By the Rev. A. C. Smith. 317 
the county ; but the “White Horse” (which occurs ten times amongst 
us), probably had its origin from another source, in many instances 
at least; for it was not only the badge of the Saxons, as we in 
Wiltshire know well enough, from cur familiarity with the figure 
on our downs; but it was also the cognizance of the House of 
_ Hanover, the record of which is in a similar way perpetuated in the 
slopes of the downs near Weymouth : and in the cases of Bratton, 
Edington, Compton Bassett, Wootton Bassett, and Cricklade, at all 
events, the sign-boards charged with the figure of the “ White 
Horse” (more or less rampant) must have had reference to their 
- 
counterparts, cut (with more or less skill) on the steep sides of the 
chalk hills in their respective neighbourhoods. I calculate the 
sporting emblems throughout the county to number in all about 
seventy. 
(6) I come now to the “ Incomprehensible” signboards of the 
county, and I would ask what is the meaning of the “ Rattlebones,” at 
Sherston Magna?! the “ Red Hat,” at Trowbridge ? or the “ Crooked 
1The Rev. E. Awdry, Vicar of Kington St. Michael, has kindly drawn my 
attention to the meaning of the ‘‘ Rattlebones ” sign, as given in Canon Jackson’s 
Aubrey Collections, page 107. It appears that ‘* Rattlebone ” was a renowned 
champion from the village of Sherston, who did much service against the 
Danes; and there is a local tradition, still upheld with undiminished tenacity 
by the villagers, that a small figure, outside the wall of the Church porch, re- 
presents that formidable giant, as ‘‘ severely wounded in the fight, but heroically 
_ applying a tile-stone to his stomach to prevent his bowels gushing out!” As 
a matter of fact, the little figure on the Church wall is merely that of a priest, 
in ecclesiastical dress, and holding a book against his breast: but village tra- 
dition ignores fact, and does not the sign of the ‘‘ Ratt/ehones Inn” triumphantly 
corroborate the tradition? There the figure is undoubtedly that of a warrior, 
somewhat after the type of the Roman knight, with large sword, helmet, &c., 
complete; or as a Goliath of Gath is conventionally portrayed in the cheap 
Prints for cottage walls. 
_ As a pendant to the above tradition, I may as well here record another 
“equally strange, which is generally accepted in the parish of Little Langford, 
‘known in all that neighbourhood as ‘‘The Maid and the Maggot,” and implicitly 
credited by all in that district. It is to the effect that a ‘‘ certain maid was 
nutting in Grovely Wood in times gone by, and out of a nut came a maggot, 
which she kept and fed, and which daily grew until it arose one day and killed 
the maiden.” In proof of the authenticity of this curious tradition, the parish- 
ione 's of Little Langford are also wont to point triumphantly to a certain 
z on the Church porch, which they declare represents the occurrence. By 
