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This sight produced strong reflections upon the elegance of a Roman villa, in a moment reduced to ruins by fire, converted into solitude and silence, and become the dreary mansion of the dead. At the time of the present discovery, the scene had again changed; exhibiting in a richly cultivated corn-field, in its busy husbandmen, and in the flocks of the adjacent grounds, an interesting picture of animated nature.

On first observing the skeletons, Mr. Illingworth doubted whether they were Roman. It was evident from the coins of the younger Constantine being discovered here, that the villa had been inhabited by some Roman commander as late at least as that reign; a period when Christianity prevailed amongst the Romans; and when it became their custom, in conformity with that of other nations converted to the Christian faith, to bury their dead. Observing, however, that the skeletons lay upon the very foundation-walls, due east and west, he ceased to entertain any doubts; and concluded that some Saxon, or other Christian chapel, might have been erected on the site of the villa. This he deemed the more reasonable, as it was not unusual, in the dawn of Christianity, to erect buildings for Christian worship on the site of others, which had been dedicated to Pagan superstition; and it is probable, so long as the Romans remained in Britain, this elegant villa continued to be the summer-residence of the commander of the Roman army in these parts; the head of the colony, Lindum, being distant only five miles. The circumstance also of the chalybeate spring within a few yards from the entrance of the villa, and still called Saint Pancras well, favours the conclusion of a chapel having been erected on its site.

If any further reasons were wanting for this inference, it is supported by the strong evidence of a discovery, upon record, that a chapel, dedicated to Saint Pancras, did actually exist on this spot, so early as the beginning of the twelfth century; about which period Richard Fitz-Robert of Scampton gave to the monastery of Kirksted three selions of land in that lordship, two of which are described in the gift, as lying in the south field, on the south side of the chapel of Saint Pancras. To account for the bodies having connection with the chapel, it is sufficient to observe, that it was not unusual, on the erection of chapels, chantries, or oratories, for the crown to grant the liberty of burial annexed thereto.'

The Archdeacon continues to relate that the principal entrance into the villa was through a gate-way, where was disco vered a large stone lying north and south on the foundation of the outward wall, of an oblong form, 6 feet 10 inches long, 3 feet 4 inches wide, (the width of the outward wall,) and I foot thick; and that this threshold was in the centre of the passage or narrow gallery, which was 140 feet long, 13 feet wide in the centre, 15 feet at the north, and 8 at the south end, being probably intended to lead to the north and south wings. In one of the eastern apartments, he says, was dis

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covered

covered a beautiful tesselated pavement, 31 feet in length, and 10 feet in width, which is represented in an elegant coloured engraving, and is thus described:

It is composed of four large compartments of square and oblong forms, elegantly diversified, having at the south end part of a large circle; and, from the nature of the pattern, there is reason to suppose it extended to the end of the room. The tessera or dies, of which it is composed, are of a cubical form, and various in their size and colour. The inner compartments are of slate-blue, white, and deep red, half an inch square. These are surrounded by a border of circles, in which are quarter circles inverted, of a deep red, inlaid amongst tesseræ of a pale yellow. Beyond the circles are several rows of plain tessera of the latter colour, an inch, and an inch and half square; evidently composed of the stone of the country.

When first discovered, the colours of this pavement were extremely bright; which circumstance, added to the curiously artificial workmanship, afforded a pleasing specimen of the Roman art. But it shortly after lost much of its original elegance, several of the tesseræ having been picked up by the country people, who flocked in numbers to view it. In order, however, to prevent the pavement, sustaining any further injury, a building was erected over it. Notwithstanding this precaution, it is still to be lamented that the decay of its beauty becomes visibly rapid, from the effects produced by the hands of idle curiosity.'

This pavement would afford beautiful patterns for carpets, or floor-cloths.

After the account of this villa, the work proceeds with other information respecting the parish, which is classed under the following heads:The Manor. Scampton hall. The Church. The Rectory. Parish Register. Succession of Rectors. Population, Value, &c. Overseer's Returns of Expences for the Poor. Annual Births. Proprietors of Scampton. Anecdotes of the Family of Bolle of Haugh and Thorpe Hall. — On these subjects, a variety of interesting particulars is detailed; indeed the industry of the compiler is conspicuous in having collected so many, and especially in minutely tracing the descent of property from the survey in Domesday-book to the present æra.

About the beginning of the seventeenth century, the manor. and estates came by marriage into the possession of Sir John Bolles, (or Bolle,) Knight, who was descended from a very antient family; the elder branch of which settled at Haugh near Alford, and Thorpe Hall near Louth, in the county of Lincoln. Of seve ral eminent individuals of this family, particular accounts are given, which compose the latter part of this topographical memoir. Sir John Bolle was present in the expedition against Cadiz in 1596, and attracted the love of a beautiful Spanish lady whom he had in charge as a prisoner. In Mr. Illingworth's

words,

words, her chains became the silken bands of delight, and freedom itself was misery.' Sir John, however, having a beloved wife in England, resisted the temptations which Cupid thus threw in his way, and the poor lady was obliged to retire to a nunnery. This occurrence gave occasion to an antient ballad, which may be found in Percy's collection, under the title of "The Spanish Lady's love for an Englishman ;" and which is, rather unnecessarily, reprinted in the present volume.

The plates illustrating this publication are fifteen in number; eight of which belong to the topography and antiquities of the parish, and the subjects of which are well selected. The remaining seven, with the exception of the portrait of the late William Cayley, Esq. relate to the Bolles family, and must be interesting to their descendants and representatives. The whole are executed in a very handsome manner.

