From time immemorial a cow-pen upon land in the occupation of Mr. H. Brunsden has gone by the name of church-pen. The reason is obvious. Here are six pillars about eight feet high, by two in diameter, circular, and formed of hewn stone. At present they simply support the roof of a shed; but it does not seem probable that such substantial pillars were originally erected for this purpose. They are nearly east and west. Bones, it is said, have been dug up in the adjacent ground, but such testimony is very unreliable until examined by a person learned in anatomy. The road from Coate makes a wide semi-circle round to Chisledon. Day-house Lane cuts off the angle, and was formerly much used, until the road was widened and macadamised. There may be seen on the left side of Day-house Lane, exactly opposite the entrance to a pen on Dayhouse Farm,1 five Sarsden stones, much sunk in the ground, but forming a semi-circle of which the lane is the base-line or tangent.

There was a sixth upon the edge of the lane, but it was blown up and removed, in order to make the road more serviceable, a few years ago. Whether this was or was not one of those circles known as Druidical, cannot now be determined, but it wears that appearance. It would seem that the modern lane had cut right through the circle, destroying all vestige of one half of it. In the next field, known as the Plain, lies, near the footpath across the fields to Chisledon, another Sarsden of enormous size, with two smaller satellites of the same stone close by. If the semi-circle just spoken of was a work of the Druids, or of the description known as Druidical, which some think a very different thing, it may be just possible that these detached stones in the Plain had some connection with it.

A little further up the same line is a place known as Badbury Wick. Wick is an old Saxon word having a loose meaning, but generally indicating a habitation. Here, on the left-hand in a field, there are deep and wide grass-grown fosses, having a remarkable likeness to a moat. A moat does not of necessity denote the position of a fortified building. In Roman Catholic timesthree centuries since and morewhen fish was the diet of all who could get it at certain periods of the year, a moat would answer a double purposethat of defence, and that of a fish pond. Badbury lies partly upon the side of a hill and partly in a deep valley. There is a large elm tree in the middle of the village; here stood the stocks within the memory of man, and a small portion still remains. Badbury is a very ancient village, and dates from the Saxon times at least.

One enthusiastic antiquarian of the last century was of the opinion that here, or upon the hill immediately above itwell known as Liddington Hill and famous for its campwas the identical spot where the renowned King Arthur won his twelfth battle in the year 520, or thereabout. If this conjecture be true, Badbury was a known place more than thirteen centuries since. According to Nennius,1 the ancient British historian, it was even longer ago than this. About the middle of the fifth

century he writes thus: "There it was that the magnanimous Arthur, with all the kings and military force of Britain, fought against the Saxons.1 And although there were many more noble than himself, yet he was twelve times their commander, and was as often conqueror." Giving the places where he was victorious in eleven battles, Nennius proceeds: "The twelfth battle was a severe contest, when Arthur penetrated to the hill of Badon. In this engagement, nine hundred and forty fell by his hand alone, no one but the Lord affording him assistance." A wonderful feat, equalling that which Samson executed upon the Philistines. This "hill of Badon," or "mons Badonicus," has perhaps caused more discussion and disagreement than any other single doubtful point in the early history of England.

Some unhesitatingly place it at Bath; Baydonhill near Aldbourne has had its claims put forward; others prefer Badbury, it being a place of undoubted antiquity, and in the immediate neighbourhood of places very celebrated in days gone by. Nor is King Arthur

the only personage of antiquity with whom Badbury has been in some degree connected.

Who has not heard of St. Dunstan? Dunstan,1 Abbot of Glastonburywhose saintship is so much doubted, and whose fame approaches infamy. Dunstan first became celebrated in the reign of King Edred, in about the middle of the tenth century. Edred's reign ended in the year 955. He gave in the same year the manor of Badbury to St. Dunstan. A charter is said to be still preserved, containing the boundaries. It mentions the "Ten Stones" as a landmark. Much later, the Ridforms, or Ridferns, became lords of the manor. A monument to one of them was in Chisledon church.

Chisledon, which lies somewhat to the right of the Marlborough road, is a very ancient village. There is a place here known as Blackman's barrow; and barrows are considered to be the burial places of the Britons. A Roman roadthe Skelton Waypasses through the place, as does also a British track, known as the "Rudgeway," that is, the Ridge Way, or

road running along the ridge of the hills. The Ridge Way branches off from the Skineld Street at Streetly, passes by White-Horse Hill, and, after leaving Chisledon, runs to Avebury.

It was probably the ancient military road connecting the fortifications upon the downs with each other. On the north of Chisledon frowns Liddington Castle, a well-preserved earthwork upon the brow of the hill. On the south, at a greater distance, may be seen another entrenchment, that of Barbury. The downs fall back, forming a semi-circle through which the Marlborough road passes, by means of a vale and pass at Ogbourne, and thus enclose a wide plain a most fit and proper place for a town in ancient times. Here accordingly stands Chisledon, on the very edge of the plain, giving the inhabitants the vantage ground of the hill in case of attack from the vale beneath. The etymology of the name shows its great antiquity; Ceaseldeneceasel is an Anglo-Saxon word for gravel, sand, or rubble, of which there is a sufficiency at Chisledon, and dene, meaning plain. Hence Ceasel-dene would mean perhaps the gravel or rubble plain, and the name of the plain would be quickly applied to the village upon it. The Saxon ce, has in several instances been changed into ch, in the lapse of centuries. A familiar example is the word churlmeaning a rude, uncivil fellow, a rustic derived from the Saxon word laborer, or serf, rude as the soil he cultivated. Charles1 is said to have come from the same root, meaning a husbandman. Chisledon Church was visited by Aubrey two centuries since. Here are his memoranda concerning it: "By the communion table a gravestone of marble, with brasses, with this inscription: 'Here lyeth the body of Francis Rutland, Esquier, sonne and heir to Nycolas Rutland of Micham in the countie of Surrie esquier, who marryed the daughter of Thomas Stephens esqr., and had four sonnes and two daughters.

He died XXVII of August, 1592.' The escutcheon's lost: he was a courtier and died in the progress.

"In nave ecclesise: 'Here lieth the body of Rich. Harvey gentlemen, who departed this

life January 16 and was buried Jan. 1668 aet suae 80.'" Francis Rutland, esquire, who "was a courtier and died in the progress," was probably one of the court of Queen Elizabeth, and died whilst accompanying her in one of her annual journeys through her dominions. Stephens is a name that was formerly connected with Burderop. There is a tradition that Queen Elizabeth slept a night or two at a mansion at Upper Upham, about two miles from Chisledon. The Galleys of Burderop have their family vaults in the church. The name was well known in the time of the Civil Wars. On the death-warrant of Charles I. is the signature of "Will Cawley." He was for a long while considered the ancestor of the present owner of Burderop, but this has been shown to have arisen from a mistake, the "Will Cawley" named above belonging to another family.

Chisledon can still show a stocks in first-rate order, and perfectly capable of confining a malefactor, should that ancient mode of punishment ever come again into use. They stand immediately beneath the churchyard wall, close to the gate; a pleasant situation for an incarcerated offender, especially upon a Sunday.

The Ridge Way road when it leaves Chisledon winds away to Draycott Foliatt. Here there once stood a church, but it has disappeared, and a part of the woodwork was probably used in building an adjacent house.

The churchyard may still be seenno building is allowed to be erected upon itand bones were dug up when a saw-pit was being made there. A clergyman still receives a stipend from the inhabitants of Draycott, and preaches a sermon once a year in the adjoining church of Chisledon in return. Leaving Draycott Foliatt, the Ridge Waynow broad, and only shown to be a road by the waggon tracks on the turfruns under Barbury Castle. Here in days gone by was Burderop racecourse.

