Edinburgh magazine. The one, fays the author, is perfaftly r0ly
and about fifty, feet high. The other, which he feems unwillinJ
admit to be the work of art, is of an irregular form, and compofei
of gravel. Mr. Gordon conje&ures them to have been exploratorl
mounts : the writer of the efiay, that they were fepulchral, Thi
iaffi feems beft founded, for, if I recoiled!:, the tops of exploratoi]
hills are truncated or flat.
To the eaft of thefe, on the fame fide of the river, flood thl
celebrated antiquity, called Arthur's oven, which Mr. Gordon fun!
pofes to have been a facellum, or little chapel,, a repofitory for thl
Roman injtgnia, or Standards.
This building, was circular, upright on the fides, and round«]
towards the top, in which was an opening eleven feet fix 'inches id
diameter. Beneath this was, on one fide, a fquare aperture, lit]
a window ; under that, a door, whole top formed a Roman archl
The height to the round opening at the top, was twenty-two feet*
the inner diameter of the building, at the bottom, nineteen fee]
fix inches ; round the infide, Boethius informs, were ftone feats-l
and on the fouth fide, an altar. He alfo acquaints us, that thl
floor was teflellated, as appeared by the fragments that might bl
picked up in his time *. He adds, that there were, on feme of
the ftones, the fculpture of eagles,, nearly defaced by age; and thal
there had been an infcription on a poliihed ftone, fignifying thal
the building was erefted by Vefpajian, in honor of the emperor]
Claudius, and the goddefs victory. This he fpeaks by tradition; fo]
our Edward, conqueror of Scotland, is charged with carrying ]
away with him,. All the old hiftorians that take notice of this]
agree, that it was the work of the Romans, from tne
price, g j . . . f e [,..,.1, How far that may be
* Lib. 111. p . 34,
edifice»!
e n n i u s to the Scotch B u c h a n a n
■ ed will be a future confideration : at prefent I fhall only, in
Cfition to Mr. Maitland, affert, what it was not, a Maufoleum
Ebling the fepirlchre of Metellà*, which is a round tower, totally
Ken -at top. A more apt comparifon might be found in the
I darium of the baths of Diocle/ianf, whofe vaulted roof, round-
I and, with a central aperture, agrees with that of the deplored
1iltilh antiquity. .
i eave at a fmall diftance on the left, Camelon, the lite of a Ro-
Ltown; whofe ftreets and walls might be traced in: the midft
of the ruins in the time of Buchanan t -, but, às I was informed,
Ita relique is to befeen at prefent wort-hy of a.vifit. The fea
or.cef.owed up to. this town, if the report be true, that fragments
^anchors have been found near it ; and beds of oyfter fnells in
larious places, at this time remote from the Forth, which is kept
Embanked from overflowing the flat tract in many parts between
lis place and Burrowftonefs. Buchanan fuppofes this town to have
Keen the Caer guidi of the venerable Bede || ; but as that writer
Iprefsly flays, that it lay in the middle ol tte Forth, it was pro,
lably a fortrefs on Inch-Keith, as his Alcluith is another on the firth-
I f Clyde. . .
■Lie at Falkirk, a large ill-built town, fupported by the great fairs
lor black cattle from the highlands, it being computed that 24,000
Read are annually fold here.
I ♦ Antichità di R om a dell’ abate V e n u t i, tom. II. P- 9 - tab' 67~ ■
t Idem. torn. I. p. 93, tab. 32.
t Lib.I. c. 21, IV . c. 36.
I Hift. Ecclef. lib. I.c. w, Carroit