FROM time to time during the past century, excavations made intentionally or unintentionally, have revealed to modern eyes how large a store of remains still attest the presence of the Eagles of Imperial Rome in this country, though fifteen or sixteen centuries have passed since their departure from these shores. At Woodchester, on the Gloucestershire Hills; at Chesters near Hexham, on the Roman Wall; at Bignor near Petworth, on the Sussex Downs; at Carleon-upon-Usk in Monmouthshire; in north, south, and central London, at Colchester, at Lincoln, and in a dozen other places, we have seen exhumed from time to time, baths, ovens, kitchens, and temples with walls and floors inlaid with Roman mosaics, dating from the days of the Antonines and Hadrian. But few of these places are of greater interest than Brading in the Isle of Wight, near which Messrs. Price brought to light, in 1880, the ground-plan of one Roman villa, almost complete. The explorations originated in the discovery of such indications of Roman buildings as offered encouragement for further investigation. Here a short time previously to our authors’ assisting in the matter, Captain Thorp, of Yarbridge, had discovered fragments of walls, roof tiles, and traces of pavements, and had devoted a considerable amount of energy and zeal to the complete examination of the ground. Before many months had passed by, it was found necessary, on account of the number of pilgrims who flocked thither, to publish a guide, giving a description of the discoveries. This has now reached the honours of an eleventh edition. In this Guide the dimensions of the several chambers of which the building consisted are duly set forth, and the fragments of pottery, mosaics, and tessellated pavements fully described and illustrated. By the kindness of the authors we are enabled to reproduce one of the illustrations,[78] which represents a group in the south-west compartment of the lower portion of the pavement of one of the larger chambers, admirably worked in small tesseræ of varied colours. There is a female figure partially draped after the manner of the _saltatrix_ or dancing girl of Greece or Italy, playing upon a tambourine; her companion is a male figure of more than ordinary interest, on account of the peculiarities presented by the costume worn--a Phrygian cap, a skirted tunic with a small cloak or _pallium_ fastened on the right shoulder, and _braccæ_ or “trousers.” “The peculiarity of this dress,” writes Messrs. Price, “leads to the opinion that it may be that in fashion at the time the mosaic was laid down, because the form given to the _braccæ_ is different to that usually met with in the costume attributed to the ‘barbarians’ or provincial nations in Roman sculpture.” _The Lincolnshire Survey._ Edited by JAMES GREENSTREET. Privately printed. 1884.