Silver cups which were won upon this springy turf are still preserved here and there about the country. Burderop Races were celebrated in former days. Now the greater portion of the course is ploughed up, and the remainder occupied by furze.

Upon the summit of Barbury may be seen one of those numerous camps or entrenchments scattered about at various points upon the downs. This is a peculiar one. It consists of two fosses, or ditches, one within the other. If we remember rightly, such was the Saxon method of encampment; but it by no means follows that Barbury Castle was originally fortified by them. In all probability these posts, known as castles, have been successively occupied by Briton, Anglo-Saxon, Roman, and Dane; each and all of whom altered the form of the fortification to suit their peculiar requirements, so that each camp would bear the outline given it by its last occupants. The inner fosse here is very deep, and its sides are nearly perpendicularit was carried deeper and was cut more steep than that at Liddington, though the ground enclosed may not be so extensive.

The outer fosse is by no means so broad. It must have required a large number of men to defend such fortifications as these, and especially in times when fighting was carried on hand to handwhen every foot of ground would be occupied by a warrior. It is very evident that these fortifications were constructed before missile weapons were employed.

Here is no attempt at flanking. The defenders have no advantage excepting those of two deep ditches, and an embankment between them and the assailants. They cannot deliver a cross fire. They must stand face to face, and hand to hand, and side by side all along the edge of these embankments. Nor must the fosses be left empty. The defenders of such a fortification in those days would need to be counted by thousands. But where could thousands of warriors be got from? North Wilts could not supply, or certainly could not spare them now.

Nor is this the only camp in this part of the country. Look away to the north-east. Two may be seen in a line with each other and with Barbury, capping the crown of the hills. They are Liddington and White Horse Hills. There is a general impression that in ancient days Britain was a mere wild waste, unpeopled, one vast extent of forest and mountain. This certainly was not the case with North Wilts and that part of Berks joining its north-eastern extremity. The place, so to say, is literally alive with the dead. Not a step can be taken which does not lead to some token of antiquity. Turn up the turf and you shall find coins, arrowheads, and bones. Walk in the fields and you shall see the traces of moats and ancient buildings. Ascend the downs and pause in astonishment before the vast fortifications of a former era. These downs were once trodden by the bold Britons; the Roman soldier lay down to rest upon the thymy turf; the Saxon stretched himself at ease on yonder embankment; the Dane imbrued his weapon in the blood of the Saxon on yonder hill. North Wilts must have been as populous then as now, the difference being simply in the change of the spots inhabited.

Barbury has been considered to have been the scene of a terrible battle, recorded in the ancient Chronicles. Ethelwerd writes thus: "a.d. 552, Cenric,1 fought against the Britons near the town of Scarburh (Old Sarum, near Salisbury), and having routed them, slew a large number. The same, some years after (559), fought with Ceawlin against the Britons near a place called Berin-byrig." Berin-byrig certainly might in the course of centuries become changed to Barbury. It would

merely require the dropping of the second syllable, "in," and the broadening of the vowel e. The letter g is properly y. Cenric and Ceawlin were two Saxon chiefs. If this be a true conjecture, Barbury Castle or camp has probably been in existence for more than thirteen hundred years; and yet it is still in a condition which might, in an emergency, afford a good shelter to a considerable garrison, and will probably remain thus whilst the hill stands. These works of the ancient inhabitants of Britain were by no means so slight and insignificant as has been supposed. It must have required an enormous amount of labour to dig out these deep fosses, more especially with the tools of that day. Probably much of the earth was carried up in baskets. The Ridge Way runs from Barbury away to Avebury. At the foot of the hill close to the Marlborough road stand two tumuli. Tumuli accompany the Ridge Way the whole course of its length. It was not a method of burial singular to the Britons. Homer makes mention of tumuli.

Hector offers single combat to the Grecians in the Iliad, promising should he be successful to restore the dead body of his assailant:

" Whilst to his friends restored, funereal rites

The sorrowing Grecians at their ships perform:

And on the Hellespont's resounding shore

Erect the tumulus that future times

May know, and late posterity remark,

Ploughing the briny wave; Behold the tomb

Of some illustrious chief by Hector slain!

So shall my glory brave the wreck of years."

The British chiefs, or whoever they may be that lie buried at the foot of Barbury, have not been so fortunate as Hector. Their glory has not braved the wreck of years. Their very names are unknown. Conjecture itself can go no further than to suppose that the bodies of those slain in the battle with Cenric and Ceawlin lie here. They had no Homer.

Richard of Cirencester, describing the funeral rites of the ancient Britons, proceeds thus: "Their interments were magnificent; and all the things which they prized during life, even arms and animals, were thrown into the funeral pile. A heap of earth and turf formed the sepulchre." Here there is another analogy with the customs of the Greeks, as recorded by Homer. At Patroclus's funeral, after certain ceremonies,

"Then in the pyle

Four generous steeds they cast still groaning loud;

And add to these two of nine faithful dogs,

Whilom their master's care ! "

--"the things which they prized during life" of the Cirencester chronicler.

When Burderop races were run immediately beneath the slope of the hill, Barbury was covered with spectators, but at present the hill is deserted, save by the flint-diggers, the shepherds, and an occasional traveller. Burderop can be distinctly seen at a distance of two good miles. Adjoining Burderop is a place called Hodsona small village which, like the towns of the Britons, is situated in a wood. Hodson is said to have been formerly spelt Hoddesdon, and, if so, may be the place alluded to in the following verse of a sonnet which may be found in Laura; or, Select Sonnets and Quartorzans, published early in the present century. The same work contains a sonnet written after walking across the Marlborough Downs to Midenhall, on a stormy night. The sonnet is addressed to the pimpernel:

"Gem of the fields, whose form and hues first gave

The sense of beauty to my childish eye,

If many a traveller pass unheeding by,

To me thou wilt not in oblivion's wave

Sink; could my muse thy beauteous flow'rets lave

In brightest tints of immortality

Thou hast deserved. Whate'er on earth or sky

Wafts the delighted thought beyond the grave.

From such beginning dawned upon the mind

What time my infant feet on Hoddesdon's ground

First learnt to pace. With what new joy I saw

Thine azure eye with golden summits crowned

And scarlet leaves, which coming tempests bind

Cinquefolded close, warm suns to fair expansion draw."

September 9th, 1805. C. L.

A note added states that the country name of the pimpernel is wincopipe, probably from "wind, go pipe," the closing of the flower being a well-known sign of tempest.

Perhaps two miles from Barbury, upon the Marlborough road, is a small villageactually without a public-housecalled Ruckley. On the down above this place there are a number of Sarsden stones. Nine of these seem to form an oval, and there are four more within, placed two by two. This may be another of those works commonly ascribed to the Druids.

