An account of ancient monuments and fortifications in the Highlands of Scotland, forms a long article, in a letter from Mr. James Anderson to George Wilfon, Efq. Mr. Anderfon reduces the remains of antiquities in Scotland to fix claffes. I. Mounds of earth thrown into a fort of hemifpherical form, which are fometimes found in the fouth of Scotland, and ufually diftinguished by the name of mote or meat, which, he supposes, from the name, and other circumftances, to have been erected as theatres of juftice by our Saxon ancestors. II. The Cairns, which are evidently fepulchral monuments, to be met with in every part of the country. II. The long ftones fet on end in the earth, which are known to be monuments, intended to perpetuate the memory of fome fignal event in war. Thefe, he supposes, to be of later date than the cairns, as there is hardly one of them whofe traditional hiftory is not preferved by the country people in the neighbourhood; and it is not difficult to reconcile these traditional narratives with the records of history. Mr. Anderson conjectures, that this kind of monument was first introduced into Britain by the Danes. IV. Large ftones placed. in an erect pofition and circular form, which, being less known than the former, and confined to a narrower diftrict, are more particularly defcribed. Their fituation and form are faid to intimate, that they have been places deftined for fome kind of religious worship. Mr. Anderson has examined a great number of them, and finds, that by reftoring the parts which have been demolished, they would all coincide very exactly with a plan here given, and drawn from one ftill very entire, at a place called Hill of Fiddefs. Thefe, without doubt, are druidical temples. V. Circular buildings, confifting of walls compofed of ftones, firmly bedded on one another, without any cement, and usually diftinguished by the word Dun. A particular account, with a print annexed, is given of the remains of one of thefe buildings, called Dun-Agglefag, in Rofs-fhire. Mr. Anderson concludes, that these have been places of religious worship, and obferves, that though every erection of this kind has the fyllable Dun prefixed to the name of the place in which it ftands, yet the particular building itfelf is always called the Druid's houfe, as the Druid's house of Dun-Beath, of DunAgglefag, &c. This remark feems rather to militate against Mr. Pope's opinion, as expreffed above, concerning the Dune of Dornadilla; though it must be acknowledged, this latter Tower or Dun, feems to differ in fome refpects from those here mentioned. VI. The moft remarkable of all the Scottish antiquities are the vitrified walls; which confift of ftones piled rudely on one another, and firmly cemented together by a matter that has been vitrified by means of fire, which forms a kind of artificial rock, that refifts the viciffitudes of the weather, perREV. April, 1780.

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haps better than any other artificial cement that has ever yèt been discovered. In the northern parts of Scotland, a parti cular kind of earthy iron ore, of a vitrefcible nature, much abounds. Mr. Anderfon fuppofes, that these walls were raised of dry ftones, piled one above another, the interstices between them being filled with this vitrefcible iron ore; after which, a fire was kindled, fufficiently intenfe to melt the ore, and thus to cement the whole into one coherent mass, as far as the influence of that heat extended. A particular description, attended with a print, is given of a fortification of this kind at Knockferrel, in Rofs-fhire, and feveral ingenious remarks are added, for which we must refer the reader to the article itself, only observing, that the writer inclines to confider these walls as entirely a British invention.

The derivation of the word Romance, formed an article in the last volume of Archaeologia *. Mr. Warton, in his history of English poetry, had fuppofed it of French extraction. Mr. Drake derives it from the Spanish: Mr. Bowles again, in this volume, defends Mr. Warton's opinion. But it appears a very immaterial difpute, fince all agree, that the word has its derivation from the language which the Romans introduced among the French and Spaniards, which was ftyled Romanfh.

Mr. Pegge, in a differtation of seven pages, employs himself to amend and explain an hiftorical paffage of Gildas. His criticisms are learned and ingenious, and appear to be judicious and fatisfactory; but we cannot give our readers any juft idea concerning it, without extracting a greater part of the article than our limits will allow. The paflage is to be found, Gildas, cap. 15. and begins, Itaque illis ad fua revertentibus, &c. Mr. Pegge's tranflation is, "On the departure of the Romans to their own home, a horrid crew of Scots and Picts disembarked, with the utmost hafte and eagerneís, from on board the corraghs in which they had croffed the Irish fea, and being fenfible that our allies were withdrawn, with a declaration never to return, they, with more boldness than ever, feized the north-eastern, and remote part of the country, even up to the wall, expelling thence all the natives, or former inhabitants."

