55 



during the last eighteen of which he had ahundant leisure, 

 and the procuring of the articles was a source of amusement 

 to him during the greater part of that time. 



III. CLASSIFICATION OF THE ARTICLES. 



The collection, at first sight, appeared to be an indiscri- 

 minate accumulation of hardware rubbish, where articles of 

 various forms, whole or in part, were thrown together in 

 considerable quantities ; and, without a careful examination, 

 the whole might have been abandoned as spurious. An 

 attempt to reduce them to order exhibited their true charac- 

 ter rather better ; for it was found that there were buckles, 

 brooches, rings, pins, coins, hooks, needles, ornaments of 

 various kinds, and articles the uses of which are not known. 

 There are, in all, upwards of four hundred pieces, perfect 

 and imperfect, many of which are of a miscellaneous cha- 

 racter. It is remarkable that there is not among them a 

 single weapon of any kind, nor any thing that seems to 

 indicate a violation of the habits and scenes of peaceful life. 



The more important of these articles may be arranged 

 as follows : — 



Buckles, more than 100 



Eings, exclusive of fragments 20 



Skewers, or pins G 



Tags, or terminations of straps... 30 



Needles 3 



Needle-cases 2 



Brooches 3 



Fibulae 3 



Amulets, or beads 8 



Fish-hook 1 



Key 1 



Cross 1 



To some it will, no doubt, be surprising to find such a 

 large proportion of buckles ; but this surprise is the result 

 of judging from an erroneous standard. We are to bear in 

 mind that at the period to which some of the most modern 

 of these undoubtedly refer us, buttons were quite unknown ; 

 the various parts of the dress were attached by laces, by 

 tying, by straps of leather or of cloth, and by buckles. 

 They were a necessary part of the outfit, therefore, and 

 were used by men and women, by young and old, by civil 

 and military persons. They are the very articles, therefore, 

 which we should expect to find in a district which may 

 have been, or which must have been, inhabited for a long 



