Of the mode of wearing penannular brooches, the late Mr. Fairholt says: “By the sumptuary laws of the ancient Irish, the size of these brooches, or fibulæ, were regulated according to the rank of the wearer. The highest price of a _silver_ bodkin for a king or an _ollamh_, which, according to Vallancy, was _thirty_ heifers, when made of refined silver; the lowest value attached to them being the worth of three heifers. From this it may be inferred, that the rank of the wearer might always be guessed at from the fibulæ he wore.” The rank of the wearers of the “Tara Brooch”--the most famous of all the Irish brooches at present known--and of the Derbyshire example, must, judging from their large size and truly exquisite workmanship, have been high. The extreme rarity of brooches of this form in England, leads one, naturally, to the conclusion that they were not much worn by the inhabitants of this country, and that, therefore, they can hardly be considered to belong to the nationality, if I may so speak, of the Anglo-Saxons. Nevertheless, examples having been here found in close proximity to undoubted Anglo-Saxon remains, and the style of ornamentation being strictly in keeping with much belonging to that period, there can be no doubt that they must be included amongst our Anglo-Saxon antiquities. Some of the most beautiful objects, along with the fibulæ, which the graves of the Anglo-Saxons yield, are the pendant ornaments of various kinds which were worn by that race of people. The objects of this class are extremely varied; but their beauty, like those of the richly studded and gilt fibulæ, and the enamelled studs and bosses, cannot well be understood without the aid of coloured illustrations. Of these a set of exquisite pendants were found along with several other interesting objects, in a barrow on Brassington Moor, by Mr. Bateman. Eleven of these pendants are large and brilliantly coloured garnets beautifully set in pure gold, two are entirely of gold, and the third, also of gold, is of spiral wire. Two beads, one of green glass, the other of white and blue glass, were also found. Gold drops of a similar character to those just described have been frequently found in the Kentish graves, as have also one or two crosses very similar to the one engraved on a previous page (fig. 445). Circular pendants of gold and other materials, decorated with enamelled or raised interlaced and other ornaments, or set with garnets and other stones, are also found. Among the most interesting of this class of pendant ornaments are coins to which loops have been attached. Examples have been found in Kent and elsewhere, and show that the fashion to some extent indulged in at the present day of wearing coins attached to watch chains, etc., is at least of Anglo-Saxon origin. CHAPTER XVI.