4 
1810.} 
For the Monthly Magazine. 
WALKS 2m BERKSHIRE. By MR. JAMES 
NOKRIS BREWER. No. 1V.—Contain- 
ing a Visit to the entient Vindonum 
of the Ronuns. 
(Concluded from vol. 29, page 527.) 
‘YT wou'd be trite to expanate on the 
| sensations with which the traveller 
approaches the desolate site, and moul- 
dering outlines, of a once populous, gay, 
and formidable city. On this occasion, 
perhaps, most men are subject to the 
same course of ideas, and are agitated by 
similar feelings of regret, despondency, 
and wonder, Through labyrinths of 
woodland and ill-beaten roads, now fa- 
miliar only to the biad, though once tra- 
versed by throngs of the polished con- 
querors of England, and their depend- 
ants, I trod, with increasing ardor, and 
believed the object of cur expedition yet 
distant, when my companion suddenly 
arrested my progress, by exclaiming, 
“We are there!” It was even so. On 
this rough road, where scarce a dozen 
feet tread during the whole of a sum- 
mei’s day, and amid these wild and 
tangled branches, which almost forbid 
the traveller’s approach, we were close 
beside the potent, the august city, from 
which Constantius issued his edicts to a 
trembling and subdued people. 
Silchester (which is really in the 
county of Hants, though immediately 
on the confines of Berkshire) is supposed 
to have been the Vindonumn of the 
Romans. The cecurrence of a suppo- 
sition on this subject must appear sur- 
prising when we consider the. former 
extent of the city, but such is the effect 
of ages on a mere record of stone and 
mortar, that the original appellation is, 
in fact, conjectural, though the most in- 
genious and industrious antiquaries con- 
cur in believing the Roman Vindonum 
to have occupied this site. 
Following the lead of this probable 
conjecture, we find that the city was 
built by Constantius, son of Constantine 
the Great, and that the founder sowed 
corn-on the intended ground-plot of his 
city,” with a view of shielding the future 
* What a strange propensity mankind 
possess to enlarge on the particulars of a 
Story as it passes through their hands! 
Modern writers on the subject of this antient 
city, assert that the emperor Constantius 
scattered grain completely round the traces 
of the walls, as an omen of their perpetuity. 
But Ninnius, on whose authority the anec- 
ote solely rests, says, in explicit Janguage, 
that Constantius merely ‘* sowed three grains 
4, ~ 
Walks in Berkshire. 
£5 
inhabitants from the miseries of poverty 
and degradation, If.so, a propitiatory 
offering has seldom been made with jess 
SUCCESS. 
While the Roman empire continued 
to derive strength from a simplicity and 
purity of internal arrangement, Vinde- 
num maintained its consequence, and 
was deemed one of the chief provincial 
cities constructed and inhabited by the 
masters of the world. But the Romans, 
though so enterprising and military a 
people, were unable to exist in their Bri- 
tish provinces without the support of the 
parent country. They made a faint 
effort to establish in Vindonum = an 
independent authority, but the endea- 
vour was futile, and the ** barbarous 
Britons” took a triumphant possession 
of the city, so strongly fortified and so 
long tenanted by their iavadcrs. ‘The 
Britons termed their new acquisition 
Caer Segont (the city of the Segontians,) 
and this was the spot selected for the 
inauguration of the chivalrous and 
mighty king Arthor. But the prosperity 
ef the city while under British dominion’ 
was short-lived. A fresh horde of san- 
gaimary visitors, under the banners of 
Saxony, poured on the afflicted islanders, 
and Caer Segont was one of the first 
strong-holds against which they directed 
their arms. While defended by those 
who laid the foundation, the walls of 
Vindonam proved impregnable. . Bug 
the aboriginal Britons (fond as are their 
descendants of the boast of freedom),. 
seem to have been born for slavery, 
Useless were the mighty towers and 
embattled gateways of the Romans, 
The Saxons prevailed; and, as a token 
of their victory, they rased the city to 
the ground, dismantled its fortifications, 
and tried to level entirely the massive 
walls formed by Constantius; but even 
the destruction of these was too severe a 
task for their industry and patience, 
although the Romans were equally ex- 
posed to danger and interruption wheta 
they heaped together the ponderous 
quarry of materials, and embattled the 
outlines of the city. Since the ravaces 
of the Saxons, all hints at population 
have abandoned the devoted Spot; and 
the shepherd and his dog, or the casual 
stranger, Jed thither by curiosity and 
Rae NS akira Cea ei DT 1 NUON Gh aa li ila 
of corn on the ground whiereon the City wag 
built.” Seldom have three grains of seed 
produced such an abundant crop as these, 
when assisted by the manure of a modern 
annotatorsingenuity. 
‘ " pity, 
