226 ROMAN VILLAS DISCOVERED IN DORSET. 



may be drawn to the beautiful glass pins from the Roman 

 cemetery at Fordiiigton. 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 op 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 



