40G PROCEEDINGS AT MEETINGS OF

10 to 14 ft. high, ami alK«ut la yards broad at its base. This is in its turn surrounded by a ditch from '20 to 30 ft. deep, but close to the bank only in a i)art of its circmnference, being bowed outwards at two points, so as to include two roughly senucircnhtr ph^tforms. The entrance ou the North side is through one of these platforms. It is by a notcli cut through the bank. There seems to liave been aii outer ditch, jiart of which is occupied by the old Ba.singstoke canal. Basing House stood ou the Eiisteru phitfomi. The central area seems to have been some kind of f^arden or " plaisjiunce." It was waUcd round, and much of the wall, of red brick, is seen along the axis of the bank. There can be little doubt but this very remarkable earthwork was thrown up for the defence of the stronghold of the Ports or their Sa.xon progenitoi-s before the Norman Conquest. The return to Southampton was not effected till a late hour. Wednesday, Axigust 7. The Section of Antiquities (Sir E. Smirkc in the chair) met at 10 a.m., and the Rev. J. P. Bartlett read a memoir on " Pomano-British Pottery found in the New Forest," which he illustrated by examples. A meeting of the Historical Section followed, under the presidency of Lord Henry Scott, M.P.; and, in the absence of the writer, a memoir ou "The Alien Priories of the Isle of Wight, and their seizure by King P^dward the Firet," by the Rev. E. Veuables, Precentor of Lincoln, was read by the Hon. Secretar}'. [This has been already printed at p. 1'30.] Mr. B. W. Greenfield then gave a discourse " On Monastic decorated 'Piles found in the South of Ham{)shire," whicii was illustrated by a large collection of coloured drawings. An encaustic tile found at Beaulieu some years since, bearing the insignia of Richard, King of the Romans, the brother of King Henry 111., hail been the moving cau.se of the lecturer taking up the sul)ject. He had found in the pavements of AN'inchester Cathedral, the Hospital of St. Cross, the churches of Romsey and Christchurch, and the ruins of St. Denys, Beaulieu, and Netley, si)ecimens of precisely the same tiles, made apparently from similar moulds. Coing over the whole series of illustrations, Mr. Creeufield discussed at some length their relations to each other, and their heraldic insignia and decorations, con- cluding by ap])ropriating the first-mentione<l tile from lieaulieu to Isabel, wife of Richard, King of the Hoiiiiius. In the discussion which ensued the Chairman, Mr. Parker, and Mr. Iliiitt eontril)uted some observations upon the Hubject. 'I'hanks having been voted to the respective aiithoi-s, an adjouninient was maiie. At 1 ]>.ni. a Kpecial steamer conveyed a jmrty to C(»weH, to visit the Isle of Wight. The morning had lieen so wet and Kt<jrmy that a telegram from the Mayor of Newport advised the postponement of the excur«ion; but this wa.s imj)oK.sibIe. The number of visitorH wuH cfmsecpienfly mucjj smaller tlian it would have been had the weather been more propitious. Foit uuately the weather cleared up, and a more beautiful afternoon could not have been desired. From Cowes the visitors jirocccded l»y railway to Newport, wiiere carriages were in rea«lincHH to convey them to the MuHCum — a small collection of early remains found in the island, housed in a very simple maimer; thence to the Town Hall, where the Corporation muniments and maces were dis- played to vi<'W, and to the Chiuih, a modern slruclure containing an