The feal of Henrietta Maria, daughter of Henry IV. of France, and wife to our Charles I., affords a good plate. On the reverfe is the queen, at full length, under a canopy, crowned, and in royal robes, with the fcepter in her right hand, and the globe in her left. It is of brafs, and appears to be finely cut. Mr. Brereton obferves, that the portion this queen brought with her was only 60,oco French crowns, which Charles foon difpofed of, and made grants of lands to her in lieu of it, for

* Vid. Rev. vol. lvii. p. 255.

lives and years, at Chertfey, and in feveral counties in England, which accounts for her having fuch a feal. Several leafes granted by her, with this feal annexed, are still extant, and I have heard, fays this gentleman, of one which appears to have been executed fometime after her death, the feal being always kept in England.

Within the space of a few years back, fome perfons, curious in antiquities, have obferved a peculiar kind of red earthen ware among the cottage furniture of the fishermen, on the Kentish coaft, within the mouth of the river Thames. The current tradition, concerning the great quantity of earthen ware of this kind, which has been found, is that fome Roman veffel, freighted with these wares, must have been many ages ago caft away, fince which, from time to time, parts of its lading have been dragged up by the fishermen's nets. The place of the wreck has been supposed to be fomewhere about WhitstableBay. Thomas Pownal, Efq; has employed much attention and care to enquire into this fact. His brother, a commiffioner of excife, at length prevailed with an old fifherman, who had two or three of these Roman pans in his poffeffion for domestic ufe, to attend him to the spot, known by the name of Puddingpan-fand, or rock. On the first hale of the net, along one fide of this fhoal, they brought up a large fragment of brick-work cemented together, which might be about half a hundred weight, and with it pieces of broken pans. On farther trials they brought, up three entire pans. Mr. Pownal obferves, that this fpot has been long known not only to our fishermen, but also to our geographers, for the long fand in the middle of the mouth of the Thames, but particularly what has been called the fpeck of it (perhaps from having been juft there visible) the Pan-fand. It is fo marked in all our oldeft maps and charts. From the rocky feel of this fpeck, and from the mafs of brick-work which was brought up, he concludes, that here are the ruins of buildings; at the fame time, the quantities of earthen ware which have been discovered, indicate that there has been fome ftore or manufactory of this kind at this place. Under this idea, Mr. Pownal has examined the ancient geography, and finds, in Ptolemy's fecond book of geography, two iflands in the mouth. of the Thames, Τολιαπις and Κωςνος Νήσος, the former is known to be the ifle of Shepey, the second cannot be the isle of Thanet, on account of the latitude, which agrees with the spot under examination. After other confiderations in fupport of this fuppofition, he confiders the ware here difcovered, which is of two forts, the one red, the Ionian, or particularly the Samian, and this is moft commonly found; the other of the dark Tuscan brown, or black. The firft is of a coarfer kind; the latter is thin, light, and of a finer texture. The veffels of T 2

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the firft fort are of the fpecies of Patera and Capedo; thofe of the second kind, by the fragments which are met with, feem to have been of the fpecies of the fimpula and lutini. From confidering the nature of thefe veffels, he is led to imagine, that this was a manufactory, especially employed in making the earthen veffels, which, according to the Roman ritual, were ufed in religious ceremonies; for it is known that earthen ware was employed for this purpofe, and fome of the veffels here found, are ftamped in the manner fuch facred utenfils were directed to be. Mr. Pownal's obfervations are ingenious, learned, amufing, and, on the whole, they appear fatisfactory.

