20 PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. [anNO 1684. 



hogsheads, or wine-pipes, with bung-holes in them, about three inches dia- 

 meter. They were made of fir, above an inch thick ; each of them 6 feet deep, 

 and at the heads 8 feet in circumference ; and the compass in the middle 10 

 feet 4 inches. The wood was sound, but saturated with water. 



At the bottom about 5 yards deep, were 4 planks of wood in a quadrangular 

 posture, supported with a stone at every corner, to bear up the fabric, and let 

 in water through the gravel and sand, which lay loose in the bottom about a 

 yard deeper, as was tried by a spit, and these also sound, though the cover was 

 rotten, because less exposed to the air. 



There was only found in the bottom Fabritian plate, old earthen vessels, 

 with pieces of urns, one piece of a drinking glass, and several sandals, which 

 may serve to show the antiquity of it. 



The earthen vessels were of very fine texture, of a brick colour, and in 

 several forms; but most of them were like a basin or posset- cup; the bowl 

 was semiglobular, the foot a ring: some were in diameter about 8 inches, and 

 in depth on the inside, more than 3-i^, some more, some less. They were for 

 the most part, very finely embossed; but three more especially, viz. l. One 

 with a vine branch, having a figure in every turning ; and first, a naked man 

 standing on his left foot, the other leg a-cross, and holding his left hand 

 down towards his back, his right toward his belly, with a branch of laurel of 

 three sprigs in it, one of which turns up towards his face, over the crook or 

 bending of his arm ; and at his feet is a branch of laurel, and a blossom or 

 flower: in the next is a vine-leaf, two blossoms at the bottom; and at the top 

 two peacocks looking backward : in the next is Victory, as I take it, viz. an 

 angel or genius holding in its right hand a garland of laurel, the arm stretched 

 out, and the face looking towards the man; in the left a sprig of the same 

 tree, two sprigs hkewise at the foot, with flowers or blossoms, and one flower 

 in the middle between the garland and one of those sprigs. In the next is 

 a vine-leaf the same as before, then after that a victory, and so by turns, till 

 it ends with a vine-leaf next the man. Upon it are also some Gothic cha- 

 racters of the smaller sort, but dim and obscure. Another of these pots is 

 adorned with circles and semicircles ; in one of these circles is the figure of a 

 man, sitting on a plinth or square stone; in all the rest are fluttering genii. 

 In some of the semicircles are lions and goats, all single, and running: and 

 near the bottom are stags in course and greyhounds pursuing, with an inscrip- 

 tion, in Gothic characters of the larger sort, which seem to be the word Paulini. 

 An inscription, in the like characters, is to be seen at Burrowbridge, and pub- 

 lished by Dr. Lister. And the owners have been careful in preserving these; 

 for this and some others, having been broken, are soldered with lead. 



