There is but one Consul of the name of Ulpianus, in the whole series of Fasti Consulares, and that was 178 years after the date here given, viz. A. U. C. 228. See Gruter, civ. 3. (a reference which I cannot find;) and Censorinus de Die Nat. c. 21. On the other side are the words EX ARGENT and CAPASCAS; and the sigles like xxx may be the numerals expressing thirty. "The intent of making the blocks of lead with the Em peror's name, might be to authorise the sale of them by virtue of his permission. The year likewise, and the name of the people where the mines lay, were necessary to be added for the sake of the proprietors, in order to adjust their accounts with the officers, and prevent frauds in the execution of their trust. And it is observable, that the method now made use of in the lead mines is not much different from this. For the pigs are upon an average nearly the same weight with that preserved in the draught of that found in Yorkshire, viz. lcwt. 1gr. 16lb. and they are likewise commonly marked with the initial letters of the name of the smelter, or factor, and sometimes both, before they are sent from the mines*." No ancient people of Britain have given our antiquaries so much trouble to settle as the Cangi. Mr. Horsleyt, after a good deal of argumentation, inclines to place them in and about Derbyshire, with the addition of the counties of Stafford, Warwick, and Worcester. If we admit with him and Professor Wardt, that it is by no means necessary that the pieces of lead should have been cast in the county where they were found, this new discovery will not help us at all to ascertain the situation of the Cangi. As the professor supposes Camden's twenty pieces found at the mouth of the Mersey, in Cheshire, may have been the remains of the cargo of some vessel laden with them, and wrecked on that shore; so we may suppose the present pig was lost or dropped in its passage from the mines, perhaps those of Mendip in Somersetshire, which are the nearest I recollect to the spot where it was found. It may have been on its way down the Rumsey river to the port of Southampton, whose ancient name of Clausentum is by Baxter and Salmon derived from Clauz, the British word used for a fort, and Ward, Ib. 696. + P. 34, 35, 36. Ubi sup. p. 697. Auton, the name of the river, perhaps synonymous with Aufona, or Avon. Dr. Gale* places about the river Itchen a people of the Iciani, distinct from those commonly known by that name, and takes them for Cæsar's Icenimagni or Cenimagni, whose name the Dr. fancied he saw preserved in Meanstoke, Meanborough, Mean, places hereabouts. But not to mention that he errs in saying that Ptolemy places Portus Magnus [Portsmouth] among the Icenimagni, which is not true. (for Ptolemy never mentions them.) Mr. Horsley proposes to read Iceni Cangi, or Iceni Regni, making them two distinct people. To return to the Cangi. If I am right in my conjecture that they are meant on the present piece of lead, it may be objected that there is a difference in the orthography; to which I answer, that on the Hants pig the N is omitted, but a space left for it. On the lead mentioned by Mr. Camden the name is spelt Ceangi. It will be therefore no material variation in orthography, especially considering who the workmen were that made or composed this stamp, to find it here written KIANGI, or the second letter may be an imperfect E, The dimensions of the present pig correspond, within an inch, to those of the Kirshaw and Hints pigs. The weight is near 156lb. that of the Kirshaw lewt. 1qr. 16lb. of the Hints, now in Mr. Green's collection at Litchfield, 150lb. Mr. Pennantt says, this last weighs 152lb. about 2lb. more than the common pigs of lead. We have now a succession of these pieces for the reigns of Claudius, Nero, Vespasian, Titus, Domitian, and Hadrian. The words EX ARGEN may be explained by Mr. Pennant's observation that the Romans found such plenty of silver in the Spanish mines, that for some time they never thought it worth their labour to extract it from leads. In later times they discovered an ore that contained silver, tin, and lead, and these three metals were smelted from it. It appears that the first product was the tin, the second the silver, and what Pliny calls galæna, which was left behind in the furnace, and seems to be the same with our litharge, and being melted again became lead, or, as this writer calls it, black lead, to distinguish it from white lead, or tin.* The piece of lead now under consideration, is, like all the others, of a wedge-like shape prolonged, a transverse section of which would form a wedge, with the acute angle flattened for the sake of the inscription. On the basis is a hole, seemingly for the insertion of an instrument, whereby it might be lifted by a crane. 