n was not confined to small articles of
jewellery, but was used for belts and sword-handles. An admirable
example of a small bronze vase, thus beautifully enriched, was found in
excavating the triple tumuli popularly known as the Bartlow Hills, in
Cambridgeshire. Horse-trappings were highly enriched in the same manner.
Boxes, and small articles of furniture, were also inlaid with enamelled
plaques of metal.

[Illustration: Fig. 204.]

A tendency to great variety of design characterised the jewellery of the
Byzantine empire; and the old circular fibula, that had been worn
contentedly for so very many centuries, was discarded for new forms;
which were again cast aside at the caprice of the wearer, attracted by
the ever-varying designs of the jeweller. The bow or harp-shaped fibula,
however, retained its place when once introduced, nearly as long as its
circular forerunner. One of the finest specimens of a fibula of this
kind is here given, copied from the original, which was discovered about
twenty years ago by labourers employed on the railway near the town of
Amiens, at a spot where other objects of the Gallo-Roman period were met
with. The place may probably have been the cemetery of the town, when
the masters of the world ruled there. The workmen found a leaden coffin
of great thickness, which contained two skeletons, the smaller having
within it many articles of female ornament. These consisted of a pair of
gold ear-rings of very peculiar and original design; a gold ring set
with a carnelian, on which was engraved a youthful figure riding on a
goat; a pair of slender armlets of gold; a pendent ornament of glass,
evidently formed to wear as a charm to keep off the baneful effect of
the evil eye, so much dreaded by the ancients; and this buckle (Fig.
204). The latter is constructed of the finest gold, the bow decorated
with an upright row of pellets, and three small flowerets across the
centre. The shaft is covered with most delicate chased ornament, or
reeded patterns, soldered to the surface; a row of raised studs are each
in the middle of a curved quatrefoil, the outer border raised in lines
of indented decoration. The whole bears traces of the influence of Greek
art, the workmen of that highly-cultivated and artistic nation always
excelling their Roman brethren, and the richer classes in Rome
patronising them in preference. Nothing can exceed the delicacy and
beauty of Greek jewellery; the Roman being of a heavier