[81]. Several of the sculptures at Matfen were sent to Alnwick Castle. Wallis uses the term, ‘centurial stone,’ very loosely, applying it even to the large Milking-gap slab.
[82]. Bede’s Ecclesiastical History, b. III. ch. ii. Giles’s translation.
[83]. Although a walk of a few minutes will bring the traveller, who knows exactly whither to bend his steps, to this curious relic, a stranger may fruitlessly spend much time in examining the many low scars which diversify the surface of the fell. It is a deeply interesting object.
[84]. The cramps seem to have been of various kinds. Some authors speak of iron cramps. One antiquary, I know, spent a livelong summer’s day knee-deep in the water, extracting one which proved to be entirely of lead. A. cramp, of very curious form and structure, taken from this bridge, is preserved in the museum at Chesters, and is figured [Plate VII]. fig. 1.; it seems to have been triply dove-tailed; the substance of it is iron, but it has been coated all over to the thickness of one-eighth of an inch with lead. The iron would give the instrument tenacity, and the lead protect the more corrosive metal from oxidization; truly the Romans built for perpetuity.
[85]. History of Northumberland, II. iii. 180.
[86]. The initial L, page [103], is formed of two of these Roman balusters. The lower one is at Chesters, the upright one at Chesterholm.
[87]. The section of the hypocaust wall on [Plate III] is taken from this example, and shews the hanging floor.
[88]. See an interesting ‘Account of an Excavation recently made within the Roman Station at Cilurnum, by John Clayton, esq.’ in the Archæologia Æliana, iii. 142.
[89]. The improved method of making draining-tiles for agricultural uses has suggested the formation of hollow bricks for building purposes. A floor might be paved and side-walls formed of these, so as readily to admit of the circulation of air throughout the whole substance of the apartment, and a handful of coke or charcoal, placed at the entrance of the flue, would effectually warm the whole. Specimens of bricks of this kind, remarkably strong, and ingeniously contrived for securely locking into one another, are before me, for which I am indebted to Robert Rawlinson, esq., after whose design they were formed. The Latin comedy represents the miser begrudging the smoke that escaped from his chimney—well may the benevolent man regret that whilst his poor neighbours are bending under the chills of winter, three-fourths of the heat generated in his parlour-grate is absolutely wasted.
[90]. Now at Alnwick-castle.