clear in that spot: but soon after a thicker cloud covered it; at
which time the _iris_ vanished, the copped hill before mentioned grew
very dark, together with the horizon on both sides, that is, to the
north and south, and looked blue; just as it appears in the east at
the declension of day: we had scarce time to tell ten, when Salisbury
steeple, six mile off southward, became very black; the copped hill
quite lost, and a most gloomy night with full career came upon us. At
this instant we lost sight of the sun, whose place among the clouds
was hitherto sufficiently distinguishable, but now not the least trace
of it to be found, no more than if really absent: then I saw by my
watch, though with difficulty, and only by help of some light from
the northern quarter, that it was six hours thirty-five minutes: just
before this the whole compass of the heavens and earth looked of a
lurid complexion, properly speaking, for it was black and blue; only
on the earth upon the horizon the blue prevailed. There was likewise
in the heavens among the clouds much green interspersed; so that the
whole appearance was really very dreadful, and as symptoms of sickening
nature.
Now I perceived us involved in total darkness, and palpable, as I may
aptly call it: though it came quick, yet I was so intent that I could
perceive its steps, and feel it as it were drop upon us, and fall on
the right shoulder (we looking westward) like a great dark mantle, or
coverlet of a bed, thrown over us, or like the drawing of a curtain on
that side: and the horses we held in our hands were very sensible of
it, and crouded close to us, startling with great surprise. As much
as I could see of the men’s faces that stood by me, had a horrible
aspect. At this instant I looked around me, not without exclamations of
admiration, and could discern colours in the heavens; but the earth had
lost its blue, and was wholly black. For some time, among the clouds,
there were visible streaks of rays, tending to the place of the sun as
their centre; but immediately after, the whole appearance of the
earth and sky was intirely black. Of all things I ever saw in my life,
or can by imagination fancy, it was a sight the most tremendous.
[Illustration: _The appearance of the_ Total Solar eclipse _from
Haradon hill May 11, 1724_.
_Stukeley del._ _E Kirkhall Sculp._]
Toward the north-west, whence the eclipse came, I could not in the
least find any distinction in the horizon between heaven and earth, for
a good breadth, of about sixty degrees or more; nor the town of Amsbury
underneath us, nor scarce the ground we trod on. I turned myself round
several times during this total darkness, and remarked at a good
distance from the west on both sides, that is, to the north and south,
the horizon very perfect; the earth being black, the lower part of
the heavens light: for the darkness above hung over us like a canopy,
almost reaching the horizon in those parts, or as if made with skirts
of a lighter colour; so that the upper edges of all the hills were as a
black line, and I knew them very distinctly by their shape or profile:
and northward I saw perfectly, that the interval of light and darkness
in the horizon was between Martinsal hill and St. Ann’s hill; but
southward it was more indefinite. I do not mean that the verge of the
shadow passed between those hills, which were but twelve miles distant
from us: but so far I could distinguish the horizon; beyond it, not
at all. The reason of it is this: the elevation of ground I was upon
gave me an opportunity of seeing the light of the heavens beyond the
shadow: nevertheless this verge of light looked of a dead, yellowish
and greenish colour: it was broader to the north than south, but the
southern was of a tawny colour. At this time, behind us or eastward
toward London, it was dark too, where otherwise I could see the hills
beyond Andover; for the foremost end of the shadow was past thither: so
that the whole horizon was now divided into four parts of unequal bulk
and degrees of light and dark: the part to the north-west, broadest
and blackest; to the south-west, lightest and longest. All the change
I could perceive during the totality, was that the horizon by degrees
drew into two parts, light and dark; the northern hemisphere growing
still longer, lighter, and broader, and the two opposite dark parts
uniting into one, and swallowing up the southern enlightened part.
