"Now the following are the respects in which this document corroborates Ravennas; namely, in transposing Uxeludianum and Aballava, and in giving the first-mentioned name in that form, and not as Axelodunum. The order in Ravennas rather leads to the idea that Banna is the same station as Amboglanna (Burdoswald), or Petriana (Cambeck Fort); but on the cup it is placed distinct from the first, which seems to show that if it be along the Wall it must be Petriana.

"We may shortly describe the drinking cup. It seems of about the common size and form of which many are found, i. e. about three and a half inches over, and nearly of the same height. The inscription is on a fillet or necking, going round it just under the rim. Below this a fret, about three-fourths of an inch deep, also surrounds the cup at its most bulging part. The fret is filled up with two irregularly-formed half circles or crescents, placed back to back, in a near approach to each other, and occupying the alternate spaces; the others are filled up with four small squares. Below these, to the bottom, the whole space is divided into squares. And, as far as we may judge, the date of this antient relic is about the reign of Constantinus II, or A. D. 350. It was found in a well at Rudge coppice, in Wiltshire, where are tessellated pavements and many Roman remains. The place is on the Icknield-street, near Froxfield, and stated to be six miles from Marlborough.

"It appears most probable that the names of these five stations were inscribed on this cup for no other object than to render it more saleable to Roman officers or soldiers, quartered at some of those stations; and it may be suggested, that multiplied similar specimens may have been manufactured for the same purpose. It is mentioned that a discovery somewhat similar has been made in the commencement of the present year, 1852, resulting from excavations under the direction of the father Marchi, among the foundations of antient baths, in the park of the Villa Vicarello, at Rome. The discovery, in

this instance, consisted of three silver drinking cups, which were inscribed with an itinerary of the road from Rome to Cadiz, with somewhat fewer stations than are given by Antoninus.

"As to our Rudge cup, we may add, that it is described and engraved in Horsley's Britannia Romana, p. 49, and also in Gough's Camden, vol. i, p. 113, as well as mentioned in Sir Richard Colt Hoare's Wiltshire, vol. ii, p. 121. It was formerly in possession of the Earl of Hertford." (Pp. 106-7.)

The termination "bury" or "borough" so frequent in this neighbourhood, has generally reference to earthenworks of some kind, either for fortification or for sepulture. It is derived from the Saxon "beorg" fortress, or "byrigen" burial; primarily perhaps from the Greek Tupyos. The sepulchral πυργος. tumuli in Sussex are popularly called burghs to the present day. Supposing this to be one of the elements in the name of Marlborough, and that its huge tumulus was the nucleus of the modern town, the next question that arises is, to whom

was the work dedicated. The learned Bale without hesitation
attributes it to the Ambrosian Merlin, who he declares was
here entombed. Merlin's barrow or burgh is easily recognisable
in the present name-even were it not the case that in the
earliest documents it is spelt almost invariably with an e. In
Doomsday Book for instance, and in King's John early charters,
Merlberg is the more general mode of spelling. Other
authorities on the point are as follows: One specimen of the
coinage minted in this town by William the Conqueror has
it spelt MIERLEB, contracted for Mierleberg. The con-
tinuator of Florence of Worcester, writing about 1117, has
Merleberga, Hovdenus 1204, Knighton 1395, and the Venerable
Bede in 730 have Merleberge, though Bede also uses Marle-
berge. In Simon Dunelmensis 1164, it is Mæerleasbeorge.
In Gervasius 1200, Marleberge, and in the Saxon Chronicle,
Mælebeorge. See also the Herald's visitation, under date 1623,
in this work. In the Hitchcock pedigree, temp. Jac. I, occurs
the form Marlensborow.

Some have attributed the prefix "Marl" to the nature of the surrounding soil; and Lambarde, in his Dictionary of the chief Places in England, conjectures that it may be a corruption of "marble," on the supposition that the numerous boulder stones in the neighbourhood, called sarsens or graywethers, might be regarded as a species of marble. Furthermore, in G. W. Lemon's Entymologies, we meet with the following fanciful explanation of the name:-"Mar-all-borough, a contraction for Major-Hall (or college) borough." But none of these conjectures are any improvement on Master Bale's, and therefore Merlin may as well remain in peaceable possession of the ground, seeing that he was just the individual likely to be so canonized. His powerful opposition to the influence of Vortigern was calculated to render him extensively popular among the Britons; and if half the wonders attributed to him are credible, then we might most reasonably expect to find some relic of his name surviving in the district which The writer by an Article on English Loral stomenclature, in the centra Review box. CXI page 382, finds in charlborough the scance of a sand "otile linking" in the mame, deiving the word (from "J. Maidulfsburgh, as Boston is 8: Botolf's Frion.

A

formed the scene of his labours. In fact, so late as the printing of the Iter Carolinum or Itinerary of Charles I, during the civil war, we meet with the spelling “Marlinborough." If this should carry but small authority, it is at least in accordance with the statement of another contemporary historian, who thus summarily settles the question :-"There was a town or city called Kaier-Merlin, which implies Merlin's town or borough, which is no doubt the same which we call at this day Marlborough." He further recites, as among the various traditions relating to the Seer, that he was born of a mother who knew not his father; that his mother was the daughter of King Demetrius, and lived a votaress in a nunnery belonging to the church of St. Peter, at Marlborough." (Life of Merlin.)

Merlin Ambrosius the Briton, who must not be confounded with the Scottish Merlin, is said to have flourished towards the close of the fifth century, and (in apparent contradiction of the statement last made) to have been a native of Wales. In his character of Seer, he prophesied of the invasion of the Saxons, and fulminated a diatribe against the magi of Vortigern's court. He erected the temple of Stonehenge, and wrote several works, the subjects of which may be studied in Bale's Catalogue of British Writers.

The following couplet, corroborative of the above legend as to the origin of the name of the town, and attributed to Alexander Necham, is quoted with derision in Gough's Camden.

"Merlini tumulus tibi Merlebrigia, nomen
Fecit, testis erit Anglica lingua mihi.”

Speed, in his Map of Wilts, published in the reign of James I, prints it "Marlingesboroe." And he very properly places Cunetio at Folly Farm, thus showing how superior his sagacity was to that of Dr. Stukeley, who, a hundred years after, identified it with the castle grounds in the modern town.

A, D. 1006-The Saxon Chronicle under the above date

refers to an engagement which took place in this neighbourhood, during the struggle by which the Danes were endeavouring to establish a footing in the island. Having wintered in the Isle of Wight, a party of them made a marauding expedition to Reading and Wallingford, and passing by Ashdown encountered the English at Kennet and totally defeated them, carrying off a large booty to their head-quarters. "There," continues the chronicler, "might the people of Winchester see the rank and iniquitous foe, as they passed by their gates to the sea, fetching their meat and plunder over an extent of fifty miles from the sea."