Chapter XVIII: Appendix: A

THE FIRST PUBLISHED NOTICE OF THE ALFRED JEWEL

(pp. 25 and 144)

The following is an Article in the _Philosophical Transactions_ of the Royal Society of London, vol. xx, No. 247, page 441:—

_Part of a Letter from Dr. Musgrave, Fellow of the College of
Physicians and R. S., to Dr. Sloane; concerning a Piece of
Antiquity lately found in Somersetshire._

I enclose, to you, the Figure (see Fig. 4) of a curious piece
of Antiquity, lately found near Ashelney in Somersetshire; the
Place where King Alfred built, as Milton affirms, a Fortress: But
according to William of Malmsbury, a Monastery; in Memory (as some
have thought) of his Deliverance, obscure Retreat to that Place, and
Concealment in it, from the Danes.

The Substance is in the Possession of Col. P. of Fairfield in the
same County; by whose Permission, I had the Sight of it. ’Tis of the
same Length and Breadth with the Figure: the Work very fine; so as to
make some Men question its true Age: But in all probability, it did
belong to that great King, it is so well represented in the Figure,
that a short Description will suffice.

The Edge is thin, as far as the Letters. The Letters are on a Plane
rising obliquely. All within the inner Pyramidal Line is on a Plane
equi-distant from the Reverse. The Representation (in that upper
Plane) seems to be of some Person in a Chair. It is in Enamel,
cover’d over with a Crystal; which is secured in its place by the
little Leaves coming over its Edges. In the Reverse are Flowers
engraved. The whole piece may be of the Weight of Three Guineas. The
Chrystal and Enamel excepted, it is all of pure Gold.

This, perhaps, was an Amulet of King Alfred’s.

EXON, _Dec. 10, 1698_.