which is placed to receive them; this, from the softness of the beverage, is called "lamb's wool"; to this Shakespeare alludes thus:

"Sometimes lurk I in a gossip's bowl,

In very likeness of a roasted crab;

And when she drinks, against her lips I bob,

And on her withered dewlap pour the ale."

There is a very pretty custom, now nearly obsolete, but which I have noticed in this county as well as in Derbyshire, of bearing the "vessel", or, more properly, the wassailcup, at Christmas. This consists of a box containing two dolls, dressed up to represent the Virgin and the infant Christ, decorated with ribbands and surrounded by flowers and apples; the box had usually a glass lid, was covered over by a white napkin, and carried from door to door on the arms of a woman; on the top, or in the box, a china basin was placed; and the bearer, on reaching a house, uncovered the box and sang the "Seven Joys of the Virgin".

The carrying of this wassail cup was usually a fortunate speculation, as it was considered so unlucky to send one away unrequited, that but few could be found whose temerity was so great as to deter them from giving some halfpence to the singer. On Plough Monday, as well as during the Christmas holidays, the plough bullocks are still to be seen in various parts of the county. This extremely picturesque and popular custom,—with its plough, drawn by farmer's men, gaily dressed in ribbands, its drivers, with their long wands and bladders, its sworddancers, its fool and its celebrated Bessy, and hobbyhorse, I have described in my Derbyshire paper;1 it will therefore be sufficient to say, that amongst other places the neighbourhoods of Newstead, Mansfield, and Southwell, are still famous for its observance, and that it has been well described by Washington Irving in his Newstead Abbey.

Country wakes, or feasts, on the saint's day to which the parish church is dedicated, are kept up with much rejoicing; these were formerly accompanied by bull and

1 See vol. vii, pp. 199-210.

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bear-baitings, cock-fighting, and other unmanly sports, which are now happily abolished. Amongst other customs prevalent in this county, the "groaning-cake", or " groaning-cheese", were formerly made against the birth of a child, and to be cut for the first time on that occasion. If a cheese, it was usual to pierce it in the middle when the child was born, and to keep cutting from the centre until the circular rind only was left, and through this the infant was to be passed at its christening. The groaning-cheese is alluded to in an old play of the " Nottinghamshire Trajedy of the Fayre Mayde of Clifton".

In Mansfield and other places, "statutes" or hiringfairs were held, when it was usual for the servant-men and maids who were "out of place", to arrange themselves in rows, with a ribband, leaf, or other distinctive mark to show they were on hire. The farmers and housekeepers then passed along the rows, making inquiries and examining appearances until satisfied with some one, when a bargain was immediately struck, and ratified by the gift of a shilling as "earnest" money.

Hawking was formerly a very prevalent sport in this county, and the manor of Radeclyve was held by the service of mewing a goshawk. There are also some curious superstitions and legends connected with this sport, and with some fine old trees at Welbeck and at Clipstone.

Many other customs were and are still observed in this district, which, did time permit of their notice, would be found to be equally as interesting and curious as any of those I have mentioned; but enough may, I hope, have been said to create an interest in the subject, and to awaken a feeling of reverence for those living links of our forefathers which the remnants of their manners and customs remaining at the present day present, and which recall to us their domestic habits and religious superstitions, much more vividly than all the pages of written history to which we can refer.

The customs of different localities vary in many important particulars from each other, and, as I have before observed, it is only by careful collection, comparison, and analogy, that the historical student is enabled to trace the true origin of each, and to assign to each fragment thus

procured its proper place in history. I would therefore venture earnestly to urge on our friends in this county and elsewhere, the importance of forwarding notices of such remains of ancient manners and customs as may come under their observation, in order that they may be properly recorded and preserved.

ON

EXCAVATIONS NEAR THE ROMAN WALL ON TOWER HILL, LONDON, AUGUST 1852.

BY ALEXANDER HORACE BURKITT, ESQ., F.S.A.

THE portion of the Roman city wall, as seen in Postern Row, Tower Hill, to which it runs at right angles, has recently been exposed several feet below the foundations, by excavations being made for cellars and stables, which will cover in a considerable portion of these interesting remains. I have taken some pains, during the progress of the work, to pay it several visits, to make drawings and measurements of the various parts. On the original bed of gravel, a bed of concrete occurs, which is about three feet thick, and composed of rough flints and clay, the whole forming a solid and compact mass. On this bed are laid two layers of rag-stones, about ten inches thick, over which are the footings of the wall. These are of fine red sand-stone, each beveled off at the sides, which project somewhat from the rest of the work. The occurrence of these stones is peculiar, as in no other portion of the wall has that same sort of stone been used, as well as from the fact of their having been derived from a quarry at some distance from that of the stone used in the other parts of the building.

The entire range of these stones laid open at one view,