more than probable that further excavations eastward will lay open other apartments. The tessera of the apartments already excavated were an inch and a half square, were made of red, blue, and black coloured brick and white stone, and were laid in patterns. There were also small white tesseræ, about three-quarters of an inch square, which were made of a fine hard white concrete, and were most probably used either in ornamental work or in the flooring of a highly decorated chamber. A square of large flat tiled pavement of about ten feet in diameter was still intact when the writer first saw the remains. It formed the flooring, or part of the flooring, of a room or rooms to the north of the tesselated rooms. That is, the large flat tiles floored more or less of the basement rooms at the back of the house. The tiles of the square of flooring, which resembled those mentioned by Pliny, measured fifteen inches by ten and a half inches, and were of a red colour, bearing an impressed checkered pattern. The writer has found many fragments of tiles of a superior quality to those mentioned. These superior tiles had a white body, but were painted in colours; and the flutings on them were done with tools, whereas the markings on the red tiles seemed to be done with the fingers. All the tesseræ and tiles were set in concrete of a superior quality; and so adhesive was this concrete, especially in the case of the red large flat tiles, that most of them were broken in the attempts made to lift them. From the apartments described, three or four stone steps led down to a bath-room, which seemed to have been the front and most advanced room of the villa, and looked southward. From east to west the room measured about fifteen feet ; and from south to north, ten feet. From the east end of the north wall of the room, the bath extended seven feet four inches southwards along the east wall, and was between three and four feet in breadth, and about two feet in height. The floor of the bath-room was formed of a beautifully white tesselated pavement, each tessera of which was made of white china clay, and was set in a fine concrete. Tessera resembling those of the floor were extended for eight inches up the sides of the walls to form a dado. The writer has been informed that a dado has not been found in any Roman building hitherto discovered in England. In this case it was evidently intended to protect the walls of the room from the action of the bath water. Tessera were also extended up the outside of the bath, the inside of the bath being formed of the same material as the tesseræ, but quite smooth. The well-plastered walls of the room were painted white, and the bordering of the walls and other decorations were in fine reds, yellows, greens, blues, and blacks. On one piece of plaster a swallow was well drawn and painted. Two or three feet north of the bath-room, but in a different apartment, is a very deep well, seven feet in diameter, and in a comparatively good state of preservation. When the water had done its duty in the bath-room, a wellconstructed drain-pipe allowed it to escape. On clearing out some of the rubbish from the well, several Roman coins were found, and fragments of beautifully painted wall-plaster. The house must have been the property of a Roman gentleman of taste and opulence. The site was well chosen; but in consequence of the villa having been built on the brow of a hill, the lower rooms were on different planes. The ancient Romans had evidently good ideas of sanitation. This villa, which looked out on the valley of the Witham, had a fine southern aspect, and was built on a mass of three kinds of concrete, to the depth in some places of three feet; and the drainage of the whole premises seemed perfect. Among the debris thrown up by the miners in their excavations, cartloads of tiles of various kinds are to be seen; pieces of pottery, oystershells, shells of periwinkles, and bones of large and small animals. Roman coins are known to have been found, as also the horn of a goat, part of the antler of a deer, and the bone of an ox. Last June, in the city of Lincoln, another discovery of Roman remains of a most interesting character was made. Lincoln, when inhabited by the Romans, was built in the form of a parallelogram; divided into four equal parts by two streets, which crossed at right angles. Bailgate still remains as a part of the street running north and south. Here certain interesting relics were found by workmen whilst digging out the foundations of an old house. Digging from above downwards, the first thing that came into view was a crematory furnace. Giving the architect's measurements, this was five feet in length, one foot nine inches wide, and one foot nine inches high. It was fixed lengthwise from north to south. The bottom and the inside were formed of long thin bricks, which