The ends of the oval point nearly east and west. Marlborough race ground is immediately beneath this hill. Some distance further is a place known as the "Devil's Den"1 among the country people, where are a number of stones, and amongst them two of great height, placed on end, with a third across, like a beam, forming a kind of portal. It may be observed that the so-much admired Grecian architecture in its severest form was but an ornamental improvement upon this simple erection: the pillars were fluted, and capitals added, but the idea was the same in the Druidical temples, such as Stonehenge. The arch seems to have come from the Goths. Not a great distance from the "Devil's Den" is a place known as Temple Bottom, where were a number of stones, which of late years have been broken up and removed. Hewish,2 near which these remains of a period which preceded history may be seen, is a place which became known to the London reading public through the medium of No. 237 of Household Words, published Saturday, October 7th, 1867. In that number may be found a most amusing article

headed "The Ghost of Pit Pond." The writer takes up his residence at Marlborough, at the "Castle" Inn, which was then famous for roast capons, and while amusing himself by strolling over the adjacent downs he meets with an old shepherd, and from him learns several legends, amongst which "The Ghost of Pit Pond, Hewish," occupies the most space. The action takes place about fifty years previous to the writer's arrival at Marlborough, which was twenty years ago; consequently it must have been nearly a century since. A Mr. Reeves, of Hewish Farm, says the legend, hung himself for the love of an equestrian actress, whose wonderful horsemanship he had seen displayed in a leap of twenty-five feet. The ghost of the suicide being reported to walk, a clergyman was called in, and the spirit laid in Pit Pond close by, which previously was clear as crystal, but immediately afterwards became muddy and green, nor would the beasts drink from it.

The shepherd finishes his tale by remarking that "You may believe I haven't told you a word but what's been told to me for true." Marlborough lies a short distance from Ruckley. The following extract is from Lord Clarendon's History of the Great Rebellion, and relates to the siege of Marlborough during the Civil Wars.

"The king was hardly settled in his quarters (at Oxford) when he heard that the Parliament was fixing a garrison at Marlborough in Wiltshire, a town the most notoriously disaffected of all that county; otherwise, saving the obstinacy and malice of the inhabitants, in the situation of it very unfit for a garrison. Thither the Earl of Essex had sent one Ramsay (a Scotchman, as most of their officers were of that nation), to be governor, who, with the help of the factious people there, had quickly drawn together five or six hundred men. This place the king saw would quickly prove an ill neighbour to him, not only as it was in the heart of a rich county, and so would straiten, and even infect, his quarters (for it was within twenty miles of Oxford), but as it did cut off his line of communication with the west, and therefore, though it was December, a season when his tired and almost naked soldiers might expect rest, he sent a strong party of horse, foot, and dragoons, under the command of Mr. Wilmott, the lieutenant-general of horse, to visit that

town; who, coming thither on a Saturday, found the place strongly mann'd; for, besides the garrison, it being market-day, very many country people came thither to buy and sell, and were all compell'd to stay and take arms for the defence of the place; which, for the most part, they were willing to do, and the people peremptory to defend it. Though there was no line about it, yet there was some place of great advantage upon which they had raised batteries and planted cannon, and so barricadoed all the avenues, which were through deep narrow lanes, that the horse could do little service.

"When the lieutenant-general was with his party near the town, he apprehended a fellow who confessed upon examination that he was a spy, and sent by the governor to bring intelligence of their strength and motion. When all men thought, and the poor fellow himself fear'd, he should be executed, the lieutenant- general caused his whole party to be ranged in order in the next convenient place, and bid the fellow look well upon them and observe them, and then bid him return to the town, and tell those that sent him what he had seen, and withal that he should acquaint the magistrates of the town that they should do well to tract with the garrison to give them leave to submit to the king; that if they did so, the town should not receive the least prejudice; but if they compell'd him to make his way, and enter the town by force, it would not be in his power to keep his soldiers from taking that which they should win with their blood; and so dismiss'd him. This generous act proved of some advantage; for the fellow, transported with having his life given him, and the numbers of the men he had seen (besides his no experience in such sights), being multiplied by his fear, made notable relations of the strength, gallantry, and resolution of the enemy, and of the impossibility of resisting them; which, though it prevailed not with those in authority to yield, yet it strangely abated the hopes and courage of the people. So that when the king's soldiers fell on, after a volley or two, in which much execution was done, they threw down their arms, and ran into the town; so that the foot had time to make room for the horse, who were now entered at both ends of the town, yet were not so near an end as they expected; for the streets were in many places barricadoed, which were obstinately defended by some soldiers and townsmen, who killed many men out of the windows of the houses; so that, it may be, if they had trusted only to their own strength, without compelling the countrymen to increase their number, and who, being first frighted and weary, disheartened their companions, that place might have cost more blood. Ramsey, the governor, was himself retired into the church with some officers, and from thence did some hurt; upon this, there being so many kill'd out of windows, fire was put to the next houses, so that a good part of the town was burn'd, and then the soldiers enter'd, doing less execution than could reasonably be expected, but what they spared in blood they took in pillage, the soldiers inquiring little who were friend or foes.

"This was the first garrison taken on either side (for I cannot call Farnham Castle in Surrey one, whither some gentlemen who were willing to appear for the king had repaired, and were taken with less resistance than was fit, by Sir William Waller some few days before it deserved the name of a garrison); in which were taken (besides the governor and other officers, who yielded upon quarter), above one thousand prisoners, great store of arms, four pieces of canon, and a good quantity of amunition, with all which the lieutenant-general returned safe to Oxford."

THE first place of interest to an antiquarian upon the Devizes road from Swindon is the village of Wroughton, about three miles distant. It is the largest village in the neighbourhood, and is placed in a most beautiful situation. Wood, water, dell and down, combine to render it a most attractive spot. Recently the operations of the Swindon Water Works' Company have completely altered the aspect of one of the romantic valleys of which there are several in the neighbourhood of Wroughton; but the memory of the Seven Springs will not quickly die away from the remembrance of its inhabitants.

Wroughton has long retained its celebrity as a beautiful place. Aubrey, who came here two hundred years ago, says that around here was the garden of Wiltshire, meaning to intimate its fertility and high state of cultivation. It is an ancient place. Some say that one of the downs immediately over the village was originally called Ellandune. Ellandune was once the scene of a severe contest. The Chronicle of Ethelwerd contains the following passage: "a.d. 823 . . . King Egbert fought a battle against Burnulf, King of the Mercians, at Ellandune, and Egbert gained the victor; but there was a great loss on both sides; and Hun, duke of the Province of Somerset, was there slain; he lies buried in the city of Winchester. Egbert was king of the West Saxons, and became a very celebrated monarch." This battle took place over a thousand years ago, in which time great changes might be expected to occur in the names of spots once well known as the scenes of strife, and a consequent difficulty to arise in fixing their exact situation. Hence Ellandune has been also considered to be near Wilton. If the battle really did take place near Wroughton, upon a down called Ellandune, it was probably at no great distance from the spot where the church now stands. The vale beneath still goes by the name of Ellcomb, in which is preserved the first syllable of Ellandune. "En" has been frequently dropped in the course of centuries, as Oxenford, Oxford.

Comb would seem to come from an ancient British word, still preserved in the Welsh cwm, meaning a vale. Ellcomb would naturally be the vale beneath Ellandune. This is, however, merely a conjecture. Wroughton churchyard is remarkably crowded with gravestones, which cluster so closely around an ancient yew that its stem can scarcely be seen.

The support of a sundial still remains, but the gnomon and hour-circle have disappeared.

Close by the portal is a tombstone with the following curious inscription:

"John Dvcke, departed this life the 16th day August, 1666, Who lived well to die never, and died well to live ever."

