ANTIQUITIES OF NORTHUMBERLAND. 495 



\var (m) and others nor. Mr. Hern fancies" it to be a Roman chiflel, 

 ufed in making their Jggeres, and that it was .preferred to iron 

 from the reputed facrednefs of the metal of which it was made. 

 From there being no mention of it by Bonani (n), by Monfieur de 

 Id'ChaujJ'e (o), or by Spon (p), and no veftiges of it among the 

 Roman arms on the Trajan or Antonine pillar, or among the ruins 

 of Herculaneum, the ingenious Cornijfj antiquary, Mr. B.rlafe, is in- 

 clined to think it not of foreign tranfmarine origin, but the work 

 of Briti/h-Romans, or artifts taught by them, for an oiienfivc mif- 

 live weapon (q). According to the iatc learned and fagacious Dr. 

 Stukeley, it was ufed by the Druid priefthood in their Sacra, being 

 their hatchet, fixed to the end of a flaff, with which they cut the 

 Mi/letoe for Yuletide, our Chriftmas, and Oak-boughs for their 

 feftival of the autumnal equinox (rj. 



From Glanton-\\i\\ we have a fine profpeifl of the vale of Whlt- 

 tlngham, wherein on the left hand of the road, and on the north 

 fide of the rivulet of Aln, is 



Bolton, a fmall villa, where was an hofpital founded by Robert 

 de Ros, Baron of JVark t before the year 1225-, for a mafter, and 

 three chaplains, thirteen leprous men, and other lay-brethren ; 

 dedicated to St. Thomas the Martyr, or the Holy Trinity; fubor- 

 dinate to the abbey of Rycval, and the priory of Kirkham, in York- 



(m) RcwlancPs Mono Antiqua, p. 86. 

 Plot's Stafford/hire, p. 403. 



(n) Mufeum Kercherianum, (o) Mufeura Romanum. 



(p) Mifcell. curieus. (q) Antiq. of Cornwall, chzp. 13. p. 263, &c_ 



(r) Caraus. vol. ii. p. 163. 



