biographers. Meagre notices in Haag's La France Protestante, and in Nichols' Lit. Anecd. iv. 286, are the only voices of the vates sacer to do him justice. He was grandson of Paul du Soul of Tours, Rector of the Academy of Saumur in 1657 and 1661. He fled from persecution; was in Cambridge (possibly drawn by the fame of Bentley) in 1700; A.M. per regias litteras 1701 (the year when Bentley was Vice-Chancellor); in 1702 a dissertation from his pen on the style of the New Testament was inserted in the syntagma of Rhenferd; in February, 1708, he published at Cambridge a specimen of an edition of Lucian; in 1720 he sent his collections for Lucian to the Wetsteins; in 1722-1723 we find him at the Hague; in 1722 he published at Amsterdam a French translation of Prideaux' Connexion; after the death of Augustine Bryan of Trinity he was engaged by Tonson to complete his edition of Plutarch's Lives, Lond. 1724-9, 5 vols. 4to. At that time he was living in the country. He lived to 1733, or beyond that year.Mr. Griffith exhibited a series of rude pottery rings of two distinct types, found near the river at Harston and Barrington, which appeared to belong to the Roman Period, and which he suggested might have been intended for sinking nets. He compared them with rings of the same two types found in the Swiss LakeDwellings, which have been supposed to be stands for round-bottomed pottery vessels.—Mr. Jenkinson gave some account of the discoveries made at Girton in September last. The traces of the Roman period had culminated in a rubbish-pit, which contained below broken urns of Roman fabric, several fragments of sculpture in oolite. He exhibited a lion's head about the size of life; the torso of a military figure that had stood about four feet high; the broad collar, the belt, the close-fitting coat, apparently of metal, and a short kilt-like garment peeping from under it, were clearly visible : : one arm had been raised. These features showed a certain similarity with those of the bronze statuette found at Earith in 1826. Large numbers of Saxon urns had continued to occur, a diagram showing upwards of seventy in an area 50 feet square. One had been made with a square piece of glass in the bottom, for what purpose was not known; a similar one, but smaller, had been procured from Haslingfield. Three spindle-whorls, one of stone and two of bone, two faceted crystal beads, shivered in the fire, were found; and an incomprehensible implement of bone, consisting of two narrow pieces an inch and a half long, held parallel and six inches apart by a broad brace behind and two narrow ones in front, rigidity being secured by two rivets at either end. The two pieces first mentioned had each two deep notches on their inner edge, the lower of which notches was continuous in outline with a shallow depression cut in the edge of the braces. More beads and brooches had been found; and also a bronze basin, of the usual Saxon type, in company with a bronze-hooped pail : these lay on either side of a body. The cemetery appeared now to have been completely explored.

Cambridge Antiquarian Society.-Annual Meeting, May 22. The Rev. R. Burn, Presi dent, in the Chair.-A Paper by Mr. C. W. King was read upon an antique cameo of agate-onyx (of which a cast was exhibited) measuring 8 in. x 7 in.: the bust engraved upon it was identified by the flowing

and massy curls, by the agis, and especially by the prominent forehead wreathed with chestnut-leaves, as Jupiter of Dodona, under which type it was added that a portrait of the Emperor Antoninus Pius may possibly be adumbrated.-Dr. Bryan Walker exhibited a Terrier of Landbeach drawn up in 1549 by order of Matthew Parker, who was then Master of Benet Col. lege and Rector of Landbeach. The parish contained at that date two Manors, of which the lands were intermixed, one belonging to the College, the othernow the Manor of the Worts Trustees to Sir Richard Kirkby. The arable land of the parish was 884 acres, divided into four fields or Campi, containing respectively 279, 259, 229, and 117 acres. There was also a field of meadow, containing 189 acres. These fields were each subdivided in 15 or 20 smaller portions called Quarentela, and each Quarentela into Selions, averaging about half an acre each, but not uniform in size. Thus the 884 acres of arable land lay in 1,806 separate portions, separated by balks or strips of grass.-Mr. Jenkinson exhibited two Roman rings from Chesterford. One of these was of brass; and the device, a mask, was embossed upon a thin plate of metal, which had been soldered to the ring. The other was of iron, and exhibited in two places a simple form of decoration: the metal being worked to resemble two ends meeting, one of which is forked to receive the other which tapers, and a few transverse lines convey the appearance of binding or lashing. From a rubbish-pit recently encountered by the graveldiggers several pieces of pottery were shown as specially interesting in form. A Samian saucer, having an upright inner rim and, in addition to this, another rim or horizontal ledge projecting outwards, was the first complete specimen of the kind that had been obtained; and it was suggested that the outer rim was original to the design, the inner one being a development to increase the capacity. The potter's mark was CONSTAS. The bottom of a Samian saucer was also shown, which -after the upper part was gone-had the fractured edges ground down, apparently to be inverted and used as a small cup. It showed a potter's name, apparently unpublished, SATINVS. The only other vessel worthy of notice was of shining black ware, about six inches high. The upper part was concave in outline there was a sharp angle between this curve and a short horizontal line inwards, from which the lower part springs with a convex outline to the base. The rubbish-pit which furnished these objects had not yet been worked out, but its contents were remarkable. Three human skeletons occurred, whose position proved them to belong to the Roman time. The brass ring above described lay close to the head of one of them. A layer of burnt wood lined the whole width of the pit at a low level; and the fragments of an amphora formed an adjacent layer almost as extensive.

