has, on the present occasion, been adduced, almost for the first time, in furtherance of such investigations; and I trust that the interesting results developed by this means may stimulate archaeologists to seek a more intimate acquaintance with the character of ancient remains, and the details of processes in arts or manufactures, which may prove, even in our own times, of no trifling practical advantage.
NOTICE OF A STAMP USED BY A ROMAN OCULIST OR EMPIRIC, DISCOVERED IN IRELAND.
The little relic of Roman times, here brought under the notice of the archaeologist, belongs to a class of ancient remains bearing inscriptions, of a singular and interesting character, and to which the attention of various able antiquaries has been addressed. The example, hitherto inedited, and represented by the accompanying woodcuts, may be regarded with especial interest, not merely on account of the rarity of objects of this nature, but as presenting one of the very few vestiges of the Roman period, authenticated as having been found in Ireland.
I am not aware that any material facts of more recent discovery have been adduced to controvert the conclusions of Camden in reference to Ireland;—"Animum vix inducere possum, ut hanc regionem in Romanorum potestatem ullo tempore concessisse credam." Whilst, however, no solid argument may be grounded on the expressions of certain ancient writers, to whom some poetical license may be conceded, such as the allusion of Juvenal, which might seem to imply that the sway of Rome had been extended even beyond the "littora Juvernæ," there appears sufficient evidence that intercourse subsisted between the conquerors of Britain and the natives of the adjacent island. Agricola, we are informed, entertained a regulus exiled from its shores; and the statement of Tacitus, that the ports of Ireland were even better known than those of Britain, through the traffic of commerce,[1] would readily account for the casual occurrence in that country of coins or scattered traces of the Roman age.
The discovery of a hoard of Roman coins in the neighbourhood of the Giants' Causeway was communicated to the
- ↑ Agrie. Vita, c. 24.
