combs as to have occasionally given its own name to them. Thus Martial says:

"Quid faciet nullos hic inventura capillos,

Multifido buxus quæ tibi dente datur?"

Wooden combs have naturally for the most part perished, but fragments have occasionally been found. Combs, both of bronze and iron, of the

Roman period, have also been discovered. The greater part, however, both of that and of the Saxon period, which have been exhumed, are of bone and ivory.

Châtelaines or girdle-hangers consist of a bunch of small implements of various kinds-keys, tweezers, scissors, tooth-picks, ear-picks, nail-cleaners, etc., and ornaments of one kind or other-hung on a chain or frame, which being attached to the girdle hung down by the side to the thigh, or, in some instances, evidently as low as the knee. The various instruments are of silver, bronze, or iron, and are generally, the iron especially, corroded into

ΑΛΛΑ

an almost shapeless mass; the silver and bronze, being more endurable, are better preserved. A bunch of what is supposed to be three latch-keys occurs in one example, and in the engraving below (Fig. 301) are two curious objects, the use of which has probably been to hang small instruments on,

Figs. 301 and 302.

to attach them to the girdle. For the same use, probably, are the curious and somewhat puzzling objects which are shown in Fig. 302. They are found in pairs, attached at the top, and vary much in the pattern of the lower extremities. Probably the girdle passed through the upper part, and keys

and other objects would be hung on the lower ends. A large variety of girdle ornaments have been found in different districts.

Of locks and keys, scales and weights, and many other articles, it will not be necessary to speak at further length than simply to note that they are sometimes found in Roman and Saxon graves. Bells-small hand-bells-too, are found in the graves of women. They are of bronze or iron, and of the rectangular form so characteristic of Saxon bells of larger size. Bone counters, or draughtsmen, and dice of the Saxon period are occasionally met with.

Mirrors of metal are found in Roman graves, and

Fig. 303.

occasionally in those of Saxon times. Shears or scissors of iron, some of which are of precisely the same form as our modern sheep-shears, and others of the shape of scissors of the present day, are of not unfrequent occurrence. The usual form of tweezers is shown in Fig. 303. They are of bronze, and are said to have been used for pulling out superfluous hairs from the body. They, with the scissors, were frequently worn attached to the girdle, along with other instruments.

Buckets, appropriately so called from their close

resemblance in form to our modern buckets, are small wooden vessels bound round with hoops or rims of bronze or silver, more or less ornamented, and have a handle of the same metal arched over

their tops. Of course the staves of ash, of which they were composed, are nearly decomposed, the hoops, handle, and mountings alone remaining. They vary much in size; one from Bourne Park had the lower hoop twelve inches in diameter, and the upper one ten inches, and the whole height

appears to have been about a foot; the handle was hooked at its ends exactly the same as in our present buckets, and fitted into loops on the sides; it had three looped bronze feet to stand upon. Others only measure four or five inches in diameter. The example (Fig. 304), found in Northamptonshire, is composed of three encircling hoops of bronze, and has its handle and attachments also of the same metal. One found at Fairford is three inches in height, and four inches in diameter. The hoops and mountings are of bronze. Another, from Brighthampton had its metal mountings of an unusually ornate character. The wood, too, was in great measure preserved. Of the use of these utensils nothing certain, of course, is known, but it is conjectured they were used for bringing in mead, ale, or wine, to fill the drinking-cups-the objection to this as a general rule being their very small size. "The Anglo-Saxon translation of the Book of Judges (vii. 20) rendered hydrias confregissent by 'zo-brocon pa bucar,' i.e. they broke the buckets.' A common name for this vessel, which was properly called buc, was ascen, signifying literally a vessel made of ash, the favourite wood of the AngloSaxons."