By the Rev. Edward Peacock. 263 



look with delight upon the lawn-like surface, as they dash across 

 the bottom to the distant cover, leaving scarcely a hoof print in 



their track. 



To the more sober searcher after Nature's beauties, too, the 

 downs give promise of reward. To the superficial beholder the 

 whole extended space appears simply composed of grass, diversified 

 here and there, perhaps, by the flowering thistle, or its wandering 

 downy seeds. But look a little closer, is there really nothing else 

 to see? What are those small spots of blue, and white, and red ? 

 How graceful are those harebells, how exquisitely finished that 

 dwarfed centaury, and that dark blue gentianella : whilst here and 

 there are patches of the various milkworts ; and, on the distant 

 hill the purple heather and golden furze are growing. 



To those who are interested in the history of the past, the downs 

 are covered with objects associated with the people who dwelt upon 

 them in distant times. Seldom can you see more than a few acres 

 together which do not show the work of man. It may be that 

 some of the mounds or banks which meet the eye are, comparatively 

 speaking, of modern date, when the land was ploughed and cropped 

 for a y°ear or two. and then allowed to fall out of cultivation and 

 gradually return to its former state of grass. But this will be a 

 work of ages— centuries may elapse before the flint brought to the 

 surface by the plough will disappear, or even the furrows become 

 obliterated. 



Dotted about on almost every part of the downs are those 

 hillocks, commonly known as "barrows;" and what are they? 

 Every one is a burial place— the larger the barrow, the greater 

 probably the person whose interment is below. Dig into the 

 mound, and human bones and a few fragments of coarse pottery 

 are almost all that meet the eye. And even these relics of the 

 early inhabitants of this part of Britain are scarcely now to be 

 met with. Sir R. C. Hoare, or his followers, have opened almost 

 every barrow in the southern part of Wiltshire, and the only relic 

 likely to reward the barrow-digger for his labour would be a disc 

 of lead, with the initials R. C. H., 1815, or some such date, or a 

 brass medal with the words, " Opened by W. Cunnington, 1804." 



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