3ntrobuction. 



There are, perhaps, some to be found, even now, who 

 would class the archaeologist where SamuelJohnson affected 

 to place the lexicographer, among " those who toil at the 

 lower employments of life," as one "whom mankind have 

 considered, not as the pupil, but the slave of science, the 

 pioneer of literature, doomed only to remove rubbish and 

 clear obstructions from the paths of learning and genius, 

 who press forward to conquest and glory, without bestowing 

 a smile on the humble drudge that facilitates their 

 progress." But the growth of more scientific ideas has 

 brought a loftier estimate of historical research, a keener 

 appreciation of its methods. The general reader, as well as 

 the average scholar, will, it is hoped, be glad to follow the 

 processes of research recorded in this volume, and to 

 appropriate the results (for some results there are) which 

 have been attained. Foremost among these should be 

 mentioned the plan of the camp and its gates, wherein 

 every stone has been carefully measured ; the chronological 

 evidence of the vase-fragments now studied for the first 

 time with a precision which supplies us with a virtual treatise 

 on British pottery; the conclusions as to the date of the 

 occupation, which throw interesting light also upon the 

 the date of the Roman fort at Manchester ; the description 

 of the Roman and pre-Roman roads ; and the study of the 



