230 Arcliceologia. 



" Aleph's " pleasant, gossiping books about London, which is all the 

 more valuable, as tbe rapid cbanges going on in the nietropohs lead 

 to tbe rapid destruction of tbe arebitectural and otber bnks between 

 tbe present and tbe past. Tbe subjects toucbed upon in this 

 volume are very numerous, begi nn ing with a "Bargain at tbe 

 Auction Mart," and ending with " Twelfth Day " as it was cele- 

 brated by our forefathers. "Milton as a Londoner" is a very 

 agreeable paper. "Aleph" is evidently a fervent admirer of tbe 

 great poet, although his political sympathies are the very opposite of 

 Milton's. The sketch of "James Lackington" is another good 

 paper, and, indeed, we might find something commendatory to say 

 of each. The illustrations — three dozen in number — are web exe- 

 cuted, and the volume presents a handsome and appropriate appear- 

 ance, with its red edges and substantial binding. 



ARCBLEOLOGIA. 



At tbe meeting of the British Archaeological Association, March 8, 

 the Rev. E. Kell, F.S.A., gave an account of the discovery of 

 Roman Buildings ln the Isle of "Wight, which form a rather 

 important addition to our knowledge of the Roman occupation of 

 that island. In the Roman period, a road ran across the Isle of 

 Wight from north to 'south, from what is now called Gurnard, or 

 Gurnet Bay, where it is called Rne Street, by way of Kiton to 

 Puckaster Cove, where there was, probably, a port for shipping. At 

 the termination of this road, on the northern coast, the shores of 

 Gurnet Bay have been much gained upon by tbe sea, which has 

 left them in low cliffs. Under these cliffs, near the Rne Street, 

 fragments of objects formed of metal, tiles, and other building 

 materials, and otber objects of evident antiquity, had been 

 frequently picked np on the beach, but without attracting much 

 interest, until, during the last autumn, the occurrence of Roman 

 coins among tbe objects thus gathered up, excited the attention of 

 a local inquirer, and he was led to examine more carefully tbe face 

 of the cliff, in which he discovered, at abont a foot below the top, the 

 line of the floor of a building formed of small brick tessellae. This led 

 to excavations on the ground above tbe cbff, and the foundations and 

 floors of buildings were uncovered. These buildings, which ran 

 east and west, consisted of three distinct rooms, of no very large 

 dimensions, the southern wall of which remained to a length of 

 forty-two feet seven inches, and tbe northern wall, which had 

 suffered greater dilapidations from the inroads of the sea, to an 

 extent of thirty-five feet. Two of the rooms included within these 

 walls were about fifteen feet long, by nearly ten feet wide, and were 

 paved with the small square tiles which form the usual floors 

 of the inferior rooms in Roman villas in Britain. The western 

 termination of one of those rooms has been carried away in tbe 

 fall of the cliff .but the other, or middle room, was found to be 



