In the afternoon we visited the Theatrum Anatomicum, or as it is called here and as is also written up over the door, the Schola Anatomica. For what we in Germany name auditorium they call schola, for instance: they say schola theologica, medica, juridica, philosophica, &c., for our auditorium theologicum, &c. In reality it cannot be styled theatrum anat.anatomicum as there are no seats. It is merely a great hall in which objects of interest, which partly do not belong here at all, are hanging around the walls, as, for example, works of art and so on. It could rather be called natural history museum or art gallery. Borrichius in Epist. ad Barthol. Cent IV. Epist. XCII. p. 525, says with truth that it is not to be compared to the Leyden Theatrum Anatomicum, although there are many beautiful things to be found here. We noticed the following: — A disgusting big head or skull of a walrus with great long teeth. A strange abortion of a calf which had been carried by a cow for many years and at last saw the light of day thus malformed. Two small loaves from the siege of Oxford, now all wormeaten. In a case, all kinds of Indian and other articles of dress, amongst them those from Davis StreetStrait of which Benthem speaks, p. 327. Also many other trifles such as a pair of boots which belonged to Augustus King of Poland and Elector of Saxony. An Italian lock, that jealous husbands in Italy put on their wives, and such like. Several very large calculi of men and animals, amongst which was the one mentioned by Borrichius. It is said to weigh two pounds, but is not nearly so large as a child's head. It was found after her death in a woman from Woodstock, not far from here, and cut out. The great corn or clavus, of which Benthem treats on the above-mentioned page 327. It looks more like a big nail than a bunion or com. Dr. Plot mentions it in his Natural History of Oxfordshire. Further on is one of Queen Elizabeth's shoes without a heel. The lower jaw of a woman, which has a large growth like a walnut. She is said to have got this from severe tooth-ache. A cane or stick, hollow and filled inside with quicksilver, such as some of the traitors carried to kill Charles I. When the traitors were discovered, all the prisoners were found to have the same weapons. A petrified, or rather incrusted, skull even larger than the one we had seen in Cambridge, though the stone or material was not so firm as in that, and the cranium was no longer whole. A plaster of Paris cast of a human foot which in place of toes had only two knobs or excrescences. The junior Librarian, Tho. Hearne, a young man still and a scholar, who is industrious and highly cultured, is in charge of this Schola Anatomica and shows it to strangers, but in these matters he is such an ignoramus that he gave out that this cast was the natural foot itself.

The Abbot of Kirkstal's Stirrup; it is of Cast Iron, the Sole seven Inches broad; given me by Mr. Pollard of New-Lath near Kirkstal. Spurs: One of Copper gilded, with a remarkable Neck, above six Inches long from the Heel to the Rowel. There is a Danish Spur of the same Length in the Bodleian Repository at Oxford; of which see Mr. Hearn's ingenious Discourse of Antiquities annexed to the first Vol. of Leland's Itinerary, p. 114. A Gingling Spur; it is of Brass, the Neck short, but Rowel very large, three Inches from Point to Point; the Danish Rowel hath six Points, this only five: That of Sir Ferdinando Leghs (of which before) hath twelve. Both these were given me by Mr. Sam. Smith Bell-founder. Another gilt Spur of a different Form from all the rest: A noted Antiquary tells us, that from their gilt Spurs, Knights are stiled Equites Aurati. (Selden's Titles of Honour, p. 437. & p. 474.) Of the Spanish Cavallero's de Espuela d'Orada, or Knights of the Golden Spurs, see the same Author, p. 575. Don. D. Godfr. Haddon. An odd Sort of a jointed Spur, with a six pointed Rowel, but not made to turn round as all the former do; and also those of later Times in-laid with Silver, of which here are two or three Sorts. There is almost as great Variety in the Buckles as in the Rowels, from little more than half an Inch to near three Inches in Breadth.

