ART. I. An Account of Roman Antiquities difcovered at Woodchefter, in the County of Gloucefter. By Samuel Lyfons, F. R. S. and A. S. Royal Folio. 1ol. 1os. Cadell and Co. White, &c. 1797.

So many circumftances of peculiar merit are united in this

fplendid and curious work, that we determined at once to give it, as early as poffible, the moft confpicuous place we Could affign to it. Few publications of a fimilar kind have ever been executed with fo much tafte, beauty, and correctnefs. When it is confidered that not only the measurements and drawings were made, but even the plates themselves executed, with the exception of only three or four figures, by the editor himself; a gentleman not bred an artist, but actually engaged in the profeffion of the law, the effort will appear the

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BRIT. CRIT, VOL. XI. JAN. 1798.

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Mr. S. Lyfons on the Antiquities at Woodchefter. more extraordinary. It is not, in any point of view, for the fake of allowance or indulgence, that this explanation fhould be made; for the plates, of every kind, are engraved as well as any artist would have thought neceffary for the fame purposes; and, in many inftances, with more delicacy and exactness than most artists would have been willing to exert.

The author has

laboured with the zeal of a perfon enamoured with his em-
ployment, and has, therefore, produced a work, which cannot
fail to do extenfive credit to the tafte and acquirements of the
English gentry. Even the external ornaments of the boards
in which it is fold, are in a good ftyle. A plain marble paper
of only two colours, with a title upon it, in white Roman let-
lers, furrounded with a fret, a guilloche, and other charac-
teristic ornaments. The title-page, and the dedication to his
Majefty, are, with no lefs propriety than elegance, furrounded
by borders of rich Mofaic, in antique patterns. Nothing, in a
word, feems to be omitted, which can recommend the publi-
cation to every antiquary of true taste and intelligence. Of
the dedication itself, we must not forget to fay, that it is fim-
ple, manly, and claffical.

In reviewing the Environs of London, by Mr. D. Lyfons, the elder brother of the gentleman now before us, we had occafion once or twice to remark the talents for drawing and etching, there exhibited by Mr. S. Lyfons. We did not, however, from thofe fpecimens, give him credit, in our own minds, for fo much fkill, in the ufe of the graver at least, as he has now proved himself to poffefs. Perhaps he did not even himself know how much he could perform, till his exertions had been animated by a favourite fubject. The advance he has made is one which, in the nature of things, cannot often be rivalled by dilettanti artists; and which, in fome particulars, will not be furpaffed by thofe who belong to the profeffion, unless they fhould have more zeal for their employment than they can well be expected to poffefs. The defcription of the plates occupies twenty pages, and is very properly repeated in French, for the benefit of foreigners. It is perfpicuous and unaffected; and, while it conveys all the information that can be expected on the fubject of the work, fhows that the active mind of the author has taken delight in collecting fuch collateral knowledge as a liberal reader must applaud.

Woodchefter, the fite of thefe curious antiquities, may be found, in the map of Gloucestershire, at the interfection of

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Lexique

GUILLOCHIS, ornament des filets entrelacés," Manuel

tw

two lines; one drawn directly north and fouth through' Gloucester, and the other due eaft and weft, rather lefs than a mile north of Cirencester. It is fituated almoft in the centre between Stroud, Chalford, Minchin-hampton, and Leonard Stanley; but nearest to Stroud. The firft plate which occurs after the dedication, is a very neat and good etching, containing the fouth view of Woodchefter Church, and the houfe of Mr. Wathen, proprietor of the neighbouring field, with a diftant view of Rodborough, the next village. In the foreground'is a figure, which me may fuppofe to be Mr. Lyfons himself, fitting among the Roman remains, and sketching the objects before him. Some parts of this fingular monument of the Roman provincial magnificence had been difcovered above a sentury ago; the difcovery which led to the investigation of Mr. Lyfons, took place in the year 1793: but we will give the hiftorical account of these facts in his words.

"The earliest mention made of this difcovery is in the additions to Camden's Britannia, published in 1695, by Bishop Gibfon, who erroneoufly fuppofes the pavement to have belonged to a religious houfe, which formerly flood at Woodchefter. He alfo mentions the discovery of Roman coins, and other antiquities there. The Mofaic pavement in the church-yard, is mentioned likewife by Sir Robert Atkyns, in his Hiftory of Gloucefterfbire. In the fecond volume of Count Caylus's Recueil d'Antiquités, printed at Paris, in 1756, part of this pavement is reprefented in Tab. cxxvi, being the fegment of feveral circular borders, including the figures of a lion, a lionefs, and a peacock. This plate was engraved from a defign of one R. Bradley, which appears to have been very inaccurately drawn. Several other drawings, by Bradley, of the fame fubject, are still extant*, which, from a memorandum on one of them, appear to have been made in the year 1722. A drawing of part of the above-mentioned pavement was alfo made, about the fame time, by Edmund Brown, Efquire (at whofe expence the ground is faid by Caylus to have been opened). This defign is on a fmall scale, but well executed, and will be found in moft parts very accurate; it contains the part engraved in Caylus, befides feveral other figures. About ten years ago a fmall part of this pavement was again uncovered, containing the figures of an elephant and several birds, being part of what was drawn by Mr. Brown. Though much care was taken by the rector for its prefervation, the wet and froft have long fince entirely destroyed it. In the year 1793, on the digging of a vault for the interment of the late John Wade, Efquire, of Pudhill, at the depth of four feet below the furface of the

"One of thefe is in the library of the Society of Antiquaries; another in the collection of Richard Gough, Efq. and a third in the British Museum. There is an engraving of the fame fubject, in Mr. Gough's edition of Camden's Britannia."

ground,