England -- Antiquities, Roman; Hadrian's Wall (England); Walls, Roman -- England
It is so much easier to smash stones than to live the Christian life!
No doubt the smashing was sometimes a symbolic act, to indicate the
renunciation of the old pagan habits, and to remove temptation.
I was very sorry to take leave of the Wall; perhaps even more sorry
to take leave of the kindly friends I had made. I met with many
instances of the blunt outspokenness of the northern character, but
never with a spark of rudeness nor unpleasant familiarity.
As I travelled south in the train, I remembered what Hutton has said:
that the Wall "would exhibit its proud head many thousand years"; but
that the mounds of the Vallum, "being native earth, would continue to
the last trump."
{241}
Is this indeed so? Is it, for example, possible that the bunkers on
the golf-links I was then passing are the most enduring portion of
our civilization? Will pilgrims in the far distant future travel
hundreds and thousands of miles to see these, our only contemporary
"earth-works," as to a shrine, wondering what great chiefs are buried
under them? It might be so, if "native earth" were indeed the most
enduring form of construction. But I beg leave to doubt it.
Back in London, it seemed cold and dull at first. I missed the
freedom of the Wall, where every one I met had said, "It's a gran'
day, the day," as naturally as they had smiled as we passed each
other.
Ah! but London has a kind heart too, though circumstances prevent her
from wearing it on her sleeve. Many have testified to this in the
past, and will testify to it in the future. And therefore in London
also there is much that we may surely count amongst the "things that
endure."
Old Londinium, older than the Romans, who colonized and fortified but
did not found her, is dear to us, in spite of all her fog and smoke
and turmoil, for of her also it is true that
"Only the fashion of the soul remains."
[Illustration: Map of Hadrian's Wall]
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INDEX
Æsica (Great Chesters), xix, 29, 142, 143-5.
Agricola, 2, 3, 9-13, 17, 18, 77, 107, 153, 154, 180, 227, 230.
Allectus, 16.
Allolee, 145.
AMBOGLANNA (Birdoswald), xviii, xix, 29, 30, 86, 166-9.
"Amphitheatre" at House-steads, 116, 122.
Antonine Wall, 15, 38, 230.
Antoninus Pius, 12, 14, 169.
Antoninus (son of Severus), 15.
Apple-tree turret, 169.
_Archæologia Æliana_, xvi.
Askerton Castle, 235.
Asturians, 29, 30, 92.
Augustus, 7.
Aulus Platorius Nepos, 14, 21.
Aulus Plautius, 7, 8.
Banks, village of, xviii, xix, 169, 171.
Barcombe Hill, 21, 111, 126, 227.
Bardon Mill, xix.
Barracks in forts, 92, 122, 141.
Basalt rock, 105, 112, 126, 127, 152.
Batavians, cohort of, 29, 107.
Bath-house at Chesters, 95.
Baths in forts, 93.
Beaumont, 204.
Beck, 186.
Bede, 22, 24, 68, 69.
Benwell Hill, 29, 43, 47.
Berm, or safety platform, 19, 34.
Bewcastle, 154, 234-8; Cross, 237.
Birdoswald, viii, xvi, xviii, 29, 30, 109, 154, 164.
Black Carts Farm, 102.
Blackgate Museum, Newcastle, 45, 158.
Black Pasture Quarry, 72, 77.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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