Of the tessellated Pavements, or Dice-like Squares of Stone or Brick, wherewith the Romans used to pave the Place, where they set the Prætorium, or General's Tent, &c. Here are various Specimens of different Sizes and Colours (white, red, blue, yellow, and black) and from very distinct Places; as from the ancient Isurium (Aldbrough) from a Quarter to half an Inch Square: Also some of a larger Sort, dark coloured and red, which I took from a checquered Pavement discovered there, An. 1702, within a Stable; these are an Inch Square. I saw the by Musaic Work (in May 1703) as laid by the Romans. Some of both Sizes as sent me Mr. Midgeley of Beverley, from a Pavement lately discovered in those Parts, which hath not yet met with a Person of Curiosity enough to give the World an Account of it. Four of those from the noted Stunsfield Pavement near Oxford, concerning which the ingenious Mr. Hearne hath a learned and curious Dissertation, annexed to the 8th Vol. of Leland's Itinerary. Lapides tessellati pavimenti apud Roxby in Com. Lincolniensi, An. Dom. 1699 reperti. Don. D. Rog. Gale Arm. The very Learned Dr. Gale, late Dean of Yorke, sent me two conjoined, and some of the painted Plaister from the same Place; of which see the industrious Mr. de la Pryme's Account in the Phil. Trans. N° 263, though the Passage of Dr. Lister's he refers to, is in the Phil. Collections (N° 4.) not Transactions. A Specimen of the Roman Plaister at Buxton, mentioned by Dr. Leigh in his Nat. Hist. (Lib. 3. p. 42.) Stones of the larger Sort from a tessellated Pavement discovered by the Reverend Dr. Pearson at Kirkby upon Wherfe, near Tadcaster: A Piece of eight of them with the Floor and Cement, as set by the Romans. Don. D. Gul. Pearson Canc. Ebor. Some of the smaller sort set in a finer Cement, sent me from Ireland by Sam. Molyneux Esq; with some Fragments of the Coralline and white Urns, which leads me to another Branch of the Roman Plasticks.

Such of their Bricks as have Inscriptions upon them, are very rarely met with: I have made a most diligent Inquest after those that Camden mentions at Grimscar near Eland, but can find no more Remains of them, than of the noted Inscription, Paulinus hic prædicavit & celebravit, at Dewsbury, which was not to be met with upon the strictest Scrutiny, I could possibly make, when I went purposely to the Place. This shews the Necessity of Repositories for such venerable Remains. But though those of the fourth Cohort are lost, yet good Hap hath brought to my Notice and Possession one of the ninth Legion's, which the learned Sir Hen. Savile in his Notes upon Tacitus, shews to have been in Britain in Galba's Time, and that it was also Hispaniensis; but that it, as well as the VIth and XXth, was also called Victrix, or that it resided at Yorke, was not known before; and yet both are evident from the Inscription upon this Brick found there, in Mickle-gate, not far from Trinity-yard, where was digg'd up the Funeral Monument of the Standard-Bearer of the said VIIII Legion (which Way of Writing 9 is frequent upon the Roman Monies); of which see the Phil. Trans. N° 305, and the curious Oxford Livy (Vol. 6. p. 181.) The said Sepulchral Monument was happily rescued by Dr. Bryan Fairfax, from the brutish Workmen who had broke it in the Middle, and were going to make use of it for two Throughs, as they call them, to bind the Wall; but by that worthy Gentleman's Direction it was walled upright, with the Inscription and Effigies to the Front, and is since removed to the Gardens of Sir Hen. Goodrick at Ribston. This Brick had