Though many of the Antiquities of Britain have been so accurately described and illustrated by the learned of our nation, that we have as large and valuable a treasure of this kind as any of our neighbours; yet, in so vast a field, it is impossible but some things must have slipped by unregarded, or have been but transiently mentioned; a nearer and more particular view of which, as well as a further enquiry into their origin, I presume, would not be altogether unacceptable; so that what at first might seem to have had but a slender foundation, would become settled upon the immoveable basis of Reason and Truth.

The passage of Julius Caesar over the river Thames, to attack the famous Cassivellaun, and the army of Britons under his command, who were drawn up upon the opposite bank to hinder his crossing there, is a matter of so great antiquity, that, though it has been in general well attested by several historians, yet, as to the particular place where this remarkable event happened, there have been various opinions and conjectures; which for brevity omitting, I shall endeavour to set this affair in as clear a light as possible, by laying before you the most authentic evidences.

By the statute 17 Edward IV, 1477, it was provided, “That “whereas divers fairs be holden and kept in this realm, some “by prescription, allowed before justices in Eyre, and some by the “grant of our Lord the King that now is, and some by the grants of “his predecessors; and to every of the same fairs, is of right pertaining “a court of Pypowders, to minister in the same due justice in this be-“half, in which court it hath been atall times accustomed, that every “person coming to the said fairs should have lawful remedy of all “manner of contracts, trespasses, covenants, debts and other deeds, “made or done within any of the same fairs, during the time “of the same fair—and within the jurisdiction of the same, and to “be tried by merchants being of the same fair; which courts at this “day be misused by the stewards, under-stewards, bailiffs, commis-“sioners and other ministers, holding and governing the said courts “of the said fairs, for their private profit, holding pleas by plaints, “as well of contracts, debts, trespasses, and other feats, done and “committed out of the time of the said fair, or jurisdiction of the “same, whereof, in truth, they have no jurisdiction surmising the “same debts, trespasses, &c.

Thys bill indentyd mead the viii day of Aprille in the thridde yer of Kyng Edward the fowrte betwyn Thomas Peers and John Scheelyng Balyffs of Donewych and John Strawnge of Brampton Esquyer.

Gratulor tibi ex animo, Willielme dilectissime, tibi omnia procedere rectè, atque ex voto; praecipuè vero Almam Matrem Academiam tuo merito concessisse, quod rarentèr tironibus contingit, et ςχολαςιϰὸν et χαδιςιϰὸν de fuâ munificientiâ.

Reve'nt piere en Dieu, et tresch' ami—Nous vous mercions entierement de ce que nous avons, entendu, q' vous vous estes si bien et si naturelment porte dev's nous, en p'ant Dieux p'r nous et p'r n're exploit; et sumes tout certiens q' p'r cause de vos devoutes p'eres et dautres, Dieu nous a en toutes nos besoignes be' vueliz aide; de quoi nous sumes a touz jo's tenuz de lui grazier, en p'ant que v're part ancy vieullietz faire en continuant dev's nous come devant ces heures avetz fait, de quoi nous nous tenons g'n'ment tenuz a vous.

On the trace of the great Roman military way from York to Manchester, in the township of Saddleworth, within the county of York, and diocese of Chester, at a place called Castleshaw, are the remains of a double camp, or station, of a Roman form, as will appear from the following representation of it:

In Smith's edition of Bede's Ecclesiastical History of England, p. 96. are the following words: “Attamen in Campodono, “ubi tunc etiam villa regia erat, fecit (Paulinus) basilicam, quam “postmodum Pagani, à quibus Aeduini rex occisus, cum tota eadem “villa succenderunt.” This Campodonum, Camden, and others on his authority, have thought was the same as the Cambodunum mentioned in the second Iter of Antonine, which they have placed at Castle-Hill near Almonbury, in the West-Riding of Yorkshire.

The drawing I now lay before you, contains a Roman inscription on a rock, situated at a place called Shawk Quarries, near Rose Castle in Cumberland, which has hitherto been overlooked by all our antiquaries, even by my famous predecessor Bishop Nicholson, though so near to his own mansion, and within his own manor of Dalston: I read it thus,

LEGIONIS SECVNDAE AVGVSTAE

MILITES POSVERVNT.

COHORS TERTIA–COHORS QVARTA.

