This peculiar term is probably derived from the Saxon _Seuch_, a

furrow or fosse, and _Shiel_, a hut for those who have the care of

cattle, and thus signifies, the cottage by the fosse.

Footnote 96:

It is reported in the neighbourhood, that Mrs. Spearman having dreamt

that she found a rich hoard of treasure among the ruins of the castle,

made diligent search for it, but without success. When the castle was

removed, however, the farmer obtained a valuable deposit of mediæval

manure.

Footnote 97:

Pliny’s Natural History, lib. vii. c. 2, q.

Footnote 98:

Hodgson’s Northumberland, II., iii., 287.

Footnote 99:

The country being depopulated, lands once in tillage, again became

wastes. The forests being partially destroyed, either by fire or the

axe, the streams which used to permeate the low-grounds were arrested

in their course by prostrate trunks and branches, and gave rise to

extensive morasses. In the bogs of the district we are now

considering, immense quantities of large oak and birch timber, as well

as of oak leaves and hazel nuts, are continually being found. The Dike

would not, of course, originally, be drawn through swampy ground.

Footnote 100:

Many of them are preserved in the Museum of the Society of

Antiquaries, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Footnote 101:

Horsley remarks, 'I cannot say that Hadrian’s Vallum has made the

south rampart of this station at Housesteads, but I think it has

passed it not much to the south, and seems to have a small turn just

at the brook, in order to come near, if not up to it.' This looks as

if Horsley could not altogether throw off the idea that the works

exhibit unity of design. Hutton notices his inconsistency, and,

quoting him, (as transferred to the pages of ‘the judicious

Warburton,’) writes—‘But can a thing be brought near to what does not

exist! Hadrian was dead long before the appearance of this station.’

Footnote 102:

This circumstance, together with the fact, that all the camps of the

Barrier abound in stones reddened with fire, is confirmatory of the

view, that the buildings supplied with hypocausts were not necessarily

baths.

Footnote 103:

The site of the western gateway is marked by a figure in the

background of the picture.

Footnote 104:

Pompeii.—Library of Entertaining Knowledge.

Footnote 105:

Two of this number, however, would always be on duty, to the very

great comfort of the eight who remained.

Footnote 106:

The initial N, page 43, is formed of three nails from Housesteads,

drawn to three-fourths of the actual size.

Footnote 107:

The most satisfactory specimen that I have seen is at Carvoran; it has

apparently been rolled, when in a soft state, on a stone table, and

presents, from its slightly roughened surface, the degree of opacity

which plate-glass has before it is polished.

Footnote 108:

One of them is engraved, on p. 63, the inscription of the other is

illegible; both are in the Museum at Newcastle.

Footnote 109:

See also the vignette, page 42. Most of these are still on the ground.

They are drawn to the usual scale.

Footnote 110:

Archæologia Æliana, i. 268.

Footnote 111:

Britannia Romana, 125.

Footnote 112:

Hutchinson’s Northumberland, i. 60.

Footnote 113:

A dilapidated building, near the east end of the town, illustrates

some of the peculiarities of this species of border fortress. The

lower portion of it was devoted to the reception of cattle—the upper

was occupied by the family. The floor of the second story consists of

stone flags laid upon massive beams of oak, very roughly dressed. The

object of this arrangement has probably been to prevent the enemy, who

might get possession of the lower part of the building without being

able to take the upper part by storm, from applying, with much success

at least, fire to the floor. The stone slates of the roof were

generally fastened with the bones of sheeps’ trotters—a most durable

fastening—instead of wooden pins; but, in this instance, the original

roof has been removed.

Footnote 114:

Whilst lying in prison, and cheerfully waiting for the time when he

should be offered, his mind reverted to the scenes and companions of

his youth. 'My hope was of late that I should have come among you, and

to have brought with me abundance of Christ’s blessed gospel,

according to the duty of that office and ministry whereunto among you

I was chosen, named, and appointed, by the mouth of that our late

peerless prince, king Edward.' In a letter, in which, as one ‘minding

to take a far journey,’ he bids farewell to his loving brothers and

sisters, and his well-beloved and worshipful cousins, he specifies

many of the well-known localities of this district, then their places

of residence.

Footnote 115:

Labbe’s edition of the Notitia Imperii, published at Paris, 1651.

Footnote 116:

It is preserved in the collection of antiquities at Chesters.

Footnote 117:

Arch. Æliana, i. 118.

Footnote 118:

History of the Picts’ or Romano-British Wall, 35.

Footnote 119:

Hodgson, II. iii. 293.

Footnote 120:

History of the Picts’ Wall, 35.

Footnote 121:

The owner of the ground was provoked to obliterate the remains of this

ancient city, in consequence of the manner in which curiosity-mongers

(not antiquaries) trespassed on his fields, in their way to the

station, instead of taking the beaten track.

Footnote 122:

I have been strongly reminded of these circular pedestals by the

figures of the columns of the Roman part of Reculver church, given (p.

198) in Mr. C. Roach Smith’s admirable work on Richborough and

Reculver. The northern examples are, however, of coarser workmanship

than the southern seem to have been; the moulding that encircles the

Carvoran specimen resembles straw-ropes rather than carefully

fabricated cables.

Footnote 123:

Thirl, from the Saxon _thirlian_, signifies to pierce, to bore. It is

generally supposed, that this stronghold derived its name from the

Scots having broken through the Wall here. It may, however, have taken

it from the sluice or bridge where the river passed through the Wall;

thirl, says Hutchinson, being frequently applied to the opening left

in moor fences for sheep to pass through.

Footnote 124:

Can it have been derived from the Saxon _bryddes wald_ or _weald_, the

bird’s forest? The local pronunciation of the name of the place is

peculiar and rather favours the proposed etymology.

Footnote 125:

The Wall is at too great a distance from the Vallum to be introduced

into the section; it is beyond the extra fosse, on the right hand side

of the wood-cut.

Footnote 126:

In this locality, the traveller is apt to lose his reckoning, in

consequence of the number of cottages and villages which are

denominated ‘Wall.’

Footnote 127:

Some antiquaries have conceived, that in the last two words of the

inscription, a reference is made to the emperor Septimius Severus.

This cannot be admitted, for—1. The emperor’s name would not be placed

after that of the prefect: 2. The term _instante_ implies the

discharge of a subordinate duty; for, not to mention other examples,

the temple of which the CILURNUM slab records the restoration (p.

186), was built by command of Marius Valerianus, under the

superintendence of (_instante_) Septimius Nilus: 3. That _princeps_

was the designation of a subordinate officer in the army, appears not

only from a collation of other inscriptions, but from the following

statement of Manutius—'In a legion there were three kinds of foot

soldiers, _hastati_, _principes_, and _triarii_, and in each there

were ten centurions, who were called the first _hastatus_, the second

_hastatus_, the third, and so on, up to the tenth; the first

_princeps_, the second, and so on; but the _triarii_, the bravest of

all, were named in a different manner, for they did not call them

first triarius, but _primipilus_, or _primipili centurio_.'—_Arch.

Æl._, ii. 88.

_Principi_ is doubtless intended for the more usual form of the

ablative, _principe_.

-----

------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Illustration]

~The Roman Barrier of the

Lower Isthmus.~

PART IV

THE SUPPORTING STATIONS OF THE WALL.

Altho’ we have now traversed the line of the mural Barrier from one

extremity to the other, and examined all the camps that lie upon its

track, we have met with but seventeen or eighteen of the twenty-three

that are mentioned in the Notitia as stations _per lineam Valli_.

According to Horsley, five remain to be accounted for, and according to

Hodgson, who rejects Watch-cross, six. These must be sought for among

the stations which support the great Barrier on its northern or southern

side. As the names of the camps north of the Wall have been ascertained

by independent authority, and as they do not correspond[Sidenote:

SECONDARY FORTS OF THE NOTITIA.] with those of the remaining stations of

the Notitia, it is agreed on all hands, that the list is to be completed

from among the fortified places which support the Barrier on the south.

Without dwelling upon the reasons which have guided the conjectures,

(for they are but conjectures at the best), of the great author of the

Britannia Romana, and other antiquaries, in appropriating the remaining

names supplied by the Notitia, it may be sufficient to say, that as the

primary stations, so far as they have been ascertained, are found to be

arranged in that document in regular consecutive order, beginning at the

eastern extremity of the line, it is conceived to be highly probable

that a similar course has been pursued with the secondary camps. If,

therefore, we could correctly ascertain which, of all the camps that dot

the country in the southern vicinage of the Wall, are mural stations, we

might, with tolerable plausibility, bestow upon them in their order the

remaining names of the Notitia roll. But this is a task of great

difficulty, and considerable uncertainty must necessarily attend the

appropriation of the names upon this principle.

An examination of the forts themselves, however, on both sides of the

Wall, is a task equally easy and instructive, and it is one which is

essential to a correct estimate of the strength of the principal

fortification—the Wall. Sir John Clark must have altogether overlooked

the existence of these supporting stations, when he wrote in the

following strain to his friend Gale:—

After all, I cannot but take notice of two things with regard to the

Wall, that have given me great matter of speculation. The first is,

why it was made at all, for it could never be a proper defence, and

perhaps at Bowness less than at any other place, since our barbarian

forefathers on the north side could pass over at low water, and if the

sea was higher or deeper than it is now, could make their attacks from

the north-east side by land.—The second is, why the Scots historians,

vain enough by nature, have not taken more pains to describe the Wall,

a performance which did their ancestors more honour than all the

trifling stories put together which they have transmitted to us. It is

true the Romans walled out humanity from us; but it is as certain they

thought the Caledonians a very formidable people, when they at so much

labour and cost built this Wall; as before they had made a Vallum

between the Forth and the Clyde.

[Sidenote: THE BARRIER NOT A NAKED WALL.]

The Romans did not oppose to the enemy a single line of fortification

only, which, by some casual negligence on their part, or a sudden

exertion of desperate bravery on the side of their antagonists, might in

a moment be rendered useless. In addition to the Wall, stationary camps

were planted along its whole course, at a few miles distance from it,

both to the north and the south; so that, in reality, a triple line of

fortresses was opposed to the passage of an enemy from either quarter.

These subsidiary stations were connected with the garrisons on the Wall,

and to some extent with each other, by good roads. In maintaining a

surveillance over an enemy, whether to the north or the south of the

chief member of the fortification, in furnishing a secure retreat for

the soldiery when venturing beyond their line, and in stemming the first

shock of an onset, the importance of the out-stations cannot be

over-rated.

[Sidenote: THE SUPPORTING FORTS OF DIFFERENT ERAS.]

It is not contended that all the stations which are immediately on the

north and south of the Wall were erected with the express view of

supporting it. Several of them doubtless were, but others, there is

reason to believe, were made by Agricola, before the Wall was projected

or thought of. All that is necessary for us to admit is, that they

contributed materially to the strength of the main structure, and as

such, formed an important element in the calculations of the engineer of

the Wall.

In taking a cursory survey of the supporting stations of the line, it

may be well, first, to examine those which defended its eastern

extremity: next, those which are upon Watling-street—the great channel

of communication between the northern and southern sections of Britain

on the east side of the summit level: afterwards, those which are on the

Maiden-way—the road on the west of the summit level: and reserve to the

last, the important stations which strengthened the works on the

northern and southern shores of the Solway.

_TYNEMOUTH._—The Castle and Priory stand upon a peninsula so strong and

so easily defended, that it could not have escaped the attention either

of the aboriginal Britons or the Romans. The altar, which was erected by

the fourth cohort of the Lingones, [Illustration: Tablet, Gyrum Cumbas]

has been already described (_p._ 109). Another lettered stone, found

along with it, is here represented.

GYRVM CVMBAS

ET TEMPLVM

FECIT C IV

MAXIMINVS

LEG VI VI

EX VOTO

About the reading of the first line of this inscription, which Brand

translates, ‘a circular harbour for the shipping,’ there is some

uncertainty; but there is no doubt about the other lines, which import

that—

Caius Julius Maximinus, _of_ the Sixth Legion, victorious,

in the performance of a vow, erected _this_ temple.

The mere circumstance of its selection as the site of a temple, proves

this to have been a place of some importance in the Roman age. The name

of the builder of the temple fixes, with a near approach to precision,

the date of its dedication. Caius Julius Verus Maximinus was a Thracian

shepherd of great personal strength; he attracted at an early period of

his life the notice of Septimius Severus, and under Caracalla attained

to the rank of centurion. On the assassination of Alexander Severus, in

235, he assumed the purple, and was himself assassinated in 238. He

probably accompanied Septimius Severus into Britain, and on this

occasion erected the temple commemorated by this inscription. The

following amusing account of the personal qualifications of Maximinus,

is given in Dr. William Smith’s admirable Dictionary of Biography and

Mythology.

