the water, and likewise a long and stout cord to hold him when fishing in the river Thames.* Two years afterwards, he ordered the Sheriffs to erect a house in the Tower, forty feet long, by twenty feet wide, for the reception of an Elephant which had been sent to him by Lewis, King of France.

It would seem, also, from the following allusion in a Sonnet addressed by the poet Skelton to Mistress Margaret Hussey, that our Sovereigns had a Mews in the Tower as well as a Menagerie.

"Merry Margaret, as Midsomer flowre,

Gentyll as faucon or Hawke of the Towre." The present Menagerie is in the outer yard, between the western entrance and the principal bridge. It is divided into two courts: the dens are arranged in a semicircular form, and contain, among other fierce animals, a very fine full-grown and majestic lion and lioness, with several of their cubs which have been whelped in the menagerie. In the second court is a very large black bear, from North America, and two large wolves, which have lately been brought from the Polar regions, also two African blood hounds. In the adjoining apartments are several species of the Monkey tribe, and a young elephant, besides numerous varieties of the feathered race, and a number of serpents, amongst which is a fine Boa Constrictor. The cleanliness with which these beasts are kept, and the mode of arranging their respective dens and cages, deserve great commendation.

Bayley's "History," p. 270; from the original precept.

ROMAN ANTIQUITIES OF LONDON.-ST. CATHERINE'S

CHAPEL.

The following statement, relating to Roman Antiquities, &c. in London, recently discovered, was inserted in the "Morning Herald," about the end of the year 1825. It is evidently the production of a writer conversant with the subject, and diligent in his enquiries.

“ANTIQUITIES.-A few days since, some workmen in the employment of Mr. Chadwick, the architect, were digging near the foundation of the New Trinity Church,* when they discovered a Roman vase of a very peculiar form. Shortly afterwards they struck against one of very considerable dimensions, which could not be accurately ascertained, as it was, unfortunately, broken to pieces, and the fragments were carelessly shovelled away, but from those which remained, it is judged that it was about four feet high. Many fragments of Roman pottery, chiefly a light sort of stone ware, have been dug up there. It is supposed that this spot is contiguous to that which Bagford mentions in his letter to Hearne, as the place where a number of Roman remains had been found. Mr. Chadwick added the first specimen to the Collection of Mr. Gwilt, the architect and antiquary; the latter gentleman has formed a small museum of the various Roman antiquities which have been recently discovered in the Borough in digging the sewers. In digging near his own house in Union-street, amidst a variety of Ro

This Church stands in Great Suffolk Street, Southwark. VOL. I.

G

man remains, was found a very singular vessel, which in shape has some resemblance to a gallon stone-bottle with a very small aperture. The aperture is perforated with small holes, and it is evidently adapted as a sort of watering-pot acting upon the principle of the common implement used in taking samples of liquor from casks, in which the fluid is retained so long as the orifice at the top is kept closed by the finger, but from which it flows as soon as it is removed. From the nature of the ware, which is black, the workmanship, and the situation in which it was found, no doubt whatever is entertained of its being a Roman utensil. A Samian cup, and several specimens of Samian ware, were found near the same spot: some of the fragments resembled those found in digging in Lombard-street, near Birchin-lane, in 1786. In digging for the erection of a steam-engine at Messrs. Barclay and Perkins's brewery, a human skeleton was discovered, and between the legs was found a vessel with several Roman coins, chiefly of the lower empire, in it. Near the Dissenters' burying-ground was found, not long since, a Roman hypocaust, or flue. In the whole line of Union-street and Blackman-street were found various remains. On the South side of St. Saviour's Church, a Roman tesselated pavement was found by some of Mr. Gwilt's workmen ; but he was only enabled to remove a few fragments. A number of Roman coins were found, but those of which we have learned, were chiefly of the lower empire. A copper coin of Antoninus Pius, with a Britannia on the reverse, was found in St. Saviour's Church-yard. The head is in excellent preservation, and the execution is such as is perhaps not excelled by any modern coin; certainly not by any of In the course of the excavations for the new London-bridge, a quantity of Roman mortar was found,

our own.

which, it was conjectured, had belonged to some Roman embankment that had fallen into the River at one time. From the remains found in various parts, there can be little doubt (though it is not mentioned in our histories), that Southwark was a very flourishing Roman station. In the works carried on in the course of the restoration of St. Saviour's Church, which has been so absurdly stopped by a party of the learned parish dignitaries, a quantity of Roman bricks was dug up near the spiritual court, and were found worked in with the flint in the walls. The greater part of these antiquities have been collected and preserved by Mr. Gwilt. Indeed his success as a collector has occasioned several rivals to take the field and watch the works at any new sewers, drains, or excavations, in the expectation of meeting with something curious. The foremost of these is Mr. Gaitskill, the Magistrate; but Mr. Gwilt has hitherto beaten off all competitors by superior liberality amongst the workmen. He has obtained one funeral urn, with an inscription which is likely to pose the Antiquarian Society. Every antiquarian who has yet been allowed to see it, has, it is said, given a different construction and hypothesis upon it to his brethren. It is probable that in carrying on the new streets, and in digging to form the improvements of the Metropolis, discoveries may be made, which, if they come within the knowledge of the learned, will serve to elucidate the site of the Roman London, or Augusta, which is now a matter of such wide conjecture. In forming the late new buildings at the India-house a considerable extent of ground was cleared to what was considered the Roman site, where a Roman road was discovered. Mr. Fisher, of the East India House, who gave an account of the superb Mosaic pavement discovered in Leadenhall-street in 1803, has

examined the spot very accurately, and promises to give to the Society a paper upon the subject, in which he will endeavour to set forth a new hypothesis as to the site of the Roman City. There can be little doubt that many antiquities have been destroyed or dispersed from ignorance of their nature, and that many interesting remains, which might have furnished matter useful perhaps to the historian, have recently been broken up without any notice having been taken of them. In making the new build. ings lately behind the Cold-Bath Fields Prison, a number of piles were dug up, and some stone-work was found, which we understand appeared to be the vestiges of a bridge of great antiquity. In making the new buildings by the old Pancras Church, the Mounds which were accounted by Dr. Stukeley to be the remains of a Roman camp, and which is highly probable, notwithstanding the wildness of his other conjectures respecting it, have been entirely obliterated. The Spitalfields Mathematical Society, learning that the Roman Camp, in the fields beyond White Conduit House, would soon be obliterated by the brick-makers, have had a drawing of it taken.

'In taking down the ancient Church of St. Catherine, to form the new St Catherine's Dock, the tomb of John, Duke of Exeter, was opened and his remains dispersed. His scull is now in the possession of Mr. Compton, the Dock Surveyor. The cranium is small and retiring. The teeth are remarkably perfect. It appeared that his tomb had once before been plundered of the lead. His Will, in which he bequeaths to the high altar of the Church 'a cuppe of byrol garnished with golde, perles, and precious stones, to be put in the sacrament,' and a number of other valuable effects, is to be seen amongst the Tower records. This Church was founded in 1148, by