Since my last, I have not had an occasion of seeing old Taylor; but he is still alive and well, and I hope soon to have an opportunity of visiting him, when I shall take care to have the fullest account of him I can possibly obtain.

Je trouve un plaisir sensible à rechercer l' origine des arts et des sciences, et à suivre les progrès qu'ils ont fait successivement dans les tems de la plus haute antiquitè. Je les vois naissans et come au berceau en Egipte: je les considère dès là portés en Grèce, où ils montent insensiblement au plus haut degrè de perfection.

Qui veritatis indagandae studio ea, quae de Mercurio vetustas prodidit, diligentius animo volvit, is non modo Gallorum deum, verum etiam, nisi me fallit animus, primum hujus gentis ducem reperiet, quem Galli ut fuum heroem, fuum ducem, quinimo fuum Herculem caeteris gentibus opposuerunt, utpote non minus strenuum et facundum.

Having had some conversation with your Lordship last summer with regard to Caerphyli (or Sengenneth Castle), and having afterwards travelled very much, at my leisure, round the sea coast of Wales, I take the liberty of troubling your Lordship with such observations as have occurred to me with relation to these venerable ruins, of which there is such a profusion in the principality.

It seems at present generally received among the learned, that the principality of Wales supplies very few remains of Roman antiquities. Some of the inscriptions collected by Camden have scarcely been admitted as genuine by succeeding antiquaries. Upon considering, however, that the second Augustan legion had indisputably their head-quarters at Caerleon in Monmouthshire; that there were other Roman stations (as Maridunum, Luentium, and Segontium) in the more remote parts of the country; and that the eleventh and twelfth Iter in the Itinerary of Antoninus skirted the North and East sides of it; I was hence persuaded, that the intermediate provinces might afford more traces of the Romans than have hitherto been observed; and a late tour through Wales gave me an opportunity of making some enquiries relative to this subject.

In the parish of Ardmore, and county of Waterford, in Ireland, there is a round Tower built of hewn stone, upwards of one hundred feet high, and forty five feet in circumference at the base; the door is fifteen feet from the ground; the roof is pyramidal, being of stone, very well cut, and closely joined together, and well plaistered within side, from top to bottom, as clean and white as if newly done. The whole fabric is divided into four unequal beltings or stories, with a window to each; having four windows in the upper story. On the top is a kind of Cross.

The drawing, or rather sketch, I now lay before you, was made from a Roman altar lately dug up in the Vicar's Garden at Brough on the Sands in Cumberland, supposed to have been the Axelodunum of the Notitia, but certainly was a Roman station, close adjoining on Severus's wall.

Yours, dated at London, April 9th, 1692, came to my hands about ten days after; since that time, I have been using my best endeavours for obtaining a satisfactory answer to your queries: if that which I now send you be not such as I desired, and, it may be, you expected, it is none of my fault: for I not only visited sundry of those antiquities (to the number of six or seven) concerning which you desire to be informed; but also employed the assistance of my friends, whereof some were going from this place to other parts of the country, and others live at a distance. I have been waiting all this time for an account of their diligence; and albeit I have not heard as yet from all those persons to whom I wrote and spoke for information, yet I thought it not fit to delay the giving you a return any longer, lest you should apprehend, either that your letter had miscarried, or that I had neglected the contents of it.

The culture of the vine here in England having been lately under contemplation; I thought it might be worth while, and by no means mal à propos, to examine minutely into the cultivation of it more antiently amongst us; and I here beg leave to present you with the result of my inquiries, as a testimony of that inviolable regard I have so long entertained for your undeserved friendship.

Yours of the 11th of July, inclosing an antient Greek inscription, and honouring me with a request of its explication, came not to my hands till the other week in the country; and as it is now vacation, I am just about setting out on a tour through the west of Scotland. This hurry allows not the leisure requisite to investigate the dark parts of the inscription; but I will chearfully give you my conjecture at first sight.

This copy, which is taken from a fine Chartulary in the possession of Thomas Astle, Esquire, is curious both for the instrument itself, and the seal. It was perused by our famous Kentish Antiquary Mr. John Philipot, who tells us, in his account of Wickam-Brews, that, “in the twentieth year of William the “Conqueror, Odo, Bishop of Baion, and Earl of Kent, held this “place of the gift of his half brother, which was that Prince, and “Trendley Park adjoining.