"Thus this glorious city was reduced to an heap of rubbish, and continued a great while in a desolate condition, though many of the buildings were at length repaired, and there is no doubt but if the Romans had continued amongst us, they would have restored it to its former beauty, splendor, and magnificence. But when they deserted the isle, the Saxons came in, and it is very well known that they were not famous for architecture. Indeed, when the Normans settled amongst us, building with stone began to revive, and the city thereupon was continually adorned by the care not only of our kings and princes, but of other great and illustrious personages; but then what they did for it was sometimes suddenly effaced and destroyed by fire, which hath frequently happened in this great city, partly by accident, and partly by design, especially when a furious enemy hath appeared against it.

"How much this city hath been raised may be supposed from a pavement found fifteen foot deep in Cheapside, above an hundred years since. But how much more hath it been advanced since the year 1666?

"Having thus far endeavoured to give a succinct account of London as it was in the time of the Romans, from my own observation, (although far short of what we may reasonably conclude had been done by Leland,) I shall next take notice of some ancient customs, which had their original from the Romans.

“First then, I have often thought, and am now fully persuaded, that the planting of vines in the adjacent parts about this city, was first of all began by the Romans, an industrious people, and famous for their skill in agriculture and gardening, as may appear from the rei agrariæ scriptores, as well as from Pliny, and other authors. We had a vineyard in East Smithfield, another in Hatton Garden, (which at this time is called Vine Street) and a third in Saint Giles's, in the Fields. Many places in the country bear the name of the Vineyard to this day, especially in the ancient monasteries, as Canterbury, Ely, Abbington, &c. which were left as such by the Romans. And though some may object

that

that several places which bear this name are certainly of a later date than the Roman times, yet I desire them to consider that what I have here advanced, is not to be understood of them either as cities or towns of distinction, but only as they were places where the Romans, during their residence here, exercised themselves in husbandry, and were willing that they should remain to posterity as tokens of their skill and diligence in affairs of this nature.

"To this give me leave to add our prize-fighting, which I can ascribe to nothing else but the same sort of exercise practised by the Roman gladiators. Nay, our bull and bearbaiting are the remains of the same people, as our Maygames, mumming, morrice-dancing, &c. which happened much about the same time of the year, as they do now amongst us.

"Master of the ruff-game is an office still in being, and is nothing but the same that was in high esteem amongst the Romans. As to the brothel-houses formerly in Southwark, we find a statute as old as the reign of Edward III. for their toleration, (and I have seen statutes in their behalf amongst collections, transcribed from the very book formerly made use of by Stow,) and it is probable that they were first established by the Romans, (for the Bull and Bear-garden in that place is but of late settlement,) who had also a playhouse on that side, and had their abode very much in Southwark, which was then a place of fortification, not to insist upon many other antient ceremonies and customs practised by the old heathens; to recite and reckon up these would be too tedious, and extend this discourse beyond what I first proposed."

The various remains of Roman grandeur which have at several times been discovered in London, form a necessary appendage to this portion of its antient history.

An aqueduct, and several vessels for sacred and domestic uses, &c. were found in digging for the foundation of the church of St. Mary Woolnoth, Lombard Street, in 1716; these remains induced Dr. Harwood to imagine that here not only a considerable pottery, but a temple of Concord, must VOL. I. No. 2.

E

have

have stood, described by Roman historians in their account of Trinobantum. Such vast quantities of broken pottery abounded here, that many cart loads were carried away with the rubbish to mend the roads about St. George's Fields. An antient Well which had been choaked up for ages, was also restored to its wonted use, and now supplies the pump under the church.

In 1718, the workmen in pulling down a wall. at Bridewell Hospital, discovered a gold enamelled ring, having the resemblance of the Crucifixion; the inscription in Arabic; this ring was supposed to be one thousand five hundred years old.

London Stone, in Cannon Street, was undoubtedly a Roman milliary of the same kind as that in the Forum at Rome, where all the ways met in a point, and whence they were measured. We will not go so far as some of our antiquaries, who have asserted that this was an altar of worship among the Britons.

In 1777, a silver ingot was discovered, among many gold coins, in digging the old foundations of the Ordnance Office, in the Tower; the ingot was inscribed, "Ex Officio Honorii ;" and the coins were of that emperor and Arcadius. This circumstance, more than all others, seems to confirm the notion, that the Tower was not only a Roman fort; but also a mint and treasury.

