Similar dies for stamping the ornaments and figures have also been found in France. In the latter, each die contained a single figure, or, at all events, a single group, and this explains why the same figures are so frequently found on the pottery in different combinations. One of these dies contains a single festoon and tassel of the well-known festoon ornament, so common on this pottery.

The ornamental borders which are most commonly met with on Samian ware are elegant festoon-and-tassel borders, and the egg-and-tongue ornament, both of which, as well as a border consisting of a range of figures representing the Medicean Venus, are shown on the accompanying engraving (fig. 277) of a fine bowl found in London. Wavy lines and lines of circles are also common, and we frequently meet with scroll-work of very elegant design, commonly formed of leaves, flowers, and fruit. Examples, selected from a numerous variety, are given on engravings (figs. 278 to 282). These scrolls are generally used to form a border round the upper part of the bowl, as shown on figs. 280 and 281. The foliage most in favour for these scrolls was that of the vine, and the ivy (fig. 282), and also that of the strawberry; the former of which especially shows that this pottery was, as Pliny says of the Samian ware, particularly intended for the service of the table. The ivy-leaf, indeed, is almost the only ornament of the plainer description of this red ware. Sometimes the leaves of the vine are gracefully intermingled with the clusters of the fruit, and with little birds which are feeding upon the latter, as in the fragment represented in our cut (fig. 283).

Animals of all kinds are found in abundance among the ornaments of the Samian ware. Among these the boar was a great favourite. For instance, a cup will be divided into compartments, in which figure alternately two boars, and a man confronting them with a spear. In a similar compartment under arches, in another, we have two heads of lions above, and below, a rabbit and a dog. Another, again, is ornamented with fishes, separated by squares filled with a singular ornament, which is perhaps intended to represent water. Sometimes the whole outside of a bowl is covered with birds, beasts, and fishes mixed together in the utmost confusion.

The subjects in which human figures are introduced present still greater variety, and it need hardly be added that they are much more interesting. Subjects from the classical mythology are very common, and among the figures of the deities we recognize some, such as the Venus de Medici (fig. 277), which were copied from well-known models of art. Combats of pygmies and cranes appear as favourite subjects, as in the paintings, etc., in Pompeii. Sacrifices and religious ceremonies are not uncommon; and especially bacchanalian processions, and dances of bacchantes and satyrs—another proof that this ware was used for the festive board. The spirited manner in which figure subjects are often treated, will be seen by the engravings we have given, and by examples to be found in most collections. One vessel represents a bacchanalian scene, in which Silenus figures among satyrs and fauns. A faun is drinking from a horn supplied from a wine skin which he holds in his left hand, while Silenus attempts to snatch it from his hands. Genii, one of whom appears with wings on another fragment of the same vessel, appear to be directing or presiding over the scene. Among other very favourite subjects are hunting scenes, gladiatorial combats, and the sports of the amphitheatre. Others represent sacrifices and religious offerings. Musicians performing on various instruments are also common; and domestic scenes are depicted in great variety. Many of these are of a character not to be described, but sufficiently characteristic of the degraded state of morality under the Roman empire. The bowls here engraved (figs. 285 and 286) are good examples of these kinds of decoration. Another is ornamented with a series of figures, which appear to have no connection one with another. In the middle is a bacchanal with his thirsus; to the right of him a figure playing on a double pipe; on both sides a group of bears; and to the extreme right a charioteer, followed by a bear “rampant.”

The great quantity of this Samian ware which is found on Roman sites admits of easy explanation, from the circumstance that it was held in great favour, and that the manufactories on the Continent continued to work with activity in producing it during the whole Roman period. The number of names of potters, collected from fragments found in England alone, amounts to more than two thousand, and we must suppose them to have been spread over a long period.

Other examples of the common forms of Samian-ware vessels are given on figs. 288 to 291, and a clay mould for forming heads on pottery, discovered by myself at Headington, is shown on fig. 287.

Glass was very successfully and beautifully worked by the Romans, not only abroad, but in Britain, and vessels of this material are frequently found with sepulchral deposits. They are of great variety, and evidently made for many different uses. Those found in the graves are usually those made for holding the burnt bones of the dead; small vessels, commonly called lachrymatories, although their use was most probably that of holding the unguents and aromatics usually buried with the dead; small bowls, cups, or drinking vessels; and beads.

