ROMANS IN BRITAIN—DRESS OF NATIVE FEMALES AT THAT PERIOD.
The British gwn, from whence comes the modern "gown," descended to the middle of the thigh, the sleeves barely reaching to the elbows: it was sometimes confined by a girdle. Beneath this a longer dress reached to the ancles. The hair was trimmed after the Roman fashion; and upon the feet, when covered, were sometimes worn shoes of a costly character, of which we know the Romans themselves to have been fond. An extremely beautiful pair was discovered upon opening a Roman burial-place at Southfleet in Kent, in 1802. They were placed in a stone sarcophagus, between two large glass urns or vases, each containing a considerable quantity of burnt bones. They were of superb and expensive workmanship, being made of fine purple leather, reticulated in the form of hexagons all over, and each hexagonal division worked with gold, in an elaborate and beautiful manner.
THE CATACOMBS.
ROME.
Amid the ruins of stately temples, and numerous remains of the "Eternal City," there are no objects which have such great and general interest as the subterranean churches, dwellings, and places of sepulchre of the early Christians, which perforate, by a network of excavations, the neighbourhood of Rome.
The great increase in the extent and magnificence of Rome during the times of the Republic, led to the formation of quarries in the surrounding parts. The peculiar nature of the soil has caused the excavations to be made in a manner similar to that used in the working of coal, iron, stone, lime, &c. The useful material has, in fact, been cleared away, leaving long ranges of dark caves and passages. After the stone had been removed from these underground quarries, it was, for many centuries, customary to work out the sand for the purpose of making cement. Vitruvius has stated that the sand obtained from the Esquiline pits was preferable to any other. Ultimately the quarries and sandpits extended to a distance of upwards of fifteen miles on one side of Rome. Parts of this large range of excavations were from time to time used as burial-grounds by such of the Romans as could not afford the cost of burning the bodies of their dead relations. And, in addition, the Esquiline hills became infested by banditti, and was from these various causes rendered almost impassable.