Footnote 1: The Plan represents the position of each stone now remaining in the river. It is the result of a series of observations made during the summer of 1850, by Mr. Robert Elliot, of Wall. Most of the stones have luis-holes. ----- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ _PLATE I_ [Illustration: _A. Reid, Sc 117, Pilgrim S^t. Newcastle._ ~Plan~ _OF THE COURSE OF THE_ ROMAN WALL _FROM THE_ TYNE TO THE SOLWAY. ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration] ~The Roman Barrier of the Lower Isthmus.~ PART I. AN EPITOME OF THE HISTORY OF ROMAN OCCUPATION IN BRITAIN. IN no country of the world are there such evident traces of the march of Roman legions as in Britain. In the northern parts of England especially, the footprints of the Empire are very distinct. Northumberland, as Wallis long ago remarked, is Roman ground. Every other monument in Britain yields in importance to THE WALL. As this work, in grandeur of conception, is worthy of the Mistress of Nations, so, in durability of structure, is it the becoming offspring of the Eternal City. A dead wall may seem to most a very unpromising subject. The stones are indeed inanimate, but he who has a head to think, and a heart to feel, will find them suggestive of bright ideas and melting sympathies; though dead themselves, they will be the cause of mental life in him. A large part of the knowledge which we possess of the early history of our country has been dug out of the ground. The spade and the plough of the rustic have often exposed documents, which have revealed the movements, as well as the modes of thought and feeling, of those who have slept in the dust for centuries. The casual wanderer by the relics of the Vallum and the Wall, may not succeed in culling facts that are new to the Historian, but he will probably get those vivid glances into Roman character, and acquire that personal interest in Roman story, which will give to the prosaic records of chroniclers, a reality, and a charm, which they did not before possess. As a natural introduction to the subject, and as a means of preparing for some discussions which are to follow, it may be well briefly to trace the progress of the Roman arms in Britain, from the arrival of Cæsar on our shores, to the eventual abandonment of the island. [Sidenote: EARLIEST NOTICES OF THE BRITISH ISLES.]