Wansdyke the course of the Roman road is in a straight line between the top of Morgan's Hill and the south end of Lansdowne, 18 miles distant . . Beyond the Calne and Devizes Road the ground falls, and cultivated land is entered upon, and a hedgerow followed by a parish boundary marks the line, and there is little other trace of road or dyke for 1 miles, when it appears more plainly for half-a-mile to the south of Stockley Hedges followed by parish boundaries continue the line, and looking back from near Wans a straight line of hedges can be seen rising out of the lower ground towards Morgan's Hill. On nearing Wans the hedgerow and parish boundary bend towards the north, and soon the latter is the only trace now left of the Roman road, though Sir R. C. Hoare's map (1819) shows the ridge to within of a mile of the lane, which the parish boundary joins about 60 yards south of the cross-roads and follows across the Calne road. Then the ridge of the Roman road is plain in the belt of trees on the east of the grounds of Wans House .. The ridge bends round to the house, and there it is effaced for 200 yards; but the parish boundary marks the line of it on the Chippenham road .. At the Chippenham road Spye Park is entered, and for about 300 yards, where the ground was formerly ploughed, a low undulation of the surface is all that remains of the ridge. It then appears plain for mile, five or six yards across the top and four or five feet high, having on the north side traces of a ditch with a ramp or counterscarp outside, showing the modification of the road by the makers of Wansdyke. A steep-sided valley appears to have been crossed by winding up stream and back again to the same line The ridge continues for a quarter-of-a-mile on to another valley, beyond which there are no further traces within the park . . . There are some indications of the ridge outside the park, and in less than a mile a line of hedgerows with remains of the ridge here and there and followed by parish boundaries takes up the same straight line for upwards of 8 miles. From Bowden Hill the entire course to Ashley Wood is in sight." Speen to Gloucester. This road enters the county at Baydon, where "it re-joins the present road and follows it through Baydon. In the beginning of the 19th century the Roman road is described by Bishop Bennett as presenting an elevated crest raised many feet above the downs in various parts. Beyond Baydon a parish boundary follows the present road for a mile and continues on in the same straight line for mile further to Peak's Down and then the Roman road is traceable across the down in the direction of Wanborough Plain Farm The road thence turns due N.W., and runs straight for Calla's Hill, mile to the E. of Wanborough, and then a straight road is entered upon which passes through Stratton St. Margaret's, to Blunsdon Hill, seven miles distant. On this length of road 11⁄2 miles from Stratton St. Margaret, and three miles due east of Swindon Station is the junction of the Roman road from Winchester. . . On Blunsdon Hill there is a slight turn and a straight road runs to Calcott Bridge, near Cricklade. There is now an interval of nearly a mile at Cricklade, in which, however, portions of a causeway across the meadows were dug up at the end

. .

of the 18th century. Parish boundaries run along the road from Blunsdon to Seven Bridges, Water Eaton. From the N.W. of Cricklade a straight road runs for 3 miles to Driffield Cross. From Wanborough Plain Farm, where there is a decided change in the general direction, to Cirencester, no part of the road is as much as half-a-mile away from an absolutely straight line 19 miles long. The road here bears the name of the Ermin Way."

This most useful book closes with a chapter on such evidence as exists as to the respective ages of the different Roman roads.

Reviewed Bristol and Gloucestershire Archæological Society's Transactions, vol. xxvi., 198.

"Asser's Life of King Alfred, Together with the Annals of St. Neots erroneously ascribed to Asser. Edited with Introduction and Commentary by William Henry Stephenson, M.A., late Fellow of Exeter College, Oxford." Clarendon Press, 1904. 12 shillings nett.

Preface, pages i.-viii.; Introduction, p. xi.-exxxi.; Text, Commentary, and Index, 1-386 pp.

This, says the Editor, is an attempt to supply one of the great wants in our early historical literature, a critical edition of the text of the Life of Alfred, and an endeavour to decide the question of its authenticity. To review this book is beyond the province of this Magazine, but it will be useful to summarize the conclusions at which he arrives as to the Wiltshire localities mentioned in this life.

As to its authenticity the editor is convinced that although there may be no very definite proof that the work was written by Asser, Bishop of Sherborne, in the lifetime of King Alfred, there is no anachronism or other proof that it is a spurious compilation of later date.

The part which concerns Wiltshire is that which deals with the movements of Alfred which ended in the battle of Edington.