His height exceeded eight feet, but his person was not ungraceful, for

the size and muscular developement of his limbs were in proportion to

his stature, the circumference of his thumb being equal to that of a

woman’s wrist, so that the bracelet of his wife served him for a

ring.... The remarkable magnitude of his eyes communicated a bold and

imposing expression to his features. He was able single-handed to drag

a loaded wagon, could with his fist knock out the grinders, and with a

kick break the leg of a horse; while his appetite was such, that in a

day he could eat forty pounds of meat, and drink an amphora of wine.

At least such are the statements of the ancient writers.

Nearly all traces of the camp at Tynemouth have been erased. Some years

after the modern well near the entrance into the castle was sunk,

another of wide diameter, and cased with masonry, was discovered, in

consequence of the falling in of its covering; it is supposed to be

Roman, but was again closed by order of the commander of the garrison,

before it could be properly inspected.

[Sidenote: MEDIÆVAL REMAINS.]

The mediæval remains at Tynemouth are of great interest. The castellated

gateway which formerly defended the approaches to the priory precincts

has been sadly mutilated by tasteless renovators, but the ecclesiastical

buildings, which have happily been left to the mercy of the elements,

exhibit even in their ruins, much of their original beauty. The

church-yard, affords a resting place to many who for years had been

tossed upon the restless ocean, and to some who, venturing into the

briny flood in search of health and pleasure, met with an untimely end.

Friendly tomb-stones, speak of them; some names, however, are in danger

of being forgotten.

The murdered body of Oswin king of Deira, was deposited in the

church-yard of this monastery. Here too, were buried Malcolm Canmore

king of Scotland—the friend of the Saxon—and his son, prince Edward, so

named after his maternal ancestor the Confessor; they were both slain in

the same fatal battle fought near Alnwick, A.D. 1094. Queen Margaret,

through whom her present majesty, queen Victoria, derives her Saxon

blood, survived the slaughter of her husband and son but a few days.

[Sidenote: BLAKE-CHESTERS.]

_BLAKE-CHESTERS_, at the high end of North Shields, is the site of

another camp. Waterville, the residence of George Rippon, esq., is

within its bounds. Several carved stones, much worn by the weather, are

on the ground, and many Roman building-stones may be observed in the

contiguous fences.

These are not the only camps which were situated on the east coast north

of the Wall. Hodgson says—

From the Wall northward, are numerous small square camps, strengthened

with deep ditches, scattered over the country, as if they had been

intended for rural purposes.[128] A line of them may still be traced

through the parishes of Long-Benton, past Cramlington, into the Plessy

grounds.

There is every probability that the site of Morpeth castle was fortified

by the Romans. Some portions of the curtain-wall still standing have

been pronounced by competent judges to be of Roman masonry.

[Sidenote: FORT AT SOUTH SHIELDS.]

_SHIELDS LAWE._—The southern shore of the estuary of the Tyne was as

well protected as the northern. A camp, comprehending several acres,

stood upon the slightly elevated headland at South Shields called the

Lawe. The excellence of the situation, as a post of observation, is

proved by the acts of the pilots who have planted a beacon and erected

many of their residences upon it. In 1798, the foundations of many old

walls, which obstructed the plough, were removed. The lowest course of

some of them consisted ‘of rough whinstone, evidently brought from the

shore, as the barnacles were still adhering to them.’ The remains of a

hypocaust were discovered at the same time. Several coins were also

found, and as some of them were of the reign of Valentinian (A.D. 380),

it may be presumed that the station was in use only a short time before

the desertion of Britain by the Romans. An altar, despoiled of its

inscription, which was found in this station, is preserved in the

library at Durham.

The ancient military-way called the Wreckendike terminated at this

station. Until a recent period, one branch of it could be traced by

Lay-gate, the Dean-bridge, and Jarrow-slake, to Gateshead-fell. It also

led to Lanchester, Binchester, and the South.

[Sidenote: STATION AT JARROW.]

_JARROW._—At nearly the same distance from the camp on the Lawe, on the

south side of the river, as Blake-chesters is from Tynemouth, on the

north, the site of another Roman fort occurs. Hodgson, who first drew

attention to it, says—

At Jarrow, an oblong square of about three acres, with its corners

rounded off, overlooking the estuary of Jarrow-slake, and fronting on

the south the bank of the navigable stream called the Don, is, on good

grounds, supposed to have been the site of a station or fortified town

of the Romans. Under-ground foundations of a wall of strong masonry

mark out its area on every side, and include within them the site of

the present church and church-yard, and some ragged remains of the

ancient monastery of Jarrow. In digging up part of the remains of

these walls in 1812, a silver denarius of Aulus Vitellius was found

embedded in mortar in the heart of the wall; and when the road was

formed past Jarrow-row, in 1803, two square pavements of Roman brick

were discovered.

[Illustration: 323]

Two inscribed stones have been found here which give strength to the

opinion that Jarrow was a Roman station. One of them, now at

Somerset-house, is shewn in the wood-cut. As Brand observes, it is

interesting as containing the name of our island at length. It has been

read—

DIFFVSIS PROVINC_IIS IN_ BRITANNIA AD VTRVMQVE

O_CEANVM_ EXERCITVS _FECIT_.—

The army erected this, on the extension of the Roman dominion in

Britain, from the western to the eastern sea.

The other stone has formed part of an altar erected in honour of the

adopted sons of Hadrian.

The church of Jarrow is a simple building, but it contains some

undoubted Saxon work. Within the walls of the ancient monastery, some

portions of which exist, the venerable Bede passed his useful and

unostentatious life. Of him, Surtees, the Historian of Durham, observes—

The lamp of learning, trimmed by the hand of a single monastic who

never passed the limits of his Northumbrian province, irradiated from

the cell of Jarrow, the Saxon realm of England with a clear and steady

light; and when Bede died, history reversed her torch, and quenched it

in deep night.

This venerable man died, A.D., 735, in the act of completing a

translation into Anglo-Saxon of the Gospel of St. John. His name would

have been worthy of all reverence, even had he done nothing more than

give to his countrymen the Scriptures in their vernacular tongue. It

must however be confessed that ‘he fell on evil times,’ and that his

works embody many of the errors and superstitions of the period.

[Sidenote: WARDLEY.]

_WARDLEY._—An ancient entrenchment containing an area of upwards of six

acres, may yet be observed at Wardley, in the parish of Jarrow, nearly

opposite to Wallsend. Hodgson, who resided for several years in this

neighbourhood, was not able to learn that any Roman antiquities were

ever found in it. He was disposed, however, to think that it belonged to

the Roman era. It may have been a summer encampment of the garrison at

Wallsend, and as such, would contribute not a little to their comfort,

and the defence of the river.

Wardley, there is some reason to suppose, is the Wredelau of the

chroniclers, where the body of St. Cuthbert became immoveable, and where

the wandering monastics received the revelation which directed them to

Durham.

Such were the strongholds by which the garrisons on the eastern

extremity of the Wall were assisted in maintaining their ground against

the foe.

Watling-street, running north and south, crossed the Wall at about

twenty miles from its termination at Wallsend. The modern turnpike-road

between Corbridge and West-Woodburn adheres very closely to its track,

and occasionally the ancient ditches protecting it on both sides are to

be seen. Its stations were probably planted by Agricola, but were not on

that account less useful to the soldiers of the Barrier. Our examination

of them must be brief.

_CHEW-GREEN._—Here, close upon the Scottish border, is an extensive

Roman camp; investigation is necessary to decide whether it was of a

temporary or permanent character; it is probably only an earthen

entrenchment.

[Sidenote: HIGH-ROCHESTER.]

BREMENIUM, or High Rochester, is a station of considerable interest. It

stands upon Watling-street, at about twenty two miles north of the Wall.

Between Rochester and Chew-green the pavement of the Roman road may be

distinctly traced for many miles together. The site on which the station

stands is high and much exposed; but, in a military point of view, it is

very strong. On all sides the ground slopes from it, but on the north it

sinks so rapidly, as to give it the protection of a bold breastwork. The

walls of the station are stronger than those of the forts on the line of

the Wall; they are not only thicker, but are composed of larger

stones.[Sidenote: BREMENIUM.] A moat has surrounded the camp; on the

east side, which is by nature the weakest, two ditches have been formed,

which there is reason to believe were supplied with water. All the

gateways may be traced with considerable distinctness; the southern one

has suffered least from depredation. The interior of the station is

filled with the ruins of buildings; some of them would well repay

examination. Of the modern structures which have been raised within its

area, two are peel-houses or fortified dwellings of considerable

strength. The suburban buildings of the station have been situated on

the west side, where their foundations still appear. Here they would be

protected by the valley along which, at about a quarter of a mile’s

distance, the Sills-burn runs. The stones of the ramparts are strongly

marked by the diamond broaching. The station contains an area of four

acres and three roods.

At about half-a-mile distant from the station, in a south-east

direction, there have recently been discovered the foundations of some

Roman _cippi_ or funeral monuments. They are close by the road, and as

was usually the case, on the south side of it. Three of them are square,

the fourth, which is the largest, is circular. The masonry of all of

them is remarkably fresh. The circular tomb has two courses of stones

standing, besides the flat stones which form the foundation. On clearing

out the interior, a jar of unburnt clay was found; it had no bones in

it. The natural soil was found to have been acted upon by fire to the

depth of more than a foot. Mixed with the rubbish was a quantity of

white ashes. A coin of Alexander Severus was found within the area, a

circumstance which strengthens the presumption that the station was

occupied by the Romans until a late period.

There are several temporary camps in this neighbourhood. Persons well

acquainted with the country, and who have noticed the peculiar structure

of Roman roads, give it as their opinion that a Roman way has proceeded

eastwards from Rochester by Yatesfield, Potts-Durtrees, Yardhope,

Holystone, and Glanton, in a direction which renders it probable that it

joined that branch of Watling-street which traversed the eastern side of

Northumberland, and is often inelegantly termed the Devil’s-causeway.

Some distance south of the station, and near to the point at which

Watling-street crosses the modern high-way, (in front of Redesdale

cottage) the remains of an ancient lime-kiln were recently found. It was

situated on the slope of a rocky hill, and had been formed partly by the

excavation of the natural rock, and partly by regular courses of

masonry. In order to take advantage of the form of the ground, the mouth

for drawing out the lime was placed in front. The stones were much

reddened by the action of fire, and portions of lime were adhering to

them. There is excellent limestone near the kiln, and several beds of

coal are in the vicinity. Several heaps of rubbish, on the line of

Watling-street, where the coal crops out, render it probable that this

mineral was wrought by the Romans.

[Sidenote: THE ITINERARY OF ANTONINE.]

In ascertaining the Roman names of the stations on the line of the Wall,

reference has hitherto been made only to the Notitia Imperii. Another

document has come down to our time, of which we may now avail

ourselves—the Itinerary of Antonine. It does not mention any of the

stations immediately upon the Wall, but names some to the north and and

south of it. It is a sort of road-book of the whole Roman empire, and is

supposed to have been made by one of the emperors who bore the name of

Antoninus. Horsley thinks that Caracalla is best entitled to be

accounted its author. That part of it which relates to Britain contains

fifteen routes; the towns upon each are named, and the distances from

one to another given in Roman miles. The aid which such a document gives

in ascertaining the ancient designations of the stations that occur in

it is obvious. The first ‘Iter’ is entitled ‘A Route from the Limit,

that is, from the Wall, to PRÆTORIUM, 156 miles.’ It begins thus—

From BREMENIUM to CORSTOPITUM XX miles.

To VINDOMORA IX ”

To VINOVIA XIX ”

The second ‘Iter’ also begins at the Wall, and goes to the

Ritupian-port, Richborough, 481 miles.

The first portion only, of it also, bears upon our present

investigation.

From BLATUM BULGIUM to CASTRA EXPLORATORUM XII miles.

To LUGUVALLIUM XII ”

To VOREDA XIV ”

The tenth ‘Iter,’ which is from GLANOVENTA to MEDIOLANUM, 150 miles,

begins with towns which are supposed to be in the vicinity of the Wall.

From GLANOVENTA to GALAVA XVIII miles.

To ALIONE (or ALIONIS) XII ”

That Rochester is the BREMENIUM of the first route, is established by

the discovery of an altar in it, which professes to be erected by the

_duplares_ of the exploratory troops stationed at BREMENIUM. In no

position would exploratory troops be more needed than here, and no place

could be more appropriately fixed upon as the starting point of an

‘Iter’ than this. Several of the inscriptions belonging to this station

bear the name of Caracalla. Both BREMENIUM and HABITANCUM seem to have

undergone important repairs in the time of this emperor.