North Hants Archæological and Field Club. -May 25.-An excursion was made by the members of this Club to Bramley, Silchester, and Beaurepaire. The excursionists first proceeded to Bramley. The church was visited. Mr. Cooksey explained the objects of interest, first drawing attention to two mural paintings, in tolerable preservation. One represented the murder of Thomas à Becket, and the other St. Christopher carrying the infant Christ across the

stream. These are acknowledged of Early thirteenthcentury work. Having inspected the font of ancient Sussex marble, attention was directed to the magnificent tomb to the memory of Bernard Brocas, who died November 8, 1777, aged 48. He was the lineal descendant of Sir Bernard Brocas, Knight, son of Earl Foix, of Normandy, who attended the fortunes of William the Conqueror in England, and was rewarded for his services by a grant of land near Basingstoke, on which he built a mansion-house, calling it after the name of the ancestral seat in Normandy-Beaurepaire. Immediately within the rood-screen was pointed out the dedication cross, painted on the wall to the left as one enters. The church is essentially Norman, as indicated by windows and doors, though very little of the original remains. It is dedicated to St. James. The tower appears to have been built in 1625. The party then started for Silchester. The Forum was thoroughly inspected, and the party then passed on to the remains of the Temple. Having inspected a recent excavation of a Roman villa, the party crossed over the roadway to the baths, and there Mr. Cooksey explained the probable method of heating the baths. The party then passed to the outer wall; at one point in this is a hole which is called "Onion's Hole," from a tradition of a giant who lived at Silchester. The coins found about here are called by the people "Onion's pennies." Near the south gate the old Roman guardrooms were pointed out, and by the gateway were capitals of pillars. Passing out by the south gate they walked round by the wall, which is here very distinct and shows its massiveness plainly. The party having returned to the Forum, the Secretary read a Paper on Silchester, by Dr. Stevens. The Paper was accompanied by a map of the ruins and their surroundings. The party next went to the Museum, which has been re-arranged, and were received by the Rev. Mr. Joyce. Here they inspected the interesting collection of archæological curiosities which had been collected from the excavations adjoining.

Manchester Field Naturalists' Society.-May 13. Mr. Carr read a sketch of the history of Holford Hall. "Holford," as a surname, was first adopted about the year 1316. The mother of these first Holfords was descended from one Gralam, whose inheritance included the neighbouring estate of Lostock, and hence the present name of the railway station hard by. The last of the Holfords in the direct line was an only child, the celebrated Lady Cholmondeley, and it was by her that this place was rendered noteworthy. Originally the old hall composed three sides of a quadrangle, the boundary of the fourth side being formed by the moat and the bridge, the latter still intact, though the former has long since been dry, and now serves as an appendix to the orchard and kitchen-garden. A very curious feature of the hall is the piazza upon the inner western side. The upper storey projects considerably over the lower one, and is supported by crude wooden pillars. The eastern portion of the hall has totally disappeared. Such of it as remains is now used as a farmhouse, no Holford appearing to have resided here since 1625, the year of the decease, aged sixty-three, of the "Bold Ladie of Cheshire," as King James I. was wont to style the vigorous mistress

with whom the celebrity came to an end. The epithet would seem to have been merited, since she not only "builded anew, repayred, and enlarged" the hall, but waged war with her relatives over the lands to which they laid claim for forty years, when the mediation of friends at length prevailed. Her son was created Earl of Leinster by Charles I.

