The Sun.
London, England, 1849-11-15 00:00:00

ROMAN REMAINS AT CHELMS-

FORD.
(From the Chelmsford Chronicle.)
The discovery of Roman remains in the immediate
vicinity of Chelmsford, where they have lain slumber-
ing some three feet deep, unmolested and undisturbed
for ages, and the fact now established, that the
masters of the world once had their habitations near
where we have pitched our own, has given a general
interest in the neighbourhood to antiquarian researches
which they did not before possess, and we need now
make no apology for introducing an extract upon the
subject from the new part of Mr. C. Roach Smith's
" Collectanea Antigua," which contains an admirable
descriptive article upon the Roman villa at I-1 artlip in
Kent. This zealous antiquarian has profusely inter-
spersed his paper with engravings of the remains dis-
covered, which form in themselves a rich collection
of the relics of old ; and on placing some of these
plates side by side with the articles found in Moul-
sham, there can be no doubt the building was of the
same character, and erected by the same race of
people., as that in Kent. One of the tiles, for in •
stance, is of the exact pattern, and would almost
appear to be formed in the same mould, and the pieces
of fresco from the walls are of precisely similar cha-
racter and colour. With this fact before us, we may
hope that further explorations, as at Hartlip, may
turn up something more valuable as objects of art
than mere fragments of walls, for, as Mr. Roach
Smith observes—

"It often happens that Roman villas furnish more
curious and instructive information in the fragments
of art scattered about their sites, than in the archi-
tectural details,.which are only seen here and there,
more or less injured and imperfect. Many objects
which in their day were among the most common and
diiregarded survive the wreck of the buildings in
which they occupied the humblest place; or, it may
have been, that the remains we now collect and
study with so much avidity had been dismissed to the
receptacle of refuse long before the destruction of the
villas in which they had done service."
On the general subject of these remains the writer
remarks—

" The Roman villas which have been discovered in
our country comprise a series alike numerous, varied,
and interesting; for under the term villa' it has
been usual to include all buildings of a domestic
character, whether adapted by their extent and
magnificence for the residence of governors of the
province of Britain and its sub-divisions, or whether
their more limited bounds and humbler appointments
indicate connexion with the middle and lower classes
of society. Scarcely a year passes but the plough
or spade discloses the remains of walls and floors of
Roman dwelling-houses, often in unsuspected locali-
ties remote from modern abodes, under ground which
for many centuries has been tilled by the husband-
man, beneath pastures on which countless generations
have grazed their herds and flocks, and even in the
midst of woods which, time out of mind, have stolen
upon and flourished over the deserted sites of the
habitations of man. The peasant wonders at the
unlooked for discovery, and the scientific inquirer is
often perplexed to account for the changes which
have thus taken place in the surface of the earth,
until he considers and reflects how the silent and
slow operations of nature through successive ages,
uncontrolled by the hand of man, entomb the works
of art, and cover their ruins with rich corn fields and
fertile pasturage.
" Having comprehended the processes by which
nature in her vast laboratory works these changes, we
are led to reflect on the causes which induced the
destruction of the buildings and the abandonment of
their sites, the epoch to which we may refer them,
while at the same time we survey the numerous
peculiarities of the remains which have survived the
shocks of time, and in them read instruction in the
arts, habits, and customs of those who so long before
we were called into being, possessed the soil of which
we in our turn hold fleeting tenure. Such are among
the highest ends and aims of the study of antiquity.
Thus applied, the pursuit is not merely a harmless
amusement or an agreeable recreation, it assumes the
ennobling character of a science which expands and
elevates the:mind, weans us from a too intense devotion
to the concerns of the time present, and by bringing
forcibly before our perception and understanding the
various works of the past, enables us to form a more
correct estimate of ourselves, of our advancement or
retrogression ; we study history by the aid of a new
light; and by the contemplation and analysis of ob-
jects through the slow but sure process of compari-
son, are often enabled to test the authenticity of an-
cient writers, and confirm or disprove, as it may be,
their statements and opinions. It is not, however,
always that the antiquary can immediately render the
results of his researches available to science; his
search after truth is beset with difficulties of all
kinds ; the facts he collects do not often come to
hand clear and palpable, but are usually gathered with
labour, isolated, or mingled with anomalies which
experience alone will teach him how to understand
and explain, and be must possess a certain intuitive
power of perception and classification, to discern and
arrange objects with all the circumstances under which
they are presented to him. From the accumulation
of facts, each perhaps in itself of trivial import, the
antiquary forms his chain of evidence, and deduces
conclusions which reveal to him various phases of so-
ciety in past times, recalling men and manners in a
true picture as they really were ; he reads them in
the works of their hands, as he peruses their acts
written by the pen of history, the one illustrating the
other; and thus he obtains a clearer insight into
former ages, viewed through the double medium of
tangible monuments and the recorded narratives of
the historian."

