Page:History of Manchester (1771), Volume 1, by John Whitaker.djvu/338

 £fetp.!X. or M A NCH E-ST'ER. 307 4iwPftff 4t the Wm and tWQ m& a hajf at the bottom, hafi*g ing A R<H*aA wfcription upon to Aat bottom "». Aim) a pitcher Jus taw atfo difcwered of the frae metal, containing aWe JtMKq«a*tfi and an hajfj gradually Aarflnvujg to the brim, and £tted *Hth »n haa% v . Nor wae this aU the ufe that the Jki* ttW. ttuA fcatfe flMdf *f tfafir tin. T/WJgbf perhtps by thea*- itfrts atone* jfcftrn£ed perhaps by their Reman matters, they nwft have coated ope* the fcuifc <»£ their brazen vdjfels with a thff) coming of tin, **4 haw thereby prevented the difreltthing ttnAvne of btaft " Receiving {he knowledge perhaps dire&ly ham. the Gauls, deriving jt pcrhap* immediately from the Ro»- fMQSr the Britons jnuft haw probably prtftMed the eurious art which the Gmth had dtfeotered of incorporating tin fcintimateo 1/ into hrafa, that the work hid atf th* feardoefs «f the latter m& ahnoft all the beauty of the fofltfer ". But the Romans *J& taftght the Briton to corabift* tw* or three of-tbek metefe fiogather, and frith th«» & frrm another which ftotrid be move baatmftji in its appetrtne* and aaefe.co*- venient in .its «fe thai} any of jtfeem fingly. Tb» is that agrae* able appendage of our tables which the Romans called Argent- arium or the filvery metal, and which we now denominate Pew- <er*V Of thn metal tfae pf jnwruai Britons muft have 'been un- 4oebto#Ay ignorant. Wkh this, metal even the Romans bet <came acquainted only a wy little time before the furrendery of Mandenion to Agricok* **. Aad the Romans mud have certainly {ntrodueed k to the knowledge of the Britons ; ieveral pieces ftattons in Britain. I have a Imall fragment of Roman pewter in my own poflemon. It was difcovered in if 46 within a mea- dow at Aldchefter in Oxfordshire, which the general nature of the ground and -the particular vicinity of it to the area of the town fufflciently demonftrate to have been the fite of the fta- tion. And it was evenpieked up witfein the walls of a ruined building, which was railed a- little above the level of the mea- dow, and which the difcovery of a teftellated pavement above Rr 2 and
 * (mali tUQog round the. outfid* of the upper part, and prefix-
 * f -pewter having been dkbovered -within the areas of the RomaA