Eight miles south of High Rochester, and on the line of Watling-street,

is another Roman station.

[Sidenote: HABITANCUM.]

HABITANCUM is the name which Camden, and Horsley, on the authority of a

stone found near the station, and which was inspected by them both,

agree in bestowing upon the modern Risingham.

The position of HABITANCUM will strike a stranger with surprise. Instead

of occupying an eminence, it is placed in a valley, and close upon the

banks of the Rede. Hills environ it, though not very closely, on every

side. They who, in early spring, have been exposed on the neighbouring

heights to the sleety shower, will know the reason of the selection. The

climate of Risingham is peculiarly mild. The west wind blows with the

steadiness of a trade wind, and the harsh east seldom descends into this

favoured valley. The village of Woodburn is on the opposite side of the

river. The lines in ‘Rokeby’ well characterize the spot, though its wood

is fast disappearing—

Where Rede upon his margin sees

Sweet Woodburn’s cottages and trees.

Notwithstanding the secluded nature of the situation, it is not

destitute of military strength. The Rede defends it on the north, which

was the point of greatest danger; and, excepting on the south, where an

out-post seems to have been maintained, an enemy could be descried long

before approaching the camp.

The walls of the station have been constructed of the same strong

masonry as those of BREMENIUM. Owing to the excellence of the stone, the

marks of the tool upon them are peculiarly distinct. In the hill behind

the station, called the Bell-knowe, the ancient quarrymen have left

numerous wedge-holes and other indications of their labours. Although a

fosse usually surrounded the ramparts of a station, and although sir

Walter Scott has sung of—

The moated mound of Risingham,

[Sidenote: RISINGHAM.]

Risingham does not appear to have been defended in this way. In company

with the owner of the property, who had a little before thorough-drained

the ground bordering on the south and east sides of the camp, I sought

in vain for any traces of a fosse. The ruins of the interior would yield

a rich harvest to the careful explorer. Recent excavations have revealed

some chambers of great interest; but, with the exception of those near

the south-east corner, they have been removed as soon as displayed. Some

of the buildings were evident restorations of prior structures: a

circumstance which confirms the conclusion deduced from other

considerations, that the station was long occupied by the Romans. After

being deserted, a portion of its north rampart has been carried away by

the river. Until recently, the remains of the bridge by which

Watling-street crossed the Rede, on the west side of the station, were

distinctly visible. The soil which covers the camp is peculiarly rich,

being replete with animal matter. Many important antiquarian treasures

have been procured from this spot. The large slab, six feet long, which

forms the ground-work of the initial letter at the beginning of this

part, was found among the ruins of the south gateway. The inscription

mentions the restoration of the gate with the walls of the station

(PORTAM CUM MURIS VETUSTATE DILAPSIS). The upper part, which is lost,

probably contained the name of Severus; in what remains, some of the

titles of Caracalla appear. Geta’s name seems to have been erased. The

stone is now at Newcastle. Another very fine slab found at this station,

is at Cambridge. Some of the altars discovered here will be described in

the last part.

Horsley is naturally surprised that HABITANCUM is not named in the

Antonine Itinerary. One conjecture in which he indulges, in order to

account for this is, ‘that the station might be neglected before the

reign of Caracalla,’ which is proved to be unfounded by the slab already

referred to, and by the discovery last year of some large fragments of

inscriptions, mentioning that emperor by his title Adiabenicus. A second

supposition which he entertains may be the correct one. He says—

Possibly Risingham might be looked on as too near to

Rochester, to make it another mansion in this route. And

though two places are sometimes set down in the same iter,

which are at no greater distance, yet other circumstances

might render this proper at one place, and not so at another.

It is not improbable that the two stations may have been under one

command. The exposed situation of BREMENIUM would render it highly

desirable that the _exploratores_, after having battled for a season

with the elements and the Caledonians, should be allowed a period of

comparative relief in some more sheltered spot, such as HABITANCUM.

[Sidenote: CORSTOPITUM.]

CORSTOPITUM is the next place that occurs in this ‘iter,’ in which it is

set down as being twenty miles from BREMENIUM. At the distance of about

twenty-three English miles from the camp of High Rochester, and on the

line of Watling-street, are now to be found the remains of the station

of Corchester.

[Sidenote: CORCHESTER.]

This, which is a little to the west of the town of Corbridge, is

doubtless the ancient CORSTOPITUM. The station, which is now entirely

levelled, and can with difficulty be traced, has stood upon a gently

swelling knoll on the north bank of the Tyne. A bridge, the foundations

of which the floods of seventeen centuries have spared, connected it

with the opposite bank of the river; the remains of this bridge are

precisely similar in appearance to those on the North Tyne at CILURNUM.

The bridge has crossed the river obliquely, a circumstance which

corroborates the opinion formerly expressed, that the bridges in these

parts consisted of horizontal roadways, supported upon piers—unless,

indeed, we suppose that the Romans were acquainted with the construction

of the skew-arch. Hutchinson states, that a ‘military way passes from

this place south-west through Dilston Park, over Hexham Fell to Old Town

in Allendale, and meets with the Maiden-way at Whitley Castle.’

Abundance of medals, inscriptions, and other Roman antiquities, have

been found at Corchester. Pieces of Roman bricks and pots are spread

over the surface of the ground. The church at Corbridge has been raised

at the expense of the station. Horsley conceives that this fort was

abandoned before the compilation of the Notitia, as it is not mentioned

in that document. It is about two miles south of the Wall.

The large altar which is figured in the initial letter at the beginning

of this volume, formed, in Horsley’s days, the shaft of the market-cross

at Corbridge. It is now on the stairs of the entrance-tower, at the

castle of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The inscription is defaced, but the

carving on both sides remains; on the one side is a soldier, armed—the

representative probably of war; on the other is a warrior, having laid

aside his weapons, dragging an amphora of wine—a picture, emblematic of

peace. The singular use made of this heathen relic suggests the

insertion here of the story of the ‘Fairy stone,’ as it is still told in

this neighbourhood.

A Roman altar in the vicinity of Bywell was, during the ‘troublesome

times’ of 1715, put to a use little contemplated either by the

ancients or moderns. It was employed as the post-office of the

non-juring gentry of the district. The parties, wishing to keep up a

correspondence with each other, arranged to deposit their

communications in a hollow of the altar. In the gray of the morning

little girls clad in green, and trained to the task, approached the

stone with a dancing step, and, having got the letters, retired with

antic gestures. So well did they perform their part that they were

mistaken for fairies, and the object of their visits was not

discovered for a long time afterwards. The stone was known by the name

of the Fairy stone.

[Sidenote: CORBRIDGE LANX.]

But the greatest curiosity which has been discovered at CORSTOPITUM, is

the silver _lanx_, or dish, which is represented on the next page. A

piece of plate so massive, is of rare occurrence in the stations of the

North. It is in the possession of the duke of Northumberland. There is

an accurate cast of it in the Newcastle Museum of Antiquities.

[Illustration: Corbridge Lanx]

'It was found (says Mr. Robert Cay, in a letter of 4th March 1734)

near Corbridge, by some ignorant poor people who have cut off the feet

in such a vile barbarous manner, that they have broke two holes

through the table, and a small piece off one of the corners too.' It

is 19½ inches long, and 15 broad; it weighs about 150 ounces. The rim

of the plate rises nearly an inch above the interior. The figures have

been punched into form. Gale’s conjecture as to its use is probably

the correct one. ‘This is big enough (he says) to contain the _exta_

of a sheep, or other small victims, which seems to me to be the

likeliest employment for it, and that it was one of these sacrificing

utensils that Virgil calls _Lances_:

Lancibus et pandis fumantia reddimus exta.’

The principal figures on the plate are probably, those of Diana,

Minerva, Juno, Vesta, and Apollo.

On the left side of the design is Diana, armed with a bow and arrow.

Below her feet is an urn with water flowing from it; in front of her,

is an altar with an offering, of a globular form, upon it, and below

the altar, is a dog of the greyhound species, looking up to the

goddess.

The next figure is Minerva. She wears a helmet, and her breast is

adorned with the Gorgon’s head. A spear is in her left hand. The thumb

and first two fingers of her right hand are uplifted, as if in the act

of bestowing a benediction.

The next figure is supposed to be Juno, though no symbol is given by

which she can be decisively distinguished. Her right hand is uplifted

in a manner similar to Minerva’s. At her feet lies a dead buck.

Vesta succeeds. She is seated; part of her peplus or mantle is drawn

over her head; the two fore-fingers of her left hand, which is

apparently resting upon her bosom, are upraised. Beneath the goddess

is an altar with the fire burning.

On the right of the piece is Apollo, standing under a canopy. His bow

is in his left hand, a flower in his right. His lyre is on the ground

by his side, and a griffin is below him.

An eagle and some other birds are among the branches of the tree in

the upper part of the piece.

Under the whole representation some recondite meaning is probably

concealed, which can only be a subject of conjecture. (_See Hodgson’s

Northumberland_, II. iii. 246.)

[Illustration: Altar to Astarte]

[Sidenote: GREEK ALTAR.]

Two important altars, with Greek inscriptions have been found at

Corbridge. One is dedicated to the Tyrian Hercules; the other, which is

represented in the adjoining wood-cut, to Astarte, the Ashtaroth of the

Scriptures.

ΑΣΤΑΡΤΗΣ

ΒΩΜΟΝ Μ’

ΕΣΟΡΑΣ

ΠΟΥΛΧΕΡ Μ’

ΑΝΕΘΗΚΕΝ

Of Astarte,

The altar

You see,

Pulcher

replaced.

Josephus tells us, that Hiram king of Tyre, built two temples, which he

dedicated to these deities. The Israelites, in forsaking the living God,

not unfrequently betook themselves to the abominations of the Sidonians.

... With these in troop

Came Astoreth, whom the Ph[oe]nicians call’d

Astarte, queen of heaven, with crescent horns;

To whose bright image nightly by the moon

Sidonian virgins paid their vows and songs,

In Sion also not unsung,...

It is deeply and painfully interesting to dig up in our British soil

decided traces of this gross idolatry.[129]

[Sidenote: HEXHAM CRYPT.]

_HEXHAM_ is generally admitted by antiquaries to have been a Roman town,

though the proof of it is not absolutely decisive. St. Wilfrid built a

church and monastery here about the year 673, after the Roman manner,

which was considered the wonder of the age. We are told by the

historians of that period that ‘secret cells and subterranean oratories

were laid with wondrous industry beneath’ the building. Some vaults

[Illustration: Crypt of Hexham Abbey Church] still remaining probably

formed the crypt of this ancient structure. The stones which compose

this under-ground building are all Roman; the peculiar mode in which

they are chiselled is exhibited in the annexed wood cut, representing

one of its chambers. The walls exhibit several Roman mouldings and

cornices, besides inscriptions.[130] It is not likely that these stones

would be brought from Corbridge (the nearest Roman station, if Hexham be

not one), which is on the other side of the river, and three miles

distant; especially as there is abundance [Illustration: Slab to Severus

at Hexham] of stone in the immediate neighbourhood. The most important

of the inscribed slabs which are walled up in the crypt, is here

exhibited; it is one[Sidenote: INSCRIPTION TO SEVERUS.] of the

inscriptions bearing the names of the emperor Septimius Severus (who

added to his own name that of his predecessor, Pertinax), of his eldest

son, Caracalla, who styled himself Marcus Aurelius Antoninus Pius, and

of Geta, his younger son, whose name and title have obviously been

erased from the tablet, an operation which we find has been studiously

performed on many similar inscriptions, doubtless after his murder by

his unnatural brother Caracalla. The date of this inscription is marked

by the union of Severus and his two sons in the imperial title. Its

object does not appear from what remains of the stone, further than that

it recorded some act done by a vexillation of some portion of the Roman

forces.

The mediæval antiquities of Hexham are highly interesting. The gateways

and embattled towers will repay examination; but the gem of this fine

old town, which in the Saxon era was an episcopal see, is the

Abbey-church. The choir and transepts alone remain; they exhibit much

beauty of detail, and their several parts blend most harmoniously

together. The church formerly possessed the right of sanctuary. The

frid-stool is still in its place. The cross which marked the eastern

boundary of the privileged territory is nearly entire, and is kept near

its original site, in the yard of the poor-house. The _disjecta membra_

of that which marked the northern boundary of the sanctuary lie by the

side of the road going over Cross-bank, a hill between two and three

miles north of Hexham, and from which the traveller approaching the town

from the north first obtains a view of the venerable abbey-church, and

surrounding town. The prospect is now, to the peaceful antiquary,

guiltless of his neighbour’s blood, singularly interesting—what must it

have been when descried in ancient times by panting fugitives, pressed

by an avenging hand, and fleeing to the sanctuary! This cross remains a

monument of the disordered state of society in the middle ages, and

leads the reflecting passenger to contrast his present tranquility with

the insecurity of former times. No favoured spot is now necessary to

shield the innocent from the rage of a stronger assailant, or will be

allowed to stay the course of justice upon the guilty.

