MINING OPERATIONS OF THE ROMANS. 17 



mentioned. It was found by a countryman in ploughing, 

 and taken to the shot-works of Messrs. Williams, at 

 Bristol. Through the exertions of Mr. Albert Way, and 

 the kind co-operation and generosity of Mr. Williams, it 

 was fortunately rescued from the furnace, and is now pre- 

 served in the British Museum. Its form is clearly shown 

 in the wood-cut, Plate I, fig. 2, which also shows 

 the form of all the above-mentioned pigs, and for the 

 use of which I am indebted to the Archaeological Institute 

 of Great Britain and Ireland. There is a space between 

 britannic and avg., where the letters have been effaced. 

 They may bave expressed the name of the Emperor 

 Claudius. On examining tbe object itself, I was satisfied 

 that the last letters are fil, which is the reading adopted 

 by Mr. Roach Smith, and not II, or imp., as other anti- 

 quaries have supposed. Hence, I conclude, that the 

 inscription, which is of unusual historical interest, may be 

 thus restored : 



BRITANNICI CLAVDII AVGVSTI FILII. 

 The letters V. EIP., or V. ETP., twice impressed on the 

 sloping side, are not explained.* 



At Charter-house, on the same ränge of hills, abundant 

 traces of Roman mining have been observed. Together 

 with a copper coin of Antoninus Pius, large heaps of slag 

 have been found, still rieh in lead, so as to prove that the 

 Roman3 were not very successful in the extraction of the 

 metal from its ore ; also a quantity of the ore finely 

 pounded, so as to be ready for smelting, and in the state 

 now known by the name of slimes. The appearance of 

 the hills around the Charter-house mines corresponds in an 

 extraordinary degree with that which Mr. Thomas Wright 



* Archaological Journal, vol. xi. 5 p. 278-280. Roach Smith'g Collectanea 

 Antiqua, vol. III., p. 258. 