.Broad Hinton is the next village. By the side of the road thither, there may be observed crosses cut deep into the turf, and kept clean by the roadmenders, in order to commemorate the spots where accidents or murders have taken place. Broad Hinton is on the plain beneath the swelling downs. Here may be seen cut out on the turf, on the slope of the down, close beside the Marlborough road, another white horse, though of far less size than that at Ashdown. These horses are far from uncommon upon the Marlborough Downs, and may, perhaps, indicate the strong hold which the Saxons had gained upon this part of Britain. Besides this, there is the celebrated white horse at Ashdown, and the almost equally well known white horse at Marlborough, which the scholars take a delight in cleaningthree, perhaps, within ten miles of each other. Broad Hinton has its legend as well as other better known places. Somewhat apart from the village stands a magnificent yew-tree, and near by it a cottage. Part of this cottage is built over a large well of enormous depth, the chain to which the two buckets are attached, one going up as the other goes down, is said to be two hundred feet in length. The chain runs over a shaft, turned by a large wheel, which can be set revolving by a man standing within ita giddy operation to those unused to such exertion, A testimony to the depth of the well is easily obtained by dropping a stone down, when several moments elapse ere it touches the water, causing a noise which, reverberating from the sides, resembles thunder. At the bottom of this well lies wealth in the shape of plate, says tradition. This plate, according to the same authority, was thrown down here in the time of the Civil War. So strong is the belief amongst the common people of the truth of this story that some men, no great while since, offered to undertake the arduous work of cleaning it out, for what they would find at the bottomwhich offer was, however, declined by the owner, who considered the operation too dangerous. Near by this cottage the ground is uneven and irregular, generally a sure sign of having once been built upon, and accordingly here, says tradition, once stood a noble mansion known as Broad Hinton House.

Broad Hinton Church is a very ancient erection.1 It was visited by Aubrey in the seventeenth century, who therein copied an inscription which time has now rendered nearly illegible, though sufficient remains to identify

the monument to which he refers. It is upon the north side of the chancel, facing the communion table, and consists of a slab let into the wall. Here is Aubrey's copy: "Here lyeth Syr William Wroughton, knight, who dyed in the 50 yeare of his age in Anno Dom. 1559; and left jssewe of his body by Dame Elinor his wife, daughter of Edward Lewknor, esq., 4 sonnes and 3 daughters; and built the house at Broadhinton, Anno Domini 1540." This house at Broad Hinton, built by Syr William Wroughton, is undoubtedly the same, of which tradition says that it stood near the well above-mentioned, which well was probably dug to supply it with water, so necessary in those days, when no one knew how soon it might be before his house would be besieged.

Syr William Wroughton flourished in the reign of Henry the Eighth, and built his house whilst that monarch sat upon the throne, though he did not die until the first year of Queen Elizabeth. Those were stirring times.

In the fifty years of his life, Syr William Wroughton had seen four occupants of the throneHenry the Eighth, Edward the Sixth, Queen Mary and, lastly, Queen Elizabeth.

He could have related, no doubt, the rumours of Henry's cruelty and love of changewitness thereto his many wives; of Edward's piety, of the persecution of the reformers by Queen Mary, and of the glory of the nation after the accession of Elizabeth. He could remember the short reign of Lady Jane Grey, and her unfortunate end. Syr William Wroughton lived in dangerous days, and doubtless had his share in the convulsions which agitated England. Wroughton is an ancient name. Persons bearing it held property at Wanborough in times long gone by. Other members of the family lie buried in Broad Hinton church. On the opposite side of the chancel there is a monument, said to be that of Syr Thomas Wroughton, son of the Syr William mentioned above. A figure of the knight, somewhat under full size, kneels upon a cushion, facing the altar, as if praying, though the hands are now broken off. He is in armour. Immediately behind him kneels his lady, wearing a head-covering of the most extraordinary shape.

To-day satire is directed against the feminine sex on account of the small size of their bonnets, neither defending the head against wind nor rain; then the case was precisely the reverse. Fashions in their changes often revert to those of times gone by. Pray heaven the fickle goddess of fashion may never startle the affrighted world by reproducing the head covering of Lady Wroughton! Over the knight and his lady is a kind of canopy, and beneath them small carved figures of their eight childrenfour boys, and as many girls; the boys beneath their father, the girls beneath their mother.

Broad Hinton estate formerly belonged to the Wroughton family, from whom it was purchased by Sir John Glanville, second son of John Glanville, Judge, P.C., in 1640. He was a very celebrated Sergeant-at-Law, and still more famous as the Speaker of the House of Commons during the agitation which preceded the Civil War. He is mentioned by Lord Clarendon in his History of the Rebellion.

Glanville, says tradition, burned Broad Hinton House, in order to prevent its being used as a garrison by the Parliament.1 If there be any

truth in the tale, it was probably at this time that the plate which has already been alluded to was cast down the well, that it might not be seized by the Parliamentarian soldiers, and converted into the means of carrying on the war against King Charles. There are several monuments to the Glanville family in Broad Hinton church. On the left side of the chancel, facing the altar, stands a full-length statue of one of them in armour, and holding a gilded staff in one hand, the end of the staff resting upon his thigh. The crest is a stag.

This statue is of alabaster, and well executed.

The date is a.d. 1645the days of King Charles and the Civil Warand there is a long Latin inscription running up the wall on each side of the statue, in a most awkward manner for the reader. Sir John Glanville, eldest son of the famous Sergeant-at-Law, was a lieutenant in the service of King Charles the First, and died at the siege of Bridgewater, in Somerset, in 1645. Beyond the monument and inscription to Syr William Wroughton, on the same side of the chancel, is a monument to the memory of Johannes Glanville, son of John Glanville, of Tavistock. He lived temp. Charles I. and II. The date is 1661. Near by is another monument to another Glanville, dated 1673. Here is suspended high up, immediately beneath the roof, a large helmet, with a pair of gauntlets, somewhat mutilated, as if they had seen service, and been where

" With many a thwack, and many a bang,

Hard crabtree and old iron rang."

The Glanville crest was evidently a stag, miniature representations of which can be seen in numerous places. The coat-of-arms of the Wroughtons interred here bears three boars' heads, whose tusks can still be seen, though they have been sculptured here these three centuries and more.

John Evelyn once came to Broad Hinton.

His memoirs have been since published, and contain much amusing matter concerning the court of Charles II. Sir John Evelyn (?) was a person so deeply implicated in the rebellion that he was excepted by name in King Charles's proclamation of pardon to Wiltshire, according to Lord Clarendon.

Some distance beyond Broad Hinton lies Avebury, a place which is perhaps the most fertile spot in objects of antiquarian interest of any in North Wilts. Avebury is best approachedthat is for a viewby the Ridg Way road, which runs there along the ridge or summit of the downs from Barbury. From the last down, Avebury,1 or, as it is more usually spelt and written, Abury, can be seen to great advantage. Probably to a stranger it would be invisible, however, the village being concealed by trees, and a vast mound of earth thrown up which surrounds it. Abury is in the middle of a plain, and seems to have been approached by an avenue of stones much more than a mile in length. A similar approach to the temples of their gods marked the Egyptian places of worship, although in their case, the

stones instead of being merely placed on end were carved into the likeness of sphinxes, many of which remain to this day to testify to the grandeur with which the Egyptian priests surrounded their mysterious religion. The stone avenue at Abury commences on the slope at the entrance to a deep-sided narrow valley east of the village, and does not simply consist of two rows of stones: nor is the appearance of regularity always visible, nor invariably preserved during the whole distance. At the commencement of the avenue the stones seem scattered about without any attempt at order; in a short distance they assume a more regular appearance, being placed upon the bottom of the valley.1 Here and there lie as many as three or four huge stones, thrown almost one upon the other, and partially overlapping.

These would seem to have been originally cromlechsstones set on edge and covered in with one broad flat stone. That this was the case appears to be still more evident in other stone groups, where the cromlechs seem to

have sunk bodily into the earth, though still sufficiently above ground to enable their original position to be conjectured. If these were cromlechs they probably served the double purpose of at once forming a monument to some departed worthy of renown, and at the same time that of an altar for sacrificing to his manes or spirit, as seems to have been the custom amongst numerous nations of antiquity.

