70 



Roman Villa at North Wraxhall. 



two or throe styli or writing pencils in the same metal, several 

 ivory and bono hair-pins, were also found, as well as a large iron 

 koy, chisels, knives, cramps, large headed nails and other iron 

 instruments, a few thin pieces of marble, several of heavy spar, 

 and some polished pebbles which would seem to have been employed 

 for grinding down grain or other substances within the " mor- 

 taria " already mentioned. Bones in great number were found 

 of cattle, swine, deer and oxen, with many oyster- shells. 

 There were also nearly a dozen boar's tusks, and of these one 

 very large pair were united in an elegant crescent-shaped or- 

 nament by means of a bronze sheath or mounting, upon which 

 were the figures in relief of three animals. (PI. iv. fig. 11.) 

 The central animal was, from the division of its hoofs, clearly 

 a boar, the one to the left either a wolf or large dog. The 

 third, upon the right tusk of the crescent, was unluckily mis- 

 sing, the rivet which had fastened it to the tusk remaining however, 

 to shew unmistakeably that it had corresponded exactly in position 

 with its counterpart on the opposite tusk. 



The central portion of the mounting had been double, composed 

 of an inner and an outer case, one fitting into the other, and seem- 

 ingly fastened there (perhaps also to a leather strap for the purpose 

 of suspension) by two ornamented bronze pins which fitted into 

 holes penetrating both the bronze sheath and the tusk itself. The 

 dimensions of the two tusks are very large. One of them measures 

 nearly nine inches from point to root, round the outer curve. 



This ornament is of an interesting character, and there is 

 reason to believe that no other similar one is to be met with in any 

 of the collections of Roman Antiquities found in this country, or 

 perhaps even on the continent, I shall proceed to shew, however, that 

 the use of such ornaments was not uncommon among the Romans. 



It struck me, indeed, on the first examination that it must have 

 been employed to decorate the chest of either a man or horse ; and 

 Canon Jackson, to whom I shewed it, having described it to Mr. 

 Akerman, the late indefatigable Secretary to the Society of An- 

 tiquaries, he was immediately reminded by it of a precisely simi- 

 lar ornament which he possessed himself. He had obtained 



