I have been strongly reminded of these circular pedestals by the figures of the columns of the Roman part of Reculver church, given (p. 198) in Mr. C. Roach Smith’s admirable work on Richborough and Reculver. The northern examples are, however, of coarser workmanship than the southern seem to have been; the moulding that encircles the Carvoran specimen resembles straw-ropes rather than carefully fabricated cables. Footnote 123: Thirl, from the Saxon _thirlian_, signifies to pierce, to bore. It is generally supposed, that this stronghold derived its name from the Scots having broken through the Wall here. It may, however, have taken it from the sluice or bridge where the river passed through the Wall; thirl, says Hutchinson, being frequently applied to the opening left in moor fences for sheep to pass through. Footnote 124: Can it have been derived from the Saxon _bryddes wald_ or _weald_, the bird’s forest? The local pronunciation of the name of the place is peculiar and rather favours the proposed etymology. Footnote 125: The Wall is at too great a distance from the Vallum to be introduced into the section; it is beyond the extra fosse, on the right hand side of the wood-cut. Footnote 126: In this locality, the traveller is apt to lose his reckoning, in consequence of the number of cottages and villages which are denominated ‘Wall.’ Footnote 127: Some antiquaries have conceived, that in the last two words of the inscription, a reference is made to the emperor Septimius Severus. This cannot be admitted, for—1. The emperor’s name would not be placed after that of the prefect: 2. The term _instante_ implies the discharge of a subordinate duty; for, not to mention other examples, the temple of which the CILURNUM slab records the restoration (p. 186), was built by command of Marius Valerianus, under the superintendence of (_instante_) Septimius Nilus: 3. That _princeps_ was the designation of a subordinate officer in the army, appears not only from a collation of other inscriptions, but from the following statement of Manutius—'In a legion there were three kinds of foot soldiers, _hastati_, _principes_, and _triarii_, and in each there were ten centurions, who were called the first _hastatus_, the second _hastatus_, the third, and so on, up to the tenth; the first _princeps_, the second, and so on; but the _triarii_, the bravest of all, were named in a different manner, for they did not call them first triarius, but _primipilus_, or _primipili centurio_.'—_Arch. Æl._, ii. 88. _Principi_ is doubtless intended for the more usual form of the ablative, _principe_. ----- ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration] ~The Roman Barrier of the Lower Isthmus.~ PART IV THE SUPPORTING STATIONS OF THE WALL.