Several of these stone groups seem to have been originally surrounded with a stone circle, which circles have been almost always regarded as monuments to the dead. Ossian frequently alludes to the custom of the ancient inhabitants of the Highlandsthe Celtsof marking the resting-place of their departed heroes. "Four grey stones mark the grave of the hero," are lines often occurring with slight variations in the poems of the Gaelic Homer.

These stones here at Abury immediately give rise to the idea of their being monuments of the deadthey look like grave-stones, especially at a distance. Perhaps here lie buried the priests who formerly ministered in the ancient temple of Abury. Here their successors may have sacrificed to the soul of the deceased.

That the Druids believed in the doctrine of immortality is supported by the witness of ancient writers. So did the race who inhabited Britain immediately after their religion had been swept awayif there be any truth in Ossian. But when the Druids had gone, the idea of an immortal soul became a very different conceptionmerely a shadowy being seen in the mist rising in the vale or heard in the wind of night. The Druidical doctrine of immortality was far more inspiring. Here it is in the lines of Lucan, a Roman poet:

" The Druids now, while arms are heard no more, Old mysteries and barbarous rites restore, A tribe who singular religion love, And haunt the shady coverts of the grove. To these, and these of all mankind alone, The gods are sure revealed, or sure unknown, If dying mortal's doom they sing aright, No ghosts descend to dwell in dreadful night; No parting souls to grisly Pluto go, Nor seek the dreary silent shades below; But forth they fly immortal of their kind, And other bodies in new worlds they find; Thus life for ever runs its endless race, And like a line death but divides the space, A stop which can but for a moment last, A point between the future and the past. Thrice happy they beneath their northern skies, Who that worst fearthe fear of deathdespise. Hence they no cares for this frail being feel, But rush undaunted on the pointed steel; Provoke approaching fate, and bravely scorn To spare that life which must so soon return." Rowe's "Lucan."

The passage is quoted by Richard of Cirencester in his Ancient State of Britain. It has been noted by travellers in Persia that there are in that country somewhat similar remains to these at Aburylarge stones standing on end in groups. In connection with this a passage of Pliny is interesting: "But why should I commemorate those things with regard to a thing which has passed over sea, and reached the bounds of natur ? Britain at this day celebrates it with so many wonderful ceremonies that she seems to have taught it to the Persians." As the stone avenue approaches Abury the stones are found placed closer together, seemingly in two rows. In one or two places a row of stones crosses the avenue.

There may be seen around numerous tumuli, sometimes scarcely elevated two feet above the earth, at other times visible for miles; here single and alone, yonder in groups of two or three; some on the downs, some in the vale.

These may, perhaps, commemorate secular chieftains, if the stones be held to be in memory of priests. This plain of Abury seems to be one vast graveyard. The Celts had a custom, it is said, of spending a night on or near the tumuli raised over their ancestors, in order to receive communications from their departed spirits. Such things may have been practised here. Wiltshire was originally inhabited by a tribe of Britons called the Belgae.

"All the Belgae," writes Richard of Cirencester, "are Allobroges or foreigners, and derived their origin from the Celts. The latter, not many ages before the arrival of Caesar, quitted their native country, Gaul, which was conquered by the Romans and Germans, and passed over to this island." But the Celts were not the original inhabitants of Wiltshire, since, in another passage, he states that in the year of the world 3,600, or four centuries before Christ, the Senones emigrated from Britain, and in 3,650 the "Belgae entered this country, and the Celts occupied the region deserted by the Senones," who had gone to "invade Italy and attack Rome." Hence it is a question whether these memorials were erected by the Senones or the Celts. They may, perhaps, be the result of the labours of two different tribes: the stones being the monuments of one age, and the earth mounds, or tumuli, of another.

The village of Abury is completely surrounded by a deep fosse and steep embankment, the latter outermost, hence it could never have been constructed for defence. It is nearly circular, very deep, and would enable a vast multitude of people standing upon the mound to witness the rites and ceremonies performed at the altars by the priests within the circle, the ditch being the division between the uninitiated and the initiated. It may be observed that when the fosse was dug the earth was not thrown up exactly at its outer edge but somewhat back, thus leaving a portion of ground between the fosse and embankment.

The fosse was probably destined to answer the same purpose as the stones which Moses is recorded to have placed around Mount Sinai to keep the assembled multitude from the sacred ground within. There are at present four entrances through the embankment to the village. They are formed by as many roads, on each side of which stand at this day huge, stones set on edge, like pillars. Some of these stones are diamond-shaped. Abury Church stands immediately without the embankment.

Somewhere about the centre of the enclosed ground there stand three huge stones of great height, some of which might form the end wall of a good sized house, of such height and breadth are they. They stand close to some cottages, the grey, weather-beaten memorial of former ages, that has stood the storms of twenty centuries, beside the whitewashed, thatched, perishable erections of the present, or at most the last, generation. To the south of them, in a field nearer the embankment, stand four or five others, perhaps not so high, but broader, and of a squarer shape. These may be from fifteen to eighteen feet high. One of them seems to have a hollow beneath it, into which, an old man informed us, he had crept, when a boy, but found it not to extend above the length of his body. He was nearly suffocated having found it difficult to withdraw without assistance from the small size of the aperture into which he had imprudently advanced. Immediately without the embankment, further south beside the Marlborough road, stand two stones of smaller dimensions, but still large, which seem disposed there to indicate the direction of Silbury Hill. Other stones are scattered about within the fosse, some so much sunk in the ground as to be hardly visible.

There may not now, perhaps, be more than a score of stones remaining within the fosse, but these are of the largest size. Wonder has been expressed at the raising of such large stones to a perpendicular position. It merely required the command of unlimited labour.

They were probably raised by heaping earth beneath them, by a combination of the inclined plane, wedge, and lever, in the same way as were the colossal statues of Egypt. The original form in which these stones were placed appears from a diagram, made some two hundred years since by Aubrey, to have been one large circle, inclosing two smaller ones; the large circle of stones being set around immediately upon the inner edge of the fosse. The larger stones now remaining seem to have been the nucleus of the smaller circles, which were within the larger.

It is impossible to over estimate the solemn effect which this arrangement must have had when perfect, especially upon a rude and comparatively illiterate people. Even at this day, these venerable monuments of an age of which nothing is known with certainty, cannot be gazed upon without a sense of wonder almost amounting to awe. There they standthe inscrutable sphinxes of England. What was the purpose for which they were erected? What have they witnessed? What is their meaning? Antiquarians seem to concur in assigning them an earlier date than Stonehenge since the stones at Salisbury bear the marks of toolsand these are unhewnbut they concur in nothing more.

A Phoenician, a Celtic, a British, a Saxon, and even a Hindoo origin has been assigned them, the last by a writer in the Philosophical Magazine who produces many arguments in favour of his theory. He states that Britain was designated as the "White Island" in some sacred writings of the Hindoos. Britain is termed the White Island in several old Welsh documents. Richard of Cirencester states that Britain was first cultivated and inhabited one thousand years before Christ, "when it was visited by the Greek and Phoenician merchants." The Danes had a custom of performing great judicial ceremonies in stone circles, but they do not appear to have held this part of Britain long enough to warrant the assignment of Abury to them. It is mentioned by no ancient writer. A Roman road runs close by, but their historians say nothing of it. Abury is still a mystery.

