Page:History of Manchester (1771), Volume 1, by John Whitaker.djvu/152

Chap. V. OF MANCHESTER. W3 a considerable city of the Romans. And thefe relicks of anti- quity have been carefully collected by Camden by Leigh by Gale and by Horfeley. But the greater antiquities of Ribchefter have been entirely overlooked by thefe criticks, as they ftill continue unnoticed by the curious eye of obfervation, and now ftrongly invite the delineating hand of antiquarianifm. The Potfus Siftuntiorum or the Xifciftwv Ai/agv is men- tioned equally by Richard wd by Ptolemy. But the a&ual fite of it is yet vn fettled* Baxter fuppofos it to be the mouth of the Merfey, Horfeley the jpouth of the Ribbl^ ajid Stukeley ,the mouth of the JLune 3 . To decide amid this Yariftty pf opinions, let us endeavour to afeertfiin what position is really given it bv Ptolemy's Geography and by Richard's Itinerary. If they dif- fer, we are not entirely without a guide. Remains may make that probable which both leave uncertain. But if the two ftrft agree in one teftimony, w* can hav< little doubt. And if all the three agree, we are aftually certain. The abfolute petitions of the towns in Ptolemy are wejl known to be exixemely erroneous. And his relative portions I have already (hewn to be little better But in his coafHng along the (bores of the iiland this Geographer appears to be pretty accurate. And the progreffive particularity of a jdefcription of the eoaft, and the ftriking permanent nature pf the marks in fiich a description, as I have already obferved, rftuft neceflarily give it a fufficient exaftnefs This then muft Im? our flandard. And let us now make ufe of it. Taking Ptolemy's account of the weftern fhore but inverting his order, let us begin with the seftuary of Sabriana, certainly and confefledly the Severn-fea. From this point the coafter goes direftly to the weft for an hundred and eighty miles, to the promontory O&opitarum ; plainly ikirting all the fbuthern coaft of Glamorganshire and Caerroarthenfliire, and the fouthern and fbuth-weftern fliore of Pembrokefhire to St. David's Head. From that promontory, in advancing ninety miles to the north, he goes 4irft fixty to the aaft and then twenty to tl*e weft, to the pro- R 2 jcapptpry