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 Aechitecture in Great Britain. 117 The arrival of the Romans was an event of great im- portance for British architecture. They converted London from an enclosed fort into a city, and taught the natives the principles of construction. Agricola (a.d. 80) especially did all in his power to wean the Britons from their wandering life, and to encourage them to practise the arts of peace. He was successful, and under his rule cities rose surrounded by massive walls, and adorned by temples, basilicas, and palaces. The remains of Uriconium (Wroxeter) and Silchester may be cited as examples of this advanced civilisation. In the third century, British architects became famous for their skill; and when the father of Constantine the Great built the city of Autun (a.d. 290), many of the workmen employed were sent from Britain. At the end of the third century, architecture began to decline in Britain, as elsewhere in Western Europe. This was caused by the drawing off of the best artists to Byzan- tium (Constantinople), to aid in the great works undertaken by the Emperor Constantine. When the Romans left Britain, the natives allowed their buildings to fall into decay for want of repair, or to be seized and destroyed by invaders ; and therefore but few relics of Roman structures remain in England. Of their domestic architecture, the foundations of a villa at Wood- chester in Gloucestershire, and of another villa (recently discovered) at Brading in the Isle of Wight, are the most important. The following are the styles into which we may con- veniently divide English architecture since the Roman occupation : Anglo-Saxon, from the end of the seventh century to the Norman Conquest, 1066 ; Norman, from