30 



the Bayeux Tapestry, illustrative of the paper on English 

 Armour, read by Mr. Pidgeon at last meeting. 



Mr. Pidgeon exhibited a large Silver Medal, by J. 

 Blum, struck May 16th, 1641, to commemorate the 

 marriage of William, the second Prince of Orange, with 

 Mary, eldest daughter of Charles I. The issue of this 

 marriage was a posthumous son, afterwards William III. 



Mr. Pidgeon also exhibited a curious Pocket Dial, 

 and Tobacco Stopper, found several years ago in excavating 

 on the site of the Monastery of Lion, near Brentford, 

 Middlesex. The Tobacco Stopper was formed by joining 

 a shank to a medal of brass, having on one side a head, 

 with the motto, " Moriendo reatituit rex ecclesiam ;" and 

 on the other, a head with a papal crown, which, when 

 reversed, became a fiendish head, with the motto, " Ecclesia 

 perversa tenet faciam Diaboli." The dial consists of a 

 circular brass box, with an inner rim, on which are 

 marked the numbers 4 to 12, and up to 8. The needle 

 turns on a pivot, and is apparently intended to be fixed by 

 passing through a hole in the bottom of the box. 



THE TAPER FOR THE EVENING WAS : 



" A PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF AN EXCURSION TO THE 

 HOSPICE OF THE GREAT ST. BERNARD." 



By Dr. Hibbert Taylor. 



After a few introductory remarks, descriptive of Alpine 

 Scenery, and the feelings which it tends to awaken in those 

 who are alive to the beauties and grandeur of external 

 nature, the Author gives a brief historical sketch of the 

 Hospice. 



Its earliest founder was Charlemagne, in 768, according 

 to some — Louis le Debonnaire, in 814, according to others ; 

 or, more probably still, Bernard an illegitimate son of 

 Pepin, who inherited the kingdom of Italy from Charle- 

 magne, and whose interest it would be to preserve a com- 

 munication with Gaul by this passage of the Alps. There 

 is evidence that a monastery existed on the Great Saint 

 Bernard previous to the reign of Alfred the Great of Eng- 

 land, in 872. The present Hospice was founded in 962, 

 more than twenty years before the time of Hugh Capet, by 

 Bernard, who was born of a noble family in Savoy. After 

 suffering many alternations of fortune, the Hospice, in 1 180, 

 reached its climax of riches and importance, when it pos- 

 £ °d no fewer thin ninety-eight cures, besides priories, 



