Going toward this Roman station, we passed the river Derwent, and over a moor not far from the sea, where are coal-mines. Elenborough is a little village on the river Elen, the daughter of a great Roman city, which has produced a copious and instructive harvest of antiquities; as may be seen in Mr. Camden, p. 826. I quote Dr. Gibson’s first edition; for his second does disgrace this most excellent author, by mixing the notes with his masterly text. Here that great genius of old Britain, with Sir Robert Cotton, was entertained by the ancestor of the present possessor, Humphrey Senhouse, esq; who inherits a true love for these studies. His seat is on the other side the river: the walls of the house are incrusted over, as we may say, with inscriptions, carvings, and bas reliefs, taken from the ruins of the Roman city. The first cohort of the Dalmatians, the first cohort of the Spaniards, and the first cohort of the Bœtasians, here kept garrison; as appears by the inscriptions. [Sidenote: TAB. LXX. LXXI.] That noble altar now at Sir James Lowther’s, at Whitehaven, belongs to this place; the grandest yet seen in Britain: it is five foot and a half high: on the back, VOLANTI VIVAS import a sacred wish for the prosperity of his friend Volantius, hoping to see him again. Mr. Gale has observed several of this sort in Gruter. In the wall of Mr. Senhouse’s dwelling is a curiosity seldom to be met with; a very large stone, whereon a man on horseback is designed to be carved, but left unfinished: it is a pleasure to see only the sketch of a Roman artist; and we are not to suspect these works here are so barbarous as our authors make them, for want of proper skill in drawing. [Sidenote: TAB. LXXII.] There is another _relievo_ of a lady sacrificing, which by the compartment of the inscription at bottom, though worn out, seems to have been fixed upon a temple by the founders. A most stately altar is placed in the middle of the garden, with a sun-dial on the _discus_. Some are somewhat more securely set up within the porch: many given away; as, one to the bishop of the Isle of Man; another, to Wm. Kirkby esq; at Ashlec in Kirkby, Lancashire: two altars lately found are placed upon a farm-house, which is now commonly known by the name of _Volantium_, falsely fixed upon this station: this is by the sea-side in Mr. Senhouse’s demesnes. It is much to be lamented that these fine remains should now be exposed to the weather.[B]