122 ANTIQUITIES OF NORTHUMBERLAND.. 



like a tea-board, twenty inches long, and fifteen broad, hollowed 

 about an inch deep, with a flat brim an inch and a quarter broad, 

 neatly flowered with a vine full of' grapes, &c. Under the mid- 

 dle of it was a low frame, about feveii inches long, four broad, 

 and one and a half deep. This was broken off by the Smith. 

 The following curious account of the fculptures, and of the ufe 

 of it, was given in a letter to Mr. Cay of New cnftle, -by that learned, 

 and eminent antiquary, Roger Gale, Efq. 



" I fhall begin from the right hand of the plate as you look at 

 " it, where Apollo, the principal figure in the whole plate, is 

 " placed under a fmall Temple, or Fanum, fupported by two 

 " wreathed columns with flowered capitals, almoft naked, hav- 

 " ing only a Pallium hanging down from his left fhoulder over 

 " his back : In the fame hand is his bow, which he holds up to- 

 " wards the top of the column on that fide ; his right is extended 

 " downwards with a branch in it, perhaps of laurel, crofs the 

 " other pillar ; againft which rifes a pyrimidical pile of eleven 

 " pieces, befide the top ; for what it is intended I muft confefs 

 " my ignorance. Againft the bafis of the left hand-column refts 

 " a Lyre, whofe form is truly antique : beneath it grows a plant 

 " with three fpreading flowers upon its three extremities, de- 

 " figned, as I believe, for a Heliotrope, and clofe by it couches a 

 " Griffin with its wings elevated over its back. The antients had 

 u a high opinion of the fagacity of this fictitious animal, and 

 " therefore confecrated it to their God of Wifdom. In Bergerus's 

 " Thefaurus Palatin. is a medal of Commodus,- the reverfe whereof 

 " is Apollo drawn in a chariot by two Grffins, and the poet Clau- 

 " dlan alludes to his manner of riding thus in the following 

 " diftich. 



' At 



