As early as the 1530s, John Leland successfully identified Roman bricks (under the misleading designation "Briton brykes") at several different sites, distinguishing them from more modern bricks by size and shape.[2] Antiquaries began to recognise in the late 16th century that medieval monumental effigies represented with their legs crossed were likely to be older than those with straight legs.[3] In the late 17th century, John Aubrey worked out crude evolutionary sequences based on typological distinctions for medieval architecture, handwriting, shield-shapes and costume, describing his technique as "comparative antiquitie".[4][5][6] The outline of the development of medieval Gothic architecture was further refined in the 18th century, notably by James Bentham in his 1771 History and Antiquities of Ely Cathedral, and culminated in the clear sequence of styles published by Thomas Rickman in 1817.[7][8][9][10] Richard Gough, in his Sepulchral Monuments in Great Britain (1786–99), used comparative and typological methodology to analyse the development of English church monuments.[11][12]