ART. X. The Defcription of Britain, tranflated from Richard of Cirencester: with the original Treatife de Situ Britannia'; and a Commentary on the Itinerary; illuftrated with Maps. 314 PP. 18s. White. 1809.

8vo.

FEW

W circumftances have ever more ftrongly or more de fervedly attracted the attention of British Antiquaries than the difcovery of the curious MS. of Richard Corinenfis, of of Cirencester, in the year 1747. The difcovery was made at Copenhagen, by Charles Julius Bertram, an Englishman, and Profeffor of the English Language in the Royal Marine Aca demy in that city. The difcoverer fent over a tranfcript of the whole to Dr. Stukeley, with a copy of the original map, and Stukeley, in 1757, publifhed an analy fis of the work in English, with the Itinerary; and in 1758 the original was printed by Bertram, with the remains of Gildas and Nennius. The work, thus made known to the world, has been amply employed by J. Whitaker in his Manchefter, by General Roy in his Military Survey, by Polwhele in his Hiftories of Devon and Cornwall, and by others; and the extremely curious nature of its contents made it fully worthy of their inveftigation. But the publications both of Stukeley and of Bertram had long become fo fcarce, as to be quite out of the reach of common purchafers, and we therefore received with transport the prefent very judicious publication. At the fame time, we could but wonder to receive it as an anonymous work. What motive there could be for concealment, in publifhing a work wholly devoted to utility and liberal knowledge, except a fuperfluous and felf-mjuring diffidence, we cannot imagine, and therefore have had no hesitation in publifhing the name of the author, M. Hatchard; a modeft but very deferving man, long employed, we understand, in literary occupations, under the aufpices of our diftinguished hiftorian and antiquary Mr. Coxe. The work indeed is of a nature to fupport itself, by its mere utility, without the aid of a name; but to whom then is our gratitude due? The public ought to know, that it may properly discharge the debt.

The contents of the volume are these: 1. A clear and intelligent Preface, in which the credit of Richard is properly vindicated, and his utility pointed out; and in which it appears, that his prefent editor has had the afliftance of fome very eminent antiquaries. 2. A fhort notice of the life and works of Richard of Cirencefter. 3. An exact copy of the map, as published by

Bertram.

Bertram. 4. An English tranflation of the whole work, with notes. 5. An excellent general map of the Romani roads in Britain. 6. The Itinerary, in Latin and English, with an English Commentary. 7. The original Latin, reprinted from Bertram's edition. S. Bertram's notes. 9. A

copious Index. 10. A fac-fimile of the original MS. of Richard. The whole admirably printed. Bertram, as we have obferved, though refident at Copenhagen, was an Englithman; and, in the title to his notes, flyles hinfelf Carolus Bertramus, Londinenfis.

Of his author, Mr. Hatchard fays, in a manly and convincing manner:

"To the general fidelity of Richard I am happy to bear un. equivocal testimony. I have confulted moft of the authors from whom he drew the fubftance of his first book, and, with the exception of two or three inadvertencies, have found him fcrupu loufly exact in his citations. He has indeed indulged himself in what a rigid critic, if he pleafes, may term conjecture, when he applies the defcription of the Gallic cuftoms and inftitutions to thofe of the Britons; but he has ufed this liberty with due caution, and in no refpect has he exceeded the limits traced by the moft difcerning of the antients. If then we find him thus exact in thofe cafes, where we have the means of bringing his fidelity to the teft, with what juftice can we charge him with deception in the ufe of those authorities which have not reached our time."' P. vii.

Of Richard's defcription and Itinerary he fays,

"He has defcribed the divifion of Britain into provinces, before imperfectly known, and he is the firft and only author who records the rank held by the British towns under the Roman government, as colonial, municipal, and ftipendiary; diftinetions well known in other parts of the empire, but loft in Britain till the difcovery of his work. Laftly, his Itinerary is more extenfive in its defign, and more complete in its execution, han that which bear the name of Antoaine; correcting it when they differ, and confirming it when they agree; and containing the names of about fixty posts and towns before unknown." P. xiii.

Concerning the author he tells us, as others have told, that he was a native of Cirencester, but a monk of Weft. minfter; that he entered the Benedictine monaftery of St. Peter, Westminster, during the abbacy of de Lytlington, as appears from the rolls of the Abbey; and that his name occurs in various documents of that establishment in the years 1887, 1397, and 1899. But not to take all the merit of Richard

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BRIT. CRIT. VOL. XXXVII. FEB. 1811..

Richard upon the credit of an editor, who may be fuppofed partial, we will transcribe a part of what was faid of him by that very competent judge John Whitaker.

"That the work is genuine," he fays, "needs no proof. All the embodied antiquarians* of the fourteenth, and three fucceeding centuries, could not have forged fo learned a detail of Roman Antiquities. Whence Richard compiled it, we know not; or whether he found his authorities in England or at Rome, to which place he had a fpecial licence to travel. The Itinerary, in particular, he declares himfelf to have collected from fome remains of records, which had been drawn up by the authority of a certain Roman General, and left by him for the use of fucceeding ages. The 18 Itinera, which Richard has prefented to ns, all unite to form an entire Itinerary. No fingle part ftands forth of a different texture from the reft; and the whole refers itfelf to one period. It was compofed after the wall of Hadrian, and even after that of Antoninus were erected, because it exprefsly mentions both. This neceffarily reduces the date of it below the year 138, the firft of Antoninus's reign. And it was drawn up when the Romans retained their ftations on this wall and beyond it, and when they had profecuted their roads. and conquefts along the Eaftern coaft of the island as far as Inverness." Hift. of Manch. B. I. Ch. 3.

