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were even more slow to recognize and appreciate
this class of their more remote national antiquities; and while
Celtic, Roman, and Medieval remains were zealously investigated,
the Teutonic were entirely overlooked. Now, however, they occupy
their proper position in archaeological studies; and on the
Continent, as well as in England, their importance is acknowledged
and appreciated by all educated persons who possess any feeling
for the history of their native country.
I will not, on the present occasion, enter upon a
review of the errors of past times in reference to the Saxon
antiquities of our island, nor trace the progress of that process
of careful comparison by which we have been enabled to correct
mistakes, to place the study upon a firm and rational footing, and
assist inquiry by accumulated facts. In the present stage of
research, to avoid retrogression, it will be sufficient for me to
refer to the works in which the subject .has been fully discussed,1
and accompanied by those illustrations which are so indispensable
in studies of this peculiar and; and I shall limit my remarks to
the additional materials which have been discovered, during the
present year, at Faversham, at Wye, and at Westwell; and (thanks
to the exertions of Mr. Gibbs, Mr. Thurston, and yourself) have
been saved from the disastrous fate which, in so many instances,
has befallen similar remains.
1 Menia Britannica, 1793.—Inventorium
Sepulchrale; by Bryan Faussett, from 1757 to 1773, printed 1856.—;Collectanea
Antiqua, 1843-1858.— Archaeological Album, 1845.—Antiquities
of Richborough, Reculver, and Lymne, 1850.—The Celt, the Roman,
and the Saxon, 1852.—Remains of Pagan Saxondom, 1855.—On
Anglo-Saxon Antiquities, with a Particular Reference to the Faussett
Collection ; by T. Wright, in the Transactions of the Historic
Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, vol. vii., 1855.-—Burial and
Cremation; by J~. M. Kemble, in the Archaeological Journal, Wo.
48. —Fairford Graves; by W. M. Wylie, 1852.—History and
Antiquities of the Isle of Wight; by G-. Hillier, 1856.—The
Burning and Burial of the Dead; by W. M. Wylie, in Archeologia,
vol. xxxvii., 1858. For a complete list, including foreign works,
see pp. 55,56, Inventorium Sepulchrale.
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