[Sidenote: EBCHESTER.]

_EBCHESTER_, situated upon the line of Watling-street, is, as its name

indicates, a Roman station. Surtees thus describes it:—

Ebchester stands at the foot of a long descent, yet on the edge of a

still steeper declivity. Its cottages and trees are scattered along a

lofty brow overhanging the green haugh-lands of the Derwent. On the

very edge of the steep, the vallum of a Roman station is still

extremely distinct, and the little chapel of Ebchester, a farmhold,

and a few thatched cottages, stand within the very area of the ancient

VINDOMORA—if VINDOMORA it be, for the point is by no means stated as

beyond controversy.

[Sidenote: LANCHESTER.]

_LANCHESTER_ is, on the authority of the itinerary of Richard of

Cirencester, conceived to be the EPEIACUM of the Romans. Though several

miles removed from the Wall, its position upon Watling-street would

render it useful as a supporting station. It occupies a lofty brow to

the west of the village, on a tongue of land formed by the junction of

two small streams. On three sides the ground falls from the camp; on the

west only it is commanded by a high moorland hill, whose prospect ranges

from the Cheviots, in the north, to the Cleveland hills, in the south.

The station is one of the largest class, containing an area of about

eight acres. The walls may be distinguished on all sides. The south

wall, though deprived of its facing-stones, stands eight feet high, and

shews nine courses of thin rubble-stones arranged edgewise in a leaning

direction. A layer of very rough mortar has been placed on each course

of stones after they have been placed in their bed. On the outside of

the south-east angle a subterranean chamber has been discovered; the

descent to it is by steps. It is difficult to conjecture the use to

which it has been put; a similar chamber was found to occupy the same

position outside the camp at Plumpton. The masonry of some chambers near

the south-east corner of the station, which when first opened were found

to be full of bones, is very perfect. The remains of a hypocaust may be

seen near to the place where the pretorium has probably stood.

Lanchester seems to have been garrisoned almost throughout the entire

period of Roman occupation; a large proportion of the coins found at it

are of the higher empire, but the series extends down to Valentinian.

The name of Gordian occurs on two inscriptions as the restorer of some

of its buildings. The destruction of the station was probably owing to

some sudden and violent catastrophe. The observations of Surtees on this

subject, are applicable to many of the camps of the Barrier.

The red ashes of the basilica and bath, the vitrified flooring, and

the metallic substances evidently run by fire, which occur amongst the

ruins, form a strong indication that the structure perished in the

flames.

It has already been observed (p. 261) that two aqueducts have brought

water to the station from a distance of some miles. This is the more

remarkable as several deep wells have been found near the camp, and

there are open springs within fifty paces from the south and east wall.

The surrounding moor abounds in iron-stone; of this the Romans seem to

have availed themselves, for immense heaps of slag, of ancient

production, have been found in the neighbourhood.

_BINCHESTER_ is still farther to the south, on the same line of road;

but, on account of its distance, would have but little intercourse with

the stations immediately connected with the Barrier. It contains some

hypocausts, which are peculiarly worthy of careful examination.

Retracing our steps and again penetrating the region of fierce

Caledonian onslaughts and border feuds, we find Bewcastle occupying a

position north of the Wall, on the Maiden-way, corresponding with that

which Risingham does on Watling-street.

[Sidenote: BEWCASTLE.]

_BEWCASTLE_ stands in the bottom of a basin formed by a wide

amphitheatre of bleak and lofty hills. The camp occupies a platform

slightly elevated above the rivulet, the Kirkbeck, which washes its

southern ramparts and permeates the valley. The northern side is the

weakest part of the position, but even here there is a depression in the

contour of the ground, which would render it more easily defensible. In

this quarter too there are marks of artificial fortifications beyond the

station wall. The fort, in order to suit the nature of the ground, is

not of the usual square form, but is six-sided; it probably encloses an

area of about four acres. The ground on which the camp stands is

reckoned the most fertile in all Cumberland. It was in the depth of

winter that I visited it (1, Jan. 1850) but even then the space occupied

by the fortifications might be distinguished by its peculiar verdure. To

the east of the camp are some barrow-like mounds, and on the west of it

are terraced lines, bearing testimony to the agricultural industry of

the Romans. On the eminence westward of the camp are the foundations of

square buildings, probably posts of observation. On the lofty summits of

some of the adjacent hills the concentric lines of British encampments

plainly appear. They still seem to bid defiance to the Roman fort in the

valley.

Within the lines of the camp, and protected by a moat of its own, is a

dark and frowning castle; it is tersely described in an ancient

manuscript, ‘as a strength against the Scots in time of warre.’ The

captain of Bewcastle was a military chief of considerable power; he is

frequently mentioned in Border minstrelsy. The castle is built with the

stones of the station. Its masonry is very rude; the mortar which has

been used is rough, containing, besides gravel and sand, pieces of coal,

charcoal, burnt clay, and broken bricks. A tower, apparently added after

the main structure was reared, guards the entrance-gateway.

This, or some previous building, gives name to Bewcastle—Bueth’s-castle.

Bueth was, before the conquest, lord of Bewcastle and Gilsland. After

some previous changes, Henry II., by a grant, dated ‘_apud Novum

Castrum super Tynam_,’ gave the manor of Gilsland to Hubert de

Vallibus, one of his Norman retainers. The Saxons were not men quietly

to submit to wrong. Gilbert Bueth, son of the dispossessed proprietor,

collecting a band of followers, made frequent incursions into his

ancient patrimony. Robert de Vallibus, son of Hubert, the former

possessor, suggested a conference, at which he basely assassinated the

unarmed Saxon. Expiation was easy; the[Sidenote: ORIGIN OF LANERCOST

PRIORY.] priory of Lanercost was founded and richly endowed. It is

traditionally said that part of the expiatory ceremony consisted in

the demolition of the walls of his castle at Castle-steads

(Cambeck-fort), and sowing the site with salt. The baronial residence

was transferred to Irthington, where, as already observed, some traces

of it remain. Robert de Vallibus was afterwards employed by Henry II.

as a judge of assize. How lax must the state of morality have been,

when a murderer was allowed to sit upon the bench! His ill-gotten

lands were not permitted to descend to his posterity, William, his

only child, dying before him.

The far-famed Runic cross, respecting which so much has been written,

holds its ancient place in the church-yard of Bewcastle. The

inscription, which is now hardly legible, is pronounced by Kemble

(Archæologia xxviii. 347) to be an Anglo-Saxon, not a Norse one. Two

Roman inscriptions, not now to be found, have been described as

belonging to this station. One of them, which Camden saw used as a

grave-stone, bore the letters,

LEG[IO] II AVG[VSTA]

FECIT

The second legion, the august,

made _this_.

The other, much fractured, Horsley saw fulfilling the same office. He

says, ‘I take it to have been an honorary monument erected to Hadrian,

by the _Legio secunda Augusta_, and the _Legio vicesima_.’

[Sidenote: WHITLEY CASTLE.]

_WHITLEY CASTLE_ is the modern name of another outpost, which is

situated on the Maiden-way, as far south of the Wall as Bewcastle is

north of it. An imperfect inscription found here, and described by

Camden and Horsley, commemorates the dedication of a temple to

Caracalla, in his fourth consulship (A.D. 213), by the third cohort of

the Nervii. As the Notitia places the third cohort of the Nervii at

ALIONIS, it is conceived that such may have been the ancient designation

of the camp at Whitley Castle. The station stands upon the gently

inclining side of a hill, about two miles north of the town of Alston.

The railway approaches within a few furlongs of it. The form of the camp

is peculiar, being that of a trapezoid, whereas the usual figure is that

of a parallelogram. In another respect it differs from all the other

camps that we have hitherto examined; it is surrounded by an

extraordinary number of earthen entrenchments. On the western side,

which is the most exposed, there are no fewer than seven ditches, with

corresponding ramparts, and on the north, four. These earth-works are in

a state of wonderful preservation. The strength of these lines, and the

comparative absence, both within and without the station, of Roman

stones, render it probable that the garrison trusted to breastworks of

earth, rather than of masonry. The general level of the camp is elevated

above the surface of the contiguous ground, in consequence, probably, of

the mass of ruins which it contains. Its whole area, including the

entrenchments and ditches, amounts to nine acres.

A large altar procured from the station is in the neighbouring farm

house; the inscription is illegible, but it has on the upper part of its

four sides, a carving in bold relief.

[Sidenote: ROMAN DUNGHILL.]

It is no unusual thing to find in the neighbourhood of a Roman station

manifest traces of the dunghill of the fort. As might be expected, such

a repository is replete with objects which, though once despised and

cast away as worthless, well repay the search of the antiquary. Not far

from the north-east angle of this camp a large dunghill was found, which

has been recently removed for farm purposes. It contained numerous

fragments of Roman earthenware and glass, as well as armillæ of jet or

fine cannel coal. Its most curious product, however, was a large store

of old shoes or sandals. The soles were all made ‘right and left,’ and

consisted of several folds of leather fastened together with

round-headed nails. (See Plate XVIII. figs. 3, 4, 5.) Were this the only

place where these curious objects have been found, we might hesitate to

assign to them a primeval date, but very many having been discovered in

digging the foundations of Carlisle gaol, and some in clearing the

buildings at CILURNUM, as well as other places, and being accompanied in

every instance by other articles of undoubted Roman manufacture, we are

entitled to consider them as the produce of Roman hands. Modern artists

might examine them with advantage; Roman shoe-makers thought it no

dishonour to let nature prescribe the form that their handy-work should

assume.

[Sidenote: WALLIS’S ENTHUSIASM.]

Wallis, the author of the Natural History and Antiquities of

Northumberland, was born within the ramparts of this camp; the house is

now removed. In the preface to his work he accounts for the antiquarian

bias of his mind in the following strain:—

Northumberland being Roman ground, and receiving my first breath in

one of their _castra_, I was led by a sort of enthusiasm to an inquiry

and search after their towns, their cities, and temples, their baths,

their altars, their _tumuli_, their military ways, and other remains

of their splendour and magnificence; which will admit of a thousand

views and reviews, and still give pleasure to such as have a gust for

any thing Roman; every year almost presenting new discoveries of the

wisdom, the contrivance, ingenuity, and elegance of that respectable

people.

Although nearly a century has elapsed since Wallis wrote this, the field

of Romano-British antiquities still retains much of the fertility he

ascribes to it, and doubtless, has stores yet in reserve for the

assiduous inquirer.

Before proceeding to the stations which supported the western extremity

of the Wall, there are two camps, one to the east, and another to the

west of the Maiden-way, which demand a little of our attention.

_OLD TOWN._—Horsley entertained the idea that he had found the remains

of a Roman camp at Old Town, near Catton Beacon, in Allendale. Hodgson

treats the opinion with some degree of ridicule. I am disposed to think

that Horsley is right, though the inquiries I made on the spot did not

lead me to a decision of the question.

[Sidenote: STATION NEAR BRAMPTON.]

_BRAMPTON._—About a mile west of the modern town of Brampton, upon a

gentle eminence commanding a view in every direction of a most beautiful

country, are the traces of a small Roman camp. The father of English

topography, guided in some measure by the similarity of the names, fixed

the ancient BREMETENRACUM at Brampton; but Horsley, in consequence of

the absence of Roman remains, demurred to the correctness of the

conclusion. It is not surprising that this camp escaped the attention of

Horsley, as it is situated within the ancient park of Brampton,

considerable portions of which were, a century ago, covered with tangled

brushwood and venerable forest trees. Its trenches, though still

visible, are fast disappearing; every time it is ploughed, the furrow is

turned into the hollow of its fosse. Though hundreds of cart-loads of

stones have been taken from it, the ground on which the camp stood is

thickly strewed with stony fragments. On walking over the spot, I picked

up a piece of dove-coloured pottery, part of a millstone, and several

portions of Roman tile. Besides individual coins which have occasionally

been found here, an earthen jar, containing a large hoard, was turned up

by the plough in 1826. It contained not fewer than five thousand pieces,

all of them of the lower empire.