crumbled to dust on exposure to the air. The furnace was at the north end, and the flue at the south end, of the crematorium. Near the furnace-door, a quantity of charcoal ready for use was found. About three feet below the crematorium was a room which might be called a sarcophagus ; the inside dimensions of which were five feet ten inches from east to west, and from two feet to a little more than three feet wide; the shape being very much like that of an ordinary coffin. The sides of this sarcophagus or chamber were formed of strong stones, the bottom of concrete, and the top of large rough stone slabs. Under cover of the rough slabs was a layer, fourteen inches in thickness, of fine sand; under this a layer of lime, imbedded in which were ten vases of various shapes and sizes; all, except one, being in an upright position. Eight of the vases are of a dark-red colour, and two of a cream colour. Some of them are ornamented at the bottom with a sort of Vandyck pattern, and at the top near the lips are several rows of circular flutings. Two of these are larger than the rest; one bears the initials I. T., the other the letter H. About half the vases are glazed of a light green colour, the others are unglazed. Nearly all the urns or vases, with one or two exceptions, were more or less injured by the workmen, who also in most cases emptied the vessels of their contents. Fortunately, the contents of one elegantly shaped vase were undisturbed; the ashes, which half-filled the vessel, being apparently kept intact by a dry vegetable mould. The vases were one-handled, with covers more or less injured, and resembled in several cases 6 Feb. 14, 1882.] an ovoid coffee-pot. The upper part of the handle of each vase, where attached to the neck of the vessel, had depressions, into which the thumb and index finger were intended to enter, so as to get a firmer grip of the vessel. The profusion of glaze on some parts of the vessels reminded the writer of a similar character on some specimens of Bow porcelain. leads me to believe that the vessel was twice 'fired.' It is therefore probable that after the dead had been buried in the ordinary way, the remains were collected, placed in this large urn, and it and its contents were again subjected to the fire of the crematorium. To the west of the sepulture chamber, and on the same level with it, is another chamber, four feet two inches from east to west, and four feet ten inches from north to south. In this chamber nothing of importance was found. A year or two ago, when the drainage of Lincoln was being carried out, the basement rooms of what must have been a large and very splendid Roman villa were found in Exchequer Gate. As the crematorium lately discovered is only about fifty yards in a direct line in the rear of where this villa stood, it is more than probable that the crematorium was the private property of the inmates of the villa. It would appear that opinion on burial and burning during the Roman occupation of England was divided, much as it is at the present time. Cremation, we see, was practised and performed by the Romans in Lincoln, and so was burial; for Roman stone coffins in great numbers are being constantly turned up in this city, and many of these coffins are lettered and dated much as tombstones are at the present time. The workmen, a few days after the discovery of the crematorium and sarcophagus, in further extending the digging out of the foundations of the old house, came upon a quaint-looking Roman arch, six or eight feet north-east of the sarcophagus or small chamber in which the ten urns were discovered. This arch or doorway, which had necessarily to be removed, formed a right angle with the sarcophagus, and was about six feet high, and two feet wide. Like the large Roman arch at the upper or northern end of Bailgate, it had no keystone, the formation of all the stones in the arch obviating the necessity for one. Leading from the door of the sarcophagus to the arch was a semicircular path made of concrete. This path, after passing through the arch, dipped down two feet and a half, to make the floor of a small room five feet square and seven feet high. The workmen, whilst in the act of taking down the arch, discovered a large urn; and on clearing away the rubbish out of the room, found three or four more urns of large size. The urns previously discovered in the sarcophagus held from two to three quarts of fluid; those more THE China House burglary was neither a big recently discovered, before they were damaged, nor a sensational one; nevertheless, there were would have held as many gallons. They were characteristic features about it, that perhaps imbedded in lime, had no lids, and all contained make its story worth telling. ashes of the dead, the ashes being covered over One morning in November 187-, on entering with charcoal. The small