while the rest, being mostly sporadic finds, are of no chronological value, so that the precise date when enamel began to be used by British artists is absolutely unknown. We know, however, that during the Roman occupation of Britain the working of enamel was successfully prosecuted. Much has been made of the historical evidence of Philostratus, that the 'barbarians who live in the ocean pour these colours on heated brass, that they adhere, become hard as stone and preserve the designs that have been made in them.' But this was written at the beginning of the third century a.d., and evidently refers to a time when enamel work had made great progress, especially by the adoption of a variety of colours.
"The same reasoning applies to hand-mirrors, the chronology of which is also an unknown factor, as none of the Late Celtic mirrors discovered in Britain, outside the Glastonbury Lake-village, have been shown to be older than Romano-British times. It would, however, be unwise to push these arguments further in the meantime, as the exploration of the Meare Lake-village, the discovery of which has been recently announced, may supply materials which will throw additional light on the various points here raised." (Glastonbury Lake-Village, Vol. I, p. 31.)
In casting a retrospective glance over the sources of Late Celtic art, as developed within