If Whitley Castle be the ALIONIS of the Notitia, this, as coming next in

order, may be, as Camden conjectured, BREMETENRACUM.[131]

[Sidenote: ANCIENT TUMULI.]

In the plain to the south of the camp, are some remarkable _tumuli_. One

mound of large dimensions, standing alone, is covered with oak trees.

Three others of small size, and close to each other, are at the eastern

extremity of the same field. Two of them are circular, and about twelve

yards in diameter; the third is elongated, and measures about thirty-two

yards in length. Whatever opinion we may form respecting the larger

mound, there can be no doubt that the smaller ones are artificial

barrows; the hollow made by the excavation of the soil for their

formation is discernible. They do not appear to have been opened, but

will no doubt soon yield up their long-hoarded treasures to some

enterprising antiquary.

Between the station and the town of Brampton, may be noticed the faint

traces of an earthen encampment of the usual Roman form; it is fast

disappearing under the action of the plough. West of the station, stands

an ancient church, formed of Roman stones. Though the living have

forsaken the venerable pile, the dead are still being laid in its

church-yard.

We now approach the stations which supported the Barrier near its

western extremity; it will be well to examine first those north of the

Wall.

[Sidenote: CAMP AT NETHERBY.]

_NETHERBY._—The nucleus of the seat of sir James Graham is a border

tower, with walls of great thickness. These walls were doubtless erected

at the expense of the ramparts and buildings of the camp, within which

the mansion is situated. The form of the station cannot now be

satisfactorily defined; but the number and importance of the coins,

altars, and sculptures, which have been found within it, prove that it

was a place of consequence during the period of Roman occupation. The

site, though not greatly elevated, commands an extensive prospect in

every direction. The bank on its western side, which slopes down to the

valley of the Esk, is said to have been washed in ancient days by the

waters of the Solway.

Among the many important inscriptions discovered here, is one to

Hadrian, closely resembling those which have been found at Milking-gap,

Bradley, and other places. The stone has long been lost, but in Gough’s

Camden the inscription is given thus—

IMP. CAES. TRA.

HADRIANO

AVG.

LEG. II. AVG. F.

[Sidenote: SCULPTURE AT NETHERBY.]

Some very fine sculptured stones, found in the station, are preserved on

the spot. Amongst them is one which is figured on the adjoining page. A

youth stands in a niche, a mural crown is on his head, a cornucopia in

his left hand, and a patera, from which he pours out a libation on an

altar, in his right; it is one of the finest carvings that is to be met

with on the line of the Wall. From the grooves which are cut in the

lower part of the stone, [Illustration: Genius of the Wall] we may

naturally conclude, that the figure has been formerly set in masonry,

perhaps to adorn the approach to some temple. Gordon supposes the figure

to be intended for Hadrian; Lysons thinks that it was meant for the

‘Genius of the Wall of Severus’—let us combine the two ideas, and

suppose, that the figure is that of Hadrian, representing, as he had the

best right to do, ‘the Genius of the Barrier.’

Reference will afterwards be made to the figures of the _Deæ Matres_

which have been found here.

[Sidenote: BLATUM BULGIUM.]

Netherby is supposed to be the CASTRA EXPLORATORUM of the second

Antonine ‘Iter,’ which was garrisoned by a _numerus exploratorum_. Its

situation is very suitable for an exploratory garrison; and its distance

from Carlisle on the one hand, and Middleby on the other, nearly

corresponds with the distance at which it is set down in the Itinerary

both from LUGUVALLIUM and BLATUM BULGIUM.

[Sidenote: CAMP NEAR MIDDLEBY.]

_MIDDLEBY._—To the south of Middleby Kirk, in the county of Dumfries, is

a camp which is called in the district Burns, or Birrens. It occupies a

low and sheltered situation, but possesses, notwithstanding,

considerable natural capabilities of defence. The water of Mein washes

the earthy scar which forms its southern margin, and the Middleby burn,

which joins the Mein at the south-east angle of the camp, runs parallel

to its eastern rampart. It appears, from the plan given in Roy’s

Military Antiquities, to have been protected, in addition to its stone

walls, on three sides by four earthen ramparts, with intervening

ditches; and on the north, which was at once by nature the weakest, and

the quarter most exposed to the attack of the enemy, by not fewer than

six. The northern ramparts remain in nearly their original completeness,

but the overflowings of the Mein on the south, the construction of a

road on the east, and the operations of agriculture on the west, have

destroyed the ramparts on these sides. A _procestrium_, or out-work,

protected by its own ramparts, appears to have been appended to the west

side of the original camp; or, perhaps, to speak more correctly, the

suburban buildings, which were situated in this quarter were embraced by

an additional fortification. In so exposed a situation, such a

precaution would be highly proper. The field in which the _procestrium_

was, has been brought into cultivation, and a great number of carved

stones, which were found in it, taken to Hoddam Castle. The corners of

the camp are, as is usually the case, rounded; the four gateways are

clearly discernible. The interior area of the station measures three

acres and three-quarters. On the south side of the station a large

vault, arched with stone, was laid open more than a century ago. Popular

credulity has magnified it into an underground passage, which extended

all the way to Burnswark; the people in the neighbourhood aver that they

have known persons go a considerable way along it.

The altars and sculptures found at this place are engraved and

described, apparently with great accuracy, in Stuart’s Caledonia Romana.

Amongst them is a stone tablet, bearing the words—

IMP. CAESARI TRAIAN. LEG. SECVND. AVG.

A piece of another, with the inscription—

LEG. XX. VICT.

The lamented author of this work says—

With the exception of a brass coin of Germanicus, and the inscription

containing the name of Hadrian, the greater part, if not all the

antiquities found at Birrens, may be ascribed perhaps to the third or

fourth century. The striking similarity of style and execution which

exists between them and the bulk of those discovered in the north of

England, of which the dates can be ascertained, is sufficient to stamp

them as the productions of a period subsequent to the reign of

Septimius Severus.—_Caledonia Romana_, 130.

It did not belong to the author’s subject; to inquire, how the fact of

so few of the memorials of the mural line being of the age of Severus,

comported with the popular idea that he built the Wall!

[Sidenote: BURNSWARK HILL.]

_BURNSWARK_, or Birrenswork.—A solitary hill, nearly three miles to the

north-west of Middleby, rises to the height of nearly seven hundred and

forty feet above the level of the sea. 'On its top lies an unequal

plain, about nine hundred feet long, by four hundred and fifty of mean

width—almost inaccessible on two of its sides, and by no means of easy

attainment on any.'[132] From this elevated summit, the mountain ridges

which are scattered over not fewer than six of the Scottish counties can

be descried; looking eastward, the Nine-nicks of Thirlwall are in sight;

southward, the familiar forms of Skiddaw, Saddleback, and Cross-fell

rise into view; to the south-west, the craggy peaks of the Isle of Man

arrest the attention in favourable states of the atmosphere; and, not

unfrequently a long, black streak, on the distant verge of the ocean,

indicates the position of Ireland. According to the former political

divisions of the British empire, four kingdoms were thus to be seen from

Burnswark-hill.

So commanding a position was not neglected by the ancient Britons.

'Around the area of the summit may still be traced the remains of a

wall, composed of earth and stones, which seems to have been raised at

every spot where the precipitous rock did not of itself afford

sufficient protection.' Unhappily most of the stones have been hurled

into the valley below, to form a long boundary fence. The enclosure is

divided into two compartments of nearly equal size; one of them contains

a circular range of stones, the remains apparently of an ancient cairn

or watch-tower.

[Sidenote: CAMPS ON THE HILL.]

On two of the sides of Burnswark are the vestiges of Roman military

works. The largest, which is on the southern slope, encloses an area of

twelve acres. It has been originally encompassed by two ramparts,

separated, as usual, by a deep trench; it had three gates on the upper,

and apparently the same number on the under side, with a single one at

each end. These gateways have been protected by circular mounds, thrown

up before them, and fortified on the top. The pretorium, or general’s

quarters, defended by an entrenchment of its own, was placed on the

north-west angle of the camp. This circumstance would seem to warrant us

in supposing, that, even in the stationary camps of the Wall, the

pretorium was not uniformly placed in the upper part of the central

area, where, according to the usual theory, we should expect to find it.

All the entrenchments are of earth, and on the north side they are

peculiarly bold.

The camp on the northern face of the hill has been constructed upon the

same principle, but is in a less perfect condition. It is of the same

length, but has only half its breadth. A covered way conducts from the

one to the other. It is probable that both these camps have been the

summer quarters, _castra æstiva_, of the garrison at Middleby. So

important a position would not, however, at any period of the year be

abandoned to the enemy; 'when not filled with the tents of its summer

inhabitants, it is probable that a small garrison was maintained on its

summit.'[133]

[Sidenote: CAMP AT PLUMPTON.]

_PLUMPTON._—Several camps south of the line, and at nearly equal

distances from the Wall and from one another, added security to the

fortification in the western district. Plumpton, or Old Penrith, called

in the locality by the common name of Castlesteads, is a large station

about thirteen miles south of Carlisle. The conjecture of Horsley

ascribed to it, the name of BREMETENRACUM. The turnpike-road goes close

past it, as did the ancient Roman way which led from LUGUVALLIUM to the

south of Britain. The station presents the usual characteristics of a

Roman camp. Though not much elevated, it is sufficiently raised to enjoy

a most extensive view of the surrounding country. The western side is

the strongest, being protected by the deep but narrow valley in which

the river Peterel flows. Its ramparts are boldly marked, and the

interior of the station is filled up to their level by a mass of

prostrate habitations. The largest heap of ruins is on the north-east

quarter; it may be the remains of the pretorium. The fosse is well

defined on the north, south, and west sides. Enough of the eastern gate

remains to shew that it has been a double portal. One stone of the

threshold yet retains its position; it is worn by the feet of the

ancient tenants of the city, and is circularly chafed by the action of

the door in opening and shutting. Several very large stones, which have

been used in the construction of the south gateway, lie near their

original site—some of them yet exhibit the holes in which the pivots of

the doors turned. The line of the street, which went from the eastern to

the western gateway (_via principalis_), is discernible. On the outside

of the south-east corner of the station, an arched chamber, or passage,

was discovered a few years ago; but it is now filled up with rubbish.

[Sidenote: OLD PENRITH.]

Extensive remains of ancient foundations have been removed from the

field on the east of the station; here, according to tradition, Old

Penrith stood. There are also indications of suburban buildings to the

west of the station. In the neighbourhood of the camp, and even at some

distance from it, we meet, in the houses and stone fences, with such a

number of the small neat stones which were usually employed in the

construction of Roman dwellings, as to impress us with the idea, that

the suburban buildings were very extensive in every direction.

In recently lowering a part of the turnpike-road, about a quarter of a

mile south of the station, a well, cased with Roman masonry, was

exposed. It is square, and is set diagonally to the road; it now

copiously supplies the neighbouring farm-houses, which formerly were, in

dry seasons, much inconvenienced by the scarcity of water.

Several sculptured, and inscribed stones, as well as coins, have been

found here; but none of them are of a nature sufficiently interesting to

detain us longer at Plumpton.

[Sidenote: OLD CARLISLE.]

_OLD CARLISLE_ is nearly two miles south of Wigton. The station is a

large one; the ruins of its ramparts and interior buildings are boldly

marked. A double ditch, with intervening vallum, seems to have

surrounded the fort. The rivulet Wiza runs in a deep ravine immediately

below the station, on its west side, and at a remoter distance, on its

south also, thereby lending to it additional strength. [Illustration:

Altar to Jupiter for the safety of Severus] The remains of suburban

buildings may still be seen outside the walls, on the south, east, and

west. Within the fort, a street may be distinctly traced from the north

to the south gate, and another from the east towards the west. Near the

centre of the station is a moist spot of ground where we may conceive a

well to have been. Up to a recent period, the Roman roads leading from

this station on the one hand, to Carlisle, and on the other to Maryport,

were distinctly visible. Of the many important inscribed stones dug out

of this station, that which is represented above is probably the most

interesting. It was found in the year 1775, about two hundred yards east

of the camp, and is now in the collection at Netherby.

I[OVI] O[PTIMO] M[AXIMO]

PRO SALVT[E]

IMP[ERATORIS] L. SEPTIM[II]

SEVERI AVG[VSTI] N[OSTRI]

EQVITES ALAE

AVG[VSTÆ] CVRANTE

EGNATIO VERE-

CVNDO PRA-

EF[ECTVS] POSVERVNT

To Jupiter, best and greatest.

For the safety

of the emperor Lucius Septimius

Severus, our Augustus;

The cavalry of the wing _styled_

the Augustan, under the direction of

Egnatius Vere-

cundus pre-

fect, placed _this_.

