NORTHUMBERLAND.

THE Editor of this very interesting county has transmitted the following corrections and additions.

read Allendale; and line 17, read Thocker

P. 9. 1. 30.

read Lindisfarne.

P. 15. 1. 15.

P. 23. 1. 28.

P. 25. 1. 5.

ingtm.

for "16000" read 1600.

after Smelting, add:- Edward the Fourth, by letters patent, dated March 23, 1449, granted to his brother, Richard, Duke of Gloucester; Henry, Earl of Northumberland; and others; the mines of Blanchland, called Shilden; of Alston-Moor, called Fetchers; the mines of Cumberland; and the copper mines near Richmond, in Yorkshire. The old works at Shilden have been very extensive, as the rubbish-heaps in the line of the vein, called the old Shilden vein, largely testify: but they had been carried to no great depth. It has, indeed, been proved by very recent trials that the veins in this place are unproductive of lead, at great depths. Messrs. Hall and Puller, erected here a steam engine by Bolton and Watt, a few years since, the cylinder of which was 70 inches in diameter, and which, by keeping the mine free from water, enabled them to pierce the veins as far as the great limestone stratum: but their hopes were not realized they found ore, but in very small quantities. Similar trials at Bilden and Ramshaw were attended by immense loss of capital. The Strata which the four veins at Shilden intersect, consist of alternating beds of silecious sandstone, and a black aluminous schist. There is, also, one stratum of limestone called the Fell-top limestone; and the Great limestone, which is the lowest stratum that has been penetrated, near Blanchland. The ore is uniformly found in the sandstone strata, in two of which it is accompanied with an abundance of beautiful species of chalcedony, some in the form of breccia; and others of incrustations, the concentric coatings of which are of great variety of shades.

P. 39. 1. 12.

dele "the" before "historians."

P. 48.

P. 120. 1. 14. after Shewingsheels, add: on the sixth of July, 1816, John Blenkinsop Carlson, Esq. of Blenkinsop Castle, presented various articles of antiquity discovered within his manor of Blenkinsop, tothe Antiquarian Society of Newcastle-upon-Tyne; and, among them, a fine tablet, bearing the following very interesting inscription to Ceres.

IMMINET. LEONI. VIRGO. CAELES

TI. SITV. SPICIFERA. IVSTI. IN
VENTRIX. VRBIVM. CONDITRIX.

EX QVIS MVMERIBVS. NOSSE CON

TIGIT DEOS ERGO EADEM MATER DIVVM

PAX VIRTVS CERES DEA SYRIA

LANCE VITAM ET IVRA PENSITANS

IN CAELO VISVM SYRIA SIDVS EDI

DIT LIBYAE COLENDVM INDE

CVNCTI DIDICIMVS

ITA INTELLEXIT NVMINE INDVCTVS
TVO MARCVS CAECILIVS DO

NATINVS MILITANS TRIBVNVS

IN PRAEFECTO DONO PRINCIPIS

It will be observed that this inscription consists of ten verses, of the same kind as those in which the comedies of Terence are written. The Rev. G. S. Faber, author of The Origin of the Idolatry of the Pagans, has given a very learned explanation of this curious document in the Archæologia Æliana: but his paper is too long for inser

tion in this place, and is incapable of abridgment. The following extract is the introductory paragraph of Mr. Faber's paper:~

"Marcus Cæcilius, the author of the curious inscription to Ceres, lately discovered at Caervoran, on the Roman wall, identifies that Goddess with the Zodaical constellation Virgo: and, both in this identification, and in the character which he ascribes to her, he displays an intimate acquaintance with the old Theological notions of the Gentiles."

P. 134. 1. 28. for "EO" read TO and dele the paragraph beginning, concerning this" &c. and ending "pius et justus :" and insert the following in its place: it is observable of this inscription that it mentions an Emperor of Rome, who was grandson of Severus; the Second Ala of the Astures; a person of the name of Marius Valerius; the presence of a prefect called Septimius Nilus; and refers to something that, having been injured by time, had been rebuilt, and dedicated on the third of the kalends of November, when Gratus and Seleucus were consuls.

Heliogabalus was grandson of Mæsa, the sister of Severus, and styled himself DIVI SEVERI NEPOS. He began to reign in 218, and was slain on the tenth of March, 222. Gratus and Seleucus were consuls in 221: this inscription, was, therefore, made on the thirtieth of October in that year, and refers to Heliogabalus. After the death of an Emperor who was hated, his name and titles were often erased from public monuments; a practice which accounts for the mutilations in this inscription.

The Notitia Imperii, a record that mentions transactions which oc curred after the reign of Theodosius the First, and, consequently, after 375, enumerates the names of eighteen cities per lineam Valli : and particularizes the rank of the officers, and the names of the seve ral divisions of the Roman army, by which they were garrisoned. In the sixth of these cities, which it calls Cilurnum, and which answers to Walwick Chesters, it places the prefect of the second wing of the Asti (Præfectus Ala secundæ Asturum Cilurno.) The coincidence, therefore, between this inscription and the Notitia, clearly proves that the ancient name of Walwick Chesters was Cilurnum. A similar agreement exists between the Notitia and inscriptions found at the stations at Benwell; Halton Chesters; Carrowbrugh; House Steads;

Little

Little Chesters; Burdoswald; and other stations, on the line of the wall.

The Astures were a people of Spain. The first Ala of them was quartered at Benwell, and, in an inscription belonging to that place, is called Ala prima Hispanorum Asturum, and is coupled with the name of Gordian. An inscription discovered at Æsica, or Great Chesters, on the wall, also mentions the second cohort of the Astures; but the Notitia says, cohors prima Asturum Æsica.

The Ale were auxiliary cavalry, and each of them consisted of four or five hundred horse, and was divided into ten turmæ, or troops.

I conceive that the term vetustate referred to some edifice that had fallen into decay. The first Ala of the Astures rebuilt a temple at Benwell, in the time of Gordian; and the second cohort of the same people re-edified a ruined granary, from the ground, at Great Ches ters, in the time of Alexander Severus. The Emperor Gordian also rebuilt certain decayed barracks and magazines at Lanchester; and I apprehend that the inscription in the crypt at Hexham, which has HORR...... upon it, relates to the repairs of some granary. It is worthy of remark, that all these repairs were done nearly about the same time; and, I think, the term vetustate conlapsa, fallen together by time, implies that these edifices had acquired a considerable age at the time they were rebuilt.

Perhaps, the repairs which this inscription records, were done by some part of the second Ala of the Astures, the name of which was in the plural number; and the four last lines, when perfect, stood in some such manner as the following. The titles and offices of this Emperor may be seen in several inscriptions in Gruter, and other

authors.

ALE. II. ASTVR. TEMPLVM. VETVSTATE. CONLAPSVM. RESTITY ERVNT. PER. MARIVM. VALERIVM. LEG. AVG. PRPR. INSTANTE. SEPTIMIO NILO. PRAEF. ALE. II. ASTVR DEDICATVM. III. KAL. NOVEM. GRATO ET SELEVCO COSS.

In Horsley's Britannia Romana, and in Gough's Camden, there are copies of two inscriptions of this kind, found at Lanchester; in both of which the names of the proprætor and the prefect are in this mode of Phraseology. I have inserted templum to agree with dedi catum, supposing, that the flattery of the times had complimented this

execrable