Bath Field Club.-May 23.-An excursion of the Club to the Seven Springs, the supposed source of the River Thames, took place. A Paper was read by the Vice-President, in which he examined the opinions that had been expressed by earlier writers as to the source of the river and the origin of the name. He also gave an account of the ancient worship of streams, the remains often found at their source, both in Britain and on the continent, but stated that no such remains had been found at the Thames head, nor yet at the head of the Tiber, of which he also gave a brief account. A single stone alone marked the rise of the Thames, and no coins are recorded to have been discovered. The remains of the Roman villa at Witcombe were afterwards inspected. They lie in the ascent of the rising ground to the south sufficiently high to command a good view of the valley as it extends to Gloucester and the Severn, having the ancient Roman road from Cirencester to Gloucester running in a direct course through it. Two rooms of the villa having tessellated pavements, now enclosed under sheds, were examined, and the patterns noted. The decorations are composed of cubes worked into the form of fishes of different kinds, chiefly salmon, and the outer border formed into the key pattern. These floors, divided into apartments, the doorways of which remain, rest upon supports, and are hollow underneath. Some of the supports have fallen, and they are therefore rendered uneven. Near there is another chamber containing the bath, and an adjoining chamber, which has also a hypocaust underneath, and the external stove for heating. Higher up are the remains of the tank which supplied the water, but the stream is now diverted.

North Staffordshire Naturalists' Field Club and Archæological Society. May 23.- The second excursion of the present season took place at Wetton and the valley of the Manyfold. Arrived at Grindon, they proceeded to walk down the fields through Lady-side Wood to Thor's Cave. Here the president for the year, Mr. W. D. Spanton, read a description of the cave, written by the late Mr. Samuel Carrington, of Wetton. A splendid view of the surrounding country was obtained from the summit of the cave, the eye having an extensive unbroken reach over some most charming hill and valley scenery. Leaving the Thor, headway was made up the Manyfold valley. The party rested at a picturesque nook at Wetton Mill, returning to Grindon by way of Ossam's Hill, from which spot another exceptionally fine view of a splendid country was obtained.

Edinburgh Architectural Association.-The closing meeting of this Society for the session was held on May 17, when the retiring president, Mr. MacLachlan, read "Notes of some Old Edinburgh Architects." The first architect mentioned was William Burn (a pupil of Mr., afterwards Sir Robert, Smirke), who restored St. Giles's Cathedral,

The buildings in Edinburgh designed by him are St. John's Episcopal Chapel, the New Club, the Melville Monument, John Watson's Hospital, and the Music Hall. The next architect mentioned was David Bryce, to whom we are indebted for the British Linen Company's Bank, the Western Bank, now the Scottish Widows' Fund Office, in St. Andrew's Square, the Clydesdale Bank, Subscription Library, North British Insurance Office, Fettes College, Sheriff Court House, Royal Infirmary, Union Bank, and the addition to the Bank of Scotland. The other architects of whose lives sketches were given were Robert Reid, who designed St. George's Church and the frontages of Charlotte Square; James Gillespie Graham, the friend of Pugin, and the author of the Assembly Hall-the spire of this hall is claimed for Pugin, who seems to have assisted Graham with many drawings-St. Mary's Roman Catholic Chapel (Pro-Cathedral), and St. Margaret's Convent; John Henderson, who designed Trinity Episcopal Chapel, Dean Bridge, St. Luke's Free Church, St. Columba, Morningside Parish Church, also Episcopal College, Glenalmond, Lady Glenorchy's, Greenside and Holyrood Church and School, Highland Society Office and Museum; Alexander Black, of Heriot's Hospital, and several of the Outdoor Schools; David Cousin, many Free Churches after the Disruption, Com Exchange, Slaughter Houses, Savings Bank, Music Class-room, Park Place. These notes were a continuation of Mr. MacLachlan's inaugural address, when he had sketched the lives of James Craig, who designed the plan of the New Town; Robert Adam, architect of the Register Office; Elliot, of the Regent Arch and the Calton Jail; Thomas Hamilton, of the High School, George IV. Bridge, Royal College of Physicians, Burns's Monument, and Free St. John's; W. H. Playfair, the Interior Front of the University, Observatory on Calton Hill, Regent and Royal Terraces, Royal Institution, St. Stephen's Church, Surgeon's Hall, Donaldson's Hospital, and Free Church College.

