218 ArclicBologia. 



remains, which are usually found so abundantly on Roman sites, the 

 small collection placed in the vestibule of the museum is lamentably 

 deficient. We can only ascribe this deficiency to the carelessness 

 and neglect of the citizens in past times, who have allowed the 

 objects of antiquity which must have been often found, and in abun- 

 dance, to be scattered and lost as soon as found. It is to be hoped 

 that this will not be the case in future. 



Excavations for the foundations of the United Hospital have 

 brought to light Roman remains, of which, it is to be hoped, better 

 care will be taken. They appear to have belonged to a large man- 

 sion, which occupied the site of the present hospital, and consist of 

 what were probably private baths, and one or two apartments. In 

 one of these is a very handsome tesselated pavement, much broken, 

 but still enough remains to make us acquainted with the whole 

 design, which is very elegant, and rather peculiar in its detail. The 

 centre is formedbf a geometrical pattern, composed of small tessellee, 

 the colours of which are white, blue, red, black, and green, which 

 are very harmoniously disposed and very skilfully blended into each 

 other. The hypocaust of another room was also partially uncovered. 

 Pottery in considerable variety, some beautiful samples of Roman 

 glass, a coin or two/and a few other objects, were found in the course 

 of the excavations, and are at present in the possession of the archi- 

 tect, who, it is understood, intends to deposit them in the museum. 



The Kent Archaeological Society has undertaken some important 

 excavations within the walls of Richborough, the Hutupice of the 

 Romans, and their principal port of landing for this island. In the 

 middle of the interior of this citadel there is underground a rect- 

 angular building, nearly a hundred and fifty feet long by a hundred 

 broad, and the walls of which have been traced to a depth of above 

 thirty feet, with no appearance of being near the bottom. To dis- 

 cover the use and character of this building has been the object of 

 excavations made by Mr. Boys, the Sandwich historian, in the last 

 century, and of his relative the late Mr. Rolfe, of the same town, 

 in 1843, but with no result. The platform of masonry which forms 

 the upper surface of this extraordinary mass extends a few 

 feet beyond the vertical walls of the building underneath, and is 

 covered with soil a few feet deep. Former excavators had dug 

 under the edge of the platform in the vain hope of finding an 

 entrance in the side walls. Mr. Rolfe thus carried a gallery round 

 three of the sides, and the Kentish society has continued it round 

 the fourth, with no better result. Some suppose that this subter- 

 ranean building is a mere solid mass of masonry, intended to sup- 

 port some heavy superstructure ; but this seems so improbable, that 

 it hardly deserves to be entertained. It is most likely that it con- 

 tains rooms of some kind or other, perhaps intended for stores. 

 The most likely course for finding the entrance seems to have 

 been overlooked, namely, by uncovering the whole of the surface, 

 which might be done by continuous trenching ; and this plan, as we 

 understand, has now been adopted by the Kentish society, and we 

 cannot but hope that the result will be of an interesting and impor- 

 tant character. T. W. 



