226 ROMAN VILLAS DISCOVERED IN DORSET. 



may be drawn to the beautiful glass pins from the Roman 

 cemetery at Fordington. These are described by Mr. Moule 

 in " Dorchester Antiquities." A bronze hair-pin, with very 

 delicate ornamentation, 9in. long, has been found in Dor- 

 chester. (Proceedings, Vol. IV.) From Thornford comes 

 a fragment of an Amphora, besides sundry knives and 

 tools. Roman beads have also been found. One, of ex- 

 quisite blue glass, was found deep in the clay at Norden. 

 Others, together with Samian ware, on the site of All Saints, 

 Dorchester. 



III. PROGRESS OF CIVILISATION IN BRITAIN. 



Having now reviewed the civilisation of the Briton and the 

 Roman at the period under review, we are in a position to 

 judge of the effect of Roman civilisation upon the Briton. 

 Our enquiry, I think, should lead to the conclusion that the 

 Briton had a good deal to learn from the Roman. 



In the foremost place we should name the great advance 

 made in their dwelling-places. Nowhere would the result 

 of Roman civilisation be more self-evident than in the ex- 

 change from the rude, circular hut to the princely Roman 

 villa, square, stone-built, with its several rooms. The hut, 

 as constructed by the Britons, was almost of necessity a single 

 chamber ; and the change to a square building is now, in 

 the Mission stations of Africa and elsewhere, one of the aims 

 of the missionary, as it more easily lends itself to the pro- 

 vision of separate rooms for the various members of a family, 

 and so tends to decency of life. The best preserved private 

 houses are to be seen at Silchester (Calleva Attribatum) ; 

 the site extends over 100 acres ; and has been completely un- 

 covered. Here we find two types of house ; one, a long row 

 of rooms with a verandah in front, and frequently a small 

 room at each end of the verandah, a common type in the 

 colonies to-day ; the other, in which the rooms form three 

 sides of an open square, and are connected by a corridor. 

 One modification of the Roman type is to be noticed ; " while 



