makes very much for this conjecture. It is an altar erected to the goddess Fortune, upon the rebuilding of a bath that had been destroyed by fire. See the inscription in Mr. Horsley's book. I shall now only add that Netherby is not the place called in the 'Notitia' Castra Exploratorum, as Mr. Horsley conjectures. 'Tis more probably the place called Elica, and that the Castra Exploratorum were at Burnswark hill, where there are two Roman camps on the sides of it, and one at the top; besides another at Middleby near them, which Mr. Horsely calls Blatum Bulyium. See his account of the inscriptions in Scotland. As to the antient Elica, I believe it took its name from the river Esk. Esk in the old British signifies a river or water, there being five of this name in Scotland. "The cohort above-mentioned was called Elia as a compliment bestowed upon it by the Emperor Ælius Adrianus, and there are several instances of this kind: even the city of Jerusalein, upon its being built by the same Emperor, was called Ælia. "N. B. There has been a dispute amongst the learned men, such as Lipsius, Terentius, Casaubon, Salmasius, whether or not a body of horse could be called Cohors Equitum. See the notes upon Suetonius in 'Vita Claudii,' cap. 25., They generally agree that a cohort consisted only of foot; but this inscription might have settled the dispute, if the first reading be right." 3. "DEAR SIR, Sebergham, Dec. 28, 1741. "A copy of the inscription on the altar at Bowness was sent me about two or three years ago by the mason who put it up in the barn wall, and I find, upon comparing it with yours, they are entirely the same, excepting only that your P in the last line is an R, as you observe there appears something of an obliquy stroke in the original. The reading, no doubt, is, Jovi Optima Maximo pro salute Dominorum nostrorum Galli et Volusiani Augustorum Sulpicius Secundinius Tribunus Cohortis posuit. Gallus and Volusianus his son begun their joint reign in the year 251, and were both slain in 253 in a battle against Emilianus their successor. This altar seems to me no otherwise remarkable, than as it is the only one I have seen that makes mention of these emperors. 'Tis pity the cohort is not particularized. "The room lately discovered near Mrs. Appleby's must have been very curious, and it is no small loss to the antiquary, that it has been defaced. I can find no account of the Hypocaust in any of my authors, except in Dr. Potter's Greek Antiquities, and that is a very short one. “ Ὑπόκαυστον, οι πυριατήριον, Sudatorium, a room most commonly round (but this was amongst the Greeks) and provided with Tuρ äкаπvov, fire, so contrived that it should not smoke, for the benefit of those who desired to sweat." The hypocaust mentioned by your ingenious correspondent to have been found lately at Lincoln, I saw some little account of in a letter from the person who found it. He discovered it near the cathedral there *, and being himself curious a little in that way, gave an account of it to the Society of Antiquaries at London, who returned him their thanks and sent down Mr. Vertue to take a draught of it. As to the little earthern vessel you have in your custody, as you say it resembles a salt, why should not one call it that necessary piece of household furniture, as soon as any other? Vivitur in parvo benè, cui paternum Splendet in mensâ tenui Salinum!' The compliments of the season sincerely attend you. I thank you for your very obliging letter, and am, your most faithful friend, and humble servant, JOSIAH RELPH.” Sebergham, April 2, 1748. 4. "DEAR SIR, "Mr. Ward takes instante in the Cast Steeds inscription to be the same with curante on one in Northumberland, mentioned by Mr. Horsley, that is, taking care of, or overseeing; but he does not give us his opinion, whether this officer took care to have the altar erected, or whether he took care of this cohort, or of the Roman affairs in Britain in general. And his construction of instante I think is forced, notwithstanding what he quotes from Pliny to support it. Virgil has instat operi, spoken of Dido with regard to the building of Carthage, and this the Commentators make to signify, she urges on the work;' and I know not but instant operibus may have the same signification in Pliny. The Orator, complimenting the Prince upon the exact discipline of his army, tells him the officers were neither afraid to have the love or hatred of the soldiers because the former would not bring them into any danger from the jealously of the Prince, nor the latter from the mutiny of the soldiers, and then he adds, securi instant operibus, adsunt excercitationibus, arma, mœnia, viros aptant. It may be taken you see in either sense. "You will find inclosed in the Magazines a tooth crusted over with a yellow metal like gold. It was taken from the jaw of a sheep fed upon Caldbeck Fells in this neighbourhood, where, it is a current opinion, that there is gold. Now I accounted for the thing thus: some gold-dust might be was hed down by the brooks and cleave to the grass on the borders; and the sheep feeding upon this grass might contract this crust upon their teeth. But I have since had teeth shewed me thus crusted, both of cows and sheep, that I have reason to think never came upon these Fells; and am, therefore, at a loss how to account for the thing. I desire you will get the substance tried whether it be gold or not, and then give me your opinion of the occasion of it. There is no manner of ground to suspect any artifice in the case, since the tooth was sent me by plain simple people. You will please to accept of this, because I have another. "I am, dear Sir, your faithful humble servant, J. RELPH." • In 1739; see the Archæologia, vol. IV. p. 89. -1 O 5. "DEAR SIR, Sebergham, Sept. 7, [1742.] "There is no determining the age of a Roman coin from the number of consulships upon it, both because the Emperors had most of them been consuls before they came to the empire, and because they were not always and every year such after they did. It is, indeed, said by Suetonius of one of them (I think it is Vitellius) that he assumed perpetuum Consulatum; but this is mentioned as something extraordinary. Mr. Camden's rule is to observe the years of the Tribunitian powers; but I find, upon examination, that neither will this bear; for the Emperors had likewise the tribunitian power often conferred on them, before their coming to the purple; for instance we read in the same historian of Titus, that he was colleague with his father in the tribunitian power. And, accordingly, I have seen mention made of the tenth year of his tribunitian power, whereas it is well known he only reigned two years and two months: so that his tribunitian power must have taken date long before his coming to the empire. However, as your piece of Antonine has no figures after the tribunitian power, we may conclude it to have been struck the first year of his empire, which was in the year of Christ, 138; because it has been coined in the first year of his tribunitian power, and when he was Emperor, and because the Emperors that had not that honour conferred on them before, always assumed it upon their entering upon the empire. "I am, dear Sir, with thanks for your book and papers, your very humble servant, JOSIAH RELPH." 