1830.] Body clothed in Hair found in Ireland. considered, the ermine could be worn only by the higher classes; that of the wild cat distinguished those of a lower grade in society. By the code of laws established by Howel Dola about the year 950, but which were in reality a concentration and revisal of laws far more ancient, the Clergy were permitted to wear catskin as a kind of fur or trimming, but nothing of greater cost, I could advance much more upon this subject, but enough I hope bas been said to show that whether the vestments in which this body was found enveloped, were of wool or hair, would not in any manner identify the period of the deposition of these mortal remains. The subsequent observations may, however, perhaps assist to explain the mystery in a manner still more satisfactory than the foregoing. Those who have been at the trouble of investigating the ancient records of the land, which have survived to our time, will be aware that the governing princes of Ireland were always chosen by the voice of the people; and that the only restriction was, that they must be elected from certain families denominated the Royal tribes or septs. And that among the number of those princes, one was chosen by all the States under the title of Erimoun, or supreme chief ruler; and it was the duty of this chief ruler to hear all complaints of the people against their respective princes, and if the alleged complaints were well founded, he was empowered to demand a force from each of the other princes collectively sufficient to subdue the tyrant, or to reduce him to a just observance of the laws established by the States. His life, except under peculiar circumstances of treason against these States, was safe; but if his oppressions over that portion of the people whom he had been chosen to govern, demanded exemplary punishinent, the Erimoun or supreme chief had the authority of those combined States to degrade him from the rank of princes. He was no longer allowed to wear the mantle or robe of seven colours by which the families of the Royal tribes were distinguished, and his beard was shaven off; and by this mark of degradation he was reduced from the rank of princes to the condition of a slave. It will presently appear that the hair thus shaven or cut off from such degraded rulers, has been manufactured into a 293 robe or vestment by the Erimoun or supreme chief, and worn by him as a testimony of his triumph over such oppressors. May we not then in this ancient custom identify the mystery of this circumstance which has excited so much curious speculation? In taking this view of the subject, it may be presumed that I am considering these remains of mortality to be those of a man. But if I should add that if it were otherwise, it would be no absolute proof against the probability of these conjectures. A body so invested in garments composed of hair might be that of a sovereign princess, who in like manner had triumphed over her enemies, and wore such robe as a testimony of her victories. It is true that the male line of the Royal tribes in Ireland were usually chosen to rule, yet at the same time there were exceptions. And did the limits of this inquiry permit, I could point out a family of the ancient dynasty of Irish princes, in which the line of succession had been in the female branch, and whose sirname to this day demonstrates the fact. And it may be added, that it was by the sirname only that those tribes were recognized or indicated, nor did the introduction of Christianity in subsequent ages occasion any alteration of the ancient custom; the reigning monarchs of Ireland were distinguished only by their sirname to the latest times. It was from these ancient laws of Ireland, with regard to female succession, that the laws of Scotland emanated, and even those of Britain took their origin. The renowned Boadicea, who so gallantly, though so unsuccessfully, resisted the Roman invaders of the country, is a demonstrative evidence of the right of female succession among the ancient Britons; nor was the right of female succession to the throne of Scotland, according to its ancient laws, more disputable than that of English princesses who have subsequently sat on the throne of Britain in conformity with the laws of England. Were I at liberty to proceed further, I could adduce sufficient proof of this right of succession in the female line deriving its origin in the first instance from the parental care of an Irish chieftain for his only daughter, in contradistinction to the laws of the neighbouring Gaulish states, which 294 On ancient Sepulture in Ireland. recognized only the male line, and of which we have an evidence in the laws of France to this day. Those conversant with the ancient history of that country need not be informed that the territories of modern France combine a number of the Gaulish states with the Celtic of Armorica, or Lower Brittany. This digression may be requisite, to show that whether these remains, or any others that may be discovered hereafter so invested in garments of hair, should prove to be those of male or female, will in no manner discountenance my first approximation. Perhaps in venturing so far into the retrospect of the ancient history of the land of Britain, my remarks may have awakened some attention. I hope they have; and that it will hence become obvious that there are other historians of this country that deserve consideration, as well as those whose names are more familiar, and that the testimony of those least known may best assist us in the research to which our attention is now directed. My