The tools section alone provides a vivid picture of the equipment of the Roman artisan. Here you may see gouges, nails, axes, adzes, bradawls and cers, some of them still in as good condition as when they were first made for their owners 1,500 years ago.
Leather-work is represented by boots and shoes of all sizes and types, varying. from the. delicate little children's moccasins and ornamental sandals of the rich to the heavy hobnailed boots worn; by the working classes, Excavations for the building of the present Royal: Exchange proved another fruitful source of knowledge of Roman London. From this site came specimens of the iron still or pens and the waxed wooden tablets used for writing, together with dice, flutes, whistles and other articles of recreation with which the citizens passed their leisure hours.
Strigils or bent metal scrapers used for removing perspiration from the body shows that the equivalent: of the modern Turkish bath was as widely enjoyed in Roman London as elsewhere throughout the Empire. The arts of the toilet were also highly developed. In the museum may be seen perfect little manicure sets consisting of nail cleaners, ear picks and tweezers for removing superfluous hair, the three articles connected together by a swivel for suspension from the girdle.
Mirror cases strangely resembling modern powder boxes, hair pins. combs, pendants, earrings, brooches. bracelets, rings and dress-fastener: show that the women of Roman London were no less occupied with the problems of adornment than their sisters of today.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.