hat the
excellent example of earnest and enlightened research set by Mr. Neish
was followed by others of his brother landholders in Scotland.

At the present time the sites and remains of some Roman cities in
England are being restored to light in this way--as the old city of
Uriconium (Wroxeter), where already many curious discoveries have
rewarded the quiet investigations that are being carried on;--and
Borcovicus in Northumberland (a half-day's journey from Edinburgh), one
of the stations placed along the magnificent old Roman wall which still
exists in wonderful preservation in its neighbourhood, and itself a
Roman town, left comparatively so entire that "Sandy Gordon" described
it long ago as the most remarkable and magnificent Roman station in the
whole island, while Dr. Stukely spoke of it enthusiastically as the
"Tadmor of Britain." I was lately told by Mr. Longueville Jones, that in
the vicinity of Caerleon--the ancient Isca Silurum of the Roman
Itinerary--the slim sharpened iron rod used as a ground-probe had
detected at different distances a row of buried Roman houses and
villas, extending from the old city into the country for nearly three
miles in length. Here, as elsewhere, a rich antiquarian mine waits for
the diggings of the antiquary; and elsewhere, as here, the ground-probe
will often point out the exact spots that should be dug, with far more
certainty than the divining rod of any Dousterswivel ever pointed out
hidden hoards of gold or hidden springs of water.

But it is necessary, as I have already hinted, to seek and hope for
additional archaeological materials in literary as well as in
subterraneous researches. And certainly, one especial deficiency which
we have, to deplore in Scottish Archaeology is the almost total want of
written documents and annals of the primaeval and early mediaeval portions
of Scottish history. The antiquaries of England and Ireland are much
more fortunate in this respect than we are; for they possess a greater
abundance of early documents than we can boast of. Indeed, after
Tacitus' interesting account of the first Roman invasion of Scotland
under Agricola, and a few meagre allusions to, and statements regarding
this country and its inhabitants by some subsequent classic authors, we
have, for a course of seven or eight centuries, almost no written
records of any authority to refer to. The chief, if not the only,
exceptions to this general remark, consist of a few scatter