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274 Hagiography have, indeed, been collected by Mr. Rees, but much remains for investigation. Many evidences might, doubtless, be elicited by a careful survey of those early sculptured and inscribed memorials, crosses reared by the way-side or in the cemetery, still attesting in their simple yet impressive character, the existence of a pure faith established in those remote parts of our island at a very early period. We may hope that Mr. Westwood, whose accurate and skilful pencil, united with an intimate acquaintance with the distinctive character of ornament at different periods, well qualify him for the task, may shortly carry out the investigation of these curious memorials, so happily commenced.

The remains of a later period, the monastic structures and churches of Wales, are replete with interest, but thither more especially should the investigator of military architecture resort. The picturesque and instructive examples of the Edwardian castle, in the northern counties, with their varied details, yet uniform principles of constructive adaptation, are well known; whilst in South Wales, at Pembroke and Manorbeer, at Ogmore, Neath, Caerphilly, and Cydweli, the enquirer may find specimens of successive periods, and trace advancing perfection in the science of military defences, in vain to be sought in other parts of the realm. These, indeed, reared by the hands of the Norman conqueror, may not be the objects of hoar antiquity to which the first care of the Welsh archæologist will be addressed, but they supply admirable illustrations of a neglected subject of enquiry, intimately connected not merely with the history of architecture, but with the usages of daily life, the character and habitual feelings of former times.

Neath is generally admitted to have been the of Antoninus, and the "via Julia maritima," as also the Sarn Helen, lead towards the town. It is, however, remarkable that no coins, or vestiges of the Roman period, have been hitherto found there, although many traces of Roman occupation have been noticed on each side of Neath. Amongst these the inscribed stones discovered at Port Talbot and at Pyle, on the road to, deserve notice, and Mr. Francis has kindly communicated the fac-similes, carefully designed by himself. The latter, rescued by his hands from destruction, and deposited amongst the antiquities in the Royal Institution at Swansea, has been explained as bearing the name of Victorinus, one of the thirty tyrants, slain A.U.C. 1019. The inscription at Port Talbot, preserved in the Harbour Office, bears on one side the name of Maximian, which occurs also in an inscription found in Cumberland, given by Horsley. On the other side appears a sepulchral memorial, probably of later date, written, as on other early slabs existing in Wales and in Cornwall, in a perpendicular direction. Coins of both these emperors are of frequent occurrence in this country, and a number of coins of Victorinus were found near Neath in 1836.

The remains of the castle of Neath, erected, as it is supposed, by Richard de Granavilla, to whom, in the reign of Henry I., the lordship was allotted,