2 On an ancient Monument, 



This singular figure, which, from its beauty, might naturally 

 be expected to be of the finest marble, has been sculptured in 

 freestone. The material appears, from its good quality, to have 

 been brought from the Isle of Portland ; since it is not known 

 that any stone of the same kind has been found in a native state 

 in the neighbourhood of Colchester. The Romans brought, no 

 doubt, from Portland, much of the materials for their finer works 

 at that place where they planted their first colony* in Britain, 

 and which long remained one of their principal military stations. 



This Sphinx was found in the midst of a great number of 

 fragments of another species of stone, equally unknown at Col- 

 chester as a native product, and vulgarly called Swanage, from 

 the place where it is dug in the Isle of Purbeck, which is in the 

 immediate vicinity of Portland. 



The general dimensions of our antique are as follows : 



Length of the base, 25^ Inches. 



Medium breadth of the base, 10 



Height from base to top of Sphinx's head, . 25 

 The face of the Sphinx, measuring from under~i 



the chin to the crown of the head, . . J 



The stone was found at the depth of about two feet from 

 the surface of the soil, in trenching the ground around the 

 General Hospital lately erected at Colchester. It was dis- 

 covered in an almost perfect state, there being only a few marks 

 of injury, and those slight ; excepting upon the left side of the 

 work that lay uppermost. The fracture of the nose of the 

 Sphinx, as well as a blow upon the man's forehead, were, with 

 some other less material bruises, the almost unavoidable eflPects 

 of the labour upon discovery. 



But the circumstances of the spot where this relic has been 

 found, as well as the great beauty and the peculiar character of 

 the work, have stimulated inquiry, and merit some discussion. 



Notwithstanding all that has been written upon the early 

 history of Colchester, it may be useful, as a preliminary step to 

 our consideration of the probable history of the monument in 

 question, to refer those who retain any hesitation upon affixing 



* Tacitus Amfil, L. 14, and Camden upon Essex. 



