Monday 7th. Arrived at the Musm. at ¼ past ten. Stayed
till past 4. Went to Squibbs, the Auctioneers, in Saville Row,
to look at a library of books he is to sell to tomorrow & following
days. They are chiefly numismatic, & were collected by Mr
Edw. Hodsoll, the banker (who also had an extensive & valuable
collection of English coins, which were bought by Mr Tyson for
£50,000: (ut dicitur), and at his death, came with his large
property, to his only daughter. This lady, after having arrivd
at a certain period of life, i.e. tolerably ancient, was fool enough
to marry Morgan the Upholsterer, of Catherine St. & her money
went to pay her husband’s debts! Morgan is now dead – and
the widow being left without a shilling, sells these books to raise
a little money. Such is the account I have received. I
found many of the work on Coins good, & I mean to be present
on Wednesday. There was one fine MS of ^the X.th Centy. contg.
Eutropius & Paulus Diaconus. From a note at ^the commencement,
it is sd. to have been purchased at Dr. Askew’s sale for £10.10.0.
At the Musm. today, Ellis shewed me an extremely
curious
seal (wax) ^made about the time of Edwd. 2. and which by the label
still attached to it, appeared to have been appended to a deed.
It is an extreme curiosity from the ^phallic subject delinated on it,
& has an inscription round the border in Gothic capitals,
but which I did not examine sufficiently to ## decipher.
Ellis conjectures it was given to Combe (from whose stores it
now proceeds to be deposited in the Musm.*) by Payne Knight,
who was fond of collecting such articles. My own opinion is,
that it is the impression of an antique gem (similar to many
of those in Veneres et Priapi, uti in gemmis observantur#######) which
it is far from uncommon to find used on#### Seals in anc’t
deeds. I have drawings of two or three from among the
collectn. in Harding’s MS.*, the famous seal of St. Oswald,
bearing the head of Jupiter Serapis, is well known, & I cd.
mention others. The inscription, whatever it is, must have
been added by the ^medieval owner of the seal. The wings may be illustrated
from the Epigrams at the end of Petronius Arbiter, Edit.
Hadrianidis. From recollection I have preserved a sketch
of this singular seal: of the natural size: or a little larger.
* Query. Was it ever deposited there?
* See notice of the MS. in Journals for 1820. p. 301
and 1823. p. 195.
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