was lately dug up in an adjoining Village, which an ingenious Antiquary obtained, by giving his Promiffory Note to return it upon Demand of the proper Owner.

About the Centre of the Villa, there is a large Field, in which most probably the Feafts, the Stativa Feria on the 7th of the Kalends of May, to Robigus, and from him called Robigalia, were celebrated They were inftituted to invoke the Aid of that Deity [x] ad arcendam a fatis Rubiginem, &c. At thefe Feafts, as at the Saturnalia, Intemperance and all Kinds of Licentioufnefs had their full Swing; fo that in early Times that Confusion of Sense, and Debility of Limbs which Intoxication occafions, was called a Robigation, or fometimes a Robigalation. Thefe Feafts are now obfolete and unobferved, but there is another to Ceres at the Ending of Harvest, which always concludes, if I may be allowed the Expreffion, with a Robigation. From hence Superftition has poffeffed the Inhabitants, that, drunk or fober, it is impoffible to find the Way out of this Field in the Dark, but that every one, that is fo hardy as to make the Experiment, is Roblet-led; by which they mean led by fome Ghoft or Phantom; whereas in Truth nothing at firft was intended, but only that thofe who had dipped too deep in the Pleafures of Feftivity, and could not walk, were Robigated or Robigaleded, when they could not get out of the Field.

[] Varr. Plin.

This Inftitution, pious in itself, was adopted by Mamercus Bishop of Vienne, afterwards by Sidonius Bishop of Clermont, and in the beginning of the fixth Century the first Council of Orleans appointed that it should be yearly obferved to the true God. At the Reformation, when all Proceffions were abolished, yet, for retaining the Perambulations of the Circuits of Parishes, it was ordained that People fhall, once a Year, at the Time accustomed, affemble together, to give Thanks to God for the Increase and Abundance of the Fruits upon the Face of the Earth, and to go the Circuit of their several Parishes; which Ufage is ftill kept up, but, I am afraid, the religious Part is generally neglected; for instead of Men's returning Thanks, they are too commonly engaged in filching and purloining, here and there, a little Piece of Land from their Neighbours; and the Day ends too frequently with an Abufe of thofe very Creatures for which they fhould return Thanks.

There are Difci, Sympuvia, and Patera [y], to be met with almost in every House, but they are not put to very religious Ufes. Fibula are very rare, or unnoticed; owing, probably, to the confined Idea Men have of the Rotundity of a Button; whereas the Roman Fibula was of various Forms: I have lately been favoured with the Sight of one by a Lady: It is about three Inches long, regularly tapered, and sharp pointed; in all Refpects like the Roman Fibula found at [z] Ribchefter in Lancashire, except the Curvature. [x] Leigh, Hist, Lancash,

[y] Rofin, Antiq.

By the Devices engraved on it, viz. the Arcus and Sagitta, it seems to have been a Pin of the modest Goddess Diana ;-Subnectit fibula veftem. It has a small Eye at the larger End, as the Roman Acus, through which fomething of Lace or Bobin might be drawn (as a Nail through the [a] Linch-pin of an Axle-tree, to keep the Wheel on) that the Fibula might not at any Time flip out, and expofe the Nakedness of chafte Deity. I fhall not difpute it with the learned, if they choose to suppose, that this is a Fibula Chirurgica: and that the Arcus and Sagittæ are as well Emblems of Apollo, he God of Phyfic; though such an Explanation subjects the Faculty to Idle Jokes and Reflexions; and it had certainly been more decent, if not more just, to have given Emblems of his healing, rather than of his murdering Capacity. This Inftrument probably the Pollinatores made ufe of to lard the dead Bodies, it had killed, with the more stringy, though unctious Sorts of Spices. It is now ufed, O Tempora! O Mores! as a Bodkin,

There are but two Names remaining in the Villa of Roman Extraction; (viz.) the Rufil Family, probably defcended from that Fop Rufillus recorded by Horace; but it is much departed from all idle Tafte of Effence and Perfumes: And the Vince Family, from thofe hardy People of Veientes, [b], or Vincentes, as they fhould be called, fo early incorporated with the Romans: And much of that Robuftness continues in this athletic Family.

[a] Vitruv.

[6] Liv.

2

After

After the Departure of the Romans, and upon the Irruptions of the Scots and Picts, this Village wa again made a Settlement of the Enemy [c]; but they proved less cruel and oppreffive than was expected; for when they had filled their hungry Bellies, they laid themselves down at their Ease, and gave little Moleftation; for the ancient Inhabitants, obferving the pacific Power of Plenty and Fullness, took Care to avail themselves of it; and accordingly appointed Officers, not unlike the Keepers of wild Beafts, to ply them, whenever they feemed reftless, with Dumpling; the Tertium quid of chemical Cookery, from those two fimple Ingredients, Meal and Water. Gildas, indeed, that forrowful Historian, with a peculiar Propensity to turn every thing into Lamentation, deduces their Savageness and Cruelty from fome innocent Posts erected for a different Purpose, by supposing them Engines and Gibbets of Torture, for the poor Natives of this Place. But a late eminent Antiquary, though he has not given us the true Use of them, has certainly led us to it. He fancies from an old Manufcript, that these were Mile and rubbing Pofts; and then, with an Imagination as airy as New-Market itself, talks of Matches and King's Plates being run for on this two Mile Course; not confidering, that if the Soil has continued from the Flood, in the State it is now in, it was always too deep and heavy for such Diversions. 'Tis much more probable that Worms or Mould [c] Gild. Bed.

have robbed his Manufcript of two Letters, SC, and that it was ferubbing inftead of rubbing Pofts; a Contrivance not less politic than the other of feeding their Enemies; Optimus, quos pafcere et fcabere, eft triumphus: For Naturalifts inform us, that all cutaneous Diftempers, even those that spring from Poverty of Blood, are always inflamed by high living; and that a thriving is constantly an itching Condition; a Senfation fo pleafing with, and fo intolerable without fcratching, that Inftinct has directed brute Beafts under fuch Titillations to affift one another; and from thence comes the Latin Proverb, Scabunt mutuo Muli.

The Religion of those People did by no means require Temples, and their want of Taste and Elegance made them quite indifferent about the Order of their other Buildings; fo that the Huts they erected, which are the greater Part now ftanding, are rather Dormitories, than Houfes of any other Accommodations. They left behind them no good, nor, indeed, wicked Customs; but many that were clownish and indelicate: Such as blowing the Nofe without a Handkerchief,-fitting down to Dinner without a Table-cloth,-and doing the Occafions of Nature over a Rail, or a Battling. They left no Noftrums but what were culinary, such as how to make Frumentary and Hafty Pudding, and no Diftemper, but the Itch, for which they will be always had in Remembrance. Many of these People, enamoured with the Plenty, and Change of Diet, peaceably fettled here, and fome of their Pofteriety

are