Mr. Stevenson without any preconceived theory or prepossession judiciously weighs the arguments which have been advanced for and against several sites. With true scientific scholarship he deals with the questions of etymology, and disposes of the wild guesses which have defiled the work of previous writers, especially that of Dr. Clifford, formerly Roman Catholic Bishop of Clifton. Where are Petra Aegbryhta. Ecgbryhtes Stan of the Chronicle; Aecglea, or Iglea, which is the better form; Ethandun? It is gratifying to find that with regard to Ecgbryht's Stone Mr. Stevenson takes the view which was lately advocated in this Magazine (vol. xxxiii., pp. 113-114, note), and for the same reason, namely, that of the laws of etymology. As was pointed out there, and as Mr. Stevenson says here, Hoare cannot be quoted as identifying it with Brixton Deverill, because he contradicts himself in two consecutive pages. The passage in his Modern Wilts, Hundred of Heytosbury, p. 3, is one, among others, which he did not revise. (See p. 4 and Hundred of Warminster, p. 46.) Thus the editor rejects Brixton Deverill; and he does not favour Canon Jackson's view, which has found some support

of late, that the stone is in the parish of Westbury, near Fairwood House, by the side of the railway; and on this point he shows how untrustworthy are the modern Ordnance maps, with "Erbright's-stone" in the six-inch, and "Cebright's Stone" in the one-inch. Anyone who uses the Ordnance maps knows how carelessly the place-names have been dealt with. He decides that the place was near Penselwood, and mentions a "Bound stone" marked in Smith's County Atlas of 1804, in the maps of Somerset and Dorset, at a point where the boundaries of these counties meet those of Wilts. Bishop Clifford's identification of the place with "White Sheet Castle," between Mere and Stourton he regards as fantastic; still, Bishop Clifford is nearer to the truth in this localising of the spot than others who find a place further east, and he has not fallen into the Brixton Deverill error, as Mr. Plummer has done in his recent life of Alfred, following that most unfortunate piece of carelessness on the part of Hoare. Aecglea, or Iglea, he finds in Iley Wood, a portion of Southleigh Wood, in Warminster parish; and supports it by etymological and historical arguments; Cley Hill, near Warminster, is declared to be impossible phonetically, and Highleigh Common, near Melksham, which was suggested by Whitaker in 1809, he rejects. Ethandun he identifies with Edington, as Camden did. As to the attempts of Bishop Clifford to prove that Edington in Somerset is the site (Somerset Arch. and Nat. Hist. Soc. Proceedings, 1877, p. 20, part ii., pp. 1–27), he says "The whole article is of a very imaginative and unsatisfactory nature, built upon improbable assumptions, baseless identification of sites, impossible etymologies, and shows a general lack of critical restraint." Nor is Eddington, in the parish of Hungerford, Berks, possible, for that can be shown to be Eadgife-tun, "Eadgifu'stown." The Berkshire archæologists come off as badly as the Somerset. The great argument in favour of Edington, Wilts, is, that none of the other places now called Edington or Eddinton ever bore the name of Ethandun, while this Edington almost certainly did.

Lastly, he discusses the claims of Slaughterford. Whitaker, in his edition of the Life of St. Neot, in 1809, stated Slaughterford to be the site of the battle of Ethandun. Gough, in his edition of Camden's Britannia, had mentioned the Slaughterford tradition that the village was the site of a great slaughter of the Danes. This remark came from the MSS. of John Aubrey, the Wiltshire antiquary. Mr. Stevenson replies "Before the Civil Wars most reputed battlefields were assigned by the rustic traditions to the Danes, and in this case the tradition was strengthened by the growth about Slaughterford of the plant known as Danes' Blood (the dwarf Elder, Sambucus ebulus), which is still popularly supposed to grow only on spots that have been the scene of fights with the Danes. In the present case there can be no doubt that the tradition is aetiological. Illustrations of this belief will be found in the Dialect Dictionary under the article "Danes'-blood"; and the story is meant to account for the colour of the juice, and is just a heightened way of expressing Virgil's

The etymology and meaning of 'slaughter' show that it is not as old as the ninth century; and the name of the village was generally written Slaughtenford till the beginning of the nineteenth century; but the fact that early forms with r, not n, are sometimes found, points to the derivation from slähporn, blackthorn."

Such are some of the results of Mr. Stevenson's fine, sober, and critical scholarship.

Reviewed Bristol and Gloucestershire Archæological Society's Transactions, vol. xxvi., 200; Guardian, June 8th, 1904.

J. U. POWELL.

Wiltshire Notes and Queries, No. 43, September, 1903.

