Archosologia. 153 



edited by Mr. Roach Smith, the most important work we possess 

 on the Anglo-Saxon antiquities of the pagan period, and the Volume 

 of Vocabularies, which throws so much new light on the antiquities of 

 the middle ages, both costly works, printed entirely at Mr. Mayer's 

 own expense. During now a rather long period of years, Mr. 

 Mayer has laboured in collecting what may truly be called a 

 princely collection of antiquities, at an expenditure of many thou- 

 sands of pounds, and all English antiquaries of our day will remem- 

 ber with how much interest they visited, and with how much new 

 and interesting knowledge they left, the tw r o large adjoining houses 

 in Colquit Street, which he had fitted up for the reception of his 

 treasures. But for Mr. Mayer's zeal and liberality, the celebrated 

 Faussett collection of Anglo-Saxon antiquities, taken chiefly from 

 the pagan cemeteries of East Kent, and forming one of the most 

 important of our early historical monuments, would probably have 

 been dispersed, while it now forms one of the gems of his collection. 

 He bought, we believe, the collection of antiquities of Mr. Rolf, of 

 Sandwich, the excavator of Richborough (the Roman ILutuipiai) * 

 Nor is the mediaeval portion of the Mayer Museum inferior in impor- 

 tance to that which contains antiquities of an earlier period, and it 

 must not be forgotten that his collection of porcelain, and more 

 especially of Wedgewood ware, is the most perfect in the world. The 

 Egyptian antiquities, and those of the Greek and Roman periods, 

 are also very rich and remarkable. The only condition which Mr.. 

 Mayer has placed upon this noble gift to the town of Liverpool is, 

 that it shall be preserved entire, and that it shall always preserve 

 the name of its donor. We can feel no doubt that the town of 

 Liverpool will show its appreciation of the gift, and of the spirit in 

 which it was given, by placing it in a convenient building, and 

 making it as accessible and useful as possible to the antiquarian 

 student and inquirer. 



The excavations in the Tkeveneage Cave, near Penzance, are 

 still in progress, and we hope shortly to be able to give a more full 

 and complete account of the results. Since we spoke of them last 

 month, the fragments of an earthen vessel, supposed by Mr. Blight 

 to be Roman, have been sent to us, and they are certainly not 

 older than Roman, but, on the contrary, they resemble rather 

 closely the pottery of the early "Anglo-Saxon period found in the 

 pagan cemeteries, examples of which will be found in Mr. Roach 

 Smith's Collectanea Antiqua, and in other works. Other fragments 

 have been found in the passage in the cave, described in our last, 

 which, as far as we can judge by drawings, are clearly Roman, 

 and there are traces of Roman occupation over the whole of this dis- 

 trict. The cave is situated above ancient tin-works ; and the valley, 

 which terminates just against St. Michael's Mount, was no doubt in 

 earlier times searched for tin. In the time of Henry VIII., ancient 

 bronze weapons were found here, as recorded by Leland. There is 

 a well-known Roman camp at no great distance, and numerous Ro- 

 man coins have been found in the locality. Within a quarter of a 

 mile of the cave, there was found, a few years ago, a stone bearing a 

 Roman inscription, built into the wall of St. Hilary Church ; the 