attention so far has been confined chiefly to the customs of ancient Ireland, and I wish now to add that the testimony of the ancient historic evidences of the Cambro-Britons, prove that the customs and laws of these people bore a striking analogy with those of ancient Ireland. Nor will this similitude appear remarkable, when it is remembered that the dynasty of Irish princes had at an early period filled the throne of sovereignty among the states of Britain. It was this line of princes that gave the Britons their immortal Caradoc, better known as the Caractacus of Livy; and the Gael-na-Gael of Albanac, or ancient Scotland, which the Romans have so adroitly neutralized from the Gaelic language into Galgalus. We now approach a point which I conceive may tend in a great measure, if not entirely, to elucidate the mystery under contemplation. We read in those remains of ancient British history, the Triads, of a powerful prince of the Britons named Rhita-Gawr, who is ranked as one of the three opposers of tyranny, that is, of the wrong doings of petty tyrants, over whom, as supreme chief, he held the balance of power in Britain, like the Erimoun of Ireland: nor does it appear to be altogether improbable that he might be [Oct. himself of the race of Ireland, whom the Britons had chosen for the purpose of subduing rebellion among the native princes. Of Rhita-Gawr it is recorded that he had reduced a number of these princes to the rank of slavery, and having cut off their beards as a mark of degradation, ordered a vestment to be made of the hair, and which robe he wore as a trophy of his victories over them during life, and might possibly have been buried therein. If these remarks should tend to explain the mystery of the discovery of a body so enveloped in vestments composed of hair, I would further add, that the mode of sepulture among the Irish, as with the Britons, varied according to the circumstances of their death. The warrior who fell in battle, if his party remained masters of the field, was most commonly interred upon the spot, and “the stone raised over him,” i. e. the cromlech; or if the warrior fell in an unpropitious contest with unsullied honour, his body was generally ransomed from the victors, and deposited by his friends in some other place. There are instances on record of the body of a favourite chief or warrior having been ransomed for its weight in gold, and thus acquiring the epithet of a "golden corpse." This relates, so far as our information goes, to the Cambro-Britons, but it was probably the same with the Irish.' Among the monarchs of Ireland, we have an instance of one at an early period, who had died upon his bed covered with an outstretched skin of a marine animal that had been caught in the contiguous sea, and which I conceive to be a kind of seal. He died from the ill effects of the damp of the skin, and being sewn up in the skin, was interred therein. This interment of the body in the hairy skin of an animal of the seal tribe, would not be very different from that in vestments of hair. The whole collectively considered, seems to lead to a conclusion that these mortal remains which we have been considering, are those of a human being who had either fallen accidentally into the moss, or who had far more probably been interred therein; if the moss were not of more recent formation, and which to me appears to be the most plausible conjecture of either. The vestments composed of hair may further lead to 1830.] Circulation of Irish Halfpence.-Tessellated Pavements. some conclusion; for if it were of human hair, it would induce a persuasion of the high rank of the individual, and afford an evidence of an early age, though not of one so very remote as has been generally believed, nor for the same reason. I should have expected that some trinkets or regal indication of gold would have been found with this body; perhaps the aison, or crown of gold, for in those days with which we conceive we may safely identify those remains of mortality, that precious metal was abundant in Ireland; and the discovery of such regal ornaments in Ireland do happen occasionally even now. Yours, &c. Mr. URBAN, E. DONOVAN. Upper Southernhay, Exeter, Oct. 9. T is rather surprising that the LeIT gislature has so long suffered the Irish copper Coins to be disseminated in such profusion in England; and from the calculations I have made, the gain to such who are concerned in issuing them must have been very exorbitant. On this subject I beg the indulgence of a few observations in your intelligent publication. I do not recollect any period when the copper currency was so very abundant in the west of England as at present; a part of which is called Irish, and are distinguished by a harp on the reverse; these are considered by the public as imported from Ireland, and pass current without impediment or hesitation; on the obverse (1805) the portrait of George III. is not so prominent as the English coin, the forehead clumsily executed, the eyebrow unnatural, the nose more aquiline, the mouth smaller, the legend abridged, and the copper less pure. The dates are chiefly 1805, 1822, and 1823; but the 1805 is extremely predominant. Those with the head of George the Third look towards the left, and those struck for George the Fourth to the right. The weight is generally one third less than the English. In this city the payers of the poor pay on an average about 150l. per week to paupers; fifty pounds in silver, and one hundred pounds in copper; this kind of distribution has coniinued uninterrupted a long time; but the poor souls who