1,500 years after its manufacture, it preserves its colours and its lustre perfectly.

Castor ware, a native product, was made at Castor (Durobrivae), near the River Nen, and includes small vases of rusty copper or slate colour, with white ornament in low relief. “Castor ware is not Roman in character, but rather a local survival of late Celtic art.”

PLATE 5.

(Fig. 1): A Roman tablet of wood. This was covered with a thin coating of wax, upon which the writing was done with a stylus of metal or bone. When the inscription was no longer needed, a hot iron was held over the surface, and a new surface formed on the wax. (Fig. 2): A Roman stylus of iron. (Fig. 3): A Roman amphora. (Fig. 4): An ornamented vase of Cologne ware. (Fig. 5): A bowl of Cologne ware. (Fig. 6): An ewer or water bottle, with indented mouth. (Fig. 7): A deep bowl of Roman pottery. (Fig. 8): A cinerary urn of grey ware for containing the ashes of the dead. (Fig. 9): A decorated urn of Cologne ware. (Fig. 10): A vase of Castor ware, red, with black glazed neck ornaments, decorated with pinkish-white slip. (Fig. 11): A Roman glass hemispherical bowl. (Fig. 12): A drinking cup of thick Samian ware, 3¾ in. high.

ROMAN ANTIQUITIES FOUND IN LONDON.

(Guildhall Museum.)

The Roman influence in Britain was directed to the civilizing of the inhabitants. It gave the people better conditions of life; it guaranteed protection against the tyrannies of petty chieftains; and it gave to them the resources of Roman civilisation. The Roman remains that are to be found in our museums, unearthed after centuries of oblivion, show how definite was the influence of the Romans in the comforts and necessities of daily life.

“Keys and steelyards, roofing tiles and hairpins, glass bottles and spoons, statues and bells, represent wants and comforts strange to the ‘savage and shivering Britons,’ dressed in skins, whom earlier writers knew.” The manufacture of glass, chiefly beads, was carried on at Glastonbury in Roman times, but most of the glass found is Roman in character. The large green jars which were used for containing the ashes of the dead were generally made here, but the best specimens came probably from Gaul, where the manufacture of glass was carried on to a considerable extent.

PLATE 6.

(Fig. 1): A square bottle of green glass, found in a grave with cinerary urns. (Fig. 2): An unguentarium, or bottle for unguents, perfumes and other toilet requisites, of Roman glass. (Fig. 3): A Roman lamp of earthen-ware. The wick was inserted in the spout, and the central hole was for the purpose of feeding the lamp. (Fig. 4): Another Roman lamp, viewed from above. (Fig. 5): A Roman pole-axe, with expanded blade, oval shaft-hole, and pointed projection behind, 9 in. long. (Figs. 6 and 7): Two forms of Roman keys of bronze. (Fig. 8): A Roman shoe or buskin, with ten large holes stamped out on each side. (Fig. 9): An axe with crescent-shaped blade and tang for handle. (Fig. 10): A Roman spoon of copper (5 in. long). (Fig. 11): A Roman steelyard of bronze, with hooks and rings. (Fig. 12): A sacrificial knife (7¼ in. long). (Fig. 13): A Roman iron knife with ornamented bone handle.

ROMAN ARCHITECTURE IN BRITAIN.

Roman architecture in Britain, judging from the remains of buildings, was generally of an inferior description, for Britain was a remote and half-civilised province, and little attention appears to have been paid to make the buildings very ornate.

There are two principal varieties of masonry employed in their construction.

The first, which is very characteristic, consists of layers of irregularly shaped stones and flat tiles embedded in mortar, generally arranged in alternate layers of tiles and stones in mortar, forming a kind of concrete (Pl. 7, Fig. 3). The Mint wall at Lincoln, the Jewry wall at Leicester, and the walls at Richborough and Colchester are built in this manner.

The other variety consists of walls formed of regular courses, with wide joints of outer facings of square stones or ashlars, the interior spaces being filled with a rubble embedded in mortar. The blocks, which were of hewn sandstone, were about 8 in. by 10 in. on the face, and as much as 22 in. long in the bed. The whole rests on a course of larger foundation stones (Pl. 7, Figs. 1 and 2).

Roman mortar may generally be distinguished by the fact that it was mixed with powdered brick, and it is extremely hard. It is often easier to break the tile or stone than the mortar, and this hardness arises largely from the fact that the Romans always burnt the lime on the spot, and used it hot and fresh, for on the freshness of the lime the strength of the mortar largely depends. The walls of Burgh Castle, Suffolk, and Richborough, Kent, are among the most perfect Roman walls in England.

There are vestiges of Roman towns and villas throughout the country, but they consist of foundations only. The upper story of these Roman houses was usually of wood, and all the innumerable Roman towns and villas of which foundations have been discovered bear marks of destruction by violence, fire having been usually the agent of destruction.