Of the sepulchral vessels of glass the one here engraved (fig. 292), from Bartlow Hills, will show the general form. They are of somewhat thick green glass, with neck and handle, and are literally bottles. The one from Bartlow Hills is of square form, and is six inches in height and four inches square on the bottom. Others are round in form. They contained the calcined bones of the dead. Of the forms of the small vessels known as lachrymatories, to which I have alluded, the examples in pottery on figs. 259 to 263 will convey a tolerably correct idea. They are usually from three to five inches in height. One found at Mount Bures, Colchester, is a remarkable example, being made of beautifully variegated glass. Cups or bowls, or, as they may not inaptly be called, basins, are of the common basin form, or jar shaped. They are usually of green glass, and of elegant workmanship. Beads are, perhaps, the most frequently found of any remains of Roman glass; this being of course owing to their more solid and, consequently, less perishable nature. They are of various kinds and sizes, and are more or less ornamented. The accompanying examples (figs. 294, 295, 296, and 297), will be sufficient to direct attention to these interesting relics. A number of beads, said to have been found with undoubted Roman remains, are shown on fig. 298.

The Coins found along with Romano-British interments are, of course, of various emperors and of various periods. They are only occasionally found, and, when discovered, cannot, it must be remembered, be taken as any criterion as to date of deposit, or, indeed, cannot be considered alone as evidence of the barrow or interment belonging to the Romano-British period. The Romans seem to have sowed their coins broadcast over the whole length and breadth of the land, to have thrown them about as they would useless chaff, to have buried them in urns in every conceivable place, and to have deposited them, either singly or otherwise, in the barrows of their predecessors. It is unnecessary to speak, then, of the varieties of coins which are from time to time turned up by the antiquary in his researches into the early grave-mounds. They form but a thousandth part of the coins which are found away from interments.

It may, however, be well, as showing the relative proportions of the coins of different emperors found in this country, to give the following analysis, by Mr. Roach Smith, of more than eleven hundred coins picked up at different times in one locality—Richborough in Kent.

Of these coins, fifty-six only were of silver, six of gold, fifteen of billon, or base silver, and the remainder were of brass, the greater portion being, naturally, what are denominated “third brass.”

CHAPTER X.

Romano-British Period—Arms—Swords—Spears, etc.—Knives—Fibulæ—Armillæ—Torques of Gold, etc.—Other Personal Ornaments—Horse-shoes.

Of Arms but few examples are found in grave-mounds, although more abundant in the neighbourhood of Roman stations and towns. They consist of swords, daggers, spear-heads, and other weapons. They are, however, perhaps the most scarce of any remains of the period. The swords of bronze (figs. 299 and 300) which have frequently been ascribed to the British period, are now pretty generally admitted to belong possibly to Roman times. The examples engraved are of the most general type, as are also the next engravings of spear and lance heads. The first (fig. 301), which is of iron, is from Little Chester, where it was found along with human remains. Fig. 302 is of bronze, and is, as will be seen, of somewhat unusual form, and has a loop on either side. The next (fig. 303) is of bronze, and is three and a half inches long. It is of remarkably good form, deeply socketed, like the preceding example, and of a kind of leaf shape. Arrow-heads are also occasionally found. Of these the example here engraved is a good type. It is of bronze, and measures about an inch and a quarter in length.

Iron knives are occasionally found with interments. Some remarkable instances of this have been recently brought to light near Plymouth, and others again at Wetton and other places. The knives are of the form engraved on fig. 305. They appear to have had wooden handles, which, of course, except small traces of texture, have entirely decayed away. Another knife, although not actually found with an interment, shows the form so well that it is here engraved. It was nine and a half inches long, of peculiar shape, still retaining its handle of stag’s horn, rubbed or worn smooth; the good preservation of which we may attribute to having been imbedded in the fire-hardened earth, and sufficiently deep to secure it from injury by the fire. With the knives in the Plymouth cemetery were found portions of scissors, of the form of the sheep-shears of the present day, and these have also been found in other localities. They were of iron, and several fragments of other implements of the same material were at the same time discovered.

Of Fibulæ an almost endless variety in form, in size, and in material has at one time or other been exhumed. They are, however, but very occasionally found with interments. The most usual form, perhaps, is that which is commonly called harp-shaped, or bowed, and this is of such extreme variety that scarcely two examples out of the hundreds that are known are precisely alike. Several have a cross bar at the top, and are hence called “cruciform” (figs. 307, 310 to 312, and 315). Others have coiled springs of wire at the top, variously fashioned. Some of these are extremely complicated and ingenious, as will be seen by the engraved examples. The more simple of the twisted springs, a coiled spring only, formed by the end of the bow being attenuated into the pin, is known as the “rat-trap spring,” from its coiled resemblance to the spring used in those “vermin killers.” Examples to show this form are here given (figs. 313, 314, 316, and 317). This form of fibula is generally known as the “dolphin” shape. Occasionally wire only, twisted in like manner as recently reproduced for skeleton shawl pins, are found. Sometimes the fibula really assumed the form of an animal, a bird or a serpent, with an inflated body. One of this character is engraved on fig. 318. It is of one continuous piece of bronze, and the pin, having a coiled spring, answers to the tail of the serpent, and hooks into a projection on the neck.

