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SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF 
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(264 } 
PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES; 
RONDO, 1 78 
PTSHE Reverend William Gibfon has 
given this Society an account of ‘a 
Burial Urn, difcovered by fome labourers 
employed in raifing gtavel, at Colney, in 
Norfolk. This urn was depofited about 
three or four feet below the prefent fur 
face; it contained no coins nor any other. 
fubfance excepting burnt hones, afhes, 
and charcoal; and the earth in which it 
food was of a brown colour, refembling 
rotten wood, mixed with afhes of char- 
eoal, and pieces of burnt bone. It ap- 
pears from farther enquiry, that “iron 
fpear-heads, inftrumentsrefembling knives, 
a hkorfe-fhoe of an unufual fhape, and 
fragments of fmaller urns have, at dif- 
ferent times, been dug up in or near this 
pit. The parith of Colney is only five 
miles diftant from Colney, the unqueftion- 
able Venta Icenorum of the Romans, 
from whence a line, drawn in a north- 
weft direction to Brannedunum (Brancaf- : 
ter), an acknowledged Roman ftation 
alfo, where under the Comes Jitiorts 
Saxonici, vel traétus maritimi, the Dal- 
matian horfe kept garrifon, will pafs 
through Colney, Elmham, and South 
Creake. From this and other circum- 
frances,.Mr. Gibfon conjectures that thefe 
works may. be a few links of a chain of 
pots, fuch as would probably be efta- 
blifhed between a itation fo imporiant as 
that at Caftor and Brannodunum, which 
was obnoxious to “invafion from the 
Saxons ;, while, perhaps, a fimilar chain, 
through Caftieacre; where Roman remains 
arealfo found, might connect the Venta 
Icenorum with Caftlerifiog, an ancient 
and elevated fortrefs, overlooking one of . 
the. beft harbours in thofe parts, much 
expofed to piracies, in which the Saxons _ 
_fhewed themfelves great matters; where. 
alfo are apparent veitiges of Roman for- 
tifications, perhaps more ancient ; and 
where, according to Spelman, a coin of 
Confiantine the Great was dug up, and 
bropght.to bim. . ro: 
. Ata meeting“of the Scciety, held: De- 
-. -cember..11th, 1800, fome remarks were 
read from Robert Smith, Efg. refpect- 
"jac -a curious Gimmal or Gemmow Ring, 
- which had been dug up at Horfly-down, 
g) Surrey- 
This ring, according to -its name, ts. 
contrusied of twin or double hoops, 
which play withia one another, like links 
: -— 
of a chain. “Each: hoop: has one of ité 
fides flat, the other convex:; each is twifted 
“once round, and each “furmounted by a 
hand, iffuing from-an emboff-d fancy- 
‘work wrilt: or: fleeve; the hand. rifing 
fomewhat above the circles and extending 
in the fame direCtion. The courfe of 
the twift, in each hoop, is made to cor- 
refpond with that ‘of its counterpart, fo 
that, on bringing together the flat furfaces 
of the hoops, the latter immediately 
unite im one ring. On the lower hand, 
or that of which the palm is uppermoft, 
is reprefented a heart ;, and, as the hoops 
ciofe, the hands. flide into conta&t, form- 
ing, with theitt ornamented wrifts,a head 
of the whole. The device prefents a 
triple emblem, of love, fidelity, and.union. 
Upon the flat fide of the hoops are en- 
graven, ““Ujfe de Vertu; and on the.in- 
fide of the lower wrilt, the figures ** 990.”” 
The whole is of pure gold, and weighs 
two penny-yweights, four grains. 4, 
It is of foreign workmanthip, and ap- 
pears to be of no great antiquity, per- 
haps about the reign of Queen Elizabeth ; 
-and the figures were probably meant 
not to exprefs a date, but the artift’s 
number, fuch as we ftill fee engraven on 
watches. The following are among the 
obfrvations made by Mr. S. on this 
cecafion : a 
Rings, it is well known, are of great ° 
antiquity, and in the early ages of the 
world, denoted authority and government, 
which were communicated, fymbolically, 
by the delivery of aring to the perfor — 
on whom they were meant to be confer- 
red. This was the cafe with Pharoah | 
when he committed the goyernment of 
Egypt to Jofeph. 
In conformity to this ancient ufage 
the Chriftian church afterwards adopted 
the ceremony of the ring in marriage, ag 
a {ymbel of. the authority which the 
hufband gave the wife over his houfe- 
hoid, and over the’ earthly “goods, with 
which he endcwed her. © “~~. 
The gimmal ring is comparatively of 
modern date, for which we are indebted 
to the French, whole fkill in diverfitying 
the fymbcls of the tender paflicn has 
continued unrivalled, and in the language 
of whofe country the mottoes employed 
on almof all amorous trifles are ftill to 
be found. . .And it mul be allowed, that 
the double hoop, each apparently free 
yet infeparable, both formed for ba 
an 
