ANTIQUITIES. 





while they maybe more justly assigned to 

 Lollius Urbicus, A. D. 140, or to the Em- 

 peror Severus, A. D. 207, especially in- 

 deed to the latter; for the Emperor's ap- 

 pearance, in person, to conduct two cam- 

 paigns, probably as far as Inverness, must 

 have occasioned the erection of works 

 more eminent and durable than usual, the 

 soldiers being excited by the animating 

 controul of a military monarch. Con- 

 stantius Chlorus also, A. D. 306, made a 

 long progress into Scotland, if we trust 

 the panegyrists. Nay, in the reign of 

 Domitian, Bolanus, as we learn from Sta- 

 tius the poet, erected several works in 

 Britain, probably in the north ; so that it 

 is idle to impute these remains to any one 

 author ; but to a judicious eye, the claims 

 of Lollius Urbicus, and of Severus, seem 

 preferable. The most northerly Roman 

 camp, yet discovered, is that near the 

 source of the river Ythan, Aberdeenshire; 

 periphery about two English miles. A 

 smaller station has also been observed at 

 Old Meldrum, a few miles to the S. E. 

 Roman roads have been traced a consider- 

 able way in the east of Scotland, as far as 

 the county of Angus, affording some evi- 

 dence of the existence of the province of 

 Vespasiana; but the chief remains are 

 within the wall. A hypocaust was also 

 discovered near Perth, and another near 

 Musselburg, so that there was probably 

 some Roman station near the Scotish ca- 

 pital. The smaller remains of Roman an- 

 tiquity found in Scotland, as coins, uten- 

 sils, &c. are numerous. With the fourth 

 epoch may be said to commence the Pik- 

 Ish monuments of antiquity. The tombs 

 it would be difficult to discriminate from 

 those of the first epoch ; but as the Cale- 

 donian kings, when converted to Christi- 

 anity, held their chief residence at Inver- 

 ness, the singular hill in its vicinity, pre- 

 senting the form of a boat reversed, may 

 perhaps be a monument of regal sepul- 

 ture. The places of judgment among the 

 Gothic nations, or what are now styled 

 Druidic temples, are numerous; and there 

 is a remarkable one in the Isle of Lewis, 

 where, probably, the monarchs resided in 

 the most early times ; but this, perhaps, 

 rather belongs to the Norwegian settle- 

 ment in the ninth century. Some of these 

 monuments are of small circuit ; and such 

 are sometimes found at no great distance 

 from each other ; as they were not only 

 sometimes erected merely as temples to 

 Odin, Thor, Freyga, and other Gothic 

 deities, but every chief, or lord of a ma- 

 nor, having jurisdiction over many ser- 

 vants and slaves, such small courts be- 



came places of necessary awe. T,he housed 

 seem to hare been entirely of wood or turf* 

 but in some spots singular excavations 

 are found, rudely lined with stone ; these 

 are called weems, and it is likely that 

 they were always adjacent to the wooden 

 residence of some chief, and were intend- 

 ed as depositories of stores, &c.,the roofs 

 being too low for comfortable places of 

 refuge. The stations and camps of the 

 natives are distinguished by their round 

 form, while those of the Romans belong 

 to the square. Under the next epoch it 

 would be difficult to discover any genu- 

 ine remains of the Dalriads. The houses, 

 and even the churches, were constructed 

 in wattlework; and the funeral monuments 

 were cairns or heaps of stones. It is pro- 

 bable that Christianity did not immedi- 

 ately dissolve ancient prejudices, and that 

 even the Atticottic kings were buried in 

 this rude manner ; for the genuine chro- 

 nicles do not affirm that they were con- 

 veyed to Hyona or Ilcolmkill ; and the 

 sepulchres there shewn, of Irish and Nor- 

 wegian kings, must be equally fabulous. 

 To the sixth epoch may probably belong 

 a chapel or two, still remaining in Scot- 

 land, for Bede informs us that Nethan 

 III. A. D. 715, obtained architects from 

 Ceolfrid, abbot of Jarro wand Weremouth, 

 to build a church in his dominions, 

 probably at Abernethy; but the round 

 tower there remaining seems of more 

 recent origin. About the year 830, Un- 

 gust II. founded the church of St. An- 

 drew ; and the chapel called that of St. 

 Regulus (who seems unknown in the 

 Roman calendar) may, perhaps, claim 

 even this antiquity. It is probable, that 

 these sacred edifices in stone were soon 

 followed by the erection of those rude 

 round piles, without any cement, called 

 Piks-houses ; yet they may more properly 

 belong to the seventh epoch, when the 

 Danes may share in the honour of the 

 erection, for such edifices have been trac- 

 ed in Scandinavia. They seem to have 

 consisted of a vast hall, open to the sky 

 in the centre, while the cavities in the 

 wall present incommodious recesses for 

 beds, Sec. These buildings are remark- 

 able, as displaying the first elements of 

 the Gothic castle ; and the castle of Co- 

 ningsburg in Yorkshire forms an easy 

 transition. The engraved obelisks found 

 in Forres, and in other parts of Scotland, 

 have been ascribed to the Danish rava- 

 gers, who had not time for such erections. 

 They are, probably, monuments of sig- 

 nal events, raised by the king or chiefs ; 

 and as some are found in Scandinavia, as 