been several Times made use of, with broken Stones and Brick-bats, by Mr. Smith in making Moulds for casting Bells. Upon my Enquiry after Inscriptions in that ancient City, he recollected himself that he had seen some old Letters, but thought the Brick was lost, though upon Search we found the Piece which is inscribed, LEG. I X. VIC. This is also an Argument of the Peace these Parts enjoyed at that Time, which I take to be the later End of Severus's Reign, making Bricks, casting up High-ways, &c. being the usual Employment of Soldiers at such Vacancies. Sir Hen. Savile was of Opinion, that this Nona Hispaniensis in Britannia, was one of those established by Tiberius, Caius, or Claudius, or peradventure in the later End of Augustus; but however, that it was certainly here in Nero's Reign, and that Pet. Cerealis was then Lieutenant thereof, is indisputably evident from Tacitus, (Lib. 14. cap. 10.) where he gives a lamentable Account of the Slaughter of Seventy thousand Citizens, and Confederates, by the enraged Boadicea, in which Number was the Foot of this 9th Legion, Cerealis with the Horse hardly escaping. I shall add a Passage in a Letter I received from the ingenious Mr. Hearne, of the Bodleian Library, because it relates to an Au thor rare to be met with in these remote Parts: "I am mightily pleased with the Inscriptions you sent me relating to the 9th Legion, there being now no Room to doubt about the place of Residence; a Thing which was unknown before; and for that Reason, those who have written about the Roman Legions, have said nothing about this, but leave us quite in the dark; only Ursatus [in his Book de Notis Rom.] does remark that it must be somewhere in Britain, because Tacitus tells us, that when the Colony at Camalodunum was destroyed by Boadicea; Pætilius Cerealis Legate of the IX Legion, came to their Assistance; but yet he makes no mention of its being stiled Victrix."

One of the Brass Instruments found near Bramham-moor, as the Servants of John Ellis, of Kidal, Esq; were plowing (An. 1709.) at a Place called Osmond thick; there were five or six of them of different Sizes, from little more than 3 to 4½ Inches in length, and from 1½ to 2½ in breadth; they are somewhat in the Form of a Wedge, as proceeding from a thin Edge, which after so many Ages is tolerably sharp to 1½ or two Inches at the thicker End, where they are hollowed to put upon a Shaft; each of them hath an Ear or Loop. Some suppose them to have been Arrow Heads, or Axes of the ancient Britains; others, of the Roman Catapultæ: I think they are as much too light for the latter, as they are too heavy for the former; and therefore take them rather to have been the Heads of Spears, or walking Staves of the civilized Britains; and though of different Form from those described by Speed (Hist. of Brit. cap. 6.) yet by the Loop in the Side we may better conceive how those Ornamental Labels were fastned than by the Pictures, as there exemplified. They are placed here amongst the Roman Antiquities in deference to the Judgment of the ingenious Mr. Hearne of Oxford, who hath bestowed an elaborate Dissertation upon them, which hath had two Editions, (Phil. Trans N° 322, and in the first Vol. of Leland's Itinerary.) He supposes them to have been Roman Chissels, used to cut the Stones and other Materials, that were judged serviceable for building the Camps. Another of the brazen Cunei, or Celtes, somewhat longer, and not quite so broad. A Tintanabulum, or Roman Bell, probably their Æs Thermarum; tis near a Foot in Circumference. Don. Rev. Geo. Plaxton.