6. "DEAR SIR, Sebergham, Dec. 2, 1742. "You have done me a great favour in giving me a sight of Fuller's Medicina Gymnastica.' It is a book written with great judgment, and hits my taste exactly. "I shall give you below a copy of the inscription you desire: I discovered it some ten years ago upon a rock on the banks of the rivulet Shawh, about a mile and a half N. or N. W. of Rose Castle. It is as near as I could guess as follows; but when I read it, it was with danger, being forced to stand upon a pretty high ladder, and that not well fixed either. LEG II AVG The PE might perhaps have been FE, for fecerunt. There is now a quarry at the place, and has been very anciently, as appears from prodigiously large heaps of rubbish now grown over: so that it is very probable that stones have been had from here to that part of the Picts Wall, which is towards Bowness, especially as there are no quarries nearer, and as I ain told by some masons that the stones in the Wall and those in the quarry are of the same nature; and hence has come the inscription. "I am, dear Sir, your faithful humble servant, J. RELPH." Mr. WYBERGH to Mr. THOMAS ROUTH. "SIR, Clifton, Jan. 18, 1742-3. "Since I had the favour of seeing you last here, I have had the opportunity of discovering more letters on the old stone, but cannot make any further sense of the inscription. I have sent you a copy of the whole on the other side, according to the best of my observation. If you had been with me in some of the late clear frosty mornings, when the sun was about two hours high, I doubt not, you would have made a greater discovery. Pray search who were the Consuls when the sixth Legion was in England; then, perhaps, his or their names may be made out upon the stone. Mr. Head, to whom pray my humble service, probably may give you a further light into this inscription, if he will please to search into the library at Carlisle, as he promised me, for some antiquities taken by Parson Machell, on pieces of paper, relating to Clifton, and which the present Bishop of Carlisle told us he had given to the library at Carlisle. I hope to see you here, when your father comes his next round to Penrith, &c. and am, with all due respects to him, 1. To Mr. THOMAS ROUTH, Castle-street, Carlisle. "SIR, Scruton, November 26, 1741. "Yours, with the draught of the Runic obelisk, &c. came to me in due time, though I deferred acquainting you so, till I could return you my thanks, at the same time, for the correct copy of the inscription found upon the altar at Boulness, which came to me by the last post, as drawn by your son, to whom I have great obligations also for the journey and pains he has Of the two learned brothers, Roger and Samuel Gale, see an ample account in the "Literary Anecdotes," vol. IV. p. 543. taken upon that account. I am glad he is so hopeful and learned a young man as he seems to be from the description he has added of these curiosities, which is very just and intelligible, and desire you would give him my thanks for his trouble. Now the ice is broken, I flatter myself that I shall receive more of these entertainments from you when at any time discovered, and if any old coins come in your way, be pleased to secure them for me, if of silver or large brass; but the little small brass I am not desirous of. Whatever charge you may be at in procuring these I shall most thankfully repay. "The room, discovered by Mrs. Appleby, has been a hypocaust*, or warm room for sweating. A very fine one was discovered about three years ago at Lincoln. The fire was made under the floor among the pedestals, and the heat conveyed up through the hollow bricks into the room above by holes over their ends in the pavement. If you have the last edition of Camden's Britannia, you will find a draught of some exactly the same, amongst the Welsh antiquities. I have made out the inscription, though much defaced, upon the altar at Castle-Steeds, and if it will gratify you, or any of your acquaintance, shall send it. Pray let me know, when you write next, who this Female Antiquary, Mrs. Appleby, is. "I am, your most obliged humble servant, 2. TO ROGER GALE, Esq. R. GALE." "January 16, 1741-2. "As to the ruins at Pap Castle, I made as particular enquiry as I could, of the man in whose grounds they were discovered, and of some of his neighbours who were present at the finding them. The close, in which they lay, is a little to the southward of the fort on the declivity of the hill towards the river, and is bordered on the west by a narrow lane, probably the via militaris continued, and is usually shewn to strangers as a place the most remarkable here for finding ruins. "These were the largest ruins ever known to be discovered in these parts, for they met with three walls besides the pavement. The first laid east and west, was covered with earth nigh a foot high; parallel to it, at the distance of about seven yards, they found a second; between these, about two yards deep (the height of the walls, which were six yards broad and strongly cemented) they came to a pavement curiously laid with large flags three quarters ofa yard square and two or three inches thick, as I measured them; but imagining money must have been hid there, they covered it up again till night, when they tore it all up again as far as they had opened it. It was composed of flags of a different thickness; under the thinner was found a coarse strong cement, which has caused all these to be broken in the taking up, whereas the thicker are pretty entire. Part of the wall stood upon the *See before, p. 62. |