THE MINSTER. 
7 
matter ; it required time and opportunity. The scaffohjing erected 
for the restoration of the choir and nave after the fires of 1829 
and 1840 and subsequently for the renovation of the chapter 
house and other inaccessible parts, and especially for the cleansing 
and re-cementing of the windows during intervals in a period of 
nearly thirty years, gave facility for the required accuracy of in¬ 
spection and sketching. He also visited Canterbury, Salisbury, 
and Winchester cathedrals. This work was completed in 1859 
and remained in MS. for 58 years, namely, until its publication 
this year under the editorship of the late Dean. It is illustrated 
by 435 heraldic shields and devices, and includes 242 coloured 
shields of arms in the glass, 31 coloured on the walls and ii plain, 
and 92 sculptured in stone. Out of the large number, there are 
but few that he failed to identify, and with a few exceptions, the 
tamilies they represent are still unknown. Only a few of his 
identifications have been challenged even after the close attention 
and study that has been given to heraldr}/ during the past sixty 
years. 
For the pictorial subjects on the glass, he examined and made 
sketches of each of the 109 windows, which are chiefly of three 
and five lights. Details of armour are given, and also 30 heads 
drawn from the glass to illustrate the fashions. Each window is 
described with its ornaments, figures, subjects, inscriptions, and 
colour ; but no detailed account of the tracerv of the Great East 
Window is given. He ascribes to St. Agnes the legends usually 
given to St. Catherine. His work on the Minster Glass gives a 
mass of interesting information and is extremel}^ valuable ; for 
since he described it, most of the glazing in the windows has been 
taken out, restored, and refitted. 
In 1842 Browne had his attention directed to coins. In April, 
a labourer was making a trench for a watercourse from the De 
Grey Rooms in St. Leonard’s Place, when he struck into a deposit 
of Northumbrian stycas. The man, not knowing what they were, 
left them exposed, when they soon disappeared as workmen and 
others were attracted to the spot. The hoard of copper coins had 
been deposited in a wooden box which was decayed. The coins 
were mostly oxidised in masses and at first seemed of not the 
slightest value. There was about half a peck of them. Browne 
acquired some , 734 coins, which were examined by himself and 
also by Haigh, of Leeds. The collection was subsequently 
purchased by the Yorkshire Philosophical Society. The stjmas 