room in which these the station to which I was attached as a plainurns were found smelt most offensively; and on clothes man of the Division of the Metrowashing a fragment of one of the urns, a very politan Police, I found my superintendent waiting disagreeable odour arising from the fragment to give me instant orders. Look here, George,' was complained of. Putting the pieces of one he said; 'old Dorrington's house has been broken of the urns together, I could see that it was into some time between midnight and five this somewhat globular in shape, with a wide mouth, morning. He came himself to report it, and the rim of the mouth being neatly and elegantly he wishes the case to be put into your hands.' curved out to the extent of nearly two inches. The colour of the urn is black; and it is a good, although a coarse specimen of the old Roman ware called 'Upchurch.' The fragments of this urn presented an appearance which Over these old Roman buildings a Norman edifice of some kind had been erected. The building of the Romans was excellent, and the workmen with difficulty pulled down the old walls; but that of the Normans was as different as possible. The latter made the 'faces' of the walls even and smooth; but the spaces between the faces they filled up with rubbish of any kind that came to hand; consequently, their work fell to pieces when struck by the workmen's tools. Although the crematorium may have been owned by successive Roman governors, still it does not appear to have been held sufficiently sacred to be isolated from the busy world about it. Not more than twelve or fourteen yards from it was found, firmly and well puddled in the earth, a nine or ten gallon water-jar for the use of animals to drink from; and a neat drain was also found to convey away the overflow of the jar. Still nearer to the sepulture buildings was a well, in the centre of a large flat stone, four feet square, and evidently worn by the feet of those who went thither to draw water. Scattered about were large square tiles, having one side of the square curved round, as if intended to hold something. A packing-needle of fine brass wire was found with thread wound round it; and also a handsomely made leaden box, resembling very much an old-fashioned poor's-box, with long shaft handle. The handle in this case is wanting, but the tapering socket is there, supported by neat brackets. In still closer proximity to the buildings was the ashbin, among the rubbish of which were found numerous oyster-shells and broken pottery, sufficient to demonstrate that breakages occurred in those days as well as in our own. The writer found the lower part of a flower-pot, of Samian ware, having a hole in the bottom for the escape and admission of water, as in a modern flower-pot. The inverted saucer-like lid for vessels seemed to be very fashionable in those times. THE CHINA HOUSE BURGLARY. 'I don't suppose any one will envy me the job,' I answered. I expect I shall have a pretty lively time of it.' Yes; I rather fancy you will have a particularly lively time of it,' assented the super intendent, for the old boy was in a towering on the other hand, he was quick in turning passion. It appears the thieves have added a joke or giving 'a rap over the knuckles,' and insult to injury. Not content with robbing altogether was very fully capable of holding his him, they have played off some joke upon him; and it is that, more than the amount of his loss, that has nettled him. They left a saucy letter behind them, I think, for he was in such a rage, I couldn't make out from him exactly what it was they had done. However, I told him to let things remain just as the thieves had left them till you arrived; so you had better get down to his place at once and see what you can make of the matter.' own in Board-room debate. Apart from his defects of education, he was a clever business man in a general way, and was thoroughly conversant with things parochial, more especially where the dodges of professional charity hunters were concerned. By the latter class, he was cordially hated, and not without good cause, for whenever opportunity served, he was 'down upon them like a hammer.' On the same ground, there was no love lost between him and the type of vestrymen, guardians, officials, and tradesmen who regard parish contracts as a legitimate field for jobbery. On the whole, however, Mr Dorrington was a highly popular personage. Thus instructed, I set out for the scene of the burglary. But before asking my readers to accompany me there, it will be necessary that I should give them some idea of the manner of man Mr Dorrington was; otherwise, they would scarcely be able to appreciate the bearing In the part of our division in which China of some of the incidents of the robbery at House was situated, the burglary season had in his residence. To most of us at the