262 The Battle of Ethandun. 
blue, red, yellow, or green, than to the raven of the vanquished 
Danes. Had Alfred and his friends had recourse to the standard 
of the West Saxons! to commemorate this victory; would not his 
auxiliaries composed of other tribes have held it as an invidious 
and unjust negation of their assistance P Mr. Scrope observes that 
a team of eight such steeds may be seen on the Wiltshire Downs. 
It is unlucky that not one should be found at Yatton. As a ter- 
mination to the criticisms on this subject, I am charged with stating 
as a fact, (that the White Horse of Berkshire is, in the opinion of all 
antiquaries, the memorial of the victory of Aiscesdun,) what I 
merely expressed as a belief—a belief, if not founded on universal, 
yet still on general opinion. I cannot object to the contrary in- 
stance unearthed from the ‘Archzologia’ by Mr. Scrope, but must 
still disclaim the charge of a positive statement, which was never 
in fact made. I have neither the means or the inclination to de- 
preciate the description of Bury Wood camp, even if its distinction 
can be sustained as “one of the very strongest earthworks in 
Britain,” but as Mr. Scrope informs us that my remarks on the 
retreat of the Danes to that fortress, are founded on a complete 
misconception of the topography round Etton-down, and that Bury 
Wood is not to the S.W. of this position; I beg to repeat that 
Bury Wood camp is laid down in Dr. Thurnam’s map (vol. iii. p. 
75.) S.W. of Yatton (or Etton), and of the point of junction of the 
two armies; and that my inferences are fairly and plainly deduced 
from the very document produced to enforce and exemplify Mr. 
Scrope’s own position. 
As Whitaker seems in this place to be commended for contro- 
verting what is called “a loose assumption of Camden,” in fixing 
the victory of Alfred at Edington, I beg leave to submit that 
Camden may at least as probably have repeated and enforced the 
statement of immemorial tradition: and that when that great 
author has a doubt on a subject, he usually rejects a direct affrma- 
tion and substitutes his belief, conjecture or opinion. Mr. Scrope 
1Tf the West Saxons did bear a dragon on their standards, what confusion 
must have happened in their battles with the Cornish Britons, for King Arthur 
is stated to have fought under a dragon, which descended to him from his re- 
puted father, Uther Pendragon. See notes to Drayton’s Polyolbion. 