[Sidenote: CAMP NEAR MARYPORT.]

_MARYPORT._—On the cliffs overhanging the modern town of Maryport, are

the manifest remains of a large Roman station. Its position gives it a

commanding view of the Solway Firth and Irish Channel. The camp is a

very large one, and the lines of its ramparts are very boldly developed.

The eastern side, which is the only one that is not defended by a

natural defile, or valley, was protected by a double ditch. There are

some traces of masonry also near the gateway on this side, which render

it probable that this entrance had been guarded by additional outworks.

Some portions of this gateway remain; the sill of it is strongly marked

by the action of chariot wheels. The ruts are about five inches deep,

and five feet ten inches apart. Within the station is a well, encased

with circular masonry. The interior of the station was excavated in

1766. The following account of the appearances which were then observed,

is given in Lysons’ Cumberland:—

The workmen found the arch of the gate beat violently down and broken;

and on entering the great street, discovered evident marks of the

houses having been more than once burnt to the ground and rebuilt; an

event not unlikely to have happened on so exposed a frontier. The

streets had been paved with broad flag-stones, much worn by use,

particularly the steps into a vaulted room, supposed to have been a

temple. The houses had been roofed by Scotch slates, which, with the

pegs which fastened them, lay confusedly in the streets. Glass

vessels, and even mirrors were found; and coals had evidently been

used in the fire places. Foundations of buildings were round the fort

on all sides.

[Sidenote: HOSPITAL CAMP.]

In the grounds of Nether Hall, the seat of J. Pocklington Senhouse,

esq., is a small entrenchment containing an area of about an acre and a

half; it is in a low and sheltered position, and has probably been a

retreat for invalids. Ancient roads have diverged from this station,

leading to Bowness, Wigton, and Papcastle. On draining, lately, the

fields on the line of road leading towards Old Carlisle, its pavement

was met with, and to a great extent removed. The body of the road was

composed of large granite boulders, some of them a quarter of a ton in

weight; the interstices being filled up with smaller stones. On the

south side of this way several slabs of stone were found, lying flat on

the ground. They probably covered the ashes of the dead; fragments of

red pottery and glass were found beneath them.

[Illustration: Altar to Jupiter, Maryport]

[Sidenote: ANTIQUITIES AT NETHER HALL.]

Very numerous and very important are the remains of antiquity which this

station has yielded. With the exception of one fine altar, they are all

carefully preserved in the house and grounds at Nether Hall. Many of the

sculptured stones which have been found here, are more highly carved and

more tastefully designed than is usual in the mural region. An altar to

the genius of the place, which has been removed to Whitehaven Castle,

and will be described in the last Part of this work, is characterized by

Camden as ‘_ara pulcherrima affabrè artificio antiquo exculpta_,’ and a

more graceful altar than that which is shewn in this cut, we have not

met with in our mural peregrination. It is important, also, as proving

the residence here of the '_prima cohors Hispanorum_.' In consequence,

probably, of some service done to Hadrian this cohort seems,

subsequently to the dedication of this altar, to have obtained the title

of Ælia and the rank of _milliaria equitata_. The inscription may be

read.—

I[OVI] O[PTIMO] M[AXIMO]

COH[ORS] I HIS[PANORVM]

CVI PRAE[EST]

MA[RCVS] MAENI-

VS AGRIP[PA]

TRIBV[NVS]

POS[VIT]

To Jupiter, the best and greatest.

This first cohort of the Spaniards,

Commanded by

Marcus Mæni-

us Agrippa

The Tribune,

Erected _this_.

A plain, square, but now partially fractured, pillar, inscribed, ROMAE

AETERNAE ET FORTVNAE REDVCI, is reserved to form the concluding cut on

the last page of this volume. It is a striking memorial at once of the

aspiring pretensions and blighted prospects of the imperial city. A

boar, the symbol of the twentieth legion, exhibiting more than the usual

spirit, forms the vignette at the close of this Part; and the slab which

bears testimony to the labours which the second, and twentieth, legion

underwent in constructing the works of this station, is introduced at

the close of the Part devoted to the discussion of the question ‘Who

built the Wall?’ There is preserved in the piazza at Nether Hall, a

carving in relief of a warrior on horseback trampling on a fallen enemy;

the drawing is not strictly correct, but is very spirited, and the

foreshortening of the horse’s head remarkably good. Besides these, there

are several large and instructive altars and funereal slabs, as well as

a tablet having a Greek inscription to this effect—Aulus Egnatius Pastor

set up this to Æsculapius.

The minor antiquities consist of fragments of tiles, one of which bears

the stamp of the first cohort of the Spaniards, a bronze pot bearing a

marked resemblance to some which are in modern use, several earthenware

vessels of large size, and quite perfect, implements of iron, and

weapons of war. Amongst the coins which have been found in the station,

are a great many forged denarii of Trajan and Hadrian. They are chiefly

formed of lead, and are badly made; in some instances the metal has not

reached the centre of the mould, and in scarcely any have the edges of

the casting been properly dressed. Genuine coin must have been

exceedingly scarce among the soldiery of the camp, and their credulity

very great, to allow of the circulation of such base imitations.

[Sidenote: ANCIENT BARROW.]

A large artificial mound or barrow is to the left of the station. The

inhabitants had an old tradition respecting it; they conceived it to be

the sepulchre of a king. It was opened in 1763; near its centre ‘the

pole and shank bones of an ox’ were found, but neither urns, burnt

bones, nor coins, were discovered.

There is great uncertainty about the ancient name of this fort. Camden

pronounced it to be OLENACUM, chiefly influenced by the resemblance in

sound between it and the name of the neighbouring village of

Ellenborough (Maryport is but of recent origin). This supposition

gathers force from the fact that in ancient documents the river Ellen,

which gives name to the place, is written ‘Alne’ and ‘Olne.’

_PAPCASTLE_ is about six miles south-east of Maryport. Numerous relics

of antiquity have been found here, but little now remains to mark it out

as the site of a Roman station except its extraordinary fertility. The

town of Cockermouth, a mile to the south of the fort, is supposed to

have risen from its ruins.

The forts which we have already examined may be thought sufficient to

support the line of the Wall. The peculiar circumstances of its western

extremity will perhaps justify us in reckoning Moresby, notwithstanding

its distance from the Wall, among the out-stations of the Barrier. Not

only does the Scottish coast, by projecting considerably beyond the

western termination of the Wall, facilitate the invasion of the

intra-mural portion of the island—but Ireland, the native land of the

Scoto-Celts, is nigh at hand. It was necessary to prevent, not only the

inhabitants of Caledonia landing on the coast of Cumberland, but the

‘Scots,’ also, who at that time ‘poured out of Ireland.’ Another

sea-port station, south of Maryport, was therefore requisite.

[Sidenote: CAMP AT MORESBY.]

_MORESBY_, within a short distance of Whitehaven, still exhibits the

remains of a Roman camp. It occupies a commanding position, enjoying

especially an extensive marine prospect. Its western and southern

ramparts are still good. The parish church and church-yard border upon

its eastern wall. A sculptured stone, evidently chiselled by Roman

hands, lies upon the spot, under the ruined chancel-arch of the old

church. The important slab, of which the wood-cut gives a

representation, was found in digging for the foundations of the present

parish church. It is another of the interesting testimonies which we

have of the energy and influence of the emperor Hadrian in those parts.

Like the Milking-gap inscription, it gives the name of the emperor in

the genitive case.

[Illustration: Slab to Hadrian, Moresby]

[Sidenote: FORT AT MALBRAY.]

A military way ran along the coast from this station, by way of

Maryport, to the extremity of the Wall, at Bowness. By this means, the

defence of the coast could be more effectually secured. As the distance

between Maryport and Bowness is considerable, a small camp was planted

at Malbray, which is about midway between the two places. The site of it

is now a ploughed field.

We have now taken a hasty review of the stations on both sides of the

Wall, which have supported that structure. Never, assuredly, was a

dangerous frontier more securely guarded. So long as the stations were

supplied with vigilant and well-disciplined troops, no foe, however well

armed, could successfully attempt the passage of the Barrier of the

Lower Isthmus.

[Sidenote: MURAL SCENES.]

Even the cursory view that we have taken of the subject, entitles us to

say, that the boldness of the design was worthy of Rome in the zenith of

her glory; and that the manner in which the project was carried out was

becoming a nation with whom to conceive was to execute.

If we turn our attention for a moment from the work, to the object for

which it was intended, regret, that man should use his ingenuity for the

purposes of aggression and bloodshed, will take the place of admiration.

Milton aptly describes the scenes which this region would often

witness:—

He look’d, and saw wide territory spread

Before him, towns, and rural works between,

Cities of men with lofty gates and towers,

Concourse in arms, _fierce faces_ threatening war,

Giants of mighty bone, and bold emprise;

Part wield their arms ...

... now scattered lies

With carcases and arms th' ensanguined field

Deserted....

... Others from THE WALL defend

With dart and javelin....

On each hand slaughter and gigantic deeds.

Adam was all in tears.

_Paradise Lost_, xi. 638-674.

[Illustration: Symbol of Leg. xx. v. v.]

-----

Footnote 128:

An earthen encampment is cut in two by the Newcastle and Berwick

railway, in the second field south of the Netherton station. In the

space of three fields, lying east of this camp, three others may be

distinctly discerned, varying in size from forty to seventy yards

square. At Dove-cote, which is less than a mile west of Netherton

station, is a large field covered with the ruins of stone buildings.

Excavations in one portion at least of the ground yield large

quantities of glazed pottery. The remains are apparently mediæval, but

it is remarkable that no record of ruins so extensive is known to

exist.

Footnote 129:

Hutchinson says (A.D. 1778), the altar to Hercules is in the

possession of the duke of Northumberland; it is not now among those

preserved at Alnwick-castle. The altar to Astarte is in the collection

at Netherby.

Footnote 130:

The last time I was in the crypt, I was impressed with the idea that

some portions of it were actually of Roman workmanship; if so, St.

Wilfrid has adapted to his own uses the vaults which he found on the

spot. The crypt at Ripon, to which this bears a marked resemblance, is

now understood to be Roman.

Footnote 131:

Horsley, near the close of his work, was less opposed to this view

than at the beginning. In a note (_p._ 481), he says—‘I see no reason

to change my sentiments concerning any one of these stations; except

that I am more inclined to yield to the common opinion, that

BREMETENRACUM is at Brampton, and to think that OLENACUM and VIROSIDUM

are transposed; so that OLENACUM may be Ellenborough, on the river

Ellen, and VIROSIDUM, Old Carlisle, on the Wiza. And if the

military-way near the Wall, which goes by Watchcross, has led to

Brampton, as the country people suppose, this might still make it more

probable, that Brampton is BREMETENRACUM.’

Footnote 132:

Caledonia Romana, 131.

Footnote 133:

Caledonia Romana, 134.

-----

------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Illustration]

~The Roman Barrier of the

Lower Isthmus.~

PART V.

THE QUESTION—WHO BUILT THE WALL?—DISCUSSED.

Our course hitherto has been a detail of facts; now we enter upon the

region of speculation. In the former Parts of this work, the history of

the Roman occupation of Britain has been briefly told and an attempt

made to depict the present condition of the Vallum and Wall, with their

camps, castles, and outworks; now the question must be put—Is the

Barrier the Work of one master-mind, or are its several parts the

productions of different periods, and of different persons? Had the

statements of the ancient historians upon the subject been explicit and

consistent, the inquiry would involve simply an appeal to their

authority; unhappily, the information which they afford is not only very

meagre, but of a character so unsatisfactory, as to compel us to sift

their evidence, and to compare it with the facts which we glean from an

examination of the fortifications themselves.

[Sidenote: AGRICOLA’S WORKS.]

Agricola, we are informed by Tacitus, erected forts both on the Lower

and Upper Isthmus; we are nowhere told that he drew walls, whether of

earth or stone, across either of them. The northern rampart of the

Vallum has by many been conceived to be the work of Agricola. In the

absence of any direct historical testimony bearing upon this subject,

the circumstance that the lines of the Vallum pursue a course precisely

parallel to each other, must be considered as fatal to this theory. It

is altogether incredible, that two engineers should at different periods

construct independent works, without crossing each other’s ramparts. In

Roy’s Military Antiquities, several instances are given where the

trenches of one encampment cut arbitrarily those of another, the troops

who last occupied the post, not seeming to pay the least attention to

the works of their predecessors; the lines of the Vallum would doubtless

exhibit the same appearance had they been the works of different

periods. The claims of Agricola to the authorship of any part of the

Vallum may therefore at once be set aside, and the inquiry be confined

to the relative claims of Hadrian and Severus.

