RELICS OF THE ROMAN OCCUPATION, LITTLE CHESTER, DERBY. 9I 



girdle, Mars of his sword, Vulcan of his tools, and almighty 

 Jupiter himself of his sceptre ! He could make himself invisible, 

 take any form he wished, outstrip the gods in speed ! Invested 

 with his power, the thief must succeed in his operations agaiost 

 frail 7nen ; privileged with his favour, the merchant need have no 

 longer a conscience as to short weights and broken contracts ! 

 This stone is indeed a striking testimony of the superiority of 

 Christianity over the Paganism it supplanted ; now, if men do 

 these things, it is in spite of the ideal of their religion. 



Besides the above worked stones, there is one, apparently a 

 detail of a plinth, of decidedly Roman character, now used as the 

 corner-stone of a wall in Mr. Dicken's yard. The writer has great 

 pleasure in announcing that Mr. Keys has purchased the Mercury, 

 and has offered it to the Derby Museum. 



The COINS are, as might be expected, for the most part much 

 defaced. Some, however, retain their original sharpness. A few 

 of the latter have been decyphered from time to time for 

 their present owners, and the writer not having made a study 

 of Roman coins, will confine himself to these statements of others 

 hoping that by the time a further article upon Little Chester 

 appears in this journal, the whole will have been re-examined by 

 a competent person. 



A silver coin, bearing the name " Constantinopolis," has on the 

 reverse a figure of Victory standing on the prow of a ship, holding 

 in one hand a spear and in the other a shield or wreath. Of 

 small copper coins, one bears the inscription : " Antonin. Pius. 

 Aug." ; another has on its reverse, " Urbs Romse," with the figures 

 of a wolf suckling Romulus and Remus ; another, a figure of 

 Victory, with wreath and spear ; another, " Imp. Maximinus. 

 Aug.," reverse, " Genio Pop. Rom.," with a draped figure holding 

 a cornucopia and paten : another, "Constantinus Chlorus," reverse, 

 two soldiers, and between them a standard. Another coin of a 

 Constantine has on its reverse two standards and a wreath be- 

 tween two soldiers ; a brass one has a beautiful winged Victory 

 with shield and spear, the head with helmet on the obverse, being 

 of decided Greek type. 



