THE ROMAN VILLA AT HEMSWORTH. 7 



simple cantharus very ineffectively a bathos in mosaic. We 

 see in this instance, and in many others, that the mosaic artists 

 supplied what may be called " interchangeable parts " of designs. 

 It would seem to denote greater wealth in the Hemsworth 

 householder that he could indulge in the entire marine suite. 

 Or possibly he exercised economy elsewhere in order to have 

 one or two very fine rooms, for two others are curiously paved 

 with plain bluish pebbles, from local gravel pits or the clay cap 

 on the downs close at hand, where they abound. The remnant 

 of the central figure of Venus indicates the posture of the Medici 

 statue, and traces of her drapery show that it fell and floated 

 from her shoulders somewhat as in the Naiad figures of the great 

 pavement at Woodchester, Gloucestershire. There is in the 

 British Museum a fine and perfect pavement from Halicarnassus, 

 which is evidently in the same line of traditional marine design. 

 This measures 4oft. by i2ft, an oblong terminating in an 

 apsidal group of Amphitrite and Tritons, with dolphins and 

 shells. The borders are of ivy or smilax, and it is curious 

 that two single smilax leaves are worked into the field of the 

 Venus lunette at Hemsworth, as though the artist reckoned them 

 a traditional and necessary accessor)'. 



I do not myself think that the head and body of the Venus 

 were intentionally destroyed. In lifting this pavement unmis- 

 takable evidences appeared of the action of fire penetrating to 

 some depth, and disintegrating the tesserae and their bedding in 

 patches. The break in the figure shows as a red patch, which 

 owes its colour to fire, not to the common Roman pink mortar, 

 for the pavement is laid wholly in white or yellowish mortar. 

 Pieces of burning ceiling or roof timbers must have fallen on the 

 pavement, and the burnt and loosened tesserae were probably 

 picked or shovelled off during the excavation in 1831. 



This pavement has been presented by Lord Alington to the 

 British Museum ; the other will be laid in his house at Crichel. 



A note may be of interest on the vertical structure of the 

 Hemsworth pavements. Great care and accurate judgment of 

 local soil conditions were always shown in laying the bed for a 



