Archæology.

ARCH ? OLOGY .

ANGLO-SAXON ANTIQUITIES . As extensive and very interesting discovery of Anglo-Saxon antiquities has been made by Mr . Akerman , secretary of the Society of Antiquaries , during the present autumn , at Long Wittcuhani , near Abingdon . It appears that about ten years ago the skeleton of a man , together with the umbo of a shield , a sword , spear & c . was exhumed blabourers engaged in diing the

, , y gg foundations of some cottages near the entrance to the village . The circumstance becoming known to the incumbent , the Rev . J . C . Clutterbuck , that gentleman obtained possession of these relicts , of which a description was communicated to the Archaiological Institute .

On a visit to Long Wittenham , in March last , Mr . Clutterbuck , at the suggestion of Mr . Akerman , was induced to excavate near the spot , the result of which was the finding of more skeletons , showing that the locality had evidently been the burial ground of an Anglo-Saxon population . Accordingly in the autumn , Mr . Akerman , with thc consent of the owner of the laud , and by the direction of the council of the Society of Antiquaries , commenced loration of the

a systematic exp spot . Guided by long experience in researches of this description , Mr . Akerman soon obtained abundant evidence of the nature and character of the interments , which are of two distinct kinds—the one by cremation , presumed to be the older rite of burial of our Anglo-Saxon forefathers ; the other by inhumation , or the burial of the body entire , the males with their weapons , the females with their ornaments

personal . Among the former are nearly a score of iron bosses of shields , a great number of spears ancl knives , ancl a sword three feet long , the blade straight , broad , and two edged . The spears are of various forms and sizes , and were found even in the graves of boys . In the graves of the women were found a great number of amber and glass beads , brooches of various forms , toilette implementshair insthe whirls of indles & cThese

, p , sp , . objects are very significant of a people among whom male ancl female relationships were distinguished by the " spear half" and the " spindle half . " The urns are very numerous , amounting to nearly fifty . They are of black pottery , and many of them are

marked with an ornament which distinguishes them from the earthen vessels of the ancient British , Roman , and lloinaiio-British periods . The skeletons were of large and robust men , some of then being of gigantic size and in a remarkable state of preservation , every bone being preserved entire . They were deposited in rectangular graves , averaging three feet in depth , and had once probablbeen covered with tumuli

y , obliterated by the spade and the plough at a later period . The chief interest attaching to these discoveries is the evidence they afford of an early settlement of an Anglo-Saxon population along these upper valleys of the Thames ; no one looking at these remains can doubt that they are those of a people who lived and died iu the same neighbourhood in whicli their skeletons have

been discovered , and that it is not the relics of a battle field upon ivhich Mr . Akerman has fallen . We are bound to add , that the owner of the soil , in this instance , has with , the greatest liberality acceded to all Mr . Akerinan ' s requests , and that the excavator himself has met with every assistance and kind cooperation from the inhabitants of the little village of LongWittenhamand especiallfrom its excellent

_ , y vicar , the Rev . J . C . Clutterbuck . It is proposed to keep this collection together , and to place it , for future exhibition , in cases provided by the Society of Antiquaries , on whose account and in great measure by whose support these researches have been undertaken .

LA FOXTAIXE . — " He came the other day , " said Moliere , " so abstracted as to ask mo to call with him on the Chevalier de Loraine , at ivhose funeral w-o had both been present the day before . He did not knoiv who wrote the Lord ' s prayer . " — " Now , I say that's too bad , M . Moliere , " siud La Fontaine , suddenly waking up . " You are telling of somo of my folli . s , but I ' m up to you . I do know who wrote the Lord ' s Prayer . " - — - 'AVho . " we all cried , knowing the kind , foolish , blundering vanity of the mam— ' .-Who . —to think I don't know . " — " Who . "— " Why , Moses . " MRacine had maliciousl him that fit to the

. y whispered answer question . >> e laughed till the tears ran down our cheeks ; La Fontaine goodhumouredly joining us . " I'll turn you all into beasts to-morrow , " ho said " you shall all figlu . ; n my next fable . "— "M . la Fontaine , " said tne iU . bu , " if you make us talk like the beasts in your fables , wo could wish no greater flattery paid to our conversation . "— " His beasts talk « ke angels , " said a critic to me , under breath ; " but he himself talks bke a beast , " -C ? . 17 . Thornbwy .

