19 
to some fanciful or exaggerated. But we must remember that at 
the time of which we are speaking, Glanoventa, or Axelodunum, or 
whatever name it may have borne, was no new colony. The 
Roman occupation of Britain had continued for nigh four hundred 
‘years. During that long period stations and towns had time 
enough to grow into large cities, and to recover from the effects of 
many invasions and destructions. That our own camp had been 
occupied almost without a break during the whole of those three 
centuries, we have convincing evidence both from coins and in- 
scriptions. During that long period a numerous population both 
of colonists and natives must have grown up, dwelling along the 
military roads, and at the neighbouring outposts, safe under the 
protection of the impregnable camp. We may therefore fairly 
apply to our own locality what archeologists tell of the size and 
magnificence of some of the Roman cities in Cumberland. ‘These 
stations were crowded with streets and buildings, and adorned with 
~ baths and temples.” “It is hardly credible what a number of 
august remains of Roman grandeur is to be seen here to this 
day. In every place where one casts his eyes there is some curious 
antiquity; either the marks of streets and temples in ruins, or 
inscriptions, broken pillars, statues, and other pieces of sculpture 
all scattered on the ground” (Gordon, Iter Sept.) ‘There are 
ruins so vast and complete still scattered over these desolate hills, 
that they have been styled, without much exaggeration, the Tadmor 
and Pompeii of Britain” (Elton, 328). 
Now in a district such as Cumberland was in the closing years 
of the fourth century, with its large population and continual 
intercourse with the rest of the Roman world, I find no difficulty 
in believing that there might exist Christian congregations on such 
a scale as to verify the allusions in St. Patrick’s Life. The 
question as to the first introduction of Christianity into these parts 
is a most interesting one ; unfortunately it is one for the solution 
of which few materials are at hand. It has been remarked that 
there are few, if any, traces of the Christian religion to be found in 
the Roman remains that still exist in Cumberland. All the in- 
scriptions and all the monuments are of pagan origin. Yet it can 
