125 



The Plough, the Loom and the Anvil : Vol. II. No. 8. Feb. 1850. 

 Philada. 8vo. — Fi-om the Editor, J. S. SJcinner, Esq. 



Memoria Historica — Critica sobre el Gran Disco de Theodosio, en- 

 contrado en Almendralejo; — leida a la Real Academia de la 

 Historia, por su anticuario Don Antonio Delgado, en la junta or- 

 dinaria de 9 de Setiembre, de 1848. Madrid. 1849. 8vo. — 

 From the Royal Academy of History, Madrid. 



William Penn and Thomas B. Macaulay : being brief Observations 

 on the Charges made in Mr. Macaulay's History of England, 

 against the Character of William Penn. By W. E. Forster. 

 Revised for the American edition, by the Author. Philada. 1850. 

 8vo. — From Dr. Benjamin H. Coates. 



Mr. Trego called the attention of the members of the Soci- 

 ety to the very interesting Memoir of Don Antonio Delgado, 

 upon the disc of the Emperor Theodosius, presented this even- 

 ing, from the Royal Academy of Madrid. 



This memoir is in the Spanish language, and contains a very mi- 

 nute and interesting account of a curious relic of antiquity, which, 

 after having lain buried, as the author thinks, for fourteen centuries, 

 has been recently brought to light. 



It was found near Almendralejo, a town in the province of Bada- 

 joz, situated four leagues south of Merida, and nine leagues from the 

 city of Badajoz, in Spain, not far from the frontier of Portugal. It 

 was discovered by a labourer who was clearing a piece of ground 

 for cultivation, and who, in digging, perceived that the instrument, 

 with which he was working, struck against some metallic body. Be- 

 ing disinterred, it proved to be a disc, or circular plate of silver, hav- 

 ing a diameter of thirty-two inches, and weighing five hundred and 

 thirty-three ounces and five-eighths. On one of its sides are repre- 

 sented a Roman emperor and other figures and emblems, in bas 

 relief, with an inscription around the border. Accompanying the 

 memoir is an engraved representation of this side of the disc, and 

 the memoir itself contains an elaborate and learned investigation of 

 the purport of the figures, emblems and inscriptions. Among other 

 important results of his examination, Senor Delgado arrives at the 

 following : 



That this disc was constructed by order of the Emperor Theodo- 

 sius the Great, on the day of the celebration of his quindecennalia, 

 the 19th of January, in the year 393 of the Christian era. 



That this public act took place, if not on the same day, within a 



