32 
of the inscription a small branch is represented, probably the shrub 
whence the olibanuni was derived. An exploration of the cemetery 
of Uriconiiim without the walls has been begun, which promises to he 
productive of interesting results. 
December 3.—A notice by the Rev. J. Kenrick was read of a 
series of Casts, from inscriptions made by state prisoners in the 
Beauchamp Tower, Tower of London,* presented to the Society by 
Lady Frankland Russell. They are nearly all of the reigns of Henry 
VIII., Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth. The civil and religious 
history of the sixteenth century shows sufficiently why so many 
eminent persons were confined in the Tower, commonly as a prelim¬ 
inary to their execution. Henry VIII. visited with equal severity 
those who denied his own supremacy or the real presence. The 
Pilgrimage of Grace, the overthrow of the Duke of Somerset in 1551, 
the attempt to place Lady Jane Gray on the throne, Wyatt’s rebellion, 
the machinations of the Roman Catholics and the partizans of the 
Queen of Scots against Elizabeth, all in their turn brought prisoners 
to the Beauchamp Tower, many of whom have recorded their names, 
their armorial bearings, and the refiections which captivity and the 
prospect of death inspired. Among the most remarkable are Adam 
Sedbergh, the last Abbot of Jervaulx ; Dr. Abel, who denotes him¬ 
self by a rebus, A and a bell; the Duke of Northumberland, and 
Lady Jane Gray ; the nephews of Cardinal Pole, and several Roman 
Catholic priests. Some of the inscriptions are in Italian, a language 
which our literary history shows to have been then extensively difiused 
in England. 
December 3.—W. Procter, Esq., F. C. S., read the first part of 
a paper “ On the decay of Building Stones, and the means proposed 
for its prevention.” After some introductory observations, he said 
that stones used for buildings were of four kinds—1st, granites and 
other igneous rocks ; 2nd, sandstones; 3rd, limestones ; 4th magne¬ 
sian limestones. He described the mineralogical and lithological 
characters of those varieties, alluding at the same time to some of the 
circumstances under which they decay, and drawing especial attention 
to the importance of crystallization in limestones, and the manner in 
which they were put in a building, in relation to their planes of lami- 
* See a paper by tbe Rev. Mr. Brand, Secretary of the Society of Antiquaries, 
in the Ai’cheeologia, vol. xiii. 
