By William Long, Esq., M.A. 311 



never yet been fully published ; it may not be amiss to take tbe 

 present opportunity of presenting to the reader the entire passages 

 relating to this place^: — 



"I was incHn'd by my Genius from my childhood to the love of 

 antiquities : and my Fate dropt me in a countrey most suitable for 

 such enquiries. 



" Salisbury- plaines, and Stonehenge I had known from eight 



years old: but, I never saw the Countrey about Marleboruogh, till 



Christmas 1648 : being then invited to the Lord Francis Seymour's, 



•Then of Ailing- ^J *^® Honorable Mr. Charles* Seymour, with whom 



ton neer chippen- J ]ja,d the honor to be intimately acquainted, and 



ham : since Ld Sey- 

 mour, whose Friendship I ought to mention with a pro- 

 found respect to his memorie. 



" The morrow after Twelfday, Mr. Charles Seymour and S' Wil- 

 +of Tottenham, Hamf Buttou, mott with their packs of Hounds at the 



Baronet. Tocken- . n i 



ham. Grey- Weathers. Ihese downes looke as ii they were 



sowen with great Stones, very thick, and in a dusky evening, they 

 looke like a flock of Sheep: from whence it takes its name: one 

 might fancy it to have been the scene, where the giants fought with 

 huge stones against the Gods. 'Twas here that our game began, 

 and the chase led us (at length) thorough the village of Aubury, 

 into the closes there: where I was wonderfully surprized at the 

 sight of those vast stones, of w"*" I had never heard before : as also 

 at the mighty Bank and graffe^ about it : I observed in the inclo- 

 sure some segments of rude circles, made with these stones, whence 

 I concluded, they had been in the old time complete. I left my 

 company a while, entertaining myselfe with a more delightfuU in- 

 dagation : and then (steered by the cry of the Hounds) ovcrtooke 

 the company, and went with them to Kynnet, where was a good 

 hunting dinner provided. 



" (>ur repast was cheerfull, which being ended, we remounted, 

 and beat over the downes with our greyhounds. In this afternoon's 



' It is here printed from a transcript from the original MS. taken for the 

 purpose of the present paper, and the accompanying illustrations have been 

 reduced from very accurate fac-similcs of Aubrey's sketches, which the writer 

 has presented to the Society's Library and Museum at Devizes. 



■' Ditch. 