As at the beginning the shade came feelingly upon our right shoulders,
so now the light from the north, where it opened as it were: though
I could discern no defined light or shade upon the earth that way,
which I earnestly watched for; yet it was manifestly by degrees, and
with oscillations, going back a little, and quickly advancing further;
till at length upon the first lucid point appearing in the heavens,
where the sun was, I could distinguish pretty plainly a rim of light
running along-side of us a good while together, or sweeping by at our
elbows from west to east. Just then, having good reason to suppose the
totality ended with us, I looked on my watch, and found it to be full
three minutes and a half more: now the hill-tops changed their black
into blue again, and I could distinguish a horizon where the centre
of darkness was before: the men cried out, they saw the copped hill
again, which they had eagerly looked for: but still it continued dark
to the south-east; yet I cannot say that ever the horizon that way was
undistinguishable: immediately we heard the larks chirping and singing
very briskly for joy of the restored luminary, after all things had
been hushed into a most profound and universal silence: the heavens and
earth now appeared exactly like morning before sun-rise, of a greyish
cast, but rather more blue interspersed; and the earth, as far as the
verge of the hill reached, was of a dark green or russet colour.
As soon as the sun emerged, the clouds grew thicker, and the light was
very little amended for a minute or more, like a cloudy morning slowly
advancing. After about the middle of the totality, and so after the
emersion of the sun, we saw Venus very plainly, but no other star.
Salisbury steeple now appeared. The clouds never removed, so that we
could take no account of it afterward, but in the evening it lightened
very much. I hasted home to write this letter; and the impression was
so vivid upon my mind, that I am sure I could, for some days after,
have wrote the same account of it, and very precisely. After supper I
made a drawing of it from my imagination, upon the same paper I had
taken a prospect of the country before.
I must confess to you, that I was (I believe) the only person in
England that regretted not the cloudiness of the day, which added so
much to the solemnity of the sight, and which imcomparably exceeded,
in my apprehension, that of 1715, which I saw very perfectly from the
top of Boston steeple in Lincolnshire, where the air was very clear:
but the night of this was more complete and dreadful. There indeed
I saw both sides of the shadow come from a great distance, and pass
beyond us to a great distance; but this eclipse had much more of
variety and majestic terror: so that I cannot but felicitate myself
upon the opportunity of seeing these two rare accidents of nature, in
so different a manner: yet I should willingly have lost this pleasure
for your more valuable advantage of perfecting the noble theory of
the celestial bodies, which last time you gave the world so nice a
calculation of; and wish the sky had now as much favoured us for an
addition to your honour and great skill, which I doubt not to be as
exact in this as before.
_Ambsbury, Wilts, May 10, 1724._
Return we to matters of antiquity. Upon this very hill-top are great
pits dug lately by order of my lord Charlton for clay, which they find
here of a very stiff sort, by nature let in like veins among clefts of
the solid chalk: the workmen here, whilst they have been busy in taking
it up, have found many Romans coins, silver and brass, some very deep
in the earth, as they say; several of which I have now by me. I saw
likewise a very fair gold _Constantius_; the reverse, two Genii holding
a shield, _vot._ xxx. _victoria Augg._ It seems as if the Romans, with
their wonted sagacity, had been occupied here in the same way, to make
pottery ware, and not neglected to leave proof of it according to their
method. I took notice likewise of one side of the summit being covered
with oyster-shells loose upon the surface; and how they came there I
could get no information.
[Sidenote: +Icening-street.+]
[Sidenote: +Sorbiodunum.+]
[Sidenote: TAB. LXV.]
[Sidenote: TAB. LXVI.]
[Sidenote: Roman _way_.]
