(X J XXXXII,
beside which lay the remains of a helmet and spear, nearly consumed by rust. Another stamped pig of lead was found at Kirkintilloch, on the line of the wall; and examples from various English localities, inscribed with the names and titles of Roman Emperors, are preserved in the British Museum, and in private collections. One of these, marked IMP. ADRIANI. AVG, supplies a new argument relative to ancient British metallurgy. It was found near the lead mines of Mr. More of Linley Hall, county Salop, where an old drift, distinguished from those of modern date by various evidences of imperfect mining, is still designated the Roman Vein. Ancient mining tools have been found in it, and Sir R. I. Murchison states his opinion that the block of lead is the product of the neighbouring British mine.[437] Another pig of lead, with its Roman inscription partially defaced by oxidation, was recently dug up at Chester, and is figured in the Journal of the Archæological Association,[438] along with one found at Broughton Brook, Hants, and still preserved at Bossington Park. The latter is inscribed NERONIS. AVG. EX. KIAN. IIII. COS. BRIT., and supplies a remarkably interesting example of the historical value frequently pertaining to such relics. The inscription refers to the Cangi or Kiangi, immediately prior to the reverses experienced by the Romans from the courage and skill of the heroic Boadicea. The precise date is furnished, Nero having been consul for the fourth time only the year before; and it is suggested, with great probability, that this block of lead was on its way for exportation, composing part of the tribute, the harsh exaction of which contributed to incite the Britons to resistance.
Among minuter relics belonging to the same period, the dentated bronze ring figured here, from the original in the Museum of the Scottish Antiquaries, is worthy of some note from the rarity of such objects in Britain. It was discovered near Merlsford, on the river Eden, Fifeshire, and closely corresponds to another example found in Suffolk, and figured in the Archæological Journal, where it is remarked that objects of this kind are frequently met with in Continental collections, but have rarely, if ever, been found in this country.[439] They occur with one, two, and three rows of teeth. Sir Samuel Meyrick describes them as dentated rings, the form apparently suggested by the Murex shell, and supposes them to have been attached to the whirling arm of a military flail.
But by far the most remarkable of the recently discovered remains of the Roman occupants of Scotland is a medicine stamp, acquired by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, along with a very valuable collection of antiquities, bequeathed to them by E. W. A. Drummond Hay, Esq., formerly one of the secretaries of the Society. From his notes it appears that it was found in the immediate vicinity of Tranent Church, East-Lothian, in a quantity of debris, broken tiles, and brick-dust, which may not improbably have once formed the residence and laboratory of Lucius Vallatinus, the Roman oculist, whose name this curious relic supplies. It consists of a small cube of pale green stone, two and three-fifth inches in length, and engraved on two sides as in the annexed woodcut; the letters being reversed for the purpose of stamping the unguents or other medicaments retailed by its original possessor.
The inscriptions admit of being extended thus on the one side: L. VALLATINI EVODES AD CICATRICES ET ASPRITUDINES, which may be rendered—The evodes of Lucius Vallatinus for cicatrices and granulations. The reverse, though in part somewhat more obscure, reads: L. VALLATINI A PALO CROCODES AD DIATHESES—The crocodes, or preparation of saffron, of L. Vallatinus of the Palatine School,(?) for affections of the eyes.[440] Both the Euodes and the Crocodes are prescriptions given by Galen, and occur on other medicine stamps. Several examples have been found in England, and many in France and Germany, supplying the names of their owners and the terms of their preparations. Many of the latter indicate their chief use for diseases of the eye, and hence they have most commonly received the name of Roman oculists' stamps. No example, however, except the one figured here, has ever occurred in Scotland; and amid legionary inscriptions, military votive altars, and sepulchral tablets, it is peculiarly interesting to stumble on this intelligent memento, restoring to us the name of the old Roman physician who ministered to the colonists of the Lothians the skill, and perchance also the charlatanry, of the healing art.
A remarkable gold relic of a semicircular form was found in 1787 in a moss on the borders of Moffat parish, Annandale, near the track of the Roman way. It measured from three to four inches in length, but was evidently imperfect, and had on the exterior edge an ornamental raised rim, inscribed in characters perforated through the gold: IOVI. AVG. VOT. XX. An exceedingly beautiful bronze flagon, twelve inches in height, plated with gold, and of undoubted Roman workmanship, discovered in the bottom of a small burn, on the edge of an extensive moss, in the parish of Lesmahagow, Lanarkshire, is now in the Hunterian Museum, and has been engraved in the Archæologia.[441] A pair of patellæ, found near Frier's Carse, Dumfriesshire, in 1790, one of them inscribed on the handle ANSIEPHARR, are also engraved and described in the Archæologia.[442] Two others are noticed by Ure, which were found in a chambered tumulus, in the parish of Rutherglen, and stamped with the name of CONGALLUS. The handle of another of the same type, the name on which is too indistinct to be deciphered, was found at a depth of five feet in the Moss of Ballat, Stirlingshire, in 1849, and is now in the Museum of the Scottish Antiquaries. In addition to these, among the MSS. in the library of the Society, is a sketch of what appears to be justly described as "one of the most elegant Roman cups ever discovered in Britain, of the finest Corinthian brass, beautifully embellished with a dance of the Bacchantæ in the centre, a wreath of vine leaves tastefully encircling the neck in alto relievo, the whole highly finished. It was found about nine feet under the surface of Lochar Moss, Dumfriesshire, and long preserved in the family of a gentleman in that county, but has now been lost sight of for some years." The drawing, which is by Mr. W. S. Irvine, was forwarded to the Society through the present Sir David Brewster in 1815, along with sketches of Roman altars and other antiquities, and proposals for publishing a work on the antiquities of what the author calls Regnum Cambrense. The drawings are slight, and sadly out of perspective, but they furnish some interesting materials relative to the Scottish Roman invasion, which have escaped the notice of Stuart—the only writer who has treated of the subject since their discovery. The vessel above described is an exceedingly beautiful vase, with floriated handles, curving up into birds' heads where they are attached at the lower ends to the vase. Its dimensions are not given, and the sketch is unfortunately too imperfect to be engraved.