receive it, would much prefer silver to the incumbrance 295 of such ponderous cash, especially the aged, decrepit, and infirm, who have some distance to creep with the weighty metal to their humble abodes; but they dare not complain! This mode of payment does not arise from any deficiency in silver, for the Corporation of the Poor may always be amply supplied with it at the banks; the cause is, that the conductors of the business are constantly disposed to accommodate a few publicans and tradesmen who are overladen with coppers. On my examining the coppers designed for the poor, it appeared that the harp coinage was on an average about one-fifth; though on my visit lately to London, I found the portion of harps much greater than in the country, seldom less than a fourth part and sometimes more. The number of Irish halfpence that make one sovereign are 480, which number of the Irish currency requires 84 lbs. of copper, which would cost about 7s. 9d.*; so that the public has only 7s. 9d. in the pound, whilst the manufacturer has for profits and working 12s. 3d. for every twenty shillings he circulates; but this is not all, for, in case the Hibernian copper money should ever be prohibited here, the possessors must consequently dispose of it for old metal at a loss of 75 per cent.; as by weight 20 shillings of such suppressed copper would scarcely obtain five shillings. Yours, &c. N SHIRLEY WOOLMER, Mr. URBAN, Aldborough, Oct. 3. taking up a recent number of the Colchester Gazette," I observed an account there of the proceedings of a late meeting of the Literary and Philosophical Society at that place, in which the lecturer, Mr. T. Grimes, delivered an Essay on the "Tessellated Pavement." The subject was treated in a manner somewhat novel and ingenious. How far the hypothesis of Mr. Grimes is founded on truth, I must leave to the more recondite inquiries of your antiquarian readers. "The number of the most splendid Ro Some variation in the price of copper does occasionally occur, but not so materially as to affect this calculation; for the immense quantity that has been used in this undertaking must have enabled the manufacturer to procure it at the lowest wholesale prices, so that it is more likely to be over-rated than under-rated. 296 Q. Elizabeth's Statue at St. Dunstan's.-Epitaph by Isaak Walton. [Oct. man pavements," says the account above mentioned, "that have been discovered in Italy, England, and various parts of the Continent, were then described by the lecturer; and the fact of their being frequently found in our Abbey and Cathedral Churches was adduced, as a proof among other evidence of their being thus commonly used in this country up to the 14th century. From this Mr. G. took occasion to suppose that it was not improbable, during the custom of flooring public edifices and sacred temples with the tessellated pavement, it might have become the practice also of adorning, in the same manner, the dwellings of particular or distinguished individuals; which hypothesis would account in a satisfactory way for the number of the remains of these pavements continually being discovered in so many and such widely different parts of this country. Though the Romans undoubtedly introduced the art into England, yet it is not certain that they took it away with them,that the British and Saxons did not perpetuate it here, or at least keep up the use of those pavements already constructed, as well as in succeeding times, derive the custom afresh, though in a limited degree, from its introduction into churches, &c. If so, the numerous floors of Mosaic work almost daily discovered, have not been so long in disuse as is generally imagined." So far as I recollect, the accounts we have of the variety and number of these pavements found in England, almost universally refer the latest use made of them to the period during which the Romans occupied Britain, or at most but for a short time afterwards. If I am not mistaken, most of the descriptions of them inserted in the Archæologia, and furnished of course by members of the Antiquarian Society, entirely pass over the inquiry as to when these pavements were last in usage in this country or on the Continent, or that they were so at all subsequently to the time above specified, beyond the common notion of their being laid or used in public and sacred edifices. F.A.S. the conduct of the authorities of that parish, who have sold her image by auction with the stones and rubbish of their devoted Church.* (See p. 363.) I need scarcely remind any of your readers of the history of this statue, which was placed in its present situa tion upon the demolition of Lud Gate, which it once adorned; and surely it reflects no credit upon the parishioners, or the inhabitants of the Ward, that they should allow this valuable relic to be lost for ever to the metropolis, brity, possesses fewer objects of antiwhich, perhaps, for its size and celequarian interest than any city in Europe. VIATOR. FER Mr. URBAN, Ashbourne, Derbyshire, Sept. 3. EELING confident that every thing connected with Isaak Walton must be interesting, I have taken the liberty of sending you for insertion the copy of an Inscription from a tomband faithful servant of that celebrated stone erected to the memory of an old angler. The memory of David Hookham has been handed down amongst the villagers in the neighbourhood of Cotton Hall, and many marvellous tales are related of him with the usual embellishments. David died before "Sacred to the memory of David Hook- brook; And life's clear waters as they passed on, Her Highness's effigy, which “the |