Arehceologia. 887 



each way, set in a silver coin about an inch in diameter. There 

 appears to be some donbt as to the character of the coin, but it is 

 believed to be the Scottish groat, a coin which first appeared in 

 Scotland under King David II. (1342 — 1371). The margin of the 

 Lee Penny is pierced for the insertion of a silver chain, at the end 

 of which is a ring, for the convenience of dipping it into the water 

 to be administered to the cattle. Mr. Cuming, in the sequel of his 

 paper, spoke of other charms employed against the cattle disease, 

 which are so many proofs of the extent of the alarm to which it 

 gave rise in former days. 



On the same occasion, Mr. Kell laid before the meeting a collec- 

 tion of coins, chiefly Roman, and a few other objects of antiquity, 

 found in the Isle of "Wight. The coins, as usual, ran through the 

 Roman period, and the only remarkable circumstance connected 

 with them is that there were among them a certain number of Greek 

 coins. This circumstance is supposed, by a train of reasonings 

 which we do not clearly understand, to be connected with the sup- 

 posed line of transit of the early tin trade through the Isle of Wight. 

 Greek coins have previously been found among Roman remains in 

 this country, chiefly in the southern parts of the island and at Exeter, 

 and there is no reason whatever why this should not be the case. 

 Many Greek subjects of the Roman Empire were no doubt in this 

 island, some of them, perhaps, merchants from the islands of the 

 Archipelago and the Eastern Provinces, and the coins found here are 

 such as were in circulation during the Empire. If any coins had 

 been left here at the period of the tin trade, by way of " Icbis," as 

 described by Diodorus Siculus, they would have been, in all pro- 

 bability, not pure Greek, but imitation Greek, that is Gaulish. 

 Among the other objects exhibited was a diminutive, but very ele- 

 gant, bronze figure of Mercury. The discovery of late years of so 

 many Roman antiquities in the Isle of Wight, shows that that island 

 was largely occupied by the Romans, a fact which we had a right 

 undoubtedly to expect, and probably the principal Roman establish- 

 ment there lay at Newport and in the immediate neighbourhood. 

 When the Saxons seized upon the island, they also appear to have 

 made this spot their head-quarters, and they gave it, from their 

 chieftain, the name of Wihtgara-burk, from which the modern name 

 of Carisbrook is supposed to be derived. However, the traces of 

 Roman settlement had probably disappeared aboveground during 

 the Saxon period, for the very names of the two towns which appear 

 to occupy Roman sites, Newport and Newtown, where Roman anti- 

 quities have also been found, are evidence that when they were 

 founded there were no existing towns there. These names are very 

 significant, and belong to the feudal period. The feudal barons 

 soon began to learn that the regular tribute derived from a corpora- 

 tion of free-traders placed under their protection, was far more 

 advantageous to them than the irregular and violent contributions 

 which they could levy upon traders who passed through their terri- 

 tory, and would of course on that account seek to evade it. They, 

 therefore, sought to draw into their territory commercial settlers, by 

 offering them a place to establish themselves, with the assurance of 



