(in a Paper read before the British Archæological Society in 1881) that there was at any rate a Saxon doorway, and perhaps a few other Saxon remains in the Church. Subsequent examination, conducted with much labour and exhaustive research so far as was then possible, induced a firm belief that a considerable portion of the existing Church was actually of Roman workmanship; and, after a lengthy correspondence with antiquaries in different parts of England, this belief was boldly expressed, and attempted to be justified, in the History of St. Martin's Church, published in the year 1891.

The reasonableness, and more than probability, of this theory was then generally accepted (perhaps per incuriam), the only note of disagreement that was occasionally heard coming from those who had never seen a Roman Church in Britain, and were consequently somewhat incredulous.

The revelation, however, of fresh features of interest in the Church by the recent explorations attracted wider attention, and once more revived the discussion. The whole subject was debated in the spring of this year at a meeting of the Society of Antiquaries in London, after an able Paper read by their Secretary, Mr. W. H. St. John Hope. Since then, from time to time, the Church has been visited by a number of distinguished experts, and the question as to the date of the original building was brought prominently forward at the Canterbury Meeting of the Royal Archæological Institute in July 1896. What the newspapers called "the Battle of St. Martin's" raged with unabated vigour during the week, the controversy being introduced in a well-considered lecture given, with numerous illustrations, by Mr. Livett. Various