XXV 



Archaeological Association in 1862, states that this place was once 

 the chief manor-house of the Duchy Manor of Liskeard, and 

 probably had been the site of a Roman Station ; a portion of 

 wall still existed which might possibly be Roman. The inscrip- 

 tion was in Roman capitals, cut in relief, and extended to three or 

 four lines ; but, with exception of a single letter here and there, 

 and a few letters at the beginning, it was all obliterated. Pol- 

 whele read the inscription as " Olim Marti nunc arti," conceiving 

 the memorial to be modern and to contain an allusion to the 

 change of purpose which the place had undergone ; * and Dr. Car- 

 dew, who was educated at this school, had given a somewhat 

 similar explanation, conjecturing the words to be olim arx nunc 



Mr. Pedler, however, considered it a Roman memorial. 



The first word was clearly olim, and the second might be con- 

 jectured to be Martinus, the name of a Roman governor of 

 Britain near the middle of the 4th century. t — Mr. Smirke said 

 he would not venture to give a definite opinion as to the inscrip- 

 tion ; but, the words appearing to have been cut in relief, he was 

 inclined to attribute to it no very great antiquity. 



Mr. N. Hare writes : " This stone, which measures two feet 

 ten inches by nine inches, has lately been replaced in the building 

 from whence it was taken. It has either been broken in half, or 

 consists of two separate stones joined together. But what seems 

 hitherto to have been overlooked is this : that the first contains 

 only three lines of ten or twelve large Roman letters, whilst the 

 second half has four, if not five, lines of fifteen to eighteen letters, 

 these latter being much smaller, except that one or two large ones 

 may be distinguished at the beginning of words." 



SECOND DAY'S EXCURSION. 



On Tuesday morning, notwithstanding unfavourable weather, 

 a considerable number of the excursionists proceeded from Lis- 

 keard by train to Saltash, where they were joined by friends from 

 Plymouth ; and the united party was conducted by the Reverend 



* Dean Eamsay, in his " Eeminiscences of Scottish. Life and Character," 

 says: "John Clerk's" (afterwards Lord Eldin) "vernacular version of the 

 motto of the Celtic Glah, is highly characteristic of his humour and his 

 prejudice. He had a strong dislike to the whole Highland race, and the 

 motto assumed by the modern Celts, ' Olim marte, nunc arte,'' Clerk translated 

 'Formerly rubbers, now thieves.' " 



f See Journal of the Royal Institution of Cornvmll, No. II. 