The ornamentation is as varied as the form. Sometimes they are chased or engraved in minute patterns of rows of dots, scales, etc.; at others, enamelled or inlaid; and at others, again, raised ornaments are riveted upon their surface. Instances of S-shaped fibulæ also occur, as do many other grotesque forms.

Circular fibulæ are occasionally met with, and these, like the bowed forms, vary very considerably in design. Sometimes they are flat on the face, and enamelled or inlaid in different colours. One of the most curious, but elegant, modifications of the circular form is fig. 320, where the ends, which are serpents’ heads, are turned back to the sides of the body.

Armillæ, or bracelets, are found both in bronze, in silver, and in gold. They vary very considerably in form. Of these, one example (fig. 321) will be sufficient. The pair here represented are of base silver, and bear evidence of having been much worn. Examples of analogous type have been found at Castleford and other places. Other armlets partake more of the character of torques, torquis, or collar; and others, again, are simply bars of metal, twisted in one or more coils, like a spiral spring, around the wrist.

While speaking of armlets and torques, it may not be out of place, as I purposely omitted them in the Celtic division of this work, to say a few words about the latter. There can be no doubt that the torque was worn both by the ancient Briton and by his Roman conqueror, and therefore it is perhaps best, as it is at present not easy to say which of the known examples are to be attributed to the earlier and which to the later of these periods, to speak of them generally under this head.

The torque, or torquis, is said, by ancient writers, to have been first used by the Persians and by the nations of Northern and Western Europe. Virgil describes it as worn by the Trojans when they came to colonize Italy:—

It is first mentioned in Roman history in the year 360 B.C., when Manlius, having torn a torque of gold from the neck of a vanquished Gaul—here is evidence of its being a decoration worn by a similar race to our ancient British population before being spoken of in Roman history—placed it on his own, and received, from this circumstance, the name of Torquatus. From this time the practice was adopted in the wars with the Gauls—the example set by Torquatus Manlius being frequently followed by the Roman leaders,—and the torque being adopted as a reward for military merit. “The Roman writers speak of them as worn by the Britons; and the Queen of the Iceni, Boadicea, is described by Dion Cassius as having a torquis of gold round her neck. This was the metal of which they were usually made. They consisted of a long piece of gold, twisted or spiral, doubled back in the form of a short hook at each end, and then turned into the form of a circle.” The torque was known to, and worn by, the Egyptians, the Persians, Persepolitans, the Gauls, and the Britons, as well as, later on, to the Romans, and it was very usual, as is evident by the many examples which have been found, with the Irish celts. The most usual forms will be found engraved in the catalogue of the Royal Irish Academy, the largest known example measuring five feet seven inches in length. A remarkably fine example of this type, found on the borders of Derbyshire and Staffordshire, measures three feet nine and a quarter inches. Many other varieties are found, sometimes formed of square bars of gold twisted spirally, sometimes of flat bars of the same metal twisted in a lighter manner, and sometimes, again, of more than one bar twisted together. The ends, too, are of various forms: sometimes being simply hooks, and at others swelling out into cup-shaped terminations, and at others partaking of the form of a serpent’s head, etc. A very remarkable torque, now belonging to Her Majesty, was found in 1848 in Needwood Forest, and is here engraved (fig. 322). It is formed of eight cords of gold plaited together, and weighs 1 lb. 1 oz. 7 dwts. and 10 grains. Another example of a different character, from Ireland, is here given (fig. 323).

It is safer, perhaps, although there is no doubt that torques were worn by the Romans, to assign them to the British period than to that of their conquerors. Much, however, necessarily depends on the remains found with them, and the locality where discovered.