[Sidenote: +Brige.+]
The Icening-street runs between this hill and the Bourn river, coming
from Newberry, as I suppose, through Chute forest, where vulgarly
called Chute causeway: at Lurgishal it makes a fine terrace-walk in
the garden of Sir Philip Medows; then passes the Bourn river about
Tudworth, and so by this place to the eastern gate of Old Sarum, the
Roman _Sorbiodunum_, where it runs most precisely north-east and
south-west, as we said before. This city is perfectly round, and
formed upon one of the most elegant designs one can imagine: probably
a fortress of the old Britons, and I fancy somewhat like the famous
Alesia in Gaul, memorable for the ancient Hercules, its founder, and
for the siege of the great Cæsar; which only his genius could have
taken in his circumstances. The prospect of this place is at present
very august, and would have afforded us a most noble sight when in
perfection: such a one will not be difficult to conceive when we have
described it. It fills up the summit of a high and steep hill, which
originally rose equally on all sides to an _apex_: the whole work is
1600 foot diameter, included in a ditch of a prodigious depth:
it is so contrived that in effect it has two ramparts, the inner and
outer, the ditch between: upon the inner, which is much the higher,
stood a strong wall of twelve foot thick, their usual standard, which
afforded a parapet at top for the defendants, with battlements quite
round: upon still higher ground is another deep circular ditch, of 500
foot diameter; this is the castle or citadel. Upon the inner rampire of
this was likewise another wall, I suppose of like thickness: so that
between the inner ditch and the outer wall, all around, was the city.
This is divided into equal parts by a meridian line: both the banks are
still left; one to the south, the other to the north; and these had
walls upon them too: the traces of all the walls are still manifest,
and some parts of them left; but we may say with the poet of the whole,
————_lapsis ingentia muris
Saxa jacent, nulloque domus custode tenetur._ +Lucan. I.+
In the middle of each half, toward the east and west, is a gate,
with each a lunette before it, deeply ditched, and two oblique
entries; that to the east is square, to the west round: the hollow
where the wall stood is visible quite round, though the materials
are well-nigh carried away to New Sarum: in every quarter were two
towers, the foundations plainly appearing: then, with those that
were upon the cardinal points, the gates and the median rampart, as
it must necessarily be understood, there were twelve in the whole
circumference; so that, supposing it about 5000 feet in circumference,
there was a tower at every 400. Hence we may imagine the nature of
the city was thus: a circular street went round in the middle between
the inner and outer fortifications, concentric to the whole work; and
that cross streets, like _radii_, fronted each tower: then there were
twenty-four islets of building for houses, temples, or the like. Now
such is the design of this place, that if one half was taken by an
enemy, the other would still be defensible; and at last they might
retire into the castle. The city is now ploughed over, and not one
house left. In the angle to the north-west stood the cathedral and
episcopal palace: the foundations are at present so conspicuous, that
I could easily mark out the ground-plot of it, as in the 65th plate:
near it is a large piece of the wall left, made of hewn stone with
holes quite through at equal spaces. One would imagine the Romans, in
laying down the _area_ of this city, had Plato’s rules in view,[136]
in his fifth dialogue of laws. Many wells have been filled up, and,
no doubt, with noble reliques of antiquity: they must have been very
deep, and especially that in the castle, and dug out of the solid
chalk. Of the castle-wall a good deal of huge fragments and foundations
are left: a double winding stair-case led up to the gate, where bits
of arch-work and immense strength of stone and mortar remains; and
within, many foundations and traces of buildings. In the north-east
corner of the city there is another rampart upon a _radius_, including
a squarish piece of ground; probably for some public edifice, but what
in particular, is now hard to say. Certainly, for strength, air, and
prospect over the lovely downs, and for salubrity, this place was well
calculated, and impregnable to any thing but death and hunger. The
river Avon runs near the bottom of the hill. The history of its glory,
its strange vicissitudes, and its ruin by removal of the church to
New Sarum, may be learnt from Camden, Burton, and other authors; my
business being chiefly to describe things: but the very sight of such a
carcass would naturally from a traveller extort such an expostulation:
Is this the ancient episcopal see, and the seat of warlike men, now
become corn-fields, and pasture for sheep? Is this the place where
synods have been held, and British parliaments; where all the states of
the kingdom were summoned to swear fealty to William the Conqueror; the
palace of the most potent British and Saxon kings, and Roman emperors?
and conclude with Rutilius,
_Non indignemur mortalia corpora solvi,
Cernimus exemplis oppida posse mori._
Nor grieve at our own fate, since here we see
That towns themselves must die as well as we.
