34 
whether Alise-la-Reine in Burgundy or Alaise in Tranche Comte 
represented the Alesia of Caesar. The discovery of vast numbers 
of weapons, apparently Roman, at Alise-la-Reine, in consequence 
of the researches set on foot by the Emperor, did not silence the 
advocates of Alaise ; they said the weapons were Frankish. But 
the controversy has beeen settled by the discovery at Alise-la-Reine 
of a hoard of consular denarii and quinarii. The oldest of them 
to which a date can be assigned is of 174-166 b. c., the latest of 54 
b. o., the battle and siege of Alesia having taken place in 52 b. c., 
as we know Rom the chronology of the times. Supposing that we 
did not know this date, we should be certain that the battle of 
which the weapons and the coins testified could not have taken 
place earlier than 54; and the finding of no coin later than 54 
would be a presumption that no long period had intervened between 
that year and the year of the battle. As the inference is exactly 
confirmed in this case by the voice of history, we may use the evid¬ 
ence of coins to supply its silence. Our antiquaries and historians 
are still at variance about the place where Caesar landed in Britain. 
Mr. Lewin contends that it was Hythe; Dr. Cardwell, Deal; 
General Roy fixed on Richborough; Professor Airy calls the 
Channel tides to witness that it must have been Pevensey, but 
his opponents do not yield even to the evidence of the Admiralty 
surveyor. There is one criterion which I should regard as decisive, 
but I am afraid we are not likely to obtain it. Caesar’s first 
expedition to Britain took place 55 b. c. Now if in any of the rival 
places a hoard of consular denarii should be discovered, ending the 
year before, or at all events not passing, the year 55, all the others 
must withdraw their claim. Till then I fear it must continue a 
vexata quasiio. 
A remarkable instance from our own immediate neighbourhood 
shows how discoveries of coins may confirm an historical date. In 
the published volume of our society’s papers, pp. 66, 197, will be 
found accounts by Mr. Wellbeloved and Mr. Davies, of a hoard of 
stycas, found at Bolton Percy in 1846. Of the Northumbrian kings 
whose names they bear the last is Osbercht, and with him the series 
of stycas ceases altogether. Now the kingdom of Northumbria, 
and of course its coinage, came to an end in 867, by the death of 
Osbercht, and the capture of York by the Danes. And it is almost 
certain that the treasure was concealed when this invasion took 
place. I will mention one other instance of a remarkable confirma¬ 
tion of history, derived from a discovery of coins. Herodotus 