We cannot avoid remarking, as a thing not improbable, that the veffel of earth, mentioned by Mr. King, in a former number, and already noticed in this article (fo many of which the labourer fimply destroyed) might be of the fpecies of the fimpula ufed in the Heathen religious rites; particularly, as Mr. King obferves, how very fmall the aperture of this veffel, or kind of bottle, is; and Varro, we think, fomewhere speaks of the fimpo or fimpulum, as a kind of cruet with a pipe to drop out wine. But to proceed:

In September 1777, on digging for the foundations of a new office for the Board of Ordnance, in the Tower of London, were found an ingot of filver, together with two gold coins, or aurei, of which an account is given by the Prefident of the Society. The piece of filver, in the form of a double wedge, is four inches long, two inches and three-fourths broad, in the broadeft part, one and three-fourths in the narroweft, and threeeighths of an inch thick in the middle. It is infcribed with the name of Honorius, meaning, in all probability, the Emperor of that name, who came to the empire in 393, when he governed in the weft, as his brother and colleague Arcadius did in the eaft, and was the last of the Roman Emperors who preferved any power in Britain; for, in the year 410, he restored to the inhabitants their freedom, and renounced all jurisdiction over them. The coins found at the fame time confirm the belief that the Emperor Honorius is meant by the infcription on the filver, as one is of this Emperor, and the other two of his brother Arcadius. Thefe aurei are faid to be in high prefervation, and of the most perfect weight, viz. feventy-three Troy grains each, which is precifely the fixth part of the Roman ounce. The Prefident largely and learnedly confiders the fubject.-Befide the above, there were discovered, at the fame time, a ftone with a Roman infcription, a fmall glafs crown, deftined, perhaps, for the ornament of fome ftatue or image; a ring that feems to have been made of fhell, with fome letters obfcurely marked; together with other coins and jettons of bafe metal. This article is accompanied with a plate.

Mr.

Mr. Whitaker, in his Hiftory of Manchefter, fuppofes the English language to have been radically formed of Celtic, or British materials, and to have derived but little affiftance from the Teutonic. The Rev. Mr. Drake, who fpeaks highly of Mr. Whitaker's performance, combats this fuppofition, and endeavours to prove, that the English language is purely Teutonic, radically derived from the Gothic and Saxon, the univerfal parent of most of the northern European tongues. To eftablish his point, he takes a part of a chapter in Ulphila's Gothic verfion of the Gofpel, a work executed above fourteen hundred years ago, and confronts it with the fame chapter of our present tranflation; he apprehends, that the attentive reader will be amazed at the ftriking affinity between the two languages, notwithstanding the different mediums through which they have defcended, and the many ages that have elapfed fince they have been separated. This fubject Mr. Drake critically purfues through the greater part of the tenth chapter of St. John's Gospel.

Two vafes which have been found on the Mosquito-shore, in South America, open a field for much enquiry and fpeculation. We are not exprefsly and exactly informed what is the fize of thefe vafes, only that the drawings are by a fcale of one to four. Whether or not they are properly called vafes feems uncertain they appear to be fupported by four legs, and in the form of fome hooped tubs: one of them is larger than the other how long they have been difcovered we are not told; but they are now in the poffeffion of Lord Hillsborough, and have lain neglected among other things in an out-building. Governor Pownal, who writes an account of them, fays, it is a decided fact, that they were made in South America, and on the Mosquito Shore he obferves, that they are curious exemplars of fome of the firft efforts of human ingenuity, and remains of what are become antiquities even among the Indians, who, he fuppofes, formerly used them for dreffing fome part of their food. He was at a lofs to difcover the fubftance of thefe veffels, till he applied to the ingenious Mr. Bentley, who, on a trial with aquafortis, convinced him, that it was neither compofition nor any lime-ftone, but real granite. In a postfcript, the Governor adds, that the remains of ancient potteries have been discovered high up the Black river, on the Mosquito coaft, and further fays, that Father D'Acuina mentions, that fome of the Indians, on the river of Amazons, had carried that manufactory to a great extent, fo as even to establish a traffic with their neighbours for this ware. The potteries which are referred to, appear indeed to be very remarkable, and will give rife, no doubt, to fome entertaining and curious difquifitions. Some fpecimens of the ancient pottery of this part of America,

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