The Society of Antiquaries published an account of various antiquities discovered in digging a sewer in Lombard Street and Birchin Lane, in 1786.

And in December 1803, a very beautiful Mosaic pavement was accidentally discovered by some workmen employed to search for the sewer, immediately before the eastern column of the portico of the East India house, in Leadenhall Street.

"This beautiful specimen of Roman workmanship, exhibits the ornamented centre (eleven feet square) of the floor of an

* Milliarium aureum fuit columna in capite fori Romani, sub Saturni æde, prope arcum Septimii, in quæ omnes Italiæ viæ incisæ finerunt, et a qua ad singulas portas mensuræ regionum currerunt. cap. 5.

Plin. lib. iii.

apartment

apartment of uncertain dimensions, which lay at a depth of nine feet six inches from the present level of the carriage-way pavement; the head of the principal figure pointing nearly to the south, and its foot to the north.

"The pavement did not exceed half an inch in thickness, and was bedded in a layer of brick-dust and lime of about an inch; beneath which was a thick stratum of loam, the precise depth whereof could not be ascertained.

"The whole eastern side had been some time before cut away to make room for a sewer; but, little doubt could exist of the two borders having been continued round the square, two-thirds of which remained perfect.

Nothing worth notice occurred in taking up the residue, except the fragment of an urn; which, together with a jaw-bone, and some finger bones, was found under the western angle.

"The surrounding red margin consisted of coarse red tessellæ, an inch square, and was traced to the extent of five feet six inches on the north-west side, but could not be followed further, on account of the difficulty and danger of breaking-up the street; in opening the ground, however, on the opposite side of the way, foundations of Kentish ragstone and Roman brick appeared at nearly the same depth, which probably were those of the building to which this pavement belonged. The room could not have been less than twenty-two feet square; but, in all probability, was considerably larger.

"In this beautiful specimen of Roman Mosaic, the drawing, colouring, and shadows, are all effected with considerable skill and ingenuity, by the use of about twenty separate tints, composed of tessellæ of different materials, the major part of which are baked earths; but the more brilliant colours of green and purple, which form the drapery, are glass.

"These tessellæ are of different sizes and figures, adapted to the situations they occupy in the design. They are placed in rows either strait or curved as occasion demanded, each tessella presenting to those around it a flat side; the inter

stices of mortar being thus very narrow, and the bearing of the pieces against each other uniform; the work in general possessed much strength, and was very probably, when uninjured by damp, nearly as firm to the foot as solid stone.

"The tessellæ used in forming the ornamented borders, are in general somewhat larger than those in the figures, being cubes of half an inch.

"The figure of the god Bacchus is represented reclining on the back of a tiger. The same device, with some small variations, was discovered in 1711-12, on a pavement at Stunsfield, two miles north-west of Woodstock, in Oxfordshire."

This description is from the pen of Mr. Fisher, of the East India house, who has published a very large fac simile of the pavement, and who has kindly permitted the insertion of the preceding extract.

The sketch for Mr. Fisher's engraving was first made, with permission of C. Wilkins, Esquire, the honourable East India company's librarian, previous to the removal of any part of the original pavement, and perfected after the disjointed fragments were deposited in the company's library; in which place these remains, taken up at the company's expence, through the liberality of the honourable Court of Directors, are now preserved, and are the first considerable specimen of Roman Mosaic found within this city which has not been either destroyed, or covered up as soon as opened.

Our account of Roman London, and its remains, would be imperfect, were not the boundaries of its Wall concisely traced.

This wall commenced at the Tower of London, eastwardly, and passed between Poor Jewry Lane and the Vineyard to Aldgate, in which extent, between Wall's Court, and Black Horse Alley, was a bastion, and another opposite Weeden's Rents, a distance of eighty-two perches. From Aldgate, the wall formed a curve between Shoemaker Row, Bevis Marks, Camomile Street, and Houndsditch, fenced with three bastions, one opposite Harrow Alley, a second opposite Bowle Court, and a third between Hand Alley and Castle Yard, and abutted at Bishopsgate, a distance of eighty-six perches. Thence taking a westerly direction

through