6 
wide at the top. It need not be stated that the head was facing 
the south. When the lid was removed, we found that the chest 
which was of coarse sandstone, was lined with lead, which had 
a covering of its own. This lid is curiously ornamented in a 
corded pattern, and is the only specimen I believe of this kind 
of ornamentation that has been discovered in York. It varies 
considerably from the examples of the same kind of work that 
have been found at London and Colchester. The lid adhered 
very closely to the leaden shell below it, having been probably 
fastened down with cement. When it was removed a remark¬ 
able sight presented itself. To the height of three or four 
inches from the top the shell was filled with gypsum. The body 
had been laid in a shallow bed of this substance, which had 
then been poured in until it had covered the breast to a depth 
of a couple of inches. This gypsum had become gradually 
hardened, and took and retained, above and below, the impres¬ 
sion of the body which had mouldered away within it. The 
head of the body, however, was exposed, and had in all proba¬ 
bility been raised originally upon a pillow, which had removed 
it from contact with the gypsmn. The facial part of the head, 
eyes, cheeks, and nose, had given way, and in consequence the 
back part of the head seemed to be lying in the position in 
which you would expect to find the forehead. In this place was 
found a long folded tress, the back hair, in fact, of a young 
Homan lady. It might ahnost have been combed wdien it was 
first discovered, it was so limp. Fixed in it are two beautifully 
wrought pins of jet. By the side of what had once been the 
cheeks, and on the fragments of the skull, were other small 
portions of hair which have been preserved. The bones of the 
skull and body were all in pieces ; very little remained of the 
body or its garniture, save this beautiful curl. It is that of a 
young girl whose hair had never reached its full growth, and 
who was probably 15 or 16 years of age when she died. We owe 
its preservation probably to the careful way in which the coffins 
were seemed, and it is possible that the gypsmn itself may have 
exercised some preservative influence over the tress wliich was 
raised above it. There is a singular fact to be recorded in 
connection with this interment. The lid of the stone coffin was 
