64 Transactions. 
which did not come into Britain till the reign of Hadrian, and 
whose headquarters were at York. He further supposes that 
soon after Agricola’s recall, the Romans lost the greater part of 
¢he country between the two isthmuses, and that Hadrian in 
consequence fixed the boundary of the empire in Britain on 
the southern isthmus. While, however, the wall was being 
built, he posted a detachment of his army at Birrenswark to 
watch the enemy’s motions, especially if they advanced in any 
great body from the north to interrupt the work. The first 
halting place of Agricola, in the west of which any trace 
remained in his day, was, Roy thought, a camp on Torwood 
Moor, near Lockerby. Adopted in the main by succeeding 
antiquaries, Roy’s views on the Roman occupation of Southern 
Scotland may be said still to hold the field. 
Roy, it must be acknowledged, made an earnest attempt to 
grapple with his subject. His method has all the appearance of 
being strictly scientific. He seeks to plant his foot firmly before 
taking another step in advance, and to remove any obstacles that 
seem to stand in his way. The most fatal blot on his work is his 
acceptance of the De Situ Britannie as genuine. This not only 
vitiates his “rectification of the ancient geography of North 
Britain,” but leads him far astray in other matters, although it 
only indirectly affects what he says of Birrens and Birrenswark. 
Moreover, he, too, readily fell in with Captain Melville’s opinion 
as to the Strathmore ‘“‘camps.” Under its influence he saw 
resemblances between them and those of the normal Roman type 
that it may be safely said would never have otherwise occurred to 
him. The wish became father to the thought. But after his work 
was finished his own confidence in his conclusions must have been 
shaken: In 1787 a “camp” was discovered near the sources of 
the Ythan, in Aberdeenshire, with characteristics as Polybian 
as those of Strathmore and Torwood Moor ; yet, it is situated 
where, on any interpretation of Tacitus’ words, Agricola could 
hardly have been. Its existence is said to have been made 
known to him; and a plan of it with particulars is the last plate 
in the “ Military Antiquities.” The insertion of this plate, how- 
ever, is probably due to his editor or editors. Roy could hardly, 
without some explanation, have sanctioned the statement made 
on it that this Aberdeenshire ‘“‘camp” resembles ‘‘ the camps which 
are supposed to be Roman on the south side of the Grampian 
hills.” It is not too much to say that the discovery of this camp 