Other personal ornaments, and bone and bronze pins, hair-pins, etc., are occasionally found, but need no special notice here. Instruments of the toilette, too, are occasionally discovered. Prominent among these is the mirror, or speculum, which is sometimes found in the graves of Roman ladies. Among the most interesting of these are some found in a Roman cemetery at Plymouth. They consist of a circular plate of polished metal, generally of bronze set in a frame of the same metal or otherwise, and have a handle to hold them by. They are of much the same form as the small handled toilet glasses of the present day. The back was generally, as in the case of the Plymouth examples, “ornamented with a considerable quantity of scroll engraving. The pattern of one of these consists of three circular figures, the two bottom ones being larger than that which I take to be the central top one. Although each circular scroll differs from the others, they are evidently figured upon one general plan; the lines within, being segments of circles of various sizes, form crescents with various modifications. Some portions of the engraving, in order to give solidity to its character, were filled in with numerous striated spots, consisting of three lines one way and three lines at right angles to them. The entire surface of the mirror was surrounded by a narrow border or rim, which was formed of a separate piece, and folded over the margin. This specimen was damaged in many parts, particularly upon the under surface, and some of the edge was entirely eaten away, but where the rim was preserved the plate was not only in good preservation, but not even oxidized, retaining the bright colour of the bronze as perfectly as when, probably, in use by its ancient possessor. A second had the handle attached to it. The handle is cast in one piece in the form of a loop, having been made by folding one half back against the other, and securing them in that position by a band, the two free ends being spread out to hold the mirror, which is received in a groove, and supported on each side by a scroll work of bronze, of much of which, although lost, the impression still remains upon the plate. The greater diameter of the mirror is eight inches, that of the handle of the duplicate specimen, which is supposed to be of the same size as the missing handle, is four inches.” Several of these mirrors have been found in the cemeteries at Colchester and in other places.

Combs, both of wood and bone, are also found in the interments, as are strigils, tweezers, locks and keys of numberless forms and sizes, remains of small caskets, and a great many other articles. Of combs I shall say a few words when speaking of those of the Anglo-Saxon period.

Horse-shoes of this period are occasionally met with in interments when the horse has been buried with his rider, or otherwise. One example, so as to show the form, will be sufficient. It was found at Gloucester some years ago, along with the lamp and circular fibulæ here engraved, and with other relics of the same period. Of the other articles it will not be necessary to make further mention.

CHAPTER XI.

Anglo-Saxon Period—Distribution of Anglo-Saxon Population over England—General characteristics of Grave-mounds—Modes of Burial—Poem of Beowulf—Interments by Cremation and by Inhumation—Articles deposited with the Dead—Positions of the Body—Double and other Interments—Burial in Urns—Cemeteries and Barrows.

The grave-mounds and cemeteries of the Anglo-Saxon period present marked and decided features of difference to those of either of the preceding periods; and again, the characters of these mounds and cemeteries vary in different parts of the kingdom, according as such districts were inhabited by different tribes or peoples.

The date usually assigned to the first coming of the Saxons into England, after the final departure of the Romans, is the middle of the fifth century. They landed on the Isle of Thanet, and shortly afterwards established themselves in Kent, and became a kingdom. “Within thirty years another body of Saxons settled upon the south coast of Britain, taking possession of the tract now called Sussex, or the South Saxons. At the beginning of the sixth century a third detachment from the same Germanic family landed further westward, and founded the kingdom of the West Saxons, in which was included the Isle of Wight. From the same source which supplies the brief notices of these events, we learn that towards the middle of the sixth century were formed the states of the East and Middle Saxons, in the districts which, in consequence, took the names of Essex and Middlesex. We also gather that the Angles who settled in the east and north-east of Britain, and in the interior parts, probably made their first descents towards the middle of the sixth century; so that the kingdoms known as those of the East Angles (Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire), the Middle Angles, the Northumbrians (from the Humber northwards), and Mercia (on the borders of Wales), appear not to have been definitely settled until at least a century after the landing of the Saxons in Kent, in A.D. 449. Vague and unsatisfactory as are most of the details of Saxon history, the gradual subjugation of Britain by successive immigrations of Teutonic tribes may at least be accepted as the most reconcilable with reason; and there seems nothing very repugnant to the more rigid rules of criticism to regard these tribes under their historic designation of Jutes, Saxons, and Angles; and, further, to believe that at least a century was required to transform Britain, after the Romans, into a heptarchy of Teutonic kingdoms.

