Page:Ancient armillae of gold recently found in Buckinghamshire and in North Britain; with notices of ornaments of gold discovered in the British Islands (IA b31941461).pdf/13

Rh with singular precision. The fastening is by means of a hook and a little knob or button; the elastic flexibility of the ornament is very remarkable: it perfectly exemplifies the definition given by Scheffer,—“tortus et flexilis.” It would be easy to multiply examples of torc-ornaments more or less similar in type, found in this country, and especially in Ireland; but none that I have seen possess an equal degree off elegance and perfection of workmanship. Well-suited as the bay of Largo may appear to have been the resort of the Northmen, whose predatory incursions ravaged those coasts, we are reluctant to suppose so graceful an ornament to be of Danish origin,—a relic of the armlets so freely dispensed by Rollo, as to entitle him, according to ancient song, to be celebrated as Hreiter Hedda, scatterer of gold.

It would be very interesting to ascertain precisely at what period, and through what influence, the rude tribes whose accustomed weapons were of flint or of bone, whose choicest ornaments were of amber or jet, first became acquainted with the use of bronze and iron, and especially with the precious metals; the estimation of, and skill in working these seems to mark an important advance in civilisation. The assertion of Tacitus, in his observations on the manners of the ancient Germans—often cited as tending to prove that gold and silver were almost unknown to the nations of the North as late as the close of the first century of the Christian era—may appear of little moment in connection with inquiries regarding our own country. It is certain that ornaments of gold were commonly used in Gaul at an early period; and there is the highest probability that, if gold were not discovered in the rocks or sandy beds of mountain streams in Britain, these ornaments would be introduced from the adjacent coasts, with the rude coins—the first of our numismatic series, found most frequently in southern counties, and, probably, of Gaulish origin. Cicero, indeed, has twice asserted, in his Epistles, that no gold or silver was to be found in Britain; but the evidence of Tacitus, in the Life of Agricola, seems conclusive as to the existence of precious metals having been ascertained:—“Fert Britannia aurum et argentum et alia metalla, pretium victoriæ.” That the Romans were not negligent in the development of the mineral resources of Britain, and even detected gold in the