Coventina's Fountain, by the Rev. J. C. Bruce, LL.D. 369 



tombs or thrown into wells. At St. "Winifred's well in Flint- 

 shire, I have seen (half a century ago) crutches hung up on the 

 walls inclosing it, but the well itself was left clear. "When offer- 

 ings have been thrown into wells they have been generally of a 

 trifling character, such as crooked pins, pebbles, rags, and 

 flowers.* 



Brand tells us that " The leaving of rags at wells was a singular 

 species of popular superstition. I have formerly observed (he 

 says) shreds or bits of rag upon the bushes that overhang a 

 well in the road to Benton, a village in the vicinity of Newcastle- 

 upon-Tyne, which, from that circumstance, is called the Rag 

 Well." (Brand, Vol. ii., p. 380). 



The same practice prevailed in Classic times. 



" Vallis Aricinse silva prsecinctus opaca 

 Est lacus, antiqua religione sacer. 



Licia dependent longas velantia sepes, 



Et posita est meritse multa tabella Dese."! 



Ovid's Fasti Bk. iii., 1. 263, &c. 



"We can readily conceive that the bushes in the vicinity of Coven- 

 tina's fountain would be similarly covered, and that on the walls 

 of her temple would be pictures and tablets commemorating the 

 health-bringing power of her waters — leaving the well itself clear. 



The mass of altars found in Coventina's fountain proves that 

 the deposit was not a gradual one. An altar is used for the pur- 

 pose of offering up sacrifice ; it is provided with a focus on which 

 to burn the gift ; in the well it would be useless. The fact, that 

 two altars and an ornamental slab dedicated to Coventina were 

 found at the very bottom, shews that the well had been free from 

 deposits at the time they were thrown in. 



On the theory that the coins were thrown in as offerings, and 

 that the mass was the growth of centuries, we would expect 

 to find the oldest coins at the bottom, and the later occurring 

 in regular succession towards the top. This was not the 

 case ; coins of all ages were for the most part found together. 



* See Brand's Popular Antiquities (Bonn's edition) vol. ii., p. 383. 

 t " There is a lake in the Valley of Aricia, inclosed by a dark wood, sancti- 

 fied by ancient religious awe. . . . There the threads hang d^wn, veiling 

 the long hedge-rows, and many a tablet has been placed to tie Goddess 

 found to be deserving of it." 