The first article on Isaac Walton and his connection with Wiltshire reproduces, with additions, a note which appeared in the Connoisseur for September with an illustration of a carved oak bracketed cupboard with the name Isaac Walton and the date 1672 upon it. Isaac Walton, junior, his son, was domestic chaplain to Bishop Seth Ward, Rector of Boscombe 1679, Rector of Poulshot 1680-1719, and held successively the prebends of Yatesbury, Bishopstone, and Netheravon. He died Dec. 29th, 1719, and lies buried in Salisbury Cathedral.

Dr. Hamlyn Hill appeals for any notes bearing on the history of Erchfont, and Miss E. M. Thompson commences a series of abstracts of Erchfont records which promise to be as valuable as those of Bratton, which she has just completed. Quaker Birth Records and a Calendar of Feet of Fines for Wiltshire are continued, as are also the notes on Dugdale of Seend, with the Will of Thomas Dugdale, of Bath, 1754, which is printed in full. Other wills printed in this number are those of Thomas Bundy, 1492; William Trenchard, 1591; and Francis Trenchard, 1622. The notes on the Wiltshire entries in the Complete Peerage are continued. A number full of good material.

Ditto, No. 44, Dec., 1903.

Mr. Kite's article on Place House, Melksham, and its Owners, is continued for 13 pages with a valuable folding pedigree of Selfe. He deals with the Beanacre property in this number, owned by Whittokesmedes and Daniells, before it belonged to Isaac Selfe Sen. (1564-1656). Of the 15th century house, still standing, a nice general view is given, as also another of the early 17th century house which so closely adjoins it, built by Isaac Selfe, sen. The wills of three others of the same name, whe died in 1682, 1733, and 1741, are printed at length. Mr. T. G. J. Heathcote follows with a note on Thomas Selfe, of Cadley, in Melksham, extending to seven pages. The valuable series of Erchfont Records, the Quaker Birth Records, and Calendar of Feet of Fines are continued, and "A.S.M." contributes a note on John Noyes, Burgess of Calne in 1603, with a short pedigree of Noyes of Erchfont, and also a review of Canon Wordsworth's recently published Cartulary of St. Nicholas' Hospital, Salisbury, in which he clears up some small points which remained

obscure in the book, e.g., identifying Bentlywood with Howe Farm in West Deane.

Wiltshire Notes and Queries. A review, in The Ancestor, No. 6, July, 1603, gives warm praise to Mr. Arthur Schomberg's editorship, and the contents of the volume under review.

Reminiscences of the late Thomas Assheton Smith, a famous Foxhunter, or the Pursuits of an English Country Gentleman, by Sir John E. Eardley-Wilmot, Bart. Sixth edition, with portrait and other illustrations, and an introduction by Sir Herbert Maxwell, Bart., M.P. R. A. Everett & Co., 42, Essex Street, Strand, London. MCMII. Cloth. 7 × 5. Pp. xiii., 303. Illustrations:-Portrait of T. Assheton Smith from painting by Cooper-Hall Table at Tedworth House-Portrait of "Gayman ”Part of Principal Entrance to Stables at Tedworth-Foxes' Heads on Kennel Door at Tedworth-Mr. Smith's Steam Yacht " Sea Serpent"T. A. Smith on "Ayston," with Dick Burton, his huntsman, and some favourite hounds.

"The Church of our Fathers, as seen in S. Osmund's

Rite for the Cathedral of Salisbury, with dissertations on the Belief and Ritual in England before and after the coming of the Normans." By Daniel Rock, D.D. New edition in four volumes. Edited by G. W. Hart and W. H. Frere. Vol. I. London: John

Hodges. 1903. 9 × 6. Price 12s. per volume. Vols. II., III., IV., 1904, pp. 419, 416, 339.

Noticed, Antiquary, May, 1903.

Some Particulars Relating to a Charity called The Broad Town Charity, in the County of Wilts: founded by Her Grace Sarah, Duchess Dowager of Somerset, deceased, for Apprenticing Poor Male Children, with extracts from the will of the Noble Foundress; the Proceedings in Chancery, and the Deeds of Trust, also the Present Rules and Orders as altered from time to time, for the management of the Charity; compiled for the use of the Trustees by their obliged and obedient servant, James E. G. Bradford, Steward and Receiver of the Rents and Revenues of the said Charity. Swindon. 1904. Astill & Sons, Printers, Swindon." Cloth. 8 × 5. Pp. 42. Printed only on one side. Lists of the Trustees from 1758 are given.

Roman Remains at Brokenborough.

In a rare little

pamphlet entitled "Malmesbury, olim V by Uncle John," i.e., Richard Grant White, the "Outis" of Notes and Queries, of which thirty-six copies only were privately printed at Lausanne in 1872, it is stated on page 12, that great numbers of Roman coins and trinkets have been