A short distance from Abury is Silbury Hill,1 another standing puzzle to antiquarians. It is a conical hill, very steep-sided, perhaps a hundred paces in circumference, and of great height,2 having much the appearance of a barrow, and is evidently a work of man, since the places from whence the earth was taken can still be traced. It has been twice opened, once3 by a shaft from the top, once by a horizontal opening4but without leading to any discovery

1 "The hugest tumulus, not only in Britain, but in Europe."-- Worth.

2 According to Dean Merewether, it is 125 feet high and 1,550 feet round, and covers nearly five acres.

3 1777.

4 1849.

that threw light upon the subject. A tradition, mentioned by Aubrey, states that it was raised as a monument over King Lil or Sil, who was buried on horseback, and this whilst a posset of milk was seething. The tradition may contain the germs of truth. It does not seem to have been connected with Abury, since it is not visible from there. The earth was probably carried up in baskets, and the enormous number of men employed in the work is intimated by that part of the legend which says it was thrown up in the short time that a posset of milk took in seething. King Charles II., in company with the Duke of York, once ascended this remarkable mound.

The king commissioned Aubrey to prepare an account of Abury, which he accordingly did, and states therein that, in his opinion, the church and many of the houses may have been built of the stones which were found, the circles having been broken for that purpose. It may be mentioned in connection with the legend of King Sil that Herodotus mentions a custom of burial on horseback as prevalent amongst the Scythians, though not practised towards the persons of their kings. He also states that they threw up a heap of earth over the deceased.

Ancient coins, supposed to be British, are said to be frequently picked up by the ploughboys in the adjacent fields, especially after the heavy rains have washed away the soil. At a distance of perhaps two miles south of Abury there runs along the ridge of the downs a fosse and embankment, called Wansditch or dyke, more commonly the "Devil's Dyke." The country folk maintain that it runs through England. It was probably the boundary-line of an ancient kingdom. Upon the summit of a down at some distance can be seen a pillar.

It was erected by the Marquis of Lansdowne.

Here is Oldbury Castle another ancient encampment, and further on lies Heddington, a place which is a mine of wealth to an archaeologist.

Abury is by some supposed to have been a temple erected by worshippers of the snake, by others as a temple of the sun. Both may be right, since snakes are remarkably fond of sunshine, and were the emblems of health, of which the sun was, and is, the great dispenser.

Yet both may nevertheless be wrong, so impenetrable is the mist of antiquity which hangs over this mysterious monument of bygone times.

ONE mile below Kingshill Hill, Swindon, a footpath branches off from the road upon the right hand. It leads to Lydiard Tregoze. It is a strange and very ancient village. Modern improvements and modern innovations do not seem to have penetrated here, though red-bricked houses may be seen at Shaw, a short distance away. Here, deep in a combe, or valley, half hidden by trees, stand three or four old houses, whose stone tiling immediately renders evident their antiquity. The church is invisible until the pedestrian arrives before it, so numerous are the trees. It stands exactly in front of the seat of Lord Bolingbroke, much in the same way as did the old church at Swindon, though this is even nearer. Lydiard Park lies just beyond. It was formerly famous for the rearing of "young things," i.e. cattle.

Lydiard and the neighbourhood are remarkably well wooded. Oak is abundant, though it is observed that the trees never reach that enormous size which astonishes one in other localities. There is a curious legend about these oak trees. Ages ago a member of the Bolingbroke family rendered some important service to an English monarch. In return he received a grant of the lands of Lydiard until he should have taken three crops off them, after which they were to revert to the Crown.

The wily nobleman had the lands sown with acorns and hazel nuts, which shot up into oaks and hazel woods, and the Bolingbrokes have not cleared their first crop yet Such is the story. The Bolingbrokes have certainly been connected with Lydiard Tregoze from time immemorial. The name of Bolingbroke is very celebrated, and frequently occurs in English history. Shakespeare has immortalised it in Richard II. It was then borne by a son of John of Gaunt, who afterwards became king.

St. John is the family name. It was from the Lord Bolingbroke of his day that the poet Pope derived much of that philosophy which he has embodied in the Essay on Man. That poem opens with these lines:

" Awake, my St. John! leave all meaner things

To low ambition, and the pride of kings."

It is probable that the concluding lines in the fourth Epistle of that celebrated Essay were addressed to his friend St. John, Lord Bolingbroke:

" Come then, my friend, my genius, come along; Oh master of the poet, and the song! And while the Muse now stoops, or now ascends, To man's low passions, or their glorious ends, Teach me, like thee, in various nature wise, To fall with dignity, with temper rise; Form'd by thy converse, happily to steer From grave to gay, from lively to severe; Correct with spirit, eloquent with ease, Intent to reason, or polite to please. Oh! while along the stream of time thy name Expanded flies, and gathers all its fame; Say, shall my little bark attendant sail, Pursue the triumph, and partake the gale ? When statesmen, heroes, kings, in dust repose Whose sons shall blush their fathers were thy foes, Shall then this verse to future age pretend Thou wert my guide, philosopher, and friend ? That, urged by thee, I turn'd the tuneful art From sounds to things, from fancy to the heart; For wits' false mirror held up nature's light; Showed erring pride, whatever is, is right; That reason, passion, answer one great aim; That true self-love and social are the same; That virtue only makes our bliss below, And all our knowledge is, ourselves to know."

These lines finish the Essay, and contain the essence of that philosophy which he had before presented in a more expanded form. St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke, was a celebrated member of the ministry of Queen Anne. Pope was several times in North Wilts, and resided for a considerable period at Cirencester with his friend, Lord Bathurst. In Bathurst Park is still shown the poet's seat.

The game-preserves of Lydiard are now much noted, so that it is a common observation that in driving along the roads near by it is necessary to go slowly and whip the pheasants out of the way, as if they were a flock of sheep.

As many as 800 head of game have been shot in a single battue.

Lydiard is a very ancient place. It is now known as Tregoze, but was formerly Lydiard Ewyas. Lydiard was an inhabited spot in the days of William the Conqueror, as appears from the following ancient lines copied from a genealogical tablet in the church, of which more presently. The verses are somewhat strangely distributed in the original, and there are divers opinions as to the proper manner of reading them; but the following disposition seems most natural. The same tablet states that they are "Some ancient remains of Sir Richard St.

George, Knight, Garter King-at-Arms, relating to ye pedigree of St. John, written in the year 1615, and transcribed in this present year, 1694":-

" When conquering William won by force of sword The famous island, now called Brittan's land, Of Lydiard then was Ewyas only Lord, Whose heir to Tregoz, linckt in marriage band: That Tregoz, a great Baron in his age, By her had issue the Lord Grauntson's wife; Whose daughter Patshull took in marriage And Beauchamp theirs; Beauchamp, with happy life, Was blessed with a daughter, whence did spring An heir to St. John who did Lydiard bring. Thus course of time, by God's almighty power, Hath kept this land of Lydiard in one race, Five hundred forty-nine years, and now more, Where at this day is St. John's dwelling-place; Noe! noe! he dwells in heaven whose anchored faith Fixed on God accounted life but death."

"Five hundred and forty-nine years" have now (1867) increased to eight hundred and one a long, long vista of years to look back upon.

There are numerous monuments to the Bolingbrokes, or rather the St. Johns, in Lydiard Church. The church is ancient, and contains several stained glass windows. The windows of the north aisle contain a small quantity of very old stained glass. Over the entrance door there is a carved figure of a woman, pinched and miserable, as if in the last agonies of starvation. The legend runs that it is in memory of a person who died from toothache. The chancel is supported upon pillars, and the roof presents the likeness of the sun, moon, and stars; it is, in fact, a representation of the sky. The chancel forms a vast canopy over the monuments of the St.