On a general review of this elegant work, we feel disposed to say that the compiler has evinced considerable ability in the execution of it. His subject being confined, the account necesarily could not extend to any great length: yet, short as it is, it bears abundant proof of his being well qualified for more enlarged undertakings; and, since nothing redundant seems to have been admitted into it, while every thing consistent with its plan has been carefully introduced, it may be safely followed as a model (as far as it goes,) by writers of similar publications.

ART. VI. Geological Travels. By J. A. De Luc, F.R.S. Vol. I. Travels in the North of Europe, containing Observations on some Part of the Coasts of the Baltic, and the North Sea. Translated from the French Manuscript. Illustrated with a Map and Draw. ings. 8vo. 128. Boards. Rivingtons. 1810.

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None of our late volumes, (lxiii. p. 493.) we gave an account of M. De Luc's Elements of Geology; a work of considerable merit, the principal object of which was to oppose some of the leading positions in the Huttonian hypothesis respecting the formation of the earth. The present publication may be regarded as a practical application of the principles which were advanced in the former, with the view of substantiating the author's own opinions; and, in order to gain a more accurate knowlege of natural phænomena, in the summer of 1804, this philosopher took a journey through some parts of the north of Europe, devoting his attention altogether to geological obscrvations :- the vc.ume before us contains an account of this jour ney, and it has been followed by two others, in which a similar description is given of some parts of our own island.

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Before we enter on the narrative, we have a considerable quantity of preliminary matter, animadverting on the leading points in which the two doctrines are at variance with each other. These are arranged under twenty-seven different heads, and may be considered as comprizing all the questions in dispute. One of the most important of them, and indeed one on which a great part of the controversy depends, refers to the means by which the surface of the earth acquired its present irregular form,-how it became diversified with hills and valleys,and how the shores of the sea received the different indentations of bays and gulphs. Dr. Hutton and Mr. Playfair suppose that these irregularities were, for the most part, the work of some grand operations which are still going on; that the chief agents are the streams of rivers and the waters of the sea : that the rivers wash down the loose materials which lie in their course, and thus excavate the valleys; while at the same time the waves of the sea are not less actively employed in washing down the shores that are opposed to them: the solid matter which is carried off in both these cases being supposed to be deposited at the bottom of the ocean. To produce the present state of things, by such agents, must have required a very long series of ages: but this is admitted by the supporters of the doctrine, and is not considered as offering any objection to it. M. De Luc supposes, M. De Luc supposes, on the contrary, that the world acquired a form not materially different from that which it now exhibits, in consequence of some violent changes, or, as he calls them, catastrophes, at a period of no very great antiquity; that its hills and valleys, the irregularities of its coasts, and the general features of its surface, were then formed; and that the operation of rivers and of the waves of the sea, instead of being almost infinite in its effects, is very limited, and is daily diminishing. Valleys are conceived to have been original formations, and, instead of being excavated by rivers, to have been diminished by the sediment which these waters deposited in them. Those coasts which present a steep front to the sea were originally formed in this manner; since a flat shore, so far from being converted into a steep one by the depredations of the ocean, has rather a tendency to receive a continual accumulation of matter.

The arguments which the author adduces, to prove that valleys have not been formed by the rivers that run through them, appear indeed to be very forcible; and we must con fess that, if we ought ever to feel decided on any geological question, they would go far towards producing conviction in our minds. He remarks that, if valleys had been merely cut through by streams of water, the opposite sides of them would E

exhibit sections of the same strata; that the gravel, or other stony matter which is found in valleys, would be of similar quality with the materials which compose their sides; that the opposite sides of valleys would exhibit a similarity in their height and form; that the sides of the excavation would bear a relative proportion to the bulk of the rivers which flow through them; that the declivities of the valleys, being produced by the action of an uniform cause, would be more uniform, and not, as we now perceive them, in some parts steep, and in others nearly level; and that, for the same reason, the variations which we observe in the width of the same valley could not have taken place. A still more direct objection to the hypothesis of the excavation of valleys is founded on the observation that, in many instances, the bed of the valley has been perceptibly raised by the depositions which the stream forms in it; so that, at least in these cases, it cannot be doubted that the hollow must have existed previously to the stream.

review of the former work, we have mentioned the grand difficulty which is opposed to the hypothesis of Mr. Playfair, by the occurrence of lakes in the course of rivers; a difficulty which, notwithstanding the conjectures that have been adopted, still remains in full force. M. De Luc again brings forwards the existence of the large blocks of different kinds of stone, which are so profusely scattered over many parts of the continent, and again expatiates on the extreme improbability, or rather impossibility, of their having ever been brought to their present situation by the currents of rivers. He then offers some remarks on the other grand question in discussion, the formation of gulphs, and the different irregularities of the sea-coast. He shews that nearly the same kind of reasoning applies to them as to valleys; that an actual examination of them does not lead to the conclusion, that they have been formed either by rivers emptying themselves into the sea, or by the waves acting on the coast; and that many of them afford evident proofs that the effect of the water is rather to fill them up, than to increase them.

The general conclusion, to which these remarks lead, is that valleys and gulphs are not the effect of any cause now operating, but have been produced by some of those great revolutions in which the solid strata of the earth were brought into their present irregular and disjointed state. The valleys and other depressions were then formed, and the streams of water took their course through them, but rather tending to diminish them by depositions than to enlarge them by excavation. The accumulation of materials which have been in many cases added to the original beds of valleys, and to the original coasts

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