Liverpool Naturalists' Field Club.-The second field meeting was held on June 1, at Malpas. At Edge Hall Mr. and Mrs. Dod met them. The garden is on the site of the old moat. The present house, which is very picturesque both in structure and situation, is of about the time of Charles I. but there are vestiges of an ancient mansion, probably the original residence of the family, who date back to the time of Henry II. An Edward Dod was Baron of the Exchequer in the reign of James I. From Edge Hall the route lay across the park and through a dingle, hiding an old mill, then up the meadows by Kidnall and under Overton Scar, passing the gipsy caves in the rock by Chorlton Hall, the seat of Sir William Hamilton, to Overton Hall, the summer abode of Mrs. Gregson. The chief part of the building is now a farmhouse, adapted to dairy purposes; but some additions have been made to accommodate the family when they seek retirement. A part of the old building in the Cheshire half-timbered style remains, and also of the moat with an old pointed stone arch. Cambridge Philological Society. May 4. Mr. Munro, President, in the Chair.-Professor Mayor sent a Paper on "Senec. Ep. 121. 4, non desistam...

Monday Shakspere Club, Glasgow.-May 31. -The annual business meeting of this Club. During the past session eleven Papers have been read-two on Hamlet, two on Othello, two on Macbeth, one on Lear, one on Julius Cæsar, and three on general Shakspere study. The committee recommend that the reading meetings of the Club should be suspended for a time. Mr. William George Black was elected president; and Mr. Robert MacLehose, M.A., hon. secretary and treasurer for the session 1882-3.

[We have been compelled to postpone our reports of the meetings of the Society for Protection of Ancient Buildings; Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, June 14; and Tettenhall Antiquarian Society, May 29.-ED.]

Obituary.

COLONEL JOSEPH LEMUEL CHESTER.
Died May 26.

Our announcement last month of the dangerous illness of Colonel Chester has to be followed, as we then feared, by our record of his now spent life. English students of history have suffered a severe loss by his death. He was by birth an American citizen, and upwards of twenty years ago sat as a member of Congress. For many years past he had devoted all his energies to the study of genealogy, and with a patient thoroughness for which few equals can be found in the whole range of literature, he investigated every source whence the knowledge he required could be drawn. His manuscript collections are enormous, and relate to all classes of the people, but more especially to those families whose connections helped to found the colony of New England. Colonel Chester's generosity in communicating his hard-earned knowledge was remarkable. No fellow-student ever applied to him without receiving a courteous reply, and few without receiving substantial help in their pursuits. In the last year of his life Colonel Chester received the honorary degree of Doctor of Civil Law from the University of Oxford. Although the only published work from his invaluable archives is the Registers of Westminster Abbey, 1876, yet we can well judge from this, which is a most remarkable monument of accurate scholarship, of the untiring energy and great skill which characterized all his researches. His true function was that of collector, and the material he gathered together from all England will form the means of giving work to generations of future genealogists.

The Antiquary's Mote-Book.

Wayland Smith's Cave.-On the western limits of Berkshire, in an interesting district which borders on Wiltshire, there is in the parish of Ashbury a monument which has obtained more individual celebrity than most similar remains. It has suffered great dilapidations, but enough remains to show that it has consisted of a rather long rectangular enclosure, with two lateral chambers formed by upright stones roofed with large slabs, and the whole was probably once covered with a mound of earth. The group of stones is made up of four large blocks and of a number of smaller pieces, part supporting, but most merely lying on the ground in the immediate neighbourhood. There can be no doubt of the sepulchral character of

this monument, and it belongs to that class which is commonly called Celtic. Mr. Fergusson says::-"It is a three-chambered dolmen, almost identical in plan with Petrie's No. 27 Carrowmore, but with this difference, that whereas the arch of stones in the Irish example contained thirty-six or thirty-seven stones, and was sixty feet in diameter, this one contained probably only twenty-eight, and was only fifty feet in diameter. This, and the fact of the one consisting of sarsens, the other of granite blocks, account so completely for all the differences between them, that I cannot believe that so great a lapse of time as eight centuries could have taken place between the erection of the two. I fancy it must have been erected for the entombment of a local hero in the early centuries of the Christian era" (Rude Stone Monu