“Testing our Saxon antiquities with reference to the usually received chronology of the advent and settlement in Britain of the Teutonic tribes, it would be no unimportant result should they be in accordance with accepted historical facts. They will be invested with novel and higher interest if they should be found to carry in their form and character certain peculiarities which suggest earlier and later dates, and a diversity of parentage. For instance, if in the remains of the Kentish Saxons and in those of the Isle of Wight we may recognise, from close resemblance to each other, the weapons, the ornaments, and the domestic implements of the Jutes; if, in the cemeteries of Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, and Norfolk, we may, in like manner, identify the funeral usages of the Angles; and in remains found in the midland and western districts see still different peculiarities, but which point to a kindred origin; it is not improbable that discoveries may enable us to resuscitate, as it were, our remote predecessors; to restore to those of the various Saxon kingdoms the very objects which accompanied them when living: to the men, their weapons; to the women, their peculiar jewellery, and those more humble and homely objects which we may look upon as emblems of their domestic virtues. It is not a slight analogy in some instances only that will establish this theory; it must spring from the remains themselves, and be palpable and convincing, or it must be rejected.”48

Bearing this in mind, and also bearing in mind the modifications which only a few years make in fashions and customs; and also bearing in mind that although for convenience sake, as well as for want of more definite knowledge, we call the whole population by the one term of Anglo-Saxons, yet they were divided into as distinct classes, or families, or tribes, as at the present day; we shall quite readily understand why the modes of burial, and the objects found in the graves, of one district are different from those, although coeval, found in others. At the present day we use the general term Englishmen for the whole of our population, and no better or clearer term could be adopted; but we must bear in mind that the differences both of appearance, of habits, of customs, of dialect, nay, of almost everything, are as marked among us as if the inhabitants of the various counties were each settlers from different nations. The men of Derbyshire, for instance, are as far removed as well can be in general character and in language from those of Somersetshire; and these, again, are both totally dissimilar from the “Men of Kent,” from the Lancashire operative, from the Yorkshiremen, or the men of Devonshire, Hampshire, and many other counties. Each of these districts has, and always has had, and long, long may it continue to have! its own peculiar customs, its own peculiar habits, its own peculiar observances; and each has what might almost be termed a nationality of its own, which it holds despite the levelling influence of railways and other modern contrivances. If it is so at the present day, with a settled population of so many centuries’ standing, how much more must it have been so when each district was peopled by a different tribe of settlers, speaking to some extent different languages, holding different views, following different occupations, and observing different customs!

The grave-mounds and cemeteries of these different districts exhibit a marked difference in modes of burial, in style and decoration of pottery, and in characteristics of other remains, which will be made apparent in the following resumé of their varied contents. Thus, as Mr. Smith says, “in Kent one of the most conspicuous features in the Saxon sepulchral remains is the richly ornamented circular fibulæ. These are sparingly found beyond the district occupied by the earliest Saxon settlers. When they do occur, here and there, they are exceptions; but throughout the county of Kent it would be a rare occurrence to discover a Saxon funeral deposit without an example of this elegant and peculiar ornament. In Suffolk, in Norfolk, in Cambridgeshire, in Northamptonshire, in Leicestershire, and further north, these circular fibulæ do but casually appear, but others of a totally distinct character abound. In Berkshire, Oxfordshire, and Gloucestershire are found saucer-shaped fibulae unlike either of these two classes, and forming a third variety. In Suffolk, in Cambridgeshire, in Leicestershire, and in other parts, have been repeatedly found metal implements or ornaments, which I have designated by the modern name of chatellaine, to give some notion of their form and use. These remarkable objects in no instance have been found in Kent, but other objects have been found in Kentish barrows which have nowhere else been discovered.”

The sepulchral remains of the Anglo-Saxons are of two general classes—barrows and cemeteries—and in these the modes of burial have been both by inhumation and by cremation.

The grave-mounds, or barrows, are, as a rule, of much less altitude, and of smaller dimensions, generally, than those of either of the preceding periods. In some districts they are found in extensive groups, frequently occupying elevated sites; at other times they are solitary, and frequently the elevation above the surrounding surface is so slight as to be scarcely perceptible except to the most practised eye. Fortunately the mounds and cemeteries are particularly rich in remains, and thus enable us to form a clearer idea of the habits, and manners, and lives of our Saxon forefathers than we can of their predecessors. In Kent, Sussex, and the Isle of Wight, Saxon graves abound on the Downs; and in Derbyshire, Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Yorkshire, cemeteries of more or less extent and importance exist, with here and there a solitary barrow, or a group of barrows. Like their Roman predecessors the Anglo-Saxons, to some extent, took possession of, and buried in, the grave-mounds of the Ancient Britons, and it is not a very unusual occurrence to find overlying the primary deposit an interment of the Saxon period.

Fortunately an early Anglo-Saxon poem, recounting the adventures of the chieftain Beowulf, is preserved to us, and gives us a valuable and highly graphic and interesting description of the ceremonies attendant on his burial; the lighting of the funeral pyre, the burning of the body of the hero, the raising of the mound over his remains, and the articles placed beside him in his last home. Dying he

Which is translated:—