6 The Thirty -'Ninth General Meeting. 



that its occupation by the Romans could be traced by means of coins 

 from the time of Claudius to that of Honorius, and that it seemed 

 to have continued an important station down to the end of the 

 Roman occupation, after which, but how soon after it was difficult 

 to say, it was overthrown and destroyed by the invading Saxons. 

 At the conclusion of the Meeting Col. Forbes, on behalf of one 

 hundred and twenty-eight Members of the Bristol and Gloucestershire 

 Society, presented a §ilver bowl and a purse of £80 to the Rev. W. 

 Bazeley, as some acknowledgment of his services to the Society in 

 acting as General Secretary for the last thirteen years. Mr. Bazeley 

 having replied, the Meeting terminated, and the Members proceeded 

 to the Corinium Museum, where the Curator, Mr. C. Bowly, pointed 

 out the chief objects of interest — almost all of them Roman remains 

 found in Cirencester itself. One of the two fine mosaics in the floor 

 is specially interesting from the fact that ruby glass tesserae are 

 found in the figure of Flora, for such glass tesserse are rare in mosaics 

 in England, and these upon being analysed proved to owe their 

 colour to copper, and not to gold, which until lately has been used 

 in modern times for the production of ruby glass. Mr. Bowly 

 also drew attention to the well-known acrostic inscribed on a tile : — 



EOTAS 

 OPERA 

 TENET 

 AREPO 

 SATOR 



which nobody has been able to satisfiictorily translate, but which 

 seems to have been a kind of charm used in many countries and in 

 different ages. 



After lunch the splendid Parish Church was visited, under the 

 able guidance of the Rev. E. A. Fuller (for Mr. Fuller's description 

 see vol. xiv., p. 136 of this Magazine), who gave a full account of 

 its history and architecture — as also of the very remarkable parvise 

 over the south porch, which is now known as the Town Hall, and 

 which forms such a conspicuous object from the street. This, he 

 said, had been considerably altered in 1S28. The blue velvet cope 

 of 1470 and the very interesting silver-gilt communion plate were 



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