[Sidenote: HADRIAN AND SEVERUS.]

If the parallelism of the lines of the Vallum be fatal to the theory,

that one of the mounds is the work of Agricola, and the others the work

of Hadrian, a similar mode of reasoning leads to the conclusion, that

the Vallum and the Wall cannot be independent structures. If Severus,

finding that the earth-works of Hadrian had fallen into decay, or were

no longer sufficient to wall out the Caledonians, had determined to

erect a more formidable Barrier, would he not have mapped out its track

without any reference to the former ruinous and inefficient erection?

Had he done so, we should find the lines taking independent

courses—sometimes contiguous, occasionally crossing each other;

sometimes widely separated, seldom pursuing for any distance a parallel

course, but the Wall, as the latest built, uniformly seizing the

strongest points, whether previously occupied by the Vallum or not.

This, however, is not the case; the Wall and Vallum, in crossing the

island, pursue precisely the same track from sea to sea; for the most

part they are in close companionship, and in no instance does the Wall

cut in upon the trenches of the Vallum. At the first view of the

subject, therefore, we should be disposed to question the accuracy of

the opinion which gives to these works distinct dates, and ascribes the

Vallum to Hadrian, and the stone Wall to Severus. Before further

prosecuting this inquiry, it will be well to lay before the reader all

the statements of the ancient historians upon the matter in question; he

will by this means see the necessity of appealing to the structures

themselves for a satisfactory decision of the question.

[Sidenote: TESTIMONY OF HISTORIANS.]

Herodian was contemporary with Severus, and professes to have been an

eye-witness of all that he relates. He gives a detailed account of the

emperor’s proceedings in Britain, but does not once mention the Wall.

Dion Cassius was also contemporary with Severus. As before observed,

that part of the original work which treats of Britain is lost; we have,

however, Xiphiline’s abridgment of it. The only reference which he makes

to the Wall, comports with its existence previous to the arrival of

Severus in Britain, Speaking of that emperor’s expedition against the

Caledonians, he says—

Nor did he ever return from this expedition, but died three years

after he first set out from Rome. He got a prodigious mass of riches

in Britain. The two most considerable bodies of people in that island,

and to which almost all the rest relate, are the Caledonians and the

Meatæ. _The latter dwell near the Barrier Wall_ (οιχουσι δε οἱ μεν

Μαιαται προς αυτῳ τῳ διατειχισματι, ὁ την νῆσον διχῆ τεμνει) _which

divides the island into two parts_.

Spartian, writing about A.D. 280, is the first person who gives us any

direct information about the erection of a Wall; and it is on his

testimony chiefly that the credit of the work has been given to Severus.

Speaking of Hadrian, he says—

He went to Britain where he corrected many things, and first drew a

Wall (_murumque primus duxit_) eighty miles long, to separate the

Romans from the barbarians.

No testimony could be more explicit than this in favour of the view that

Hadrian built the Wall. As this writer, however, subsequently ascribes

the work to Severus, many are of opinion that Spartian here speaks of

the Vallum, not of the stone Wall. Mere verbal criticism will not decide

the point, but it may be observed in passing, that although the words

_murus_ and _vallum_ are occasionally interchanged by Latin authors, the

term (_murus_) which Spartian uses in the passage, taken strictly, means

a stone wall. Speaking of Severus, the same writer says—

He fortified Britain with a Wall drawn (_muro ducto_) across the

island, and ending on each side at the sea, which was the chief glory

of his reign, and for which he received the name of Britannicus.

The same writer, in a subsequent chapter, makes a second reference to

the Wall, which is of some importance in discussing the question.

Narrating an incident which occurred near the Wall, he says—

After the Wall or Vallum in Britain was completed, and the emperor was

returning to the next stage _not as conqueror only, but as founder of

eternal peace_, and was thinking within himself what omen might happen

to him, an Ethiopian soldier, famous as a mimic, and noted for his

jokes, crossed his path, crowned with cypress. Struck with the colour

of the man, and his crown, he was angry with him, and ordered him to

be put out of his sight, when the fellow is reported, by way of a

joke, to have said—'Thou hast been everything—conquered everything:

now conqueror, be a god!'

Julius Capitolinus, a writer who flourished about the same time as

Spartian (A.D. 280) speaking of the Antonine Wall, uses an expression

which seems to imply, that the only previously existing Barrier was one

of turf. He says—

Antoninus, by his legate Lollius Urbicus, conquered the Britons, the

barbarians being secluded by _another_ earthen wall (_alio muro

cespiticio ducto_).

All the remaining classical historians sum up in favour of Severus;

they, however, probably only re-echo the statements of Spartian, with a

slight addition of errors of their own. Eusebius Pamphilius says, that—

Clodius Albinus being slain at Lyons, Severus made war upon the

Britons, and in order to render the subject provinces more secure from

barbaric invasion, he drew a Wall from sea to sea, an hundred and

thirty-two miles long.

Aurelius Victor, who wrote about A.D. 360, recording his great exploits,

says—

He achieved greater things than those, for after repulsing the enemy

in Britain, he drew a Wall from sea to sea.

The younger Victor, in his epitome of the work of the elder, says—

He drew a Vallum thirty-two miles long from sea to sea.

Eutropius wrote about the year 360. He says—

Severus’s last war was in Britain; he drew a Wall of thirty-two miles

from sea to sea.

Paulus Orosius, who wrote A.D. 417, says, that the conqueror Severus—

Having fought many severe battles, determined to separate the part of

the island which he had recovered, from the tribes that remained

unsubdued, and, therefore, drew a deep fosse, and a very strong Vallum

(_magnam fossam firmissimumque vallum_), strengthened with numerous

towers, from sea to sea, over a space of one hundred and thirty-two

miles.

Cassiodorus, who wrote A.D. 520, gives a similar testimony. Among the

events of the consulship of Aper and Maximus (A.D. 207), he enumerates

the transference of the war by Severus to Britain—

Where, that he might render the subject provinces more secure against

the incursions of the barbarians, he drew a Wall (_vallum_) from sea

to sea, one hundred and thirty-two miles in length.

[Sidenote: VALUE OF THEIR TESTIMONY.]

Such are the statements of the Roman historians respecting the

authorship of the Wall. Several circumstances tend to invalidate the

claim which they make in behalf of Severus. The first author who

attributes the Wall to Severus is Spartian, a weak writer, who lived in

an ignorant age, and nearly a century after the time of Severus. Surely

his assertion will not be allowed to outweigh the negative testimony of

Herodian and Dion Cassius, the contemporaries of Septimius Severus. Of

all the authors who mention the length of the Wall, the only one who

approaches correctness is Spartian, when speaking of the Wall, which he

states that Hadrian drew from sea to sea; eighty Roman miles is very

nearly the true length. The other writers call it thirty-two, [Sidenote:

SPARTIAN INCONSISTENT.]or one hundred and thirty-two. Admitting, as some

have supposed, that the larger number is an error, occasioned by some

careless transcriber’s inserting in the copies the centurial number (C),

which did not exist in the original, the difficulty is not removed.

Thirty-two Roman miles is the length of the Barrier of the Upper

Isthmus, not of the Lower, and these writers seem to have confounded the

one with the other. Buchanan, Usher, and several writers, who were as

capable of weighing the evidence furnished by the ancient historians as

we are, have accordingly maintained, that the Wall which extended from

the Forth to the Clyde, is that which was reared by Severus. This

opinion we now know, from the inscriptions found upon it, to be

erroneous; but the fact that it was entertained by such able scholars,

proves the incompleteness of the historic evidence upon the subject.

Milton correctly estimates the vague nature of this testimony. He

writes—

Severus, on the frontiers of what he had firmly conquered, builds a

wall across the island from sea to sea; which our author judges the

most magnificent of all his other deeds; and that he thence received

the style of Britannicus; in length a hundred and thirty-two miles.

Orosius adds, it is fortified with a deep trench, and between certain

spaces many towers or battlements. The place whereof, some will have

to be in Scotland, the same which Lollius Urbicus had walled before.

Others affirm it only Hadrian’s work re-edified; both plead

authorities, and the ancient track, yet visible: but this I leave,

among the studious of these antiquities, to be discussed more at

large.—(_History of England_, _bk._ ii.)

Spartian, moreover, invalidates his own testimony when he says, that the

erection of this Wall was the greatest glory of Severus’s reign (_quod

maximum ejus imperii decus est_). The Wall is indeed a magnificent work;

it is, as Stukely characterizes it, ‘the noblest monument’ of Roman

power ‘in Europe;’ but if reared by Severus, it is, a lasting monument

of his failure. He came to Britain panting for renown—he resolved to

reduce the whole island to his subjection—to make the sea-girt cliffs of

Northern Caledonia his barrier. The efforts which he put forth were

worthy of his resolve—‘In a word,’ says Dion Cassius, ‘Severus lost

fifty thousand men there, and yet quitted not his enterprise.’ Were the

abandonment of the Wall of Antonine, and the withdrawal of the frontier

to the southern Isthmus, where Hadrian, eighty years before, had

prudently fixed it, the glorious results of all his aspirations?

Spartian assuredly errs, if not in saying that Severus built the Wall,

at least in stating that this was the great boast of his reign.

[Sidenote: OCCUPATIONS OF SEVERUS.]

When, too, we may ask, did he build the Wall? not assuredly when he

issued forth on the expedition that was to win him so much renown, and

which occupied him the greater part of the time he was in Britain. He

was then bent upon aggression, not defence. Neither is it probable that

he would do it on his return. According to Spartian, he had at that time

proved himself not only victorious, but the founder of eternal peace,

and thus had removed all ground for apprehension in the direction of

Caledonia. Or, on the other hand, according to the more accurate and

trustworthy historians, Herodian and Dion Cassius, he was returning worn

out with disease and the endless fatigues he had sustained; chagrined at

the havoc which the islanders had made in his army, though they

uniformly refused to hazard a general engagement; and broken-hearted at

the misconduct and ingratitude of his sons, and so would, we may

suppose, have been deficient in the spirit and the means to embark in so

large a work. That he should have repaired some of the stations,

particularly those upon the line of his march, when about to enter upon

what he hoped to be the crowning enterprise of his life, and that he

should have maintained garrisons in them to make good his communications

with the south, is not only probable, but is rendered almost certain by

the inscriptions which several of them have yielded; but that, in such

circumstances, he should have planned and executed the whole line of the

Wall, its castles and turrets, and several of the stations, is almost

incredible.

[Sidenote: POPULAR OPINION.]

But it may be asked, if Hadrian formed the whole Barrier, how is it that

the popular voice should ascribe the most important part of it not to

him, but to Severus? That the Wall is generally called by the name of

Severus, is at once admitted. So long ago as the reign of Elizabeth,

Spencer wrote—

Next there came Tyne, along whose stony bank

That Roman monarch built a brazen wall,

Which mote the feebled Britons strongly flank

Against the Picts, that swarmed over all,

Which yet thereof _Gualsever_ they do call.

Popular testimony, apart from the authentic records of history, is of

value for our present purpose only so far as it is the traditional

statement of the knowledge of those who lived when the event took place.

The nearer to its source that we trace a tradition, the clearer and more

unequivocal it will become, if it have its origin in truth. The popular

opinion that Severus built the Wall, will not stand this test. Whatever

value may be attached to the testimony of Gildas, the first British

historian, it is not denied that he records correctly the hear-say

evidence of his day. He does not mention Severus, but tells us, that

after the departure of the Romans, the Britons, distressed by the Picts

and Scots, sought the assistance of their former conquerors, and at

their suggestion, and with their assistance, raised first a wall of

turf, and afterwards, when that was found insufficient, a wall of stone.

The narrative of Gildas has been already given. (_p._ 29.)

[Sidenote: BEDE’S TESTIMONY.]

Bede refers to the opinion that Severus built the stone Wall, only to

refute it; he says—

Severus was drawn into Britain by the revolt of almost all the

confederate tribes; and, after many great and dangerous battles, he

thought fit to divide that part of the island which he had recovered

from the other unconquered nations, not with a wall, as some imagine,

but with a rampart. For a wall is made of stones, but a rampart, with

which camps are fortified to repel the assaults of enemies, is made of

sods, cut out of the earth, and raised above the ground all around

like a wall, having in front of it the ditch whence the sods were

taken, and strong stakes of wood fixed upon its top. Thus Severus drew

a great ditch and strong rampart, fortified with several towers, from

sea to sea; and was afterwards taken sick, and died at York.

