Weekly commercial herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1884-18??, 1885-08-14
Roman DIsoOyery at LeIoester.

AOANOA AllllcSs
The Roman tesselated pavement in
Jewry Wall street, Leicester, discover
ed in the year 1882, is well known to
archaologists; 1t has also been known
as difficult Of access, and hardly to be
seen in dark cellar, and, in fact, 1t
has not been seen or visited, except by
very few persons. Some time ago the
town council resolved to purchase the
house and premises. with the object Of
preserving the pavement in stu, and
of giving additional light and better
access to it, and, this purchase. having
been completed in the beginning Of the
present year, the work Of improve
ment began. 1t was now seen that the
pavement was continuous under the
public street, and arrangements were
at once made to uncover and
annex these adjoining parts, so
as to permit the whole to be seen at
one view. The pavement thus un-
covered forms floor which, ii COM
plete, would measure % feet square;
it lacks part on the west side, and
also the entire south border is missing.
1t is a marvel Of constructive skill, of
variety and beauty in form and color,
and not the least part Of the marvel
arises from the almost beggarly ele-
ments out of which the designer has
produced his truly harmonious effects.
No squared, artifcially colored or
glazed tesseI@ such as we see in
modern floor, are used, but little pieces.
irregularly but purposely formed Of
brick and stone. There are three
shades of brick--a bright red, a dull or
Indian red, and a shade between the
two; slate from neighboring quarry
gives a dark blush gray; an oolite
supplies the warmer buff, and
a fine white composition resembling
limestone is used for the center
points and borders. In addition
the outside border is formed with
tesser@ Of rather larger size, of sage
green limestone. Speaking generally,
the design is formed by nine octagon
figures, three by three, surrounded and
divided by a guilloche cable band; the
interspaces of the octagons are filled by
four smaller square patterns, and the
outer octagon spaces by twelve trian
giles. Outside these is border formed
by a cable band, by a second band Of
alternate heart-shaped, pear-shaped
and bell-shaped flowers. and by
alternate white and gray bands
and outside all is the limestone
border already described. This
border is constructed with tes
seI@ Of an inch square. The re,
naming tesser@ vary from ] to ! Of
an inch of irregular rhomboidal form.
The construction Of the pavement is
remarkable There is a foundation of
strong concrete below over it is a bed
of pounded brick and lime three to
four inches thick, and upon this a
layer of fine white cement, in which
the tessera@ are laid with their rough
est side downward. Liquid cement
appears to have been poured over the
floor, filling up the interstices, after
which the surface would be rubbed
down and polished.
AS to the probable date and occupa.
ton of the floor, it may be observed
that the site Of this pavement was near
the centre of the western Roman town
1t is near the Jewry Wall-that is, near
the military station and fortress. II
was obviously the principal house in
the place, and as clearly, therefore, the
residence of the Prefectus-the local
representatives Of the imperial power
of Rome.
The Roman occupation of the dis
trict began with the proprietorship Of
Ostorius Seapula, A. d. 40. He wa!
succeeded in so by Suetonius Paulinus
who passed through Leicester from thu
Isle of Anglesea when the insurrectior
under Boadicea broke out. In
the service Of Suetonius was Julius
Agricola, who was elected consul and
governor Of Britain about the year 20
He is commonly described as wise
and good governor, who introduced
the arts of civilized life, taught the
natives to build and encouraged edu-
cation. He left Britain about the year
IS, and from that time to the decline
of the Roman power is but about
three years. We shall not be far from
the truth, therefore, If we assign this
work to the time or even to the person.
al influence of Agricola, 1900 years
ago.