of those citizens of London who fell
in the victory which they achieved over the citizens of Verulam when
they fought it out in the valley below that hill.

3. ROMAN LONDON.

PART I.

The Romans, when they resolved to settle in England, established
themselves on the opposite hillock, the eastern bank of the Walbrook.
The situation was not so strong as that of the British town, because it
was protected by cliff and river on two sides only instead of three. But
the Romans depended on their walls and their arms rather than the
position of their town. As was their habit they erected here a strong
fortress or a stationary camp, such as others which remain in the
country. Perhaps the Roman building which most resembles this fort is
the walled enclosure called Porchester, which stands at the head of
Portsmouth Harbour. This is rectangular in shape and is contained by a
high wall built of rubble stone and narrow bricks, with round, hollow
bastions at intervals. One may also see such a stationary camp at
Richborough, near Sandwich; and at Pevensey, in Sussex; and at
Silchester, near Reading, but the two latter are not rectangular. One
end of this fort was on the top of the Walbrook bank and the other, if
you look in your map, on the site of Mincing Lane. This gives a length
of about 700 yards by a breadth of 350, which means an enclosure of
about 50 acres. This is a large area: it was at once the barrack, the
arsenal, and the treasury of the station; it contained the residences of
the officers, the offices of the station, the law court and tribunals,
and the prisons; it was the official residence. Outside the fort on the
north was the burial place. If we desire to know the character of the
buildings we may assure ourselves that they were not mean or ignoble by
visiting the Roman town of Silchester. Here we find that the great Hall
of Justice was a hall more spacious than Westminster Hall, though
doubtless not so lofty or so fine. Attached to this hall were other
smaller rooms for the administration of justice; on one side was an open
court with a cloister or corridor running all round it and shops at the
back for the sale of everything. This was the centre of the city: here
the courts were held; this was the Exchange; here were the baths; this
was the place where the people resorted in the morning and lounged about
to hear the news; here the jugglers and the minstrels and the acrobats
came to perform; it was the very