the Author. ANTIQUITIES, Discovered in Lombard Street and Birchin Lane, 1785. To F. Freeling Esq F SA this plate is respectfully dedicated by tents, were also found; the latter appeared to have been worn by trituration, as if they had been used for grinding some substance, The coins were of various descriptions, gold, silver, and brass. Among them was a beautiful gold coin of Galba, Fig. 4, a Nero, Fig. 5, and an Antoninus Pius; and a silver one of Alexander Severus, Fig. 6. The others were brass ones of Claudius, Nerva, Vespasian, Dioclesian, Gallienus, Antonia, Constantinus, and Tetricus: nearly 300 of the two last Emperors were found together on one spot opposite to the end of St. Nicholas Lane; the workmanship of these was extremely rude. The discoveries were all made within the depth of from nine to sixteen feet. Various sepulchral remains were discovered in digging the foundations of the new church in Goodman's Fields; and when the Tenter Ground there was converted into a garden, in the year 1787, several fragments of urns and lachrymatories were dug up about seven feet below the surface, together with a sepulchral stone, measuring about fifteen inches by twelve, inscribed thus: D. M. FL. AGRICOLA MIL. FAVSTINA CONINGI. INCONPARABILI. In the same year, some remains of a tesselated pavement was found in Crutched Friars. In 1794, some bones, burnt wood, and small pieces of pavement, were discovered in making some cellars in Pancras-lane.* In 1796, in digging in Tower-street near the church of Allhallows Barking, a patera of fine pottery was discovered On pulling down the remains of the convent of St. Clare, or Minoresses, in 1797, on the south and east part of the present Haydon-square, many curious fragments of Roman pottery, as well as glass vessels, were discovered; two complete urns, filled with bones, ashes, &c. were taken up.† The next discovery in order of time was the beautiful tessellated pavement in Leadenhall Street, which was discovered in December, 1803, at the depth of nine feet six inches below the carriage way pavement, in searching for a sewer opposite to the easternmost columns of the East India House. 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; • Gent's. Mag. 1795 p 986. + Smith's Antiq. of London, p. 8. 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 ornamented centre, although not quite perfect, appeared also to have been a square of eleven feet. The device which occupied the centre, was a highly-finished figure of Bacchus, who was represented reclining on the back of a tyger, his thyrsus erect in his left hand, and a small two-handed Roman drinking cup pendant from his right: round his brow was a wreath of vine leaves his mantle, purple and green, falling from his right shoulder, was thrown carelessly round his waist; and his foot guarded with a sandal, the lacing of which extended to the calf of his leg. The countenance of Bacchus was placid, his eyes well set; and all his features, as well as the beast on which he was riding, were represented with much freedom of design, and accuracy of delineation, in appropriate tints. Round the circle which contained the above, were three borders of the same figure; the first exhibited the inflections of a serpent, black back and white belly, on a party-coloured field, composed of dark and light grey, and red ribbands; the second consisted of indented cornucopiæ, in black and white; and the third of squares diagonally concave. In two of the angles, which were formed by the insertion of the outer circle in the inner square border, was represented the Roman drinking-cup on a large scale; and in the counter angles, were delineations of a plant, but too rude to be designated; these were wrought in dark grey, red, and black, on a white ground. The inner square border bore some resemblance to a bandeau of oak, in dark and light grey, red and white, on a black ground. The outer border consisted of eight lozenge figures, with ends in the form of hatchets in black, on a white ground, inclosing circles of black, on each of which was the common ornament, a true lover's knot. The whole was environed by a margin consisting of coarse red tessellæ, an inch square, 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," says Mr. Fisher, who published a fine print of the pavement, coloured after the original, from a drawing by himself, and to whose pen we are indebted for the above description, "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 straight or curved, as occasion demanded, each tessellæ presenting to those around it a flat side; the interstices 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." This pavement was taken up at the charge of the East India Company, but broken to pieces in the process; and the mutilated remains were deposited in their library. In Lothbury, a neat but elegant pavement was taken up entire in the spring of 1805, by direction of John Soane, Esq. F. S. A architect to the Bank, and has been deposited in the British Museum, to which it was presented by the Bank Directors. The depth at which it lay is stated to have been about eleven feet; its situation about twenty feet westward from the westernmost gate of the Bank opening into Lothbury, and about the same distance south of the carriage-way. It consisted of an ornamented square centre, measuring four feet each way, of the floor of an apartment eleven feet square. Within a circle in the centre, is a figure apparently designed to represent four leaves, perhaps acanthus, expanded in black, red, and dark and light grey, tessellæ on a white field; round this, a line of black; in the angles, four leaves of black, red and grey; and a square bandeau border similar to that mentioned in the former pavement, environed the whole. Beyond this, were tiles of an inch square, extending to On examining the fragments of the marginal pavement which had been taken up with it, evident marks of fire were observed on the face of them; and to one piece adhered some ashes of burnt wood, and a small piece not quite burnt.* the sides of the room. In making some alterations in the month of July, 1806, at the back of the London Coffee-house, Ludgate-hill, a circular tower and stair-case was discovered; and about three feet below the pavement, some curious remains of Roman art were found. They consisted of a trunk of a statue of Hercules, half the size of life. The figure resting on his club, with a lion's skin cast over his Brayley's London, 1. 97. |