66 Society of Antiquaries. 



Arabic: "Dominion to God; he is the only, the victo- 

 rious." An old engraving of the gothic church of Milan, 

 and the dome of the church at Pisa, were exhibited. 



The reading; t)f Mr. Greathead's dissertation on the abori- 

 ginal Biitons was concluded. The author, from an exten- 

 sive view of the facts, established the following conclusion : 

 that the first inhabitants of Britain were neither Celts, Scan- 

 dinavians, nor Gauls ; but Cantabrians, originally and di- 

 rectly descended from aboriginal Spaniards. He traced the 

 manners of the people of Cornwall and those on the oppo- 

 site coast of Brittany, and also the particular district in Eng- 

 land where he conceived the Cantabrians had originally set- 

 tled, whence they migrated to Ireland : the latter island, he 

 observed, was never visited by the Romans, and consequently 

 its manners and language were unknown to them. The 

 great similarity between the Irish and the modern Spaniards 

 of Biscay, the descendants of the fierce Cuntahri, tends 

 considerably to confirm the author's plausible hypothesis. 



Feb. 12. The earl of Leicester, president, in the chair. — r 

 Mr. Lysons read some extracts from the public records, par- 

 ticularly a letter from Richard III. to the lord chancellor, 

 bishop of Lincoln, in which that monarch describes the 

 character and conduct of Buckingham, and declares his de- 

 termination of having him executed as a traitor; which he 

 soon after effected. In this curious letter he required and 

 received the great seal from the bishop, and kept it himself 

 from the month of October till the n;iddle of the following 

 year, during which time he issued seyeral orders as chan- 

 cellor, and established many useful institutions ; after which 

 he delivered up the great seal, it appears, not to the same 

 but to another bishop of Lincoln. This letter, accompanied 

 by Mr. I^ysons's remarks, tends to give us a much more fa- 

 vourable idea of Richard's character 'than is usually enter- 

 tained. 



Feb. 19. This society was occupied in choosing a secre- 

 tary and member of its council in the place of the late Mr. 

 Brand. There were three candidates; Mr. Carlisle, Mr. 

 C. F. Dlbdin, and Mr. Coxe : the former of whom was 

 elected by a great majority. 



FRENCH 