Before the eastern gate of _Sorbiodunum_, a branch of the Roman way
proceeds eastward to Winchester, which has never yet been observed:
upon this goes part of the XVth imperial journey in these words; _Venta
Belgarum, Brige, Sorbiodunum_. This way passes the river Bourn at
Ford: the ridge of it is plain, though the countrymen have attacked
it vigorously on both sides with their ploughs: we caught them at the
sacrilegious work, and reprehended them for it: then it goes between
Clarendon park, and the camp of Chlorus before described: on the whole
length of Farley common it is very conspicuous, made of hard matter dug
up all along on both sides; then ascends the hills at Winterslow, which
signifies the white hill; then through Buckholt forest, where with
good heed the course of it may be followed, though through by-ways,
pastures, woods and hedges; sometimes running the length, sometimes
crossing it: a little northward of West Titherley it goes close by a
farm-house and large barn upon a rising ground, and at the edge of a
wood. This is the proper distance of eight miles from _Sorbiodunum_,
and was the ancient Brige; and Roman antiquities are often found here:
the British name imports a town upon the top of the hill; _brege_,
cacumen.
_Nunc situs informis premit & deserta vetustas._ +Hor.+
All this country being part of the Conqueror’s new forest, this colony
of the Romans shared in that great depopulation he made for his
diversion. It is near the brink of that woody hill, called Horseshoe
wood from its being upon a hill, overlooking Broughton upon the river
Wallop, where Mr. Camden places the Brige. A little way farther upon
the same brink, on an _apex_ of the hill, stands a large Celtic barrow,
ditched about, called Bols turret:[137] there are several other barrows
thereabouts, and probably some Roman; for the Roman road, here called
the Cause-way, proceeds upon this edge to the river at Bossington,
though sometimes intercepted by corn-fields, where the common road
goes about, and then falls into it again: it passes over the river at
Bossington, then marches directly to Winchester west gate.
[Illustration: 65 SORBIODVNVM.
_1. Aug. 1722._
_The View._
_The Ichnography._
_The Section._
Antiquæ Urbis Cadaver in Æs transtulit Joħes Pine Chalcographus.
_Stukeley designavit._]
[Illustration: 66 _Prospect of_ Old Sarum _Aug. 1. 1723._
A. _Stratford_ B. _the Icening Street_.
_Stukeley del_]
[Illustration: 75·2ᵈ. MARCVS MODIVS MEDICVS. _In Marmore_
_Apud Illustrissimum Comitem_ Penbrokiæ, In Villa Carviliana._
_Stukeley delin:_ _G. Vᵈʳ. Gucht Sculp._]
[Sidenote: +Wilton.+]
Having described this road, let us return to _Sorbiodunum_, in order
to pursue the Icening-street: but first give me leave to impart
to the reader somewhat of the pleasure you and I reaped at the
neighbouring Wilton. I shall only at this time give a catalogue of my
lord Pembroke’s most noble collection of ancient marbles, which may
be of use to the curious, in knowing the particulars of that glorious
_Musœum_, or that have a mind to view them.
The BUSTO’S are in number 133. The STATUES 36. The BASSO RELIEVO’S 15.
MISCELLANIES 9.
[Sidenote: TAB. CIII. 2d Vol.]