ments, pp. 123-124). It appears evident, says Mr. Akerman, in Archeologia (xxxii. 313), from the scattered fragments lying around that, although these chambered tumuli have been almost obliterated, they were often originally enclosed within a circle of stones. Traces of this circle are still visible around the cromlech, and in the arrangement of the vault we recognize a striking similarity to that of the dilapidated Cromlech du Tus. But though Celtic in origin, it bears a legend which is undoubtedly of Teutonic origin. Mr. Wright thus describes the current popular tradition. The cave was supposed to be inhabited by an invisible smith; and it was believed that if the horse of a traveller passing that way happened to cast a shoe, he had only to take the animal to this cave and, having placed a groat on the capstone, withdraw to a distance from which he could not see what was going on; on his return he would find that the horse had been well shod during his absence, and that the money had been taken away.-Journal Archeological Association, vol. xvii. p. 50. It is well known how Scott uses this tradition in his romance of Kenilworth, but those who wish to follow up the traditional history should consult Mr. Wright's article mentioned above, and also a work written on the subject by G. B. Depping and Francisque Michel, translated from the French, with additions by S. W. Singer, and published in 1847. This monument is included in Sir John Lubbock's Ancient Monuments Bill, and is described and figured in Mr. Hains Jackson's Ancient Monuments and the Lands around them, pp. 6, 7, from whom we are permitted to borrow an illustration.

Curiosities of Parish Registers.-Now that parish registers are receiving more than usual, because legislative, attention, the following note is àpropos. It is from the Gentleman's Magazine for 1783, p. 579. Extract from Worldham Register,

1621 or 2 :

"Mem. That at this present, viz. June 9th, there are, in Worldham parish, ten women living who have buried fifteen husbands, of which women two have married again, and eight remain widows, which eight have buried thirteen husbands, and might perhaps have had buried many more, if they had had them; but all the men of Worldham parish at this time living have had buried but three wives."

"1622. George Fay, born, as himself saith, 1563, was buried Allhallows Day. At this time there are so many women dwelling in Worldham parish as have buried fifteen husbands, but all the men now dwelling in Worldham have buried but one wife."

The Gentleman's Magazine asks why the air of Worldham should be so particularly fatal to married persons of the male sex.

Lists of Round Towers in Ireland.-The following publications contain lists of the Round Towers in Ireland :-Map of Ireland, published by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge (1845); Vallencey's Collectanea (1786) ii. pp. 141-2; Beaufort's Memoir of a Map of Ireland (1792) pp. 138-141; Anthologia Hibernia (1793) i. pp. 90-91; Ledwich's Antiquities of Ireland (1804) pp. 167-8; Hoar's Journal of a Tour in Ireland (1807) pp. 288-292; Bell's Essay on Gothic Architecture in Ireland (1829) pp. 77-98; Hall's Ireland (1843) vol. iii. p. 191; Wilkinson's Practical Geology and Ancient

Architecture of Ireland (1845), pp. 69-81; Kilkenny Archeological Society Transactions, ii. pp. 253-254.

