Antique Coins. 21 



ried away into the brooks, and the furrows are filled 

 up leVel with the sand washed ont from the clods, 

 the lighter particles of earth floating suspended in 

 the stream, the heavier sand remaining behind. 

 Then, sometimes, as the slow laborer lingers over 

 the ground, with e3'es ever bent downwards, he spies 

 a faint glitter, and picks np an antique coin in his 

 horn}' fingers : coins are generally found after a 

 shower, on the same principle that the gold-seekers 

 wash away the auriferous soil in the ' cradle,' and 

 lay bare the yellow atoms. Such coins, too, are 

 sometimes of the same precious metal, ancient and 

 rude. Sometimes the edge of the hoe clinks against 

 a coin, thus at last discovered after so many centu- 

 ries ; 3'et which for j-ears must have lain so near the 

 surface as to have been turned over and over again 

 b}' the ploughshare, though unnoticed. 



The magnitude of the space enclosed by the earth- 

 work, the height of the rampart and depth of the 

 fosse, show that it was originally intended to be 

 occupied by a large force. With modern artillery, 

 the mitrailleuse, and above all the breech-loading 

 rifle, a comparatively small number of men could 

 hold a commanding position like this : a steep ascent 

 on three sides, and on the fourth a narrow level 

 ridge, easily swept by their fire. But when this 

 entrenchment was thrown up — the chalky earth 

 and flints probably carried up in osier-baskets, for 

 they do not seem to have had wheelbarrows in those 

 times — every single yard of rampart required its 

 spear or threatening arrow, so as to present an 

 unbroken rank along the summit. If iiDt, the enemy 

 approaching to close quarters and attacking several 