station, 187- set in early and with unusual severity. old Billy Dorrington, as he was familiarly but The burglars had been particularly successful not disrespectfully called, was, besides being a alike in their work and in escaping detection. confirmed bachelor, a 'bit of a character.' House after house had been 'done,' while not He rather cottoned to the Force. His name a single arrest had been made even upon susgenerally figured pretty high up on any sub-picion. Of course, it was reported that the scription list for a testimonial to a retiring superintendent or inspector, and he was always 'good' for a liberal number of tickets for the entertainments organised for the benefit of our provident institutions. In his way, he was entitled to be ranked among men who have risen.' The story of his life was known, in outline at least, to everybody. His parents had been little if at all above the vagrant class, and as is commonly the case with the children of such parents, Billy had been turned out at a very early age to 'scratch for himself.' As a child, he had hawked 'hearthstone' under parental direction and for parental profit. While still in his teens, he had commenced business on his own account as a crockery hawker. At first, a basket held his stock; from that, he got to a hand-barrow; and finally-as regards hawking to a donkey and 'shallow.' Abandoning the itinerant line, as no longer affording scope for his energy and capital, he took a shop. Prospering in this, his trade career had continued onwards and upwards to a point at which he was admittedly the leading china and glass merchant in the district. By his business and the judicious investment of its profits he had realised the very considerable means' upon which he had for some years past lived in the character of an independent gentleman, in the mansion which he had built for himself, and designated, in allusion to his former occupation, China House. police were in possession of important information, that they had obtained a clue, were prosecuting inquiries, and so forth. The truth was, however, that practically we were 'out of the hunt. All that we really knew was that the robberies were well planned and cleverly executed, and were apparently the work of a single gang, and that a small and select one. Under these circumstances, we of the Force were naturally abashed and sore, the more especially as the newspapers were down upon us. Some of the leading dailies had made short but significant comments upon the continued impunity with which the robberies were committed; while in the locals our condemnation was writ large. The Borough Mercury and the United Parishes Chronicle, foes in all things else, joined hands in condemning us. Our failure had also been adverted to by the vestry in public meeting assembled, Mr Dorrington in particular coming out strong upon the point. It was this latter fact, added to my general knowledge of his character, that had led me to say that I expected the old gentleman would give me a pretty lively time of it. These I already knew China House very well by sight. It was a good-sized, squarely-built villa residence, standing in its own grounds. grounds were laid out in a style that might or might not be picturesque, but was certainly striking. In the centre of the lawn in front of the house was erected a fully rigged mast flagpole, on either side of which was placed a large After his retirement from business, he had come figure-head of some old wooden ship. The one out as a public man. He was on the Vestry and figure represented Neptune, and the other a the Board of Guardians, and a notably active British admiral, and both were richly, very richly member of each of those bodies. His speeches painted and gilded. Dotted about the garden in at their meetings were reported at greater length the rear of the house were half-a-dozen similar than those of any other member, and were gene-figure-heads, each of which was stationed, sentryrally pretty freely studded with laughter,' 'great laughter,' renewed laughter,' and the like. Some times the laughter was at him, but it was oftener with him. He might speak of the 'wittles' of the paupers or the 'lor' of the land, or emphatically express himself as not caring a 'stror' for the opinion of some "'on'able' members. But fashion, beside a rockery, into the construction of which shells and coloured glass entered as largely as flints; while each was surmounted with stoneware images of men and beasts. Arriving at this highly ornamental dwelling, I was admitted by the owner himself. Hillo, Grainger-here you are, then!' he exclaimed, Feb. 14, 1885.] greeting me in a more cheery tone than I had anticipated would have been the case. 'Yes; here I am,' I answered; but whether or not I shall be able to do any good in this job, is a very open question.' 