemblances to the most ancient art of the Phoeni- 

 cians, whose productions were found in the ancient tombs of Egypt 

 as well as in those of most European countries from the Crimea to 

 the shores of England. The arms consist chiefly of cutlasses, some 

 lance heads, and two axes. We may also mention four clay vases and 

 four in stone, worked by means of the turning wheel. Finally, the 

 epitaph of the young Laudoalda belongs to the end of that period. 



If we look at those objects, in connexion with their prototypes, we 

 shall see reason to be surprised at finding how few models have 

 been borrowed from Roman art, while most of them are found either 

 in the Gallic antiquities of the first iron age, or in those of Siberia, 

 preserved at St. Petersburg. 



F. Middle Age. — Only fifty articles belong to the middle age. The 

 most ancient, and perhaps the most precious, is a small reliquary of 

 sculptured ivory with silver leaves. That article was found in a 

 tomb in the court of the castle of Lausanne, and is connected with the 

 ancient establishment of St. Maire. Some church vases, in brass, 

 bear inscriptions, of which only one is clearly legible — Wart gelugk 

 ALL Zeit, be ahcays happy. These vases were much used during the 

 twelfth century ; they are found precisely the same from Syracuse to 

 Drontheim. A great number were made at Lubeck ; and in the north 

 of Germany I have seen some still employed upon the baptismal fonts. 

 A small stained glass circular window presents a subject of national 

 interest, the grue, (crane,) of Gruyere. I must further mention keys; 

 spoons; four seals, in bronze; a cutlass; a dagger; a lance head, in iron; 

 knightly spurs ; horseshoes ; halberds ; a crossbow, and some stat- 

 uettes, in bronze, of the time of the Renaissance. A capital, orna- 

 mented with a curious sculpture, found at Maladeire, near Montreux, 

 may take its place in the marble room with some fragments of the 

 architecture of the middle age, found behind the castle of Lausanne. 



G. Ancient Fire-arms. — A few specimens of fire-arms have been 

 placed in the museum, which may some day form a portion of an 

 armory room. The two pieces of the greatest national interest arc a 

 cannon and a mortar, in iron, relics of the great battle of Grandsau. 

 They were presented by Lucien Yalotton, of Vallerhes. Six muskets, 

 or fusils, are more or less ornamented ; some swords belong to the 

 latter centuries. Two cartridge-boxes with the crane are, no doubt, 

 of a time posterior to the counts of Gruyere. 



One of the ornaments of the armory wliich is yet to be created 

 will, undoubtedly, be the articles connected with the first Napoleon, 

 the gift of M. Noverraz, viz : three saddles, in velvet and gold lace ; 

 three bridles, plated with silver; three snafiles; four fusils; the key 