I. Of the BUSTO’S. 1. Those made with eyes of different matter from
the bust. A Sibyl, the whole cavity of the eyes hollowed: Ariadne,
with agate eyes: A Greek Cupid, with agate eyes: Drusus, Germanicus;
these two are in copper, finely performed, with silver eyes.—2. Learned
persons. Hesiod: Homer, brought from Constantinople, seems by its high
antiquity to have been the first model of the father of the poets:
Sappho, the inimitable in poetry; this is of the ivory marble, the last
perfection of Greek sculpture: Pythagoras: Anacharsis, of an admirable
character: Socrates, by the roguish carver dressed like a Satyr, with
sharp ears: Plato, very ancient, and of a most venerable aspect:
Aristotle: Aristophanes: Apollonius Tyanæus, a most valuable antiquity,
with the right hand and arm: Marcus Modius, an Athenian physician,
of excellent Greek work: Epicurus, a little bust of the great atomic
philosopher: Posidonius, preceptor to Cicero: Sophocles: Aspasia,
who taught Socrates rhetoric: Isocrates: Cato major: Cicero, of
touch-stone: Horace, as some think; a young busto of speckled porphyry;
I am inclined to believe it Ovid: Seneca: Persius the Satyrist: Titus
Livius.—3. Of coloss proportion. Arsinoe mater: Ahenobarbus, the bad
father of the worse Nero: Julia Domna, wife of Severus: Geta when
young, their son.—4. Persons of Greece before the Roman empire: Cecrops
and his wife represented as Janus: Tmolus, a most ancient founder of
a colony: Ganymede, with the Phrygian bonnet, very beautiful: Dido:
Arsinoe filia: Phædra, wife of Theseus: Damas, the learned daughter
of Pythagoras: Olympias, mother of Alexander: Alexander magnus:
Lysimachus: Berenice mater: Berenice filia: Ptolemy, brother to
Cleopatra: Cleopatra, wife to Antipater: Ammonius Alexandrinus, one
of the Olympic victors: Iotape, wife of Antiochus Comagenes king of
Syria.—5. Consular persons: Lucius Junius Brutus, who slew Tarquin:
M. Junius Brutus, who slew Cæsar: P. Cornelius Scipio Africanus:
Scipio Asiaticus: P. Cornelius Scipio Nasica: one of the brothers of
the Horatii: Marcellus: Marius: Sulpicius Rufus: Dolabella: Cneius
Pompeius magnus: Sextus Pompeius.—6. Emperors, Empresses, Cæsars and
Augustæ, beside Geta and Julia Domna already mentioned. Julius Cæsar,
of oriental alabaster, the only original: Augustus: Julia, daughter
to Augustus, incomparably fine: Cajus Cæsar: Lucius Cæsar: Marcellus:
Drusus senior: Germanicus: Agrippina senior: Antonia, of curious
marble: Tiberius, of small brass: Caligula: Cæsonia, wife of Caligula:
Claudius, the conqueror of Britain: Drusilla: Messalina: Nero: Sabina
Poppæa, his wife, a naked busto: Octavia, his wife: Marcia: Galba:
Otho: Vitellius: Lucius Vitellius, brother to the emperor: Vespasian:
Titus: Julia, daughter of Titus: Domitian: Vespasianus novus, the
adopted son of Domitian: Nerva: Trajan: Hadrian: Sabina: Antinous,
Hadrian’s favourite: Antoninus Pius: Faustina senior: M. Aurelius
Antoninus Philosophus: Annius Verus: Lucius Verus: Commodus: Lucilla,
wife of Ælius: Lucilla junior, wife of Verus: Pertinax: Didius
Julianus: Crispina, wife of Commodus: Septimius Severus: Plautilla,
wife of Caracalla: Julia Paula: Macrinus: Annia Faustina, wife of
Heliogabalus: Julia Mammæa, wife of Verus: Julia Moesa: Lucilla junior:
Alexander Severus: Gordianus Cæsar: Balbinus: Sabina Tranquillina, wife
of Antonius Gordianus, emperor: Marcia Otacilla; Q. Herennius, a boy:
Hostilianus: Volusianus: Valerianus, a boy: Constantinus magnus the
Briton, of better work than was commonly in that age, as a few of his
medals were.—7. Divinities. Jupiter: Pallas: Apollo, a fine large bust:
Diana: Venus, like that of Medicis: Bacchus: Faunus: Fauna: Libera:
Libertas: Mercury Pantheon, made of different faces.
