Page:Notices by the Rev. T. Surridge ...of Roman inscriptions discovered at High Rochester, Risingham and Rudchester, in Northumberland ... (IA noticesbyrevtsur00surr).pdf/27

 of a plain inscription, as this of Dr. Surridge; and under that conviction, I must be permitted to take my leave of him, as of an individual not altogether accountable.

I have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient servant, A SOUTHERN MEMBER OF THE ARCHÆOLOGICAL INSTITUTE.

—As anonymous and unsupported assertion is not proof, and as reiterated error cannot bring with it either correctness or conviction, the Southern Member of the Archælogical Society may now be left to his flounderings. The veriest school-boy, with the key given in your paper of the 2nd, in hand, and the quarto edtionedition [sic] of Ainsworth's Dictionary beside him, may judge of the correctness of the translation there given, and instead of falsifying facts to accommodate historical errors, will correct errors by facts. This I conceive to be the legitimate and most profitable use to which Roman Remains can possibly be applied, and, in the present discoveries, we may find that it is of far more value than the pursuit of a phantom, or whether a Roman Camp be called Rochester or Bremenium. "A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet."

I am, Sir, your obedient servant, THOMAS SURRIDGE, Clerk, LL.D.

Rectory, Thorneyburn, Oct. 14, 1852.