61 
St. Egwin, Bishop of Worcester, about 692. Before he set 
sail for Rome, he caused a smith to make a heavy ring of iron, 
which he locked round his bare leg by way of penance, and 
then threw the key into the river Avon When he arrived on 
the shores of the Tiber, he fell on his knees and returned 
* thanks to God for his safe voyage. The legend goes on to 
relate how his attendants began to fish in the river, and soon 
caught a salmon, in the stomach of which they found the key 
which they had cast into the Avon before quitting England. 
7. A magnet, probably used for some talismanic purpose; date 
seventeenth century. 
There is a similar one, but of larger dimensions, in the Ashmo- 
lean Museum at Oxford. 
168. A richly-carved knife-sheath in ivory. 
This object corresponds precisely with, and is apparently the 
same, as that engraved in the 17th volume of the 64 Journal of 
the Archaeological Association,” where it is thus described:— 54 It 
is boldly carved in every part, one face displaying a Cupid per¬ 
forming on a small harp ; the other a nude figure wearing a morion, 
and holding an orange or apple in each hand, that in his right being 
raised towards the mouth. A short projecting tube is worked out 
on each side the sheath, through which the suspending cords 
passed. The lower part of the sheath is decorated with acanthus 
leaves, &c., and from the general design of the subject, it is fair to 
conclude that it was sculptured in Holland during the reign of our 
Elizabeth. It was discovered in forming the new Shad well basin.” 
CASE C C. 
Keys. 
The collection of keys forms a large part of the drainage 
discoveries. They include many interesting examples, ranging 
from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century. The latch keys are 
the most remarkable; the age of many of them might be 
questioned, if they were not known to have been found with other 
keys at least as old as the fifteenth century. 
During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries key bows were 
frequently of a lozenge form. In the fourteenth and fifteenth 
they were usually of a trefoil shape, and considerable varieties 
prevailed; when annular they were frequently filled in with 
designs, partaking much of the character of the architectural 
decoration of the period. In the sixteenth century keys became 
very varied, ornate, and fanciful in design. The passion for 
decorated keys reached its climax in the reign of Elizabeth; 
scrolls and cyphers, crosses and crowns, were then interwoven in 
the most intricate, tasteful, and ingenious manner. The keys in 
ordinary use about the commencement of the seventeenth century 
are much more simple in design. 