He then repeats Gildas’ account of the origin of the Wall, and

adds—‘that it was not far from the trench of Severus.’

These quotations are made simply to prove, that the testimony of

tradition, at a period not long subsequent to the departure of the

Romans, was by no means decisive; no stress ought, therefore, now to be

laid upon it.

[Sidenote: TRADITION IN ERROR.]

The popular report, which ascribes the building of the Wall to Severus,

is the less worthy of credit, inasmuch as it imputes to him also the

building of the northern Barrier, which we know was the work of Lollius

Urbicus, in the reign of Antonine. Pinkerton says, 'As to the Welsh name

of _Gual Sever_, which it is said they give to the Wall in the North of

England, it is also given to that between the Firths of Scotland.[134] A

small grave-stone, which was discovered in Falkirk church-yard, in the

immediate neighbourhood of the Antonine Wall, about the year 1815,

confirms the testimony of Pinkerton upon this point. The inscription, a

cast of which I have seen, records the burial there, in the reign of

Fergus II., of ‘a knight, Rob. Graham, who first threw down the Wall of

Severus’ (ILLE EVERSVS VALL. SEVER). If popular opinion has erred with

reference to the one Wall, it may have erred with respect to the other

also.[135]

But we ought not to expect minute accuracy in a tradition transmitted

through many generations. It is enough that the general impress of the

truth remains. It is nothing surprising, that, after the lapse even of a

century or two, the name of Severus should have been connected with

every military stronghold in the northern section of the island. As

having inflicted the last and heaviest blow upon it, his hated memory

would be the longest retained.

In the absence of any decisive testimony from the historians of Rome,

respecting the emperor who upreared the Murus, we may next examine the

inscribed stones which have been found upon it.

[Sidenote: COMMEMORATIVE SLABS.]

In some instances, inscriptions attached to Roman buildings give their

history with great particularity. This is the case with the Antonine

Wall in Scotland. Slabs inserted at intervals, record the name of the

reigning emperor, of his legate, of the troops engaged upon the work,

and also the number of paces executed by each detachment. Unfortunately

these commemorative slabs are of rare occurrence in the Lower Barrier,

and the information given by such as do exist, is very scanty. This will

appear the more surprising, if we bear in mind that the English Wall is

not only twice as long as the other, but is built of stone throughout;

the Scotch Wall is chiefly formed of earth. On the theory, that Hadrian

reared all the members of the Barrier, the paucity of inscriptions

admits of easy explanation. The custom of raising these memorials did

not commence until his day, and at the time of the erection of the Wall

was probably in its infancy; the practice was in vogue during the reigns

of several of his successors, and was not discontinued until after the

time of Caracalla. If, on the other hand, Severus built the Wall, it is

a most unaccountable thing that his soldiers have left no record of the

fact upon the line of the Wall itself, and but very scanty traces of his

name even in the out-stations. This is [Sidenote: PAUCITY OF

INSCRIPTIONS TO SEVERUS.] the more remarkable, when we remember that the

Wall was built by the same legions as were employed upon the Vallum of

the Upper Barrier. The Antonine Wall was constructed by the twentieth

legion and by vexillations of the second, and sixth. On the mural line

of the Lower Barrier we frequently meet with stones inscribed with the

names and insignia of the second, and sixth, legion, and occasionally

with those of the twentieth. If the English Wall was built in A.D. 210,

as is generally stated, how is it that the troops disregarded a custom

so natural and so laudable as that which was practised so extensively by

their predecessors, in A.D. 140? Extensive repairs were made by

Caracalla at HABITANCUM, BREMENIUM, and some other stations; of these we

have distinct records in the inscriptions which remain. How is it, if

the mind and hand of his father gave being to the magnificent fence of

the English isthmus, that not one of the many stones which he upreared

records the fact? Mural slabs and contemporary historians are alike

silent upon the subject, and, probably, for the simple reason that

Severus did not build it.

It will serve the purposes of truth to cite all the instances in which

the name of either emperor has been found upon the line; wood-cuts of

all to which I have had access, have been already presented to the

reader.

[Sidenote: INSCRIPTIONS NAMING HADRIAN.]

The name of Hadrian occurs in many instances. At Jarrow a stone was

found, and is figured in Brand, which was inscribed OMNIVM FIL.

HADRIANI. In the foundations of the castellum at Milking-gap a stone was

discovered (p. 234), bearing in bold letters the name of the emperor,

and of his legate Aulus Platorius Nepos. At Chesterholm a fragment of a

precisely similar inscription was found (p. 241). In the neighbourhood

of Bradley, two fragments were discovered, which, when placed together,

give us an accurate copy of the same inscription (p. 232). In the ruins

of the castellum near Cawfields, was a portion of another, with a

precisely similar inscription (p. 251); and near the eastern gateway of

ÆSICA a large tablet was dug up, bearing the name of the same emperor

(p. 256). In an outhouse, which probably occupies the site of a

castellum, at Chapel-house, in Cumberland, a stone was found, which

mentions Hadrian and the twentieth legion (p. 274). Horsley describes a

slab which he saw at Bewcastle, bearing the following inscription—

_IMP._ CAES. TRA_IANO_

_HADRIANO AVG.

L_EG. II AVG. ET XX V.

LICINIO PR_ISCO_

LEG. AVG. PR. PR.

In Gough’s Camden, a stone, inscribed to Hadrian by the second legion,

is stated to have been found at Middleby; and at Moresby we have the

fine slab now at Whitehaven castle (p. 367).

It will perhaps be said that these inscriptions prove nothing beyond the

universally admitted facts, that many of the stations existed in

Hadrian’s day, and that the Vallum was raised by him. The reply to this

is, that several of them have been found at a distance from any station,

and on the line of the Wall itself, and that too, in positions where it

is farther removed than usual from the Vallum. The occurrence of three

or four of them in mile-castles, seems to prove that they owed their

position there to no accidental circumstance, and no one will deny that

these mile-towers were contemporaneous with the Wall.

[Sidenote: INSCRIPTIONS TO SEVERUS.]

The force of these remarks will more clearly appear after ascertaining

what inscriptions bear the name of Severus. If we turn to the inquiry

with the impression that he built the more important member of the

Barrier, we might expect to find the evidences of the activity which

prevailed in his day more abundant than in the time of Hadrian. Such,

however, is not the fact. The one at Hexham (p. 340) was the only

inscription to Severus which was known to Gordon and Horsley. Well might

Gordon, who maintained the Septimian theory, denominate it—‘a very

precious jewel of antiquity.’ Hexham is nearly four miles south of the

Wall. To this must be added the altar discovered at Old Carlisle (p.

360), which is about ten miles distant from the Wall; and another in a

dilapidated state, found at the same place; and the gateway slab found

at HABITANCUM (p. 315), one of the _castra exploratorum_ nearly ten

miles in advance of the Wall, recording the restoration of part of the

fortifications there. Besides these, I know not of any inscriptions to

Severus. I purposely omit all reference to an altar, said to have been

discovered at Netherby, bearing the inscription SEPT. SEVERO IMP. QVI

MVRVM HVNC CONDIDIT, because, both Gordon and Horsley pronounce it to be

spurious.

[Sidenote: THE GELT QUARRY.]

Much importance is attached by those who advocate the claims of Severus

to the inscription on the face of the ancient quarry, on the river Gelt.

Here, it may be said, is the very spot from which the stones of the Wall

were taken, and the precise date is fixed—the consulship of Aper and

Maximus. That the quarry was used by the Romans at this period, is not a

matter of dispute, but it is very questionable whether much of the stone

from it was used in the building of the Wall, because, suitable

materials could be procured nearer at hand. The year in which Aper and

Maximus were consuls was A.D. 207; the year in which, according to the

received reckoning, Severus came to Britain, was that in which Geta and

Caracalla were consuls, A.D. 208.[136] It is not likely that Severus

would order the stones to be quarried before his arrival in Britain.

But, allowing that the chronology of Severus’ reign is to be received

with some latitude, and granting that he had landed in Britain in A.D.

207, some time would necessarily elapse in making inquiries into the

state of the country, and no inconsiderable period would be occupied in

making surveys, even after the construction of the Wall had been

determined on. The quarry has probably been wrought for some ordinary

purpose, perhaps for the erection of some buildings in the station near

Brampton, at the period in question.

[Sidenote: HADRIAN’S QUARRIES.]

Evidence is not wanting to prove, on the other hand, that quarries near

the line of the Roman Wall were wrought in the time of Hadrian. In an

old quarry near the top of Borcum, or Barcombe (a hill near the village

of Thorngrafton, and opposite to the station of BORCOVICUS), a large

number of Roman coins was found. They are described and figured in the

last Part of this work. Since none of the pieces of this hoard were

later than the time of Hadrian, and the coins of his reign and Trajan’s

were peculiarly fresh, it is agreed that the treasure must have been

deposited in Hadrian’s time. The quarry on Haltwhistle-fell (p. 81), it

will also be remembered, bore the name of the sixth legion, which, if

the reasoning in the next paragraph be admitted, will appear to have

been inscribed before the arrival of Severus in Britain.

It has already been observed that numerous stones along the line bear,

without any addition, the names of the second legion, the sixth, and the

twentieth. There can be no doubt that these legions and their

vexillations executed the principal part of the Work. The main bodies of

these forces, however, had their head-quarters, at the time of the

arrival of Severus, in districts of the country southward of the Barrier

line. The second legion, after the building of the Antonine Wall,

appears to have gone to Carleon, in South Wales, the Isca of the Romans.

The sixth legion removed to York before A.D. 190, where it continued as

long as the Romans remained in the island. Horsley, speaking of the

inscriptions on the Wall which mention this legion,[Sidenote: MOVEMENTS

OF THE LEGIONS.] says, ’some of them, from the characters and other

circumstances, may be supposed as ancient as Hadrian’s reign.' The

twentieth legion had taken up its abode at Chester, the DEVA of the

Romans, as early as the year 154. Though it is probable that Septimius

Severus may have taken detachments of these legions with him in his

Scottish campaign, it is not likely that he would withdraw the main

bodies from forts of such importance; and those which did accompany him

would find the discharge of their military duties sufficiently onerous,

without engaging in a work so vast as the building of the Wall.

But, after all, the works themselves furnish us with the best proof that

the whole is one design, and the production of one period. It is

difficult to conceive how any person can traverse the line of the

Barrier without coming to the conclusion, that all the works—Vallum,

Wall and fosse, turrets, castles, stations, and outposts—are but so many

parts of one great design, essential to each other, and unitedly

contributing to the security of a dangerous frontier. The Murus and the

Vallum throughout their whole course pursue tracks harmonizing with each

other; the Murus, however, selecting those acclivities from which an

attack from the north can be best repulsed—the Vallum, those from which

aggression from the south can be repelled. Stukeley was unable to resist

the evidence of his senses. Speaking of the works in the neighbourhood

of Carvoran, he says—

[Sidenote: STUKELEY’S TESTIMONY.]

I suppose this Wall built by Severus is generally set upon the same

track as Hadrian’s Wall or Vallum of earth was; for, no doubt, they

there chose the most proper ground; but there is a Vallum and ditch

all the way accompanying the Wall, and on the south side of it; and

likewise studiously choosing the southern declivity of the rising

ground. I observe, too, the Vallum (Wall?) is always to the north. It

is surprising that people should fancy this to be Hadrian’s Vallum; it

might possibly be Hadrian’s work, but may be called the line of

contravallation; for, in my judgment, the true intent, both of

Hadrian’s Vallum and Severus’s Wall, was, in effect, to make a camp

extending across the kingdom; consequently, was fortified both ways,

north and south: at present, the Wall was the north side of it; that

called Hadrian’s work, the south side of it; hence we may well suppose

all the ground of this long camp, comprehended between the Wall and

the southern rampire, was the property of the soldiers that guarded

the Wall.—_Iter Boreale_, p. 59.

Speaking of the works westward of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, he says—

The Vallum runs parallel to the Wall, but upon the declining ground

south, as the other north; this confirms me in my suspicion, that both

works were made at the same time, and by the same persons, and with

intent that this should be a counter-guard to the other, the whole

included space being military ground.—_Iter Boreale_, 66.

The reader needs scarcely to be reminded of the striking illustration of

these remarks which is furnished by the appearance of the works a little

to the west of Carrhill, and by the fact, that for nearly ten miles in

the middle of their course, the Vallum is commanded by the heights on

which the Wall stands.

[Sidenote: RELATIVE POSITION OF THE WORKS.]

Whenever the distance between the Wall and Vallum varies, it is

generally with some obvious design in view. Thus, as Hodgson, who

powerfully supports the view here taken, remarks—