( ?99 ) ' 
being fuppofed to have an extraordinary Vlrtne againfl: the 
Elves^ and to drop from the Clouds, There are other 
Flints fomewhat in form of Axesj and thefe Dr. Flot 
calls (d^ Britijh Axes 5 but Dr. Leiglf thinks ("ej they 
are Indian. Sir William Dugdale inclines to the Opinion 
embrac’d by Dr. Plot, and he acquaints (f) us with 
feveral of about four Inches and an half in length, cu« 
rioufly wrought by Grinding, But they might as well 
have been Roman, the Romans having ufed Flint Weapons 
as well as the Britains, and ’twas from the Romans that 
the Britains learn’d the Art of worhpng them. That which 
alfo feems to make us believe that they might be Roman, 
is that thole mentioned by Sir William were found at 
Oldbury, Aldbury or Ealdbury, which was a Roman Fort, 
and is the fame in Signification with Alchefier in Oxford- 
(hire, Alchefier being nothing elfe but Saib-ceartep, fo call’d 
by the Saxons to (hew that ’twas a Place of Antiquity 
even in their Time, And tho’ the Anonymous Author of 
the AnFquities of Alchefier at the End of the Parochial 
Antiquities of Ambrofden derive it from Alle&us, as if he 
. were the Founder, yet there is no Authority either from 
Coynsy inferiptions, or Books to countenance the Conje- 
Uure, 
§. Now fince there are no Anfhentick Authors by 
which we may learn what Arms were made ufe of by the 
Britains in their Wars, I can think of no properer Me- 
thod for finding this out than by feeing what Arms were 
in ufe amongft thofe People from whom they immediately 
bad their Original ,Mr. Sheringham, who was a learned 
Man and endued with an accurate Judgment, inclines to 
the Story of Geffry of Monmouth, who deduces the Bri- 
(d) LGcofupracitat. (0 Natural Bijlory of LancaOiiiv', lib. I. p. 181; 
(/; Warwickfhirc, pag. 778, 
tains 
