Hjstoria vndecim milium virginum breviori atque faciliori modo pulcerrime collecta." Colon. 1509, 4to. Very scarce also.

"De Legende, vn hystorie der XI dusent jonferen, s. 1. et a." (circ. 1490), a curious Low German legend, illustrated with quaint engravings, forty in number.

De S. Lory, "Sainte Ursule triomphante des cœurs, de l'enfer, de l'empire, Patrone du célèbre collége de Sorbonne," Paris, 1666, 4to. The legend has been carefully analyzed by Rettberg, in his "Deutschlands Kirchengeschichte," i. pp.

111-123.

Crombach broke a lance in honour of the eleven thousand in 1647: his work, "Ursula Vindicata," Colon. 1647, fol., with three maps, is interesting as containing documentary evidence; but it is disfigured by the superstition of the writer.

Leo, J. G., "ȧтоσкíaσμа hist.-antiquarium de 11,000 virginibus." Leucopetræ, 1721, 4to. Reischert, L., "Lebens-Geschichte u. Märtyrtod der N. Ursula." Cologne, 1837, 8vo.

Heinen, E. M. J., "Leben, Fahrt, u. Märtyrtod der h. Ursula." Cologne, 1838, 8vo. Scheben, A., "Leben der h. Ursula." Cologne, 1850, 8vo. Schade, Oskar, "Die Sage v. der h. Ursula,”

340 S. Ursula and the Eleven Thousand Virgins

Hanover, 1854, 8vo. Also a beautiful series of illustrations of the legend copied from the interesting paintings in the church at Cologne, published by Kellerhoven, "La légende de S. Ursula." Leipzig 1861.

Some curious stories of the appearances of the sacred virgin companions of Ursula, and of the marvels wrought by their bones, occur in Cæsarius of Heisterbach's gossiping Dialogue of Miracles.

The Legend of the Cross

Ὦ ξύλον, ᾧ μακαριστὸν, ἐφ ̓ ᾧ Θεὸς ἐξετανύσθη.

Sibyll, vi. 26.

N the year 1850 chance led me to the discovery

IN

of a Gallo-Roman palace at Pont d'Oli (Pons Aula), near Pau, in the south of France.

I was able to exhume the whole of the ruins, and to bring to light one of the most extensive series of mosaic pavements extant.

The remains consisted of a mansion two hundred feet long, paved throughout with mosaic: it was divided into summer and winter apartments; the latter heated by means of hypocausts, and of small size; the former very large, and opening on to a corridor above the river, once adorned with white marble pillars, having capitals of the Corinthian order. One of the first portions of the palace to be examined was the atrium, out of which, on the

west, opened the tablinum, a semi-circular chamber panelled with alabaster and painted.

The atrium contained a large quadrangular tank or impluvium, the dwarf walls of which were encased in variegated Pyrenean marbles. On the west side of the impluvium, below the step of the tablinum, the pavement represented five rows of squares. The squares in the first, third, and fifth rows were filled with a graceful pattern composed of curves. In the second and fourth rows, however, every fourth square contained a distinctly characterized red cross on white ground, with a delicate white spine down the middle (Fig. 2). Some few of these crosses had a black floriation in the angles, much resembling that met with in Gothic crosses (Fig. 4). Immediately in front of the tablinum, on the dwarf wall of the impluvium, stood the altar to the Penates, which was found. The corresponding pavement on the east of the impluvium was similar in design to the other, but the S. George's crosses were replaced by those of S. Andrew, each limb terminating either in a heart-shaped leaf or a trefoil (Figs. 1, 5). The design on the north and south was different, and contained no crosses. The excavations to the north led to the summer apartment. The most northerly chamber measured 26

feet by 22 feet; it was not only the largest, but evidently the principal room of the mansion, for the

pavement was the most elaborate and beautiful. It was bordered by an exquisite running pattern of vines and grape bunches, springing from four drinking vessels in the centres of the north, south, east, and west sides. The pattern within this border was of circles, containing conventional roses alternately folded and expanded. This design was, however, rudely interrupted by a monstrous cross

measuring 19 feet 8 inches by 13 feet, with its head towards the south, and its foot at the head of a flight of marble steps descending into what we were