There were various other curiosities, which I fancied were safe
in my memory, but they do not now come uppermost.
To return to my to-day's progress through the Museum;--next to the
classic rooms are the collections of Saxon and British and early English
antiquities, the earlier portions of which are not very interesting to
me, possessing little or no beauty in themselves, and indicating a kind
of life too remote from our own to be readily sympathized with. Who
cares for glass beads and copper brooches, and knives, spear-heads, and
swords, all so rusty that they look as much like pieces of old iron hoop
as anything else? The bed of the Thames has been a rich treasury of
antiquities, from the time of the Roman Conquest downwards; it seems to
preserve bronze in considerable perfection, but not iron.
Among the mediaeval relics, the carvings in ivory are often very
exquisite and elaborate. There are likewise caskets and coffers, and a
thousand other Old World ornamental works; but I saw so many and such
superior specimens of them at the Manchester Exhibition, that I shall say
nothing of them here. The seal-ring of Mary, Queen of Scots, is in one
of the cases; it must have been a thumb-ring, judging from its size, and
it has a dark stone, engraved with armorial bearings. In another case is
the magic glass formerly used by Dr. Doe, and in which, if I rightly
remember, used to be seen prophetic visions or figures of persons and
scenes at a distance.
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