347 



it was a reference to that very remarkable momimeut in the 

 vestibule of the lustitution to Julius Vitalis, a member of a college 

 of smiths or armourers in the neighbourhood of Bath, where the 

 stone was found, and justifying as he (the speaker) thought the 

 conjecture that if any place in England, circumstanced as Mr. Earle 

 had described, was entitled to the designation of an " arsenal " in 

 the Roman era, Buth was par excellence to be so regarded. During 

 the reading of the paper he had been trying to think of any locality 

 that would present anything like analogous features to those 

 described in the poem. Buxton, if he recollected right, bore no 

 traces of Roman occupation, and no evidence of the early use of its 

 baths. In Bath, if his conjecture as to the existence of a college 

 of armourers was well founded, there were all the elements 

 necessary to make an arsenal, so to speak, in the time of the 

 Romans. 



Dr. Hunter said Mr. Earle quite carried him away with him. 

 Were the words of the Anglo-Saxon, which he had translated " bath- 

 houses," consistently the same throughout the poem, and the words 

 " hot water," were they perfectly clear % These seemed to be the 

 chief tests of the applicability of the poem to our city. He also 

 asked whether it was possible that this poem might be a translation 

 or paraphrase of some Roman, or Greek, or Bible story, or did it 

 bear evidence of being an original work ? One would like also to 

 hear whether the name Akemanceaster was abandoned when the 

 monasteiy was called Bath ? 



Mr. H. D. Skrine said that the paper carried conviction to his 

 mind, and filled up a gap which was wanting in the early histoiy 

 of the countiy. 



Mr. Earle did not go quite so far as Mr. Goodwin about the 

 Julius Vitalis altar, because then, as now, men retired to spend 

 their latter years in this place, whereas their active vocation had 

 been exercised far away. With regard to Dr. Hunter's question, 

 as to the recurrence of the word " bath-houses," it was found more 

 than once. The word " bath-houses " was the equivalent for an 

 obscure expression, which, literally rendered, would be " fountain 

 hall," though Dr. Grein, who had no thought of any local connec- 

 tion, had given " bath-houses " as his rendering of the word- 



