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his mind, for three years ago he told Mr. Winwood that he thought 

 he discerned in it some very strong allusions to Bath, and he now 

 saw no reason to change his opinion ; on the contrary, he thought 

 it more probable than ever. In the Chapter Libraiy at Exeter there 

 was a book which was given to Exeter Cathedral by Leofric, the 

 last Bishop of Crediton, and the first who moved the see of Devon- 

 shire to Exeter, and who died in 1072. There it had lain ever 

 since. It was a volume of Saxon poetry. Now we find in Leofric's 

 will a list of books and other objects which he bequeathed to his 

 new Cathedral. The book under consideration was included in the 

 list, and among the contents of this book was the piece now to be 

 spoken of. This piece consisted of the description of a ruined city, 

 and, more than that, of a particular city. Whether it was or was 

 not the old Eoman city of Akemanchester was a question he should 

 not pretend to decide ; he would only invite attention to the best 

 arguments he could produce for its probability. Mr. Earle then 

 gave a translation of the poem, remarking, before doing so, that the 

 chief obstacle he had to contend with was the extreme difficulty of 

 representing it by a modern translation. He then said that the 

 feature of the poem on which he rested his argument for the city in 

 ruins being Akemanchester, was the twice repeated mention of 

 baths, in the plainest and clearest terms, and a third time rather 

 obscurely. And not only so, but there was the description of a 

 stream of water, of large volume, hot without artificial heat ; and 

 where was there a place where the description could be matched 

 except Bath, not in this country only, but in Europe ; a stone- 

 built militaiy city, in ruins, and with a magnificent spring of hot 

 water? To this description his knowledge did not offer any 

 response except Akemanchestci". The architectural gi-andeur of the 

 poem would be fully satisfied by Akemanchester, for that there 

 were in and after the Roman period great and handsome buildings 

 of stone was manifest from a glance at the remains collected in that 

 Institution. As to the stream of hot water, the condition was here 

 fulfilled with singular precision, and the only question that 

 remained was this : — Was Akemanchester ever deserted and in 

 ruins ? When the Saxons had conquered the country we know that 

 many cities were deserted, and the existence of many was unknown 



