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THE ROMAN WALL IN NORTH BRITAIN. 



walled up altogether ! If the stones could speak what a wonderful 

 tale they could tell. What victories, what endurance, what defeats, 

 what despair ! 



There is much to be learned from this hoary relic of antiquity, 

 and we are much obliged to the lecturer for calling our attention 

 to this subject. 



In a paper written in 1887 by a Bishop of Carlisle, he estimates 

 the complete armament of the Wall at probably 12,000 men, not 

 Komans chiefly, but Batavians, Gauls, Tungrians, Spaniards, 

 Thracians, Dalmatians, and others, and notes that the following 

 plants found at the Wall — Corydalis lutea, Erinus Hispanicus, 

 Geranium lucidmn, were probably brought originally by the 

 Asturians. 



Col. MoLONY, O.B.E., writes : The devoutness of the Romans 

 should shame us, for I counted over eighty altars in the Chesters 

 Museum he mentions. The foundations of the Roman station in 

 the park there are almost complete. Can anyone say whether the 

 making of ladders was beyond the skill of the Picts and Scots ? 

 Or was the Wall's top more than thirty feet above the bottom of 

 the ditch, making escalade difficult ; or was it garrisoned by thirty 

 thousand men, the necessary number, if the barbarians had ladders ? 