1773, Feb. LXXV. St. Blase, the Patron of Wool-combers. MR. URBAN, I HAVE been often asked about St. Blase,† and his being the inventor of wool-combing, or, at least, the patron of that art. Little, however, can I find to my satisfaction; but what I can learn of him I shall freely impart to you, nevertheless, Mr. Urban, for the information of the querists, and in hopes that those who knew more of this vulgar saint may be induced to give us some further account of him, and, in particular of his connection with the wool-combers. Blase was a Bishop and Martyr; and his see, according to the Breviary, was Sebasta, or Sebask, in Cappadocia.I He is a person of great note amongst the vulgar, who in their processions, as relative to the wool-trade, always carry an effigy or representation of him, as the inventor or patron of their art of combing it. There was an order of knighthood also instituted in honour of him; and his day, -which stands marked at this day in our calendar, was celebrated 3d February. He suffered death in the reign of Dioclesian, about the year 283, according to the Legenda Aurea, but the English version of that book has 387; neither of the dates are strictly true, since Dioclesian did not succeed to the empire till A. D. 284, and died before the latter date. Indeed, authors vary much about the time of his Plin. xxxiv. c. 6. He is written also Blasus, and Blaize or Blaise. In the Aurea Legenda there are two etymons of the name, both of them ridiculous. Aurea Legenda, Cap. 38. See also the Aurea Legenda. Others reckon him patron of Armenia; see Collier's Dictionary, v. Blaise; and Beda, in Martyrologio, p. 340. § Collier's Dictionary in voce. death. Before his death, which was by decapitation, he was whipped, and had his flesh torn ferreis pectinibus,' with iron combs.' It is difficult to say from this account of the Saint, which yet is the best I can procure of him, how Blase, comes to be esteemed the patron of the wool-combers. And when he died, his prayer to our Lord was, as the Golden Legend has it in the English Version, "That whosomever desired hys helpe fro thinfyrmyte of the throtet, or requyred ayde for any other sekenes or infyrmyte, that he would here hym, and myght deserve to be guarisshyd and heled‡. And ther cam a voys fro Hevene to hym sayeng that hys peticion was graunted and shold be doon as he had prayd§." In which prayer, there is not a word, you observe, that concerns the wool-combers. The art, no doubt, had been invented long before the time of Bishop Blase; it is probably one of those very ancient ones, of which, on account of their great antiquity, the invention is at this day entirely unknown. And as to our bishop, I am of opinion, he was esteemed the patron of the wool-combers, merely because he was tortured with an instrument of the kind, with an iron comb. I can find no other reason for it; others may, perhaps, be more fortunate. 1773, August. Yours, T.Row. MR. URBAN, LXXVI. Wild Cats in Britain. THE dog is thought to be an indigenous animal of this island, as we find mention made of British dogs in the most early accounts we have of the country; but it is not so with the cat, as appears from the laws of Hoel Dha, who died A.D. 948, where a considerable value is put upon them, and the property of them is secured by penalties.T * Annot. ad Bedæ Martyrologium. He had cured a boy that had got a fish-bone in his throat, Golden Legend; and was particularly invoked by the papists in the squinancy or quinsy.Fabric. Bibliogr. Antiq. p. 267. So he was one of the 14 Saints for diseases in general, Fabric, Bibliogr. Antiq. p. 266. Golden Legend, fol. 135. Mr. Pegge's Essay on Coins of Cunobelin, page 97. Mr. Pennant's British Zoology, I. p. 46. As the cat is a beast of prey, and particularly fond of birds, the creature is apt to stroll into the fields, and, if it meets with success there, will often become wild, without returning home. Hence came a breed of wild-cats here, which formerly were an object of sport to huntsmen. Thus, Gerard Camvile, 6 John, had special licence to hunt the hare, fox, and wild-cat, throughout all the king's forests;* and 23 Henry III. William, Earl Warren, by giving Simon de Pierpont a goshawk, obtained leave to hunt the buck, doe, hart, hind, hare, fox, goat, cat, or any other wild beast, in certain lands of Simon's t. But it was not for diversion or sport alone, that this animal was pursued in chace; for the skin was of value, being much used by the nuns in their habits, as a fur. Hence in Archbishop William Corboyl's Canons, anno 1127, art. 10. it is ordained, "that no abbess or nun use more costly apparel than such as is made of lambs' or cats' skins." But their furs, I am told, are more valuable in North America. The wild-cat is now almost lost in England, but is described by Mr. Pennant, I. p. 47. And as no other part of the creature but the skin was ever of any use here, it grew into a proverb, that you can have nothing of a cat but her skin, 1774, April. T.Row. LXXVII. Observations on Stone-henge. THE inserting in your useful Miscellany the following remarks on Stone-henge will be esteemed a favour by your constant reader, J. J. STONE-HENGE is justly considered as one of the most surprising monuments of antiquity in England; and the great difficulty of bringing together and erecting the prodigious stones of which it is composed, has rendered it an object of much speculation to the curious. The late Dr. Stukeley has obliged the world with the best and most accurate account *Sir W. Dugdale's Baron. I. p. 627. + Ibidem, II. p. 457. See also I. p. 70. Blount's Tenures, p. 60, 104... Gunton's Hist. of Peterb. p. 151, 160. Mr. Pennant, I. p. 48. Mr. Johnson's Collection of Laws, Canons, &c. A. 1 127, |