fupposed to have been devised according to the Properties, and Name of the Parish, WHEATFIELD. This Herald Angel feems to have been commiffioned by the fame Superftition that employed the like Sort of Minister to present the Arms of France to [9] Clovis, the first Chriftian King of that Nation.

I deliver this Conjecture as fuch, and do by no means affert it to be Matter of Fact; a cautionary Diftruft not fo generally acknowledged by Antiquaries; for one of thefe Gentlemen, after telling us, that Helena, upon digging for a Foundation for a Church, found three Croffes, very roundly afferts, that" for this very Reason it is, that the[r] Arms of "Colchester are a (one) Grofs between three Crowns or "Coronets." Whereas it is much more probable, that thefe Arms owe their Being to the miraculous Cross and Crown exhibited to Conftantine, which he wore afterwards in his Standard, his Shield, and his Banner; to which Monkish Superftition might add two Crowns more, for the Sake of the Sacred Number. In fhort, the Crofs, as the general Emblem of Christianity, the Cross in the Shield of St. George, the Cross as the Badge of the croffed or crouched Friers of the Monaftery of Holy Cross founded at Colchester in

[9] L'on tient, que par miracle la Sainte Ampvule, dom l'on fe fert au facre de fes fucceffeurs, luy fut envoyée du Ciel auffi bien que l'aurifame ou etendart de guerre, & les fleurs de lys armes de roys de France, parce qu'il port ou auparavant êcartelé au 1 & 4. d'azur à trois diademes d'or au 2 & 3. d'argent a 3 crapaux de Sinople. Hiftoire de France.

[] Hift. of Colch, page 34. VOL. II.

H

the

the Year 1244, without the Aid of this abfurd ri diculous Story of Helena, might, any of them, more probably give Arms to Colchefter. Three Crowns were once the Arms of Britany, three Crowns are now Part of the Arms of the Skinners Company, three Triple Crowns are the Arms of the Drapers Company; and one, two, or three Crowns are common Arms to Societies of Men incorporated by Royal Charter. But I forget myself; Helena did not find three Crowns, or Coronets, with the three Croffes, though "for this very Reafon," they engross the major Part of the Shield- Rifum teneatis, amici?

Another of these Gentlemen, as full of the fame flat unnatural Imagination, and as peremptory in his Conclufions from it, tells us, that the [s] Arms of Dover are an Highwayman on Horseback, robbing a Man on Foot; whereas, in Fact, they are St. Martin on Horfeback, pulling off his Cloak to give it a Beggar on Foot: That very St. Martin to whom a Church was built at Canterbury, fo early as the Time of the Romans, according to [t] Bede.

I should not have faid thus much upon fo trifling a Subject, if I was not under fome Apprehenfions that the Forgeries and Legerdemain of the 15th Century are reviving and practifing at this Time; and that the Spirit of the Monk of Viterbo has taken up his Habitation in fome British earthly Tabernacles ;

[s] Ws. Notitia Parliament. Pag. 71. [t] Bede Hift. Ecclef. lib. ii. chap. 26.

for a late Attempt upon Milton was as impudent and daring, as Annius's Publication of Berofus Manetho, Mataftenes, Archilochus, &c.—And not only Authors, but Monuments of Antiquity have been alfo counterfeited, as appears from fome very modern Inventions, as well as from many in Gruter's Collection of Infcriptions. In whatever Age, whether 1500, 1600 or 1748, Men grow inquifitive into Matters of Antiquity, Men of more Learning, and better Invention, immediately fet themselves to work, to gratify their Curiosity; and fuch Things are fo greedily fwallowed by the lefs judicious, it is almoft impoffible to convince them of the Impofture. I beg Pardon for this Digreffion.

The Gothic Arch defcribed above, is not fepulchral, but merely Monumental, and is probably a Cenotaphium to the Memory, or to quiet the Manes, of fome Briton who deferved well of Agriculture.

On the more Western Side of the Villa lies a Cretarium, which was a [u] Locus Sepultura; and by the Pofition of the many large Bodies found there, it appears to have been made fince the Eftablifhment of Chriftianity by the Emperor Conftantine; for they all lie with their Faces to the Eaft; an Exactness that could fcarcely have been obferved, in the more unfettled Times of that Religion; and there are no Signs of their having been turned fince their firft Interment. A Thigh-bone of uncommon Size

[u] Rofin. Antiq.

H 2

was

was lately dug up in an adjoining Village, which an ingenious Antiquary obtained, by giving his Promiffory Note to return it upon Demand of the proper Owner.

ice

About the Centre of the Villa, there is a large Field, in which moft probably the Feafts, the Stative Feria on the 7th of the Kalends of May, to Robigus, and from him called Robigalia, were celebrated: They were inftituted to invoke the Aid of that Deity [x] ad arcendam a fatis Rubiginem, &c. At thefe Feafts, as at the Saturnalia, Intemperance, and all Kinde of Licentioufnefs had their full Swing; fo that in early Times that Confufion of Senfe, and Debility of Limbs which Intoxication occafions, was called a Robigation, or fometimes a Robigalation. These Feafts are now obfolete and unobserved, but there is another to Ceres at the ending of Harvest, which always concludes, if I may be allowed the Expreffion, with a Robigation. From hence Superftition has poffeffed the Inhabitants, that, drunk or fober, it is impoffible to find the Way out of this Field in the Dark, but that every one, that is fo hardy as to make the Experiment, is Roblet-led; by which they mean led by fome Ghost or Phantom; whereas in Truth nothing at firft was intended, but only that those who had dipped too deep in the Pleafures of Feftivity, and could not walk, were Robigated, or Robigaleded, when they could not get ou of the Field.

[x] Varr. Plin.

This Inftitution, pious in itfelf, was adopted by Mamercus Bishop of Vienne, afterwards by Sidonius Bishop of Clermont, and in the beginning of the fixth Century, the firft Council of Orleans appointed that it fhould be yearly obferved to the true God. At the Reformation, when all Proceffions were abolifhed, yet, for retaining the Perambulations of the Circuits of Parishes, it was ordained that People fhall, once a Year, at the Time accuftomed, affemblé together to give Thanks to God for the Increafe and Abundance of the Fruits upon the Face of the Earth, and go the Circuit of their feveral Parishes; which Usage is ftill kept up, but, I am afraid, the religious Part is generally neglected; for inftead of Men's returning Thanks, they are too commonly engaged in filching and purloining, here and there, a little Piece of Land from their Neighbours; and the Day ends too frequently with an Abuse of those very Creatures for which they should return Thanks.

S

There are Difci, Sympuvie, and Patera, [y] to be met with in almost every Houfe, but they are not put to very religious Ufes. Fibula are very rare, or unnoticed; owing, probably, to the confined Idea Men have of the Rotundity of a Button; whereas the Roman Fibula was of various Forms: I have lately been favoured with the Sight of one by a Lady: It is about three Inches long, regularly tapered, and sharp pointed; in all Refpects like the Roman Fibula found at [z] Ribchefter in Lancashire, except the Curvature. [+] Leigh Hift. Lancash, H 3

[y] Rofin. Antiq.

By