'Oh, you mustn't talk like that, you know,' said the old fellow, rather hotly. 'It's no use to be down on your luck beforehand.' 'I'm not down on my luck,' I answered; 'but I don't want to seem to talk large; I don't want to give the papers or the vestry any more pull than need be.' 'That's where the skin's thin, is it?' he said, laughing. Why, you shouldn't mind that sort of thing; no one was hitting at you in particular. At least, I can answer for it that I wasn't, or I shouldn't have asked to have you here. I believe in you, my boy, if that's any encouragement to you; and this you may depend upon, that anything I can do to help you, I will. I may tell you at once that I mean to offer a hundred pounds reward.' As he made the last statement, he paused, evidently expecting some expression of warm approval, and was visibly disappointed when I answered: 'Well, there can be no harm in your doing so. It might lead to something.' 'Why, you don't mean to say that you believe in honour among thieves?' he exclaimed. 'I believe in fear among them,' I answered; 'and if I'm not mistaken, this is just one of the cases where fear would come in. It strikes me that the gang that have been working this neighbourhood are known only to each other. If one informed, the others would know it; and then it would be quite as likely as not to turn out a case of "found dead" with the informer; and life is sweet even to a burglar. However,' I went on, I had better get to work.-Have you lost much property?' 'Well, no,' he replied; 'not, considering, that is. I should say that a hundred and fifty pounds would cover the lot, including fifteen pounds in hard cash. It's not so much what they've took as 'as set my back up agen 'em so stiff, as their blessed imperence.' 'The superintendent told me they had left some impudent letter behind them,' I put in. 'Letter!' he exclaimed. Well, you can call it a letter if you like; but it seems to me it's a particularly large-hand letter. I only hope as how you'll be able to make something out of it. If the blackguards were only trapped through it, I wouldn't mind a bit.' 'I had better see it, then,' I said. from his mouth was the cry of: Any old rags or bones!' In a second, styled 'The Fancy Guardian,' he was represented as a very portly personage, sitting on a bench, and exclaiming: 'Give them the 'ouse ;' 'Send him to the stoneyard.' The third sketch showed a Bardolphianlooking personage supporting himself against a post, and under this was written: 'Look here, Old Dorry; your wine ain't good. See you get some better before we come again. If you don't, we will hang you up by the heels. We shall do the bedrooms next time; so, look out.' These caricatures had all the appearance of having been done with a broad-pointed pencil such as artisans use for marking out their work. They were anything but works of art, but at the same time they were considerably in advance of the 'Thisis-a-cow' style of drawing; and even through their exaggerations there was a certain touch of likeness visible. The handwriting was plain and firm, and the spelling correct. When I had finished my survey, Mr Dorrington indulged himself in another outburst of indignation, at the conclusion of which I expressed my sympathy, and my full agreement with his conclusion that 'it was enough to rile any man.' 'But that is not all,' he went on. 'You've only seen half of their doings in the way of being wicious. Follow me, and I'll show you the rest.-Look there!' he continued, when he had led me to the dining-room window, which opened on to the garden. The spectacle to which he directed my attention was that of the gilded figure-heads overthrown and trampled upon, and two of the rockeries knocked to pieces. The destruction wrought here was utterly wanton, had no shade or pretence of rough humour to redeem it, and I felt what I said that it was too bad. 'It is too bad,' old Dorrington repeated. If they had needed to have done it to get into the house, I wouldn't have cared; I'd have taken it as included in the costs, as you may say. But it has been done in sheer "'oggishness," and such brutes ought to be hunted down.' "They ought,' I assented, by way of making some reply, for at that moment a thought occurred to me which made me pause. Both Mr Dorrington and myself had been doing what, up to this point at any rate, I had no right to do. We had assumed throughout that the burglary must have been done by the gang who had done the others in the neighbourhood. But looking at the havoc that had been wrought here, it flashed upon me that such could hardly be the case. Their handiwork hitherto had been of a uniform kind, and was altogether unlike what had been shown me here. They had on several occasions included wine and spirits in their booty; but they had never before left any indications of their having been 'drunk on the premises,' and they had