In the commencement of the last century, the remains of a pair of Roman millstones were found at Adel, in Yorkshire. One of these stones, twenty inches in breadth, is thicker in the middle than at the edge, consequently one side is convex; the other was of the same size, but as thick at the sides as the other was in the centre; the traces of notching were discoverable. Enough, may, perhaps, have been said concerning this original invention; therefore this article will not be encumbered with quotations of all those passages relative to mills, which are found in ancient authors, as they would afford but little additional information. Neither will mythological records be disturbed to inquire to which deity or hero the invention was originally attributed; or to ascertain the descent of Milantes, whom Stephanus distinguishes by that honour, or how those millstones were constructed which are alleged to have been built by Myletes, son of Lelex, King of Laconia; but we shall proceed to the invention of Water-Mills. These appear to have been introduced about the period of Mithridates, contemporary with Cæsar and Cicero. Strabo, relating that there was a water-mill near the residence of the Pontian king, that honour has been ascribed to him; but so far is this remote from certainty, that nothing can be inferred from thence, other than that water-mills at that period were known in Asia. Pomponius Sabinus informs us, that the first water-mill seen at Rome was erected on the banks of the Tiber, a little before the time of Augustus; but of this there is no other proof than his simple assertion: he having taken the greater part of his remarks from the illustrations of Servius, he must have had a more perfect copy of that author than any now remaining, and from these his information might have come. The most certain proof we have that Rome had water-mills in the time of Augustus, is, that Vitruvius has told us so; but those mills were not corn-mills, they were hydraulic engines, which he describes in his works. From whence we learn that the ancients had wheels for raising water, which were driven by being trod upon by men; the usual employment for criminals, as may be learnt from Artemidorus. Also from a pretty epigram of Antipater; “Cease your work, ye maids, ye who laboured in the mill; sleep now, and let the birds sing to the ruddy morning; for Ceres has commanded the water nymphs to perform your task; these, obedient to her call, throw themselves on the wheel, force round the axle-tree, and by these means the heavy mill.” Antipater lived at the period of Cicero. Palladius, also, with equal clearness, speaks of water-mills, which he advises to be built on estates where is running water, in order to grind corn without men or cattle.