Old England: A Pictorial Museum (page 1/53)

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103.—Ruins of the Ancient Church of Reculver.

The Roman remains still existing at Reculver are less interesting than those at Richborough, chiefly because they are of less magnitude and are more dilapidated. Very close to the ruins of the ancient church, whose spires were once held in such reverence that ships entering the Thames were wont to lower their top-sails as they passed (Fig. 103), is [...]cester indicating a camp; that name changes when the camp has perished, and the great abbey is flourishing, to Raculfminster; the camp and the abbey have both perished, and we have come back to the Latin Regulbium, in its Anglicised form of Reculver. Some fiercer destruction even than that which swept away the abbey probably fell upon the Roman city. Gibson, speaking of the coins and jewellery which have been found at various times at Reculver, says, “These they find here in such great quantities that we must needs conclude it to have been a place heretofore of great extent, and very populous, and that it has one time or other underwent some great devastation, either by war or fire, or both. I think I may be confident of the latter, there being many patterns found of metals run together.” The antiquities of Regulbium are fully described in the elegant Latin treatise of Dr. Battely, ’Antiquitates Rutupinæ,’ 1711. [more...] [$]

116.—Roman Victory.

Succeeding emperors left the Britons in the quiet advancement of their civilization, until Claudius (Fig. 118) was stirred up to the hazard of an invasion. In the sonorous prose of Milton—“He, who waited ready with a huge preparation, as if not safe enough amidst the flower of all his Romans, like a great Eastern king with armed elephants marches through [...] [more...] [$]

24.—Contents of Ancient British Barrows

The plate also has the following text: [more...] [$]

50.—Gaulish Huts.

“In the neighbourhood of Llandaff were, in King’s time, several modern pig-sties, of a peculiar construction; and he held that the form of these was derived from the dwellings of the ancient Britons. (Fig. 55.) This form certainly agrees with the description which Strabo gives of the houses of the Gauls, which he says were constructed of poles and wattled work, of a circular form, and with a lofty tapering roof. On the Antonine column we have representations of the Gauls and the Gaulish houses, but here the roofs are for the most part with domes (Fig. 50). Strabo further says, “The forests of the Britons are their cities; for, when they have enclosed a very large circuit with felled trees, they build within it houses for themselves and hovels for their cattle. These buildings are very slight, and not designed for long duration.” Cæsar says, “What the Britons call a town is a tract of woody country, surrounded by a vallum and a ditch, for the security of themselves and cattle against the incursions of their enemies.” The towns within woods were thus fortresses; and here the Druidical worship in the broad glades, surrounded by mighty oaks which were their natural antiquities, was cultivated amidst knots of men, held together by common wants as regarded the present life, and common hopes with reference to the future (Fig. 56). [more...] [$]

1800.—Tric-trac, by Teniers.

Four men are playing at dice, a game called tric-trac. A discarded clay pipe on the floor, together with a wine-jug and an open tankard, hint at moral excesses. The men wear seventeenth-century costumes; one has a feather in his hat. The engraving is by S. Sly: probably the wood-engraving company of Stephen Sly, who also did a lot of work for the Illustrated London News. It is made after a [...]A Game of Tric-Trac. In the original painting the men are in a guardroom and there are plate mail and a spear in the foreground. [more...] [$]