Johns, whose remains lie mouldering in the extensive vaults beneath.

A full-length gilt statue of a St. John, in the dress and with the flowing locks of the Cavaliers, stands against the south wall of the chancel. Two smaller figures are on either hand, drawing back a curtain which reveals the cavalier. Tradition tells a strange tale about this statue, which is said to represent a Royalist warrior, who had constructed for himself a dress, or armour, of brass, impervious save in one spot, and who passed safely through the dangers of the Civil War, until he was at length betrayed by his servant. In the chancel itself, somewhat to the south of the communion table, is a magnificent monument to John St.

John, knight and baron, and his two wives, Anna and Margarita. It is dated a.d. 1634.

Beneath a canopy, itself ornamented with divers small figures, lies the effigy of the baron, apparently executed in alabaster, and at full length. He is in armour. Full-length figures of his two wives lie, one on either side, and on the breast of one lies an infant. All three are in an attitude of repose. The execution is excellent, and so marked are the features that it may be conjectured they are, to a certain extent, correct copies of the originals. Five sons kneel at the head of their parents, and three daughters at their feet.1 It is, perhaps,

1 "At their feet are a spread eagle and three figures of girls kneeling, and at their heads are five boys in the same attitudes. From the tomb rise eight Corinthian columns of black marble, supporting an arch and entablature, with several figures and armorial bearings. On the entablature is the following inscription: " D. S. "Johannes St. John Miles et Baronettus, annum agens XLIX urn, mortalitatis suae memor H. M. M. P. C. Anno M.D.C.XXXIIII et sibi et Uxoribus suis Annae sc. et Margarettae. Anna Filia fuit Th. Leyghton Eq. Auae, ex Eliz. Conjuge Gentis Knowleisae, et Reginae Elizabeth setam virtutis quam cognationis ergo in Deliciis. Vixit annos XXXVII eximiis animi et corporis et gratiae muneribus datata, rarum virtutis et pietatis exemplum; XIII Liberorum superstitium mater, tandem arumnosis ultimi puerperii agonibus diu conflictata et demum victa, fugit in coelum XIII Cal. Octob. M.D.C.XXVIII. Margaretta Filia fuit Gul. Whitmor, Armig., de Apley, Provincias Salop. Vivit LVIII um agens annum, virtutis laude spectabilis et bonis operibus intenta; in istud hujus familiae Requietorium, suo tempore (ni aliter ipsa olim statuerit), aggreganda."(Britton's Beauties of Wiltshire.} 1 M.S. Foeminarum optimae Dominae Katherinae Mompesson, forma, pudicitia constantia, pietate, omni virtutum genere, praestantissimae, Johannis St. John de Liddiard Tregose, Baroneth Sororis natu maximae, Egidii Mompesson ex antiqua Familia de Bathampton in Comitatu Wiltis Equitis Aurati Conjugis charissimae, qui quidem Egidius viginti sex annorum Matrimonii faeliciter peractus, minime oblitus (adhuc superstes) hoc Sepulchrum condidit, ubi suas etiam cineres (quum occiderit) reponi jussit. Obiit XXVIII. Mart. a.d. 1633.

the most magnificent monument in the neighbourhood.

Near by, on the north wall, at a considerable elevation, is a monument to another St. John and his lady, dated 1633.1 The figures here are not full size. The knight is seated facing his lady, with an open book before him, which he appears to be silently regarding. His lady is also seated, in an attitude of melancholy reflection, with her left hand upon a skull, which rests upon her knee, and the other supporting her head. 'Monuments to later members of the St. John family adjoin these. In the body of the church, but against the south wall, is a canopied monument to Nicholas Seynt John1

1 Jacent hic, Optime Lector, sub spe beatae Resurrectionis, reposita corpora Nicholai Seynt Jhon, Armigeri, et Elizabethae conjugis suae, Regi Edoardo, Reginae Mariae, et Reginae Elizabethae e selectorum stipatorum numero, quos vulga pentionarios vocantur: fuit cumque apud Principem locum obtinens mortem obiit, Elizabetha ipsius Uxor filia fuit Richardi Blunt, Militis; ex esque genuit tres filios et quinque filias; Johannem, Oliverum, Richardum; Elizabetham, Catherinam, Helinoram, Dorotheam, at que Janam. Johannes filius natu maximus in Uxorem duxit filiam Gualteri Hungerford, Militis; Oliverus et Richardus vivunt adhuc coelibes. Elizabetha filia natu maxima nupsit Seynt George, Comitatus Cantabrigiensis; Catharina Webb; Helinora Cave, Comitatus Northamptoniensis; Dorothea Egiocke, Warvicensis; Jana vero Nicholas, Comitatus Wiltesiensis. Ipse Nicholas Seynt John ex hac vita discessit octavo die Novembris, Anno Domini 1589; Elizabetha vero ipsius Conjux ex hac vita discessit undecimo die Augusti Anno Domini 1587; insignem reliquentes trophaeum posteris suis et famae purae et vitae integrae. Johannes Seynt John illorum filius hoc illis de se optime meritis et finis parentibus pietatis ergo Monumentum posuit. Anno Domini 1592. Nobis est Christus et in vita et in morte lucrum. Tempora qui longae speras felicia vitae, Spes tua te fallit, testes utrique sumus.-

and his lady, dated 1522. Beneath the canopy kneel the figures of the knight and his lady, but they are not full size. He is in armour, and has a sword girded to his side. It may be remarked that the spelling of the name here "Seynt John" is a nearer approach to its ordinary pronunciation in the neighbourhood than St. John. Close to the monument there is a brass plate affixed to the wall in memory of George Richard St. John, dated 1824.

The genealogical tablet, which has been already referred to, is affixed, together with several others, to the south wall of the chancel, within the rails around the communion table.

Above the tablets is a portrait of Queen Elizabeth, evidently intended to represent her in her earlier days. Over this stands a gilt imperial eagle. The first tablet brings down the genealogy of the St. Johns from the days of William the Conqueror, 1066 a.d., and from William Rufus, 1683 a.d., to 1654. All these tablets are covered with escutcheons and heraldic devices, the coats of arms of the persons referred to, which devices would themselves fill a volume, and exhibit every form of heraldic imagery. Another shows their alliance, affinity, and consanguinity to Henry VII. and to Queen Elizabeth, beneath whose portrait are the words "Thirty-two Ancestors." The third tablet reveals the alliances which the St. Johns have made with other noble families during the course of so many centuries. The "ancient remains of Sir Richard St. George," already given, are inscribed at the foot of the centre tablet. It is, no doubt from--

"That Tregoz, a great Baron in his age,"

that Lydiard takes its present name of Lydiard Tregoze, in order to distinguish it from Lydiard Millicent, another village near by.

All these tablets open, and reveal other genealogies beneath. The two centre ones when thrown open reveal a life-like portrait of John St. John, knight and baron, full length, with his wife Lucy, daughter of Sir Walter Hungerford.1 Six children, of divers ages and heights, cluster round upon the right hand. This Lucy married again after the death of St. John, and the two figures upon the left hand are probably herself and her second husband. The date is 1594, though the same inscription states that the tablet was not erected until 1615. These portraits are remarkably life-like, and have none of that stiffness which usually gives family paintings so disagreeable a harshness. The colours are still fresh and well preserved. The smiling, blue-eyed, brown-haired, hearty, English-looking John St. John seems almost about to start forward from the wall. The description which Sir Walter Scott gives of

1 "Here lieth the body of Sir John St. John, Knt., who married Lucy, daughter and coheire of Sir Walter Hungerford, of Farley, Knt., by whom he had issue Walter, that died young, Sir John St. John, Knt. and Baronet, Oliver, that died young, Katherine, Anne, Jane, Elinor, Barbara, Lucy, and Martha, that died a child. He deceased 20th September, 1594. She was secondly married to Sir Anthony Hungerford, Knt., by whom she had Edward, Briget, and Jane, and then died the 4th June, 1598. This was erected by Sir John St. John, Knt. and Baronet, in the year 1655, the 20th of July."

