Hiociefif nf Anllqaaries. 3t\J 



this most useful metal. In that case, the antient import- 

 ance and use of English tin must have been much greater 

 than hitherto supposed. But there is a more n)odern use of 

 this aUoy, which antiquaries have almost wliolly overlooked 

 or very imperfectly understood, and to which v/c sliould 

 beg leave to call their attention : we mean those engraved 

 plates on tomb-stones, and sarcophagi, vulgarly called' 

 brass, and many of them actnallv are of tlvat metal ; but 

 there are more, especially of those made iu the li2th, lath, 

 and 14th ceMuries, of this gun-metal, or an allov of copper 

 and tin. The churches at St, AllKins*, Watford, Sec. and 

 almost all parts of England, contain tombs decorated with 

 these plates, supposed, perhaps ci-roneously, to be of 

 Flemish manufacture. It is not improbable, indeed, that 

 those which are made of brass, and which are almost en- 

 tirely consumed with rList, niav be of foreign origin, while 

 those made of copper and tin have withstood the action of 

 the hamid atmosphere of vaults upwards of four centuries, 

 without any indication of oxidation or consumption by- 

 rust. 



On the same evening the indefatigable Mr. Lysons fur- 

 nished some curious items respecting the origin and history 

 of sugar. It appears that the antients had nothing but 

 honev; and that, till about the vcar G-20 of the present 

 3era, sugar-cane was wholly unknown. The discovcrv is- 

 ascribed to a Venetian, who called it cane-honey. It is not 

 above 200 years since refined sugar was first introduced into- 

 Europe from China by the Portuguese and English. 



January 16, the vice-president, sir IT. C. Engletield,. 

 bart. in the chair. Several curious extracts from his ma- 

 jesty's records in the Tower, bv Mr. Lysons-, vsere read, on 

 the prices of drugs and medicines during the reigns of the 

 iirst Edwards. 



January 23, the right honourabre the carl of Leicester,. 

 president, in tl>c chair. A letter from Mary de Medicis,, 

 ijueen of France, to her daughter, Henrietta Maria, queeiv 

 of Charles the First, was exhibited by Dr. Garthshoro. it 

 contained nothing particular, but merely a recommenda- 

 tion of the bearer U) her daughter's attention. According 

 to tlie usage of that period (1636) it was scaled with two 

 seals united by a narrow tape or ribbon. Several other 

 miscellaneous letters wer*; read, but which were of a na- 

 lurc and importance that do not call for particular notice. 



• See Brayley't Beaiuioj of Englaud and W'al.:.- 