II. STATUES. A queen of the Amazons defending herself from a horseman
in battle: Cupid, a man, breaking his bow: Clio, the muse, sitting: a
Faunus: these are of most admirable workmanship. Five statues reckoned
as ancient as any in the several parts of the world. Egypt, Isis
with her husband Osiris in Theban iron stone. Thrace, Jupiter Ammon
from the temple built by Sesostris, with a ram on his shoulders; it
is a very venerable piece. Asia Minor, Diana of Ephesus; the head,
hands and feet black, the rest of white marble. Phrygia, Cupid tied
to a tree; a Phrygian cap on his head. Lydia, Hercules wrestling
with Achelous. Paris with the Phrygian bonnet and shepherd’s coat of
skins. Saturn with an infant in his arms. The Egyptian Bacchus, of a
fine shape, carrying the young fat Greek Bacchus on his shoulder. A
shepherd playing on the flute. A Greek Bacchus. Flora. Silenus drunk,
with a club in his hand, fancying himself Hercules, supported by a
younger; a piece of most incomparable art. A boy dancing and playing
on music. Cupid holding the golden apple. A young Bacchus smiling.
Marcus Aurelius on horseback, made at Athens, small. The river Meander,
recumbent. A boy in an eager posture, catching at some live thing
on the ground. A coloss Hercules, six Attic cubits high, with three
apples in one hand. Cleopatra giving suck to Cæsarion her son, sitting.
Julia Pia Domna, wife of Septimius Severus, sitting. Livia, the wife
of Augustus, sitting. Manlia Scantilla, sitting. Attys the Phrygian,
engraved by Montfaucon without the head, which is here restored. Mark
Antony, a crocodile at his feet. Apollo. Ceres. Pomona. Andromeda.
Young Hercules with the serpents. Hercules, old, with his club. The
dwarf of Augustus.
III. BASSO RELIEVO’S. The Story of Niobe, _alto relievo_, very ancient:
there are twenty figures; the marble is 2400 weight; seems to have been
a pannel in some temple of Apollo, or Diana. The story of Meleager,
being the side of a _sarcophagus_, seventeen figures, _mezzo relievo_,
1500 weight, of an admirable taste. Curtius on horseback, leaping into
the gaping cavern, of most excellent work. M. Aurelius and Faustina,
_adversa capita_, fine work. Caracalla, a three-quarters _relievo_.
The three Graces. One on horseback, cutting at a soldier defending
himself under the horse. The ancient manner of eating, Jupiter served
by Hebe: he is accumbent. A frize of a sea-triumph, small figures.
Cleopatra with the asps in a covered vase, _alto relievo_. Part of a
frize from a temple of Neptune, Naiades and Tritons. A _basso_ from a
temple of Bacchus, the _thyrsus_, &c. A _basso relievo_ on porphyry
of Roemitalces king of Thrace. A child stealing fruit from the altar
through a mask.
IV. MISCELLANIES. A nuptial vase, representing the ceremonies of
marriage. Ara Hammonis, a cube of white marble, on front the symbol of
Jupiter Hammon on a circular piece of the old Theban marble. Two black
porphyry pillars brought from Rome by the earl of Arundel. The column
of Egyptian granite, weighing near 7000 weight, from the ruins of the
temple of Venus genetrix, built by Julius Cæsar: this my lord has set
up in the front of the house. A very ancient altar of Bacchus, adorned
with _basso relievo’s_. An altar table of red Egyptian granite, large,
and four or five inches thick. An antique pavement, four sorts of
marble, of gradual light and shade. The antique picture from the temple
of Juno: it is in thick stucco. The _sarcophagus_ of Epaphroditus
intire, finely carved with the history of Ceres. The front of Claudia’s
sepulchre, sister of Probus the emperor: her head is joined with his.
Eighty-five _termini_ of antique marbles, busto’s on seventy-two of
them.
[Sidenote: +Icening-street.+]