10 ALEXANDER GORDON, THE ANTIQUARY. 



closes with the information that it is sold by G. Strahan, at the 

 Golden Ball in Cornhill, and by sundry other booksellers in the 

 vicinity of Covent Garden, Temple Bar, and St. Paul's Church Yard, 

 where still the publishing fraternity of London most do congregate. 

 But the booksellers who vended such choice literary wares under the 

 sign of the Golden Ball in Cornhill, or the Half Moon near Temple 

 Bar, were the mere retailers of stray copies. The title-page sets forth 

 that it is "pi'inted for the author," and is immediately followed by 

 what in our more democratic age would be regarded as an extrava- 

 gant, if not altogether fulsome dedication, to Charles, Duke of Queens- 

 berry and Devon, illustrious in the antiquity of his line; bearing, as 

 a Douglas, a name exalted in the annals of Europe ; possessing by 

 hereditary right the many shining qualities of his renowned fore- 

 fathers, joined to a superlative nobility all his own; and so the dedi- 

 catory laudation proceeds in its extravagant hyperboles. The Duke's 

 connection with the actual matter in hand appears to have been 

 mainly traceable to the fact that the Roman works at Birrenswork, 

 in Annandale, were situated on his Grace's estate, and the Duke 

 had liberally aided his explorations there. It was not only an 

 ncient stronghold of the Roman invader, but the actual citadel 

 of the Scottish antiquary himself, in combating every opponent who 

 ventured to differ from his theory as to the precise place where 

 Agricola first entered Caledonia, and the route pursued by him in 

 his great northern expedition. Here, to the eye of the enthusiastic 

 explorer, were " clear evidences of Agricola's first incamping within, 

 the Caledonian territories," and " only six miles from where the 

 Solway Firth is fordable, are to be seen the vestiges of the first 

 Roman Camp of any to be met with in the south of Scotland, and 

 the most entire and best preserved one that I ever saw." Here he 

 recognises, as " yet to be seen by all, the four gates mentioned by 

 Josephus, viz.. The Praetoria, Decumana, Dextra, and Sinistra Gates. 

 They are all plain and accessible, and sufficiently wide in case of a 

 sally. The square ground where the Preetorium, or general's tent 

 stood, is still remaining, as is also the ditch surrounding the camp ;" 

 with much else, all tending to " confirm the character of Agricola 

 as given by Tacitus : Adnotabant periti, non alium ducem opportuni- 

 tates locorum sapientius legisse," &c. 



The locality is indepd one with abundant attractions for the archae- 

 ologist. Both Roman camps and native earthworks abound. Abeautiful 



