that there does not appear to be any religious symbolism, either in the 
design or their arrangement, though Mr. Ward thought that the tiles 
might contain an allusion to the chequered path of life, and that the 
narrow course in one part of the church might typify the straight gate 
and narrow road which lead to heaven. 
Mr. Pritchett called attention to the revival of the manufacture of 
encaustic tiles in modern times, especially by Mr. Minton, of the 
Staffordshire Potteries, and produced a number of patterns of his 
workmanship, far exceeding in colour and design any remains of 
mediaeval art. 
December.—The Rey. J. Kenrick read a paper on the Sarco¬ 
phagus of a king of Sidon, called Asmunezer, recently discovered in 
the neighbourhood of that city, and exhibited a facsimile of the 
inscription, in the Phoenician character, with a transcript in Hebrew 
and a translation by Dr. Dietrich, Professor at Marburg, in Germany. 
The first part contains a warning against the violation of the tomb, 
enforced by a variety of imprecations; the second, an account of the 
great works which the king had performed for Sidon, and a supplica¬ 
tion to the “ Lord of kings” on behalf of its inhabitants. The age 
of the monument is not easily ascertained, as the name of 
Asmunezer does not occur in any list of kings, and he dates by his 
own regnal years. But it is probable that he lived between the 
conquest of Phoenicia by Cambyses, 526 B.C., and that by Alexander, 
S32 B.C., therefore during the time when the kings of that country 
enjoyed their titles and power, though dependent on Persia. The 
language is closely allied to the Hebrew, and several instances of 
correspondence between this inscription and the Scriptures were pointed 
out. 
January, 1856. — A drawing was exhibited of an altar, 
recently deposited in the Museum of the Yorkshire Philosophical 
Society, by Geo. J. Jarratt, Esq., of Doncaster, in whose house it was 
found in 1781. By the kindness of the Rev. Joseph Hunter, Y.P. S.A., 
the Society is enabled to give the annexed wood-cut, originally used 
in his History of the Deanery of Doncaster. This altar is dedicated 
to the Dese Matres, goddesses not known in the older Roman 
Pantheon, but extensively worshipped at a later period in Gaul, 
Germany and Britain. The inscription has been variously read: 
Matribus • Magnis • Nonnius • Antonies ob • Romanorum • totam • 
ALAM • VOTUM * SOLVIT * LUBENS * MERITO * Or MaTRIBUS * MaRCUS * 
