moveable pin, and a curious brooch, composed of bronze wire twisted into two elegant spirals (pl. I, fig. 8), and a small oblong flat brooch, with the front covered with triangles of blue and green enamel, are those which are worthy of especial notice.

Among the miscellaneous objects in metal are two armlets, composed of twisted gilt bronze, and one fragment of an armlet in solid bronze, with right lines; finger rings-one plain bronze, a second ornamented with enamel (pl. 1, fig. 4), and a third ornamented with circles and right lines; a small bronze disc (pl. I, fig. 6), which originally was ornamented with enamel disposed in a heart-shape; two small buckles respectively of bronze and iron; and a small bronze flattened pin, with a bicuspid termination (pl. I, fig. 2). As the two points exactly coincided with the circles on the ornaments of bone, there can be little doubt but that this curious object was employed as a pair of fixed compasses. There were also articles in iron which were too much corroded to allow of a guess at their use.

The coins consisted of two silver of Trajan, and the rest bronze; viz., four of Tetricus senior, one of Tetricus junior, one of Constans, Galienus, and Constantine II, and three barbarous imitations of the time of "The Thirty Tyrants".

The ornaments and implements of bone consist of carefully smoothed and pointed bone pins, and points intended to be fitted to a handle; knife-handles of bone and antler; three spindlewhorls, made of the perforate head of the femur; a bone stud; a perfect spoon-shaped fibula (pl. II, fig. 1), as Mr. Wild terms it; and several fragments, and eight nondescript articles, bearing a close resemblance to the handles of gimlets, which possibly may have been used as studs for fastening together thick clothing. The fact, indeed, that some have the central hole worn by the friction of a thong or fragment of some soft material, coupled with the state of many of their surfaces, renders this guess very likely to be true. In fig. 4, pl. II, the ornament in right lines, which once covered the surface as in fig. 3, pl. II, is very nearly obliterated by friction against some soft body, such as clothing. They are all more or less ornamented with concentric circles and right lines or dots. A reference to the figures 2, 3, 4 (pl. II), will give a better idea of their shape than a mere description. Two perforate discs may have been used as studs. Seven glass beads-five transparent and two of a bluish tintwere also found, and one of jet turned in the lathe. There are also many nondescript articles, consisting of sockets made of antler, and bone rods carefully rounded, and cut bones of uncertain use, as well as two spindle-whorls made of perforated Silurian pebbles. For the identification of the ivory boss of a swordhilt I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Franks. In the débris

there were many rounded pebbles with marks of fire upon them, which had been probably used as "pot-boilers", and other stones which were probably ancient hearths, and two or three slates, which were grooved in certain places, and which had probably been used for rounding bone pins. There was also, and especially just outside the entrance, a large accumulation of charcoal, mixed with the broken bones of the animals which had been eaten for food. The latter were abundant throughout the superficial layer in the cave.

The fragments of pottery were very abundant, and were all of the types usually found around Roman villas. One specimen of Samian ware, representing an animal in flight, and several other fragments, testify that some of it was imported into this country.

The bones obtained by the Committee are very numerous, and afford fair testimony as to the food of the occupiers of the cave during the time of the accumulation of the upper, or RomanoCeltic stratum (fig. 1, No. 5). The Celtic short-horn (Bos longifrons) formed by far the staple animal food. The variety of Capri gagrus, or goat with simple re-curved horns, which is commonly wet with in the Yorkshire tumuli, and in the deposits around Roman las throughout Great Britain, furnished the mutton. A domestic breed of pigs, with small canines, furnished the pork. This bill of fare was varied by the use of horse-flesh. To this list must be added the venison of the roe-deer and the stag, but the remains of these two animals were singularly rare. Two species of the domestic fowl, and a few bones of wild duck and grouse, complete the list of the animals which can with certainty be affirmed to have been eaten by the cave-dwellers. The numerous remains, and some very gigantic, of the badger, those of the fox, wild cat, rabbit, hare, and watervole, have probably been introduced by the carnivora inhabiting the cave from time to time. The unbroken bones of the dog show that it was the attendant of the cave-dwellers, and was not eaten, as the animal certainly was by the rude platycnemic men of Denbighshire. There is nothing in the whole group of the remains which would give a clue to the date; but the very large percentage of domestic over wild animals implies that the cave-dwellers were pastoral rather than a family of hunters. The use of horse-flesh was universal in Roman Britain, and the Bos longifrons was not supplanted by the larger breed of the urus type till some time after the departure of the Roman legions.

§ 3. Date of Habitation.-There can be no doubt but that this strange collection of objects was formed during the sojourn of a family for some length of time in the cave; we have to account

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for the presence of so many articles of luxury in so strange and wild a place. The personal ornaments, and the Samian ware, are such as would have graced the villa of a wealthy Roman, rather than the abode of men who lived by choice in recesses in the rock. In the coins we have a key which explains the difficulty. Some belonged to Trajan and Constantine, others to Tetricus (A.D. 267-273), while others are barbarous imitations of Roman coins, which are assigned by numismatists to the period just about the time of the Roman evacuation of Britain. These objects, therefore, could not have been introduced into the cave before the end of the fourth century, or just that time when the historical record shows us that the province of Roman Britain was suffering from the anarchy consequent on the withdrawal of the Roman troops. In the year 360, the savage Picts and Scots, pent up in the north by the Roman walls, broke in upon the unarmed and rich provincials, and carried fire and sword as far south as London. Their ravages were repeated from time to time, until the Northumbrian Angles finally conquered the Celtic kingdom of Strathclyde. It must nevertheless be admitted that, so long as the Celts of Strathclyde held their ground against the Angles, they would certainly follow the mode of life and the manners and customs handed down to them by their forefathers, the Roman provincials. And, therefore, it is very probable that these objects of Roman culture may have been used in that district which was the Northumbrian border long after they had ceased to be used in the regions conquered by the English. To say the least, there are two extremes between which the date must lie the fourth and fifth centuries, as shown by the barbaric coins, and the year 756, when Eadberht finally conquered Strathclyde. It cannot be later, because of the presence of Roman, and the absence of all English, cultus. The cave, situated in a lonely spot, and surrounded by the gnarled and tangled growth of stunted yews, oaks, and hazel, which still survive in one or two places in the neighbourhood as samples of the primeval forest, would afford that shelter from an invader of which a native would certainly take advantage. We can hardly doubt that it was used by unfortunate provincials who fled from their homes, with some of their cattle and other property, and were compelled to exchange the luxuries of civilised life for a hard struggle for common necessaries. In no other way, can the association of works of art of a very high order with rude and rough instruments of daily use be accounted for. In that respect, therefore, the Victoria Cave affords as true and vivid a picture of the troublous times of the fourth and fifth centuries as the innumerable burned Roman villas and cities; in the one case, you get a place of refuge to which the provincials fled; and in the other, their homes which had been ruthlessly destroyed.