certainly never been needlessly destrucI did take stock,' and as I did so, only with tive. On the contrary, their methods seemed difficulty refrained from laughing aloud. The almost designed to reduce damage-as distinct apartment was papered with a delicate, light, from robbery-to a minimum. The present job, almost white paper, and upon this was scrawled so far, had more the look of having been done a variety of figures intended to represent old by discharged and spiteful servants burgling Dorrington, and each accompanied by scrolls of en amateur, than by first-class high-flying prowriting of an insulting character. In one drawing fessional housebreakers. labelled Old Crockery Billy,' he was represented Mr Dorrington having pointed out to me all as harnessed to a hand-barrow, while proceeding that he considered remarkable, I proceeded to O yes; you shall see it. I mean you to see it; I ain't afraid of any one seeing it.Come along. As he spoke, he led the way to the drawing-room; and throwing open the door and waving his hand towards the wall, continued: 'Just take stock of that, and tell me what you think of it in the way of wiciousness.' make an examination of the premises upon my own account. The manner in which the thieves had operated was clear enough. They had got over the boundary-wall inclosing the garden, and then effected an entry through the 'shoot' of the coal cellar. This shoot was guarded by three iron crossbars, over which was a stout wooden shutter, which at night was let down and fastened with a padlock. The ring holding the padlock staple had been forced out, thus freeing the shutter; and a boy-there was not room for a man-put down between the crossbars. Making his way up the cellar steps, this pioneer had opened the scullery door and let in the rest of the party. The robberies in the neighbourhood having made householders specially careful, Mr Dorrington had for some time past been in the habit of himself locking the drawing-room, dining-room, and winecellar doors each night and taking the keys to his bedroom. The locks of the dining and drawing rooms were of the ordinary 'builders' fixtures make; and as they were undamaged, they had in all probability been opened with skeleton keys. The lock of the wine cellar was, however, a patent one, and that had been cut clean out of the door. Till I saw this, I had held to my last idea that the burglary was probably the work of discarded servants, and at any rate was not that of the gang who had been working the district. Now, however, my feeling of assurance upon the latter point was swept away. In the cutting out of this lock the handicraft of the 'regulars' was unmistakable. The hole 'bitted' through for the spring-saw to enter was their exact size. The clean straight sawing, and still more the nicety with which the part to be cut away had been lined out, were virtually trademarks against them. This was the only piece of real craftsmanship there had been any need to perform; but the method of getting off the plunder also stamped the job as theirs. Wheelmarks and other indications in the narrow roadway upon which the boundary-wall abutted, showed that a light cart had been used, and the signs in all their robberies pointed conclusively to such a vehicle forming part of their professional equipment. SHORTEST ROUTE TO CHINA. The great Canadian and Pacific Railway will become the quickest route to China and Japan. From east to west-that is, from the city of Montreal to Vancouver-is a stretch of railway of two thousand nine hundred miles, crossing the Rocky Mountains at a height of five thousand three hundred feet above the sea, passing over mountain and plain, and through the finest wheatgrowing and grazing country in the world. The line is not yet complete; and the stations, according to our European and elevated ideas of what a station' should be, are of the very rudest and simplest form of construction, as a great part of the country through which the line passes is not yet settled, or even inhabited; and it is usual for the train to run for miles without seeing a habitation or a human creature. Yet the time will come when this will be, without doubt, the regular, as it will certainly be the quickest route to China and Japan. A WOMAN'S SOLILOQUY BEFORE HER MIRROR. This wilful mass of hair It matters nought to him; Ah, wherefore does the crimson blood I would not win him if I could- His fine artistic taste. 'Tis Love is whispering in mine ear: For when thy pouting lips are near, I lose my senses quite. Within thy dimpled hand. This simple robe of quiet shade Then might my hopes be blest! Mine, mine, alas! are sombre gray: Oh, would my eyes were blue! What care I where his glances rove? I will not mingle in the dance, Again I feel thy fluttering wings, My dresses lie a crumpled heap I love not him, and yet I weep All Rights Reserved. |