48 ROMAN AMPHITHEATRE AT DORCHESTER. 



no doubt very handsome, and even now it is a very pleasant 

 sight. Nor does the meanness of its materials debase, but 

 rather enhance, its value and its art, for though less costly 

 and lasting than stone and marble, yet for the same reason 

 less liable to rapine, and the covetous humour of such as 

 plunder them for other uses. Therefore I believe in the 

 main it is as perfect as most abroad, and has so long escaped 

 common observation." 



One of the most insistent of the popular traditions was 

 that which assigned the southern end of the work to the 

 cave for wild beasts. On this subject Dr. Stukeley writes, 

 " The receptacle, or cave of the gladiators, wild beasts, &c., I 

 suppose to have been at the upper end under the ascent to 

 the terrace, being vaults under that part of the body of the 

 work ; whether they were of the same chalk or timber, 

 or whether they were arched with brick or stone, I 

 cannot say. It is easily understood by the plan and section 

 given, that I suppose a passage quite through from the 

 outside into the area, which must open at the bottom of 

 the podium, or wall of arena, with a squarish door." All 

 these suppositions are practically confirmed by our recent 

 excavations, and the only part of the work that seems to 

 have led Dr. Stukeley astray is that which has puzzled many 

 others ; unless again we accept the " popular tradition " 

 that assigns the long gradual slope at the southern end to 

 military construction during the XVII. Century Civil Wars. 

 This " tradition " was amply confirmed by the fragments of 

 pottery and other things found in the course of the cutting 

 made there in 1909. It is, however, somewhat curious that 

 Dr. Stukeley did not know of this himself, as he studied the 

 site within 70 or 80 years of the construction of the " works at 

 Maumbury " for the defence of Dorchester. 



Another discovery made quite unexpectedly was, however, 

 referred to, and even the position of it drawn by Dr. Stukeley. 

 The object of the square recess that we found in 1910 below 

 the highest portion of the terrace, is apparently described 

 thus : " The chair of state for the praetor was on one side, 