He concludes that its date was fomewhere after 138, and before 170. As every Antiquary muft know that there is often very great difficulty in afcertaining the places mentioned in the ancient Itinera, we fhall fhow the principles on which the prefent author has proceeded, which appear to us found and judicious.

"In fixing the fites of the towns fpecificed in thefe Itineraries, our antiquaries have affumed the most unjustifiable latitude. The mere refemblance of a name was confidered as a reafon fufficient to butweigh all others; even the great Camden fuffered himself to be misled by this refemblance, in fixing Ariconium at Kentchester +, Camalodunum at Maldon, Bennavenna at Bensford, Pons Ælii at Pont Eland, and Ad-Pontem at Paunton. The explanation of the naines to fuit the fuppofed fituation has been another fruitful fource of error; not only British and Latin, but Saxon, Greek, and even Hebrew, have been exhaufted to difcover fignificans appellations; and where one language was not fufficient, half a word has been borrowed from one language and half from another to fupport a favourite hypothefist.

For antiquaries. Rev.

+ The refemblance here is not very ftriking.

"The

"On this fubject it may not be improper to obferve, that the

"The commentary now prefented to the reader is founded on the following principles.

"I. The veftiges of roads actually exifting afe taken as much as poffible for guides; and the extremes or direction of each Iter, afcertained from two or more undoubted stations, or other unequivocal proofs.

II. In general, no place is regarded as the fite of a Roman station, unless fixed Roman remains, fuch as buildings, baths, &c. are found at or near it; and unless it is fituated on, or near the line of a Roman road.

"III. An exception has, however, been fometimes unavoidably made to this rule. After the Romans had established their power, and completed their fyftem of internal communication, they un doubtedly leffened the number of their garrifons, to avoid either too great a divifion of their force, or to reduce that part of it which was neceffarily ftationary. Hence we have fometimes confidered the direction of the road, and the general distance, as' fufficient data for determining a ftation or ftations, either when they were fituated between two confiderable fortified points, of when covered by others on every fide; becaufe it is probable fuch pofts were merely temporary, and were dilapidated or demo. lifhed, even before the decline of the Roman power.

"IV. In affigning a specific Roman name to a place, it has not been deemed fufficient that fixed antiquities or other equivalent evidence prove a town to have exifted on the fpot, unless the order of the names, and the distances marked in the Itinerary, juftify the appellation.

"V. Where the line of the Roman road is tolerably perfect, no station is fought far from it, except where the excess of the Iti nerary over the real diftance, or accurate meafurement, affords fufficient authority for the deviation.

"VI. The numbers which determine the distances being written in Roman numerals, which gave great latitude for errors and fubftitutions, recourse has been had to this rule.

"Where the road ftill exifts, the whole intermediate space between two stations already determined, has been examined to discover what places, from their relative distance, from their fite, or the antiquities found in them, have the fairest claim to

name of Caftor, Cefter, or Chefter, generally points out a Roman station; and Sarn, Street, Stane, and Stone, (Strat, and Stan, when compounded) as generally fhow the courfe of the British or Roman way."

"For example thefe marks ", being the mutilated parts of numerals, might have been eafily transformed by the copyift into IIIII. XIII. VIII. XVI. XIX. or XXI. and fingle nu. merals might have been omitted, as XX, and XXIII. for XIX. and XXXIII.”

be confidered as Roman pofts; and to fuch places the names have been affixed according to the evidence afforded in the Itinerary." P. 105.

Some very valuable obfervations follow, on the measurement of the Roman mile. Of the notes on the Itinera, we could cite feveral with pleafure; but thinking it neceffary to take a fhort one, we fhall choofe that on the road from Bath to London, as one of the inoft famous.

As the traces of a Roman road from Bath towards Marlborough arc ftill visible, we have only to examine in what points · of its course remains have been found fufficient to juftify us in de. termining the fites of the different ftations. Accordingly at fifteen miles from Bath we have HIGHFIELD, in Sandy Lane, near Hed. dington; and at fifteen more FOLLY FARM, near Marlborough. From hence twenty miles bring us to SPENE; and although at this place few remains have been difcovered, yet the direction of another Roman road, from Cirencester to the fame point, fufficiently proves the existence of a station. Of the fite of Calleva at SILCHESTER*, there can be little doubt; although the courfe> of the road from Spene is uncertain. The road from SILCHES. TER, still known by the name of the Devil's Causeway, as it runs over Bagshot Heath, as well as evident traces of it between Staines and London, ftill exift; but the intermediate station of Bibracte is doubtful. If the numbers in this Iter be correct, we

"Few of the Roman ftations have been fixed at fo many dif ferent places as that of Calleva Attrebatum. It has been placed at Silchester, Henley, Wallingford, and Reading, by different antiquaries; yet in no doubtful cafe do more teftimonies concur to afcertain the fite. It was evidently a station of importance, because it appears as a central point, to which the roads traverfed by three different Iters of Antonine (the 13th, 14th, and 15th,) converge. It was the capital of the Attrebates; fituated at known diftances from London, Winchester, Bath, Spene, and Caerleon; and at a doubtful one, though eafily "fupplied, from Cirencester and Old Sarum. Thefe circumftances cannot by any. expedient be brought to coincide, either with Henley, Wallingford, or Reading; but all agree in regard to Silchefter. Its dif tance nearly accords with the Itinerary diftance of Galleva, from London, Bath, Speen, Winchefter, and Caerleon, and, ifa ftation (which is evidently loft) in the Iter of Antonine be fupplied, with that from Cirencefter. The prefent remains are thofe of a great Roman town; it is fituated in the district formerly inha Bited by the Attrebates and in every direction traces of Roman roads, converging to this point fill plainly exist, from London, Speen, Winchester, Old Sarum, Bath, and Cirencefter."

cannot