By R. C. Alexander, Esq., M.D. 201 
the Anglo-Saxon Dictionaries, are, in fact, to be sought in those of 
the Cymri, from whom they were adopted by the victorious Saxons, 
in all parts of the country; they are not Anglo-Saxon but Welsh 
(i.e. foreign Wylisc) very frequently unmodified either in meaning 
or pronunciation.” —Cod. Diplom. vol. iii. p. 15. 
It may now be enquired what down there is in the possible line 
*of Alfred’s march, to which the name of Furze-down would be ap- 
propriate. We do not usually find that bush on chalk downs, but 
on gravelly or sandy soil. Being unacquainted with that part of 
the country, I can form no opinion as to its probable site, but 
should conclude from the character of the booty captured, namely, 
sheep and horses, and not oxen or swine, so much more highly 
valued at that time, that it was some part of the Plain, if there is 
any to which the name is applicable. If I am right in supposing 
Iglea to have been an island in the Willy, then it is most likely. 
that Alfred marched up over Heytesbury down. There are several 
camps there, Battlesbury, a very significant name, Scratchbury, 
Knook, &c. 
Nor need we be surprized that the Danes should have quitted 
their winter quarters at Chippenham, and posted themselves on 
the down, for, independant of military reasons for doing so, the 
downs were at that time as valuable as the wooded marshy lands 
below. If we may judge from the hundreds not being larger on 
the Plain than elsewhere, they must have also been as populous. 
The camp usually assigned to them, Bratton castle, would agree- 
ably to the above reasoning be the right one. But as to Edington 
being identical with Avpandun, I have my doubts. There are many 
instances where in the carelessness of modern times the ‘dun’ 
which originally meant an open down, has been changed into ‘ton,’ 
which meant an enclosed farm or village, but it is more reasonable 
to think that there may have been both an Eding-ton and an 
Eding-dun. 
It is not so easy to account for pan being changed into ding. In 
the Scandinavian and German languages the ) and 8 have been re- 
placed by ¢ and d, but there is no tendency to this change in Eng- 
lish. Far from it, a great number of words once spelt with d are 