How To Do Good.

HOW TO DO GOOD .

[ From Rob Morris s Voice of Masonry ., ] BROTHER , the old moralist , Franklin , used to tell his grancL children , after he had passed the age of seventy , that nothing had ever so much influenced his mind for good , or made so lasting an impression upon it , as a little book , read when a boy , entitled " How to do Good . " In fact , he attributes to the impressions made upon his mind by that publication much of the large , stated , and protracted benefactions of which it is known Franklin through all his lifp was tho . author .

Nothing can be truer than that plain and earnest advice upon a theme like this is likely to be productive of good results , and we the more readily set about the preparation of our little essay on the subject stimulated by the remembrance of Franklin ' s and kindred cases . How to do good / as Masons is in reality our text . To encourage an effort on the part of every reader , we append Preston ' s not too

enthusiastic sketch of the effects of Masonry in the hands and hearts of the virtuous and the feeling . "Masonry" he avers " strengthens the mind against the storms of life , paves the way to peace , and promotes domestic happiness . It ameliorates the temper and improves the understanding . It is company in solitude , aud gives vivacity ; -variety , and energy to social conversation . In youth it governs the passions and employs usefully our

most ' active faculties ; and in age , ivhen sickness , imbecility , and disease have benumbed the corporeal frame , and rendered the union of soul and body almost intolerable , it yields a fund of comfort and satisfaction . " We never read this extract without a glow of feeling and a desire ourselves to do good to a society that offers so much of good to usand we have quoted it in the hope that thc same impression

, may be made upon thc minds of our readers , and they thus prepared for the following suggestions , How to do good . 1 . Go always ' to your Lodge when circumstances permit , and let your accustomed scat be so rarely found vacant that , when from necessity it becomes so , the brethren naturally inquire , "Is Bro . A . sick ? " Do you ask how thc attendance on a Lodge is doing good ? Wc answerit is placing one ' s self in thc way of

, good , and the opportunity will not fail to turn up . 2 . Drop always a coin , large or small , into the charity box . Who knoweth whether this or that shall prosper ? Your gift will be transformed into two blessings , one will wing its way to some needy soul , one will return to your own breast . 3 . Carry some little fact to the Lodge , some scrap from tlie Voice , some new thought or incident , and at a proper moment

read it aloud . It excites no comment , but look on the faces of the hearers . There is aroused intelligence . That fact is laid away to be handled again . That fact will be told in the family at home and among the neighbours . That fact may make four good men Masons . It may make six Masons better Masons . It may excite five men who never read anything on Masonic themes to seek for books and papers . Nay , it may lead the Lodge to ask

for similar facts ancl information at every meeting . All these ive have known to result from the fruitful influence of a single well directed thought cast at random into the Lodge . 4 . Check the hasty word and oath on the brother ' s lips as soon as you can do it privately . To do it publicly would produce evil rather than good . Kindly asking the man of passion to give you his private ear to him in a few wordslovingly expressed

, say , , that " you have a charge to keep , " and cannot and dare not neglect it . Then give your message , asking no reply , and leave the results to God . Wonderful , wonderful are the oil-time effects of this covenanted method of doing good . 5 . Point out the errors , but always one at a time , and in no dictatorial manner , which exist in your Lodge . What if your views are smartly opposed and laid aside ? it only proves that you

struck home , and at the next meeting perhaps your very opponents will be with you . Magna est Veritas et prevakbit . The truth will always win in a Lodge , and for the simple reason that the whole system of Masonry is organized truth . AVe have been in a Lodge beforo now so rickety and near its dissolution that the brethren of which it was composed were fly ing about orbitless , and in dire confusion . We have thrown , as it were , headlong omitted heretofore

into that Lodge some central truth , somehow in the building , and lo ! the lost truths ranged themselves naturally and promptly around it , and by the intelligent appropriation ofthe Master , who had only needed a little Masonic light to make him everything that is useful and honourable , that Lodge became , what every Lodge was intended to be , a burning and a shining light . So much for pointing out an error . Do it at every meeting as for the sake of doing good .