266 



The Roman Villa at Box. 



in the inner part of the substance, which has apparently been 

 coloured a rich red by some paint or glaze. Similar painted 

 ware, a piece of a mortarium, is in Eeading Museum, from 

 Silchester. 



(3) Five fragments of the very hard purplish brown (grey in 

 the substance) New Forest ware, two of them belonging to 

 an upright vase with the usual indented sides, the projections 

 ornamented with lines and dots in conspicuous white paint. 



(4) One fragment of a mortarium, of ware red inside but 

 coloured stone-colour on the surface. 



(4^) Two bits of brick-coloured bowls, which have been coloured 

 a better red on the surface. 



(5) Two fragments of the lid of a vessel like an old-fashioned 

 teapot lid. They are closely covered with an impressed orna- 

 ment difficult to describe. At first I thought they were modern, 

 but Mr. Mill Stephenson, who has had so much experience 

 at Silchester, saw them and pronounced them to be, in his 

 opinion, Eoman. Since then I have seen two or three fragments 

 in the Eeading Museum from Silchester, covered with this 

 same " engine-turned " ornament, and very similar to these. 

 In the York Museum are a good many fragments of red ware, 

 unglazed, and of black ware, having this same ornament, and 

 one fragment having the same metallic glaze. 



In Vol. III., Plate CLXXXVIL, fig. 5, of his Excavations, 

 Gen. Pitt Eivers figures a fragment from Woodyates settlement 

 with apparently exactly the same pattern, of which he says 

 " I have not been able to find any example of this ornamen- 

 tation in other works, but similar patterns appear recently to 

 have been found at Silchester." Again, in Vol. II., Plate 

 CLXXIX., fig. 3, is shown a fragment with somewhat similar 

 ornament, of which he says " The interior has a lustre on the 

 surface which gives it the appearance of having been sized." 

 The Box specimens have this curious dark bluish metallic 

 lustre, the ware itself in the inside being greyish buff. 



Another fragment of buff ware coloured dull reddish brown 

 on the surface has a more wavy ornament of the same character, 