Amongst the British Curiosities, I had formerly placed the Securis Lapidea, or rather Marmorea, sent me by Stephen Tempest, of Broughton, Esq; but the ingenious Mr. Hearne of Oxford hath bestowed a learned Dissertation upon it (premised to the 4th Vol. of Leland's Itinerary) to prove it rather Danish. It was found, An 1675, in an Urn ten Inches Diameter, and therewith a Brass Lance, and a Hone to sharpen it. The Mallet's Head is the most curious and entire that ever I beheld; it is of a speckled Marble polished, six Inches in Length, 3½ broad, and seven in Circumference, even in the Middle, where what is wanting in Breadth is made up in the Thickness, and is very artificially done, as if it had been a Roman Improvement of the British Work. It is wrought to an Edge at one End, though each of them is blunted with Use, and a sloping at the Side, in the Forms expressed in the Table adjoining, whereof one represents the full Side of it, the other the Edge, that the Eye for the Manubrium to pass thro' (which is near an Inch and Quarter Diameter) may be better discerned. I suppose it to have been a Mallet wherewith the Priests slew the Sacrifices, and fancied it to be the ancient British, rather than any later Inhabitants of this Island. It being reasonable to suppose, that the Aborigines in each Country, before the use of Metals was common, would make Use of Stones, Flints, Shells, Bones, &c. formed in the best Manner they could, to the various Uses they designed them. And it is usual for such Instruments or Utensils gratefully to retain even in different Languages, the Memory of the first Matter they were made of, as Cochleare a Spoon (though of Metal) because Cockle-shells were first used to the Purpose. So Candle-stick, or Staff, (for it is canδŗτæꝻ in the Saxon Monuments;) so likewise Hookes (Amos IV. 2.) in the Original is Thorns, with which they used to pierce Fish, before they had the Skill of applying Iron to that Use. And to give but one Instance more, the Sharp Knives (Joshua V. 2.) used in Circumcision, are by our Saxon Ancestors (who received their very Names from their Weapon Sex or Seax, culter, gladius) called ŗτœnene ŗæx (Mr. Thwait's Saxon Hept.) which in the Original is Knives of Flint, which is more agreeable both to those Parts of the World, where there was but little Iron, and to that Operation, wherein the Jewish Doctors say that sharp Flints or Stones were used. So, as to the Matter in Hand, the ancient Britains (with whom Iron was so rare, that Cæsar tells us, they used it for Money) made their Arrow Heads of Flint, and probably their Mallets for Sacrifice of Stone or Marble. But because I cannot easily allow my self to dissent from the learned Mr. Hearne, who argues that the Position of the Urn with the Mouth downwards is peculiarly used by the Danes, and that a Mallet instead of a Scepter was put into the Hand of their famous God Thor, "who was supposed to be a God of much greater Power than the rest, and therefore he was most esteemed, and the Honours paid him were more considerable than those paid to any besides. His Dominion was believed to be Universal, and the other Gods were look'd upon as subject to him. Nothing of Moment was undertaken or transacted without Addresses and Supplications first made to him. And it was reckoned a very great Honour to have Instruments made in such a Form as put them in Mind of him." Thus far I heartily concur with that learned and ingenious Author, and believe that their Sacrificing Mallets might be made in that Form, rather than any other Instruments, with respect to that great reputed Deity; and I do suppose this to be one of them, rather than a Battle-Axe belonging to a Soldier of inferiour Quality; for seeing their other Military Instruments in Metal are frequently met with, why should not also their Battle-Axes of Stone, the common Soldiers being the most numerous Part of an Army, it is therefore much more probable in my slender Opinion that it belonged to their Sacrifices before their Conversion to the Christian Faith. The Lance found in the same Urn is of Brass, scarce an Inch broad, but seems by its Tendency to a Point to have been three in Length. It is sharp enough to shave a Sabine Priest. The Cos Olearia is of a blewish Grey Hone, only half an Inch in Thickness, though three long, and near one broad, in all its Parts equal. There were also certain Instruments of Bone, but mostly reduced to Ashes, though not by the Force of Fire, but Effect of Time; the Ends of those that remained, were bored through with the same Instrument (as it seems by the Size) wherewith the Lance and Hone are, but for what Use they were originally designed I cannot divine, only an Inch in Length remaining; it tapers like a Bodkin, is but a Quarter of an Inch at the broader End. In the next Field was found near thirty Years afterwards an Iron Instrument half a Yard in Length, whether one of the Secespitæ of the Romans, who had several Stations in these Parts, or a Danish Weapon, I cannot determine. And of the same Metal an old Spur four Inches long; it was found 2½ Yards deep in digging for the Foundations of a Bridge. And in the Year 1700, a Brass Buckle or Fibula, with this peculiar, that the Acus is a fifth Part longer than the Diameter it is made for. All these Antiquities were sent me by the said worthy Gent. Ste. Tempest Esq;. Of a very curious Danish Spur, see the Description before, p. 482.