ding upon the way now called High
Cross, of a cross which stood there some time, upon the meeting of
another great way."

At the intersection of the roads is the pedestal, &c. of a cross which
was erected here in the year 1712; on which are the two following Latin
inscriptions. On one side is--

Vicinarum provinciarum, Vervicensis scilicet et Leicestrensis,
ornamenta, proceres patritiique, auspiciis, illustrissimi Basili
Comitis de Denbeigh, hanc columnam statuendam curaverunt, in gratam
pariter et perpetuam memoriam Jani tandem a Serenissima Anna clausi
A.D. MDCCXII.

Which is thus translated,

The noblemen and gentry, ornaments of the neighbouring counties of
Warwick and Leicester, at the instances of the Right Honourable Basil
Earl of Denbeigh, have caused this pillar to be erected in grateful as
well as perpetual remembrance of Peace at last restored by her Majesty
Queen Anne, in the year of our Lord, 1712.

The inscription on the other side runs thus--

Si Veterum Romanorum vestigia quaeras, hic cernas viator. Hic enim
celeberrimae illorum viae militares sese mutuo secantes ad extremes
usque Britanniae limites procurent: hic stativa sua habuerunt Vennones;
et ad primum ad hinc lapidem castra sua ad Stratam, et ad Fossam
tumulum, Claudius quidam cohortis praefectus habuisse videtur.

Which may be thus rendered,

If, traveller, you search for the footsteps of the ancient Romans, here
you may behold them. For here their most celebrated ways, crossing one
another, extend to the utmost boundaries of Britain; here the Vennones
kept their quarters; and at the distance of one mile from hence,
Claudius, a certain commander of a cohort, seems to have had a camp,
towards the street, and towards the foss a tomb.

The ground here is so high, and the surrounding country so low and flat,
that it is said, fifty-seven churches may be seen from this spot by the
help of a glass.

The following judicious remarks on the customs, mariners, and dialects
of the common people of this district by Mr. Macauley, who published a
history of Claybrook, may be amusing to many readers.--The people here
are much attached to _wakes_; and among the farmers and cottagers these
annual festivals are celebrated with music, dancing, feasting, and much
inoffensive sport; but in the neighbouring villages the return of the
wake never fails to produce at least a week of idleness, intoxication,
and riot. T