Among the curiosities in the library are three sepulchral stones, discovered in ploughing a field near Wroxeter. The largest has on its summit, a pine-cone between two lions, and beneath the pediment a rose. The first is taken from the _Picea_, called by Pliny, _Feralis Arbor_, expressive of its melancholy subject, and not unfrequent on memorials of this kind; the inscription denotes the death of _C. Mannivus Secundus_, of the town of Polentia, a _beneficiarius_, or veteran of the twentieth legion, who had served his time, and was called again into the service by the entreaties of the chief legate. The second stone has, on the upper part, a human face, two dolphins, and two serpents. The third is inscribed to M. Petronius, sigifer, or standard bearer, to the _Legio quatuor-decima gemina_, the fourteenth double legion, or a legion formed from two. As this legion never was in Britain, the learned Dr. Ward supposes that Petronius only came for his health and died here. There are also various other interesting antiquities, chiefly found at Wroxeter, and a small collection of fossils and natural curiosities. In front and at the back of the schools are play grounds, contiguous to which are houses for the master and the assistant-masters, with ample accommodation for boarders who come from all parts of the kingdom. The grammar school has long maintained a pre-eminent rank among the public seminaries of sound learning and religious education in this country, and has sent forth numerous individuals who have been distinguished for their eminent classical attainments. Under the care of its first master, Thomas Ashton, we learn there were two hundred and ninety scholars, among whom were the sons of many of the first families in England. Camden, when he wrote, says—“it was the best filled in all England, being indebted for their flourishinge state to provision made by the excellent and worthie Thomas Ashton”—who was a munificent contributor to the school himself, and was instrumental in procuring the grant of augmentation from Queen Elizabeth. Mr. Ashton resigned his office some years before his death, but he continued to cherish the seminary over which he had presided with paternal care. He drew up the code of laws by which it was governed for more than two centuries; and one of his last acts was to visit the school, when he preached a farewell sermon to the inhabitants of the town, after which that “Godlie father,” accompanied with the tears and blessings of the people, returned to Cambridge, near which he died at the end of a fortnight, 1578.