King Richard Coeur-de-Lion might have been taken from this portrait of St. John, so singular is the coincidence. There is the same fearless, open, frank look which is said to have characterized the English hero of the Crusades.

On the floor of the chancel is a very ancient stone slab to one Kiblewhite, the figures much worn with feet. Several helmets are suspended in divers parts of the church. The effect of these numerous monuments to departed greatness is very solemn, and is increased by the dim light from the stained glass windows. Here sleep the warrior and the statesman, men celebrated in their day, their names in all men's mouths, now only known by the epitaph and escutcheon. Who remembers the great baron Tregoz? Who thinks of him when he hears of Lydiard Tregoze? Ewgas is still less remembered. The St. John commemorated by Pope runs the best chance of immortality. Those who fought with doublehanded swords, with battle-axe and lance, have long been forgotten; it is only the Muse who confers immortality. Ink is more durable than iron. Yonder hang the heavy helmets of a forgotten generation. Who remember the wearers? None but the genealogist, and he only after much cogitation.

Eight hundred years is a long time to look back upon. What innumerable events must have been witnessed by those who bore the name, or were the ancestors of the St. Johns in that long course of centuries? They seem to have shared in the bounty of William the Conqueror; they no doubt fought in the French wars, in the Wars of the Red and White Roses; they were not backward in the times of the Great Rebellion. They have escaped all dangers, and survive yet. For those who sleep beneath the cold stone pavement of this ancient church the lines might make a good epitaph:

" The knights are dust,

Their good swords are rust,

Their souls are with the saints, we trust! "

Lydiard is now rarely the residence of the present Lord Bolingbroke. Lydiard Millicent is a pleasant village. Purton lies immediately beyond it. It is a large place, and dates from very ancient days. In Domesday Book1 the

1 "The same church (S. Mary at Malmesbury) holds Piritone."Domesday reference.

name is spelt Piritone. It is considered to mean Pear-tree town. A considerable part of Purton then belonged to the Abbey of Malmesbury. Purton Church is a peculiar structure, somewhat resembling Wanborough, there being both a tower and a spire. There are several large niches outside the tower, which probably once contained images, which have now disappeared. Purton was once the residence of Edward Hyde, who afterwards became the celebrated Earl of Clarendon, Lord Chancellor in the time of King Charles II. His History of the Great Rebellion is the basis of all other histories of that great period. He was peculiarly qualified from his attendance upon the king, and from the ready access which he had to State documents, to perform such a task.

It is an enormous work, judged by the modern standard, and extends to over two thousand closely printed pages. Whilst residing at Purton, in the character of a private person, he was chosen a member of Parliament both by the adjacent town of Wootton Bassett, and a more distant place, but preferred "serving his neighbours "of the former place. The house in which he lived is, or was lately, the property of the Earl of Shaftesbury. Purton has been in some sense connected with another distinguished man. The celebrated Lord Clive married Margaret Maskelyne, daughter of Edmund Maskelyne, of Purton. Anthony Goddard was of Purton, in 1737.

Purton was formerly famous for its morrice dancing,1 an old English pastime which has almost died out. The old custom of mumming 2 at Christmas seems also rapidly going out of date, though it is still kept up in the outlying country districts. Hand-bell ringing will probably follow, and then there will be little left indeed that savours of the pastimes of old England. Many lament the change, which is charged upon the railroads and canals.

There is a splendid view from the summit of Pevenhill, Purton. It is said that no less than twenty-six church towers, or spires, can be counted on a clear day. Birdlip Hill, in Gloucestershire, is then visible. Immediately

beneath lie Braden Woods. Braden Forest was anciently of great extent, and was part of the property of the Duke of Lancaster.

Monarchs hunted the deer in the depths of Braden Forest. King Henry the Eighth "rode a-hunting" there. It is still a large wood.

The village of Fasterne lies at no very great distance from Purton. Here, says tradition, was born King Richard, or else a Duke of York, probably the latter.

Cleeve Pipard is a village lying between Broad Hinton and Purton. It is an ancient place. The pronunciation is Cliff The manor of Cleeve Pipard was, in the year 1530, on the thirteenth of April, transferred from William Dauntsey, Alderman of London, to John Goddard, gent, of Aldborne. John Goddard, Esq., was the ancestor of the present owner of the estate, H. N. Goddard, Esq.

The old Swindon family of the Bradfords is connected by marriage with the Goddards of Cleeve Pipard.

Most of these placesLydiard Tregoze, Lydiard Millicent, Purton, Cleeve Pipard were visited by Aubrey, when he passed through North Wilts, about two centuries since.

Fairford lies at a considerable distance from Swindon, and in another county, but is of a celebrity so great that it can scarcely be passed over in silence.

The church is the cause of its fame. It is a fine old structure, built more than three centuries ago by a person of the name of John Tame, in the year 1493. John Tame was a merchant and seafaring man, and chanced to take a prize ship destined for Rome. The prize was highly valuable on account of a quantity of magnificent stained glass which was found on board, and so greatly delighted was Tame with his capture that, bringing it to England, he built a church to put it in.

The church was then dedicated to the Virgin Mary, and the stained glass has remained ever since, the wonder and admiration of all who have seen it. The design is said to have been that of Albrecht Dürer, the celebrated artist,1 but doubt has been thrown upon this by the

fact that at the date when this glass was made he had not yet reached his twentieth year, while it is well known that a length of time is necessary to complete such work. These windows number no less than twenty-eight, and the paintings are from scenes in the Bible.

This file Jefferit.html is a version of Jefferies Land: A History of Swindon and its Environs. While not a facsimile of the original, its layout retains the original character of the book. The text in this illustrated version is also searchable, making it a useful version for scholars.

The book was published in 1896. The original history was written by Richard Jefferies, and edited with notes by Grace Toplis.

Richard Wright prepared the text from a copy of the book once owned by Rainald Goddard, whose family is frequently mentioned by Jefferies. The copy is number 1 of the 350 that were printed.

The scans of the original pages have been retained at a reduced size. Unfortunately the file is large at 3.6 MB, so I do not put it on the web page. A copy on CD-ROM may be obtained by contacting Richard Wright. In Richard Jefferies: A bibliographical study, Miller and Matthews list three printing errors: p.83 is misnumbered ‘3’, on p.97 the village of Snap is misnamed ‘Shap’, and on page 198 the ‘J’ in the header is partly missing. I have corrected the errors in this electronic version.

Address all questions, discoveries of error, and comments to: Richard Wright 72 Campbell Street Balmain NSW 2041 Australia Phone/Fax +61 2 9818 1037 richwrig@tig.com.au DISCLAIMER I have produced this e-text for readers interested in the scarcer works of Richard Jefferies. It is provided "as-is" and no warranty of any kind is made as to the fitness of the e-text for a particular purpose. I have tried to assemble the text by taking care. However inaccuracies may still occur. These could result in the reader being misinformed. While regretting the occurrence of any inaccuracy I cannot accept responsibility for any consequences whatsoever that may result therefrom.

Aldbourne picture postcard village