64 Roman Villa at North WraxhaU. 



was perhaps the " Tepidarium," D, a cooler apartment, though still 

 suspended over a hypocaust, and this opens into a larger room G, the 

 "frigidarium " or cooling- room, only one quarter of whose area posses- 

 sed warm-flues with a furnace at one angle E, to which room access 

 was gained from without, or rather from the remainder of the 

 building, by a long corridor (L) the " Exedra." This disposition of 

 the several rooms would allow persons taking the baths to approach 

 and leave the most heated chambers through several gradations of 

 temperature ; as is still practised in the East. 



The walls as well of the Bath-rooms as of the other apartments 

 seem to have been lined with stucco, coarsely painted of various 

 colours, chiefly blue, red, and yellow, in straight stripes or trellice 

 patterns. Some of the latter shewed a bud or small flower on 

 alternate sides of each stripe. But no large portions of this stucco 

 could be preserved, as it dropped from the walls in fragments on 

 their being uncovered and exposed to the weather. 



It has been already mentioned that the four or five chambers at 

 the eastern end of the building were of rather superior masonry to 

 the others. And the number of tessellae found in their rubbish 

 shewed that they had once possessed tessellated pavements, al- 

 though of a coarse description. JtTo portion of such however, 

 remained entire : and indeed the rude walling-up of some of the 

 door-ways of these rooms seemed to indicate that they had been 

 subjected to some alteration, perhaps owing to their temporary 

 occupation after a first partial destruction. In one of these rooms 

 a singular narrow recess occurs measuring three feet in depth by 

 only eleven inches in width ; and in this, which may have been a 

 sort of cup-board or hiding-place, were found the only two entire 

 articles of fragile materials met with in the coarse of the excava- 

 tions, namely, one of those earthen-ware and lipped bowls, lined 

 with small siliceous grains, which are known to Antiquaries by 

 the name of " Mortaria,^' and seem to have been used for grating 

 down soft grain or mixing paste, «&c., and a glass funnel, (see 

 plate). The latter utensil has it is believed been very rarely met 

 with. The British Museum does not possess one of Roman 

 character. 