SERIOUS AFFRAY with POACHERS.
On Thursday evening a serious encounter took
place between three poachers and the gamekeepers on
the estate of Edward Riddell, Esq., Cheeseburn
Grange, by which that gentleman, his gamekeeper,
and two of the poachers, were seriously wounded.
It appAred that John Rodham, the gamekeeper,
having heard the report of air- guns in the
game preserves, about twelve o'clock on the
above evening, collected together a number of
men, and being accompanied by Mr. Riddell,
they proceeded in quest of the depredators. In order
to intercept the poachers the party divided, and in a
short time the gamekeeper and his party, including
Mr. Riddell, came upon three men armed in the Bog
Plantation. On approaching them, one of the poachers
knocked down .Mr. Riddell with the muzzle of his
gun, upon which the gamekeeper went forward, when
the man who assaulted Mr. Riddell cocked his gun,
saying at the same time—" You b r, I'll blow
your brains out if you stir another foot." The
game• keeper answered him—" I have got a gun as
well as you," and immediately made towards him,
when be also was knocked down, and while lying
on the ground received a severe blow upon his
arm. Mr. Riddell by this time had recovered
himself, and, assisted by his butler, attempted to
seize the man, when both of them were knocked
down. At this period the other party came up
to their assistance, and, headed by Mr. Riddell,
they closed in upon the poachers, and while that
gentleman was grappling with one of them, a
brace of pistols which he carried went off, the
contents of one wounding the man. One of the
poachers observing his comrade fall, deliberately
levelled his gun, fired-at Mr. Riddell, and wounded
him in both legs, near the ankle. The gamekeeper
then, in defence of his master, fired at the poacher,
and brought him down by wounding him in the
left thigh, by which the strife was ended in the
poachers being overpowered. Mr. Riddell was im-
mediately conveyed home, and cn Sir John Fife
being sent for, it was found that though
both legs are much lacerated, nothing serious
is apprehended. The poacher who was wounded
by the gamekeeper, was conveyed to the New-
castle Infirmary, and though seriously hurt,
hopes are entertained of his recovery ; and as to the
other wounded man, it was found that he was but
slightly injured, and he, as well as his confederate,
were taken to prison. The name of the poacher in
the: infirmary is Alexander Clouton, and the other
two David Ridley and William Ramshaw ; the two
former were quarrymen at Harley Hill, and the latter
a painter in Newcastle. They have been remanded
until Mr. Riddell is so far recovered as to appear
against them.—Berwick Advertiser.

A FATHER STABBED BY His SON.—A circum-
stance of a deeply tragical and almost unparalleled rm•
ture took place on the sth instant, at Holmer-green, in
the parish of Great Missenden. The following are the
facts which led to the fearful catastrophe :—The unfor-
tunate sufferer, whose name is James Broon, a carpenter
by trade, and who also keeps a beer-shop at Holnaer-
green, was, on the evening named, employed in looking
after his house during the temporary absence of his wife,
who had gone to Amenham. On her return home an
altercation took place, and words were followed by
blows, until an open rupture ensued. Their son,
scarcely twelve years of age, interfered on behalf of his
mother, and declared that he would stab his father upon
a repetition of his violent conduct. The strife was an.
fortunately renewed, and the boy, with(mt a moment'sin tice, plunged a knife into his lather's side, inflicting
a wound of the most horrible nature. Consternation
ge'zed the whole of the persons present, and medical as-
sistance was procured as soon as possible ; but, notwith-
standing the most prompt and timely aid was afforded
the greatest apprehension is entertained for the poor
man's recovery ; indeed, 'rem the testimony of the me-
dical gentleman under whose care the suffering man
now lies, the case appears hopeless. The wound has
been pronounced mortal. _ _

DANGERS OF THE WOODS.—One day, when old
Knapp was looking for " a stick of timber" in the woods,
he espied (ne et his dogs running towards him, seem-
ingly in a fright: presently a large wolf appeared in
chase; Knapp stepped at once behind a tree., and as the
monster, "gaunt and grim," passed, he, with a dexterous
blow of his tomahawk, disabled it in the loins, and then
carried home its skin.—,Sir J. Alexander's " ticadie."