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Show 216 BURIAL OF TilE REMAINS CnAr. IV. CnAr. IV. OF ANCIENT BUILDINGS. 217 than the other half without any assignable cause. In a bricked passage to Mr. Joyce's own house, laid down only about six years ago, the same kind of sinking has occurred as in tbe ancient buildings. N evcrtheless it doc · not appear probabk that the whole amonnt of sinking can be thus accounted for. The Roman builders excavated the ground to au unusual depth for the foundations of their walls, which were thick and solid ; it is therefore hardly credible that they should have been careless about the solidity of the bed on which their tesselated and often ornamented pavements were laid. The sinking must, as it appears to me, be attributed in chief part to the pavement having been undermined by worrns, which we know are still at work. Even Mr. Joyce at last admitted that this could not have failed to have produced a considerable effect. Thus also the large quantity of :fine mould overlying the pavement::; can be accounted for, the presence of which would otherwise be inexplicable. My sons noticed that in one room in which the pavement had sagged very little, there was an unusually small amount of overlying mould. |