The Via Sacra and the Regia.-We summarize the following important account of recent discoveries from the Times. The Minister Baccelli has succeeded in accomplishing his desire in removing in time for the celebration of Rome's "Birthday" the greater part of the 15,000 cubic feet of accumulation which, two months ago, formed an embankmentlike roadway, 35ft. in height, across the eastern end of the Forum, from the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina to the corner of the Palatine. The results of the excavations thus far have been most interesting. When, about the year 1876, the works had extended from a little in front of the arch of Septimus Severus to past the remains of the Temple of Julius and the podium of the Temple of Vesta was being uncovered on the one side beyond, and the space in front of the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina cleared on the other, it was expected that each blow of the pick would disclose the remains and site of one of the earliest, if not the first, of the triumphal arches erected in Rome, the celebrated Fornix Fabius mentioned by Cicero, which commemorated the triumphs of the Fabii, including that of Q. Fabius Maximus (Consul B. C. 121) over the Allobroges, who is supposed to have built it. But not a fragment or indication was found. There appeared to be no doubt that the arch must have been situated on the strip of ground still covered by what we have likened to an embankment. At the beginning of the last week in February the work of cutting it away was commenced. When about a third of it from the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina had been removed, a number of the voussoirs of the arch, with some of the blocks belonging to the piers, and other details, were found all lying close to each other among the rubbish. Each following day it was expected that at least the foundations of the piers would be discovered in situ, but it remains as much a mystery as before. The discovery of its site was the more especially desired because of the light it was expected to throw on the direction of the Via Sacra as trod by Horace. The portions of the Regia left buried in 1879 under the embankment have been uncovered, and from their position, importance, and construction, it is now declared that these mosaic pavements and walls undoubtedly formed part of the Regia, where, according to Servius, "Numa habitaverit, in radicibus Palatii finibusque Romani fori." The Regia in which Numa lived, and which was built by him, had, however, disappeared long before that which replaced it was burnt in the year 210 B.C.; but in the vestiges now disclosed-after having been hidden for more than eighteen centuries-we see the remains of the Regia in which Julius Cæsar dwelt after his election to the dignity of Pontifex Maximus there can be no doubt. It is the house from the doorway of which he went out on the morning of the fatal Ides of March, after Calphurnia had dreamt that its pediment, erected by the senate to do him honour, had fallen down, and to which his corpse, with one arm hanging from the bier, was carried back from the curia of Pompey. The same into which Clodius, disguised as a female musician contrived, some years before, when Pompeia was mistress there, to gain admittance during the celebration of the mysteries of the Bona Dea. The

Regia was burnt down in the Neronian conflagration. Its use had passed away when Augustus, on assuming the Pontificate, removed the residence to his house on the Palatine, and other edifices were built over it, their walls diagonally crossing its pavements, and their floors, placed on a level some three feet higher, covering and preserving at least as much of them as has been found. Alas! since 1879, left uncared for, and exposed to the devastating effects of the weather and Forestieri, they have greatly suffered. Some of the more beautiful coloured details have disappeared; but now that their historical interest is at last recognized, efforts are being made to preserve what is left from further dilapidation. The most important features remaining, or, at any rate, discovered thus far, are fragments of some of the mosaic floors, and what may have been a grand entrance or part of a peristyle. Of this there is a pier with an engaged column of travertine of which the base and some four inches of the shaft remain-covered with a thick coating of intonaco painted a deep red, and on what covers the remains of the shaft there are perpendicular lines indented a third of an inch to represent flutings. In exact line with this is the base of an isolated column, corresponding in every detail, and between it and the pier there doubtless stood another, the base of which may still exist under the remains of later constructions built across at this point. That these are remains of the Regia, as rebuilt after the fire in 210 B.C., the material and style afford sufficient proof, and to the same period belong other details, such as some of the mosaic floors, a well-head, two other travertine bases of columns, also in situ, and in line, and some of the walls. But there is also evidence that alterations had been made before the house was destroyed, for together with the walls of opus quadratum, of tufa, and travertine, there are some of early brickwork. There are no traces of marble decoration or panelling anywhere, but on the walls of the rooms looking towards the Temple of Vesta are remains of the painted stucco facing. What has been found of this historic building is far from sufficient to permit of any attempt to restore its plan, but there is enough, taking the direction of the columns and the lines of the walls and floors behind, at more or less right angles from them, to show that the Regia stood with one side-probably the front-facing the Temple of Vesta, and somewhat diagonally towards the area of the Forum, and the other on the Via Sacra as, coming along it from the Capitoline, it turned gently to the left after passing in front of the Temples of Castor and Pollux and of Vesta. That that was the original direction of the Via Sacra these last excavations have clearly established, and especially do they disprove the theory that the road descending from the Velia continued on at any time in a direct line only to the Arch of Septimus Severus. By the western corner of the Temple of Romulus there is a distinct bifurcation, going towards the Forum. Between that point and the Temple of Castor and Pollux there is a flagged pavement of travertine, roughly laid, where the level had, in still ancient times, been raised to the extent of some 3ft. or 4ft. above the road which passed onwards by the Temples of Vesta and Castor and Pollux to where it appears again in front of the Basilica Julia. The area between the Temples of Antoninus and Faustina and Vesta may be described as a kind of