and on the Battles of Cynuit and Ethandun. 75 
There appears no difficulty in admitting with the learned 
Spelman! and Sir R. C. Hoare, that Egbert’s stone (the Eegbryht’s 
stane of the chronicle) is represented by Brizton Deverill, a 
distance of about 35 miles from Athelney. As to Aicglea, (Asser,) 
Iglea or Aiglea, (Saxon Chronicle,) or Ecglea, (Florence,) the 
place where Alfred rested the second night, Gough and Sir R. C. 
Hoare place it at, or near Clay Hill or Bugley; whilst Bishop Gibson 
thought it was Westbury Leigh. The former of these sites, 
however, is little more than five, and the latter less than nine, miles to 
the north of Brixton; distances which seem too short for a day’s 
march, when the king is described as setting forth at dawn, and 
with the head quarters of the enemy at Chippenham, a distance of 
at least twenty-five miles. Supposing Edington to have been the 
site of the battle, the same objection would apply to the next day’s 
march, the length of which would be only four miles from Westbury, 
or eight miles from Clay Hill or Bucley. Here the question arises, 
whether the battle was fought on the day of the arrival at Ethandun, 
or on the following. Though not so stated, the former would 
seem implied in Asser’s narrative, and is stated expressly, in a passage 
from a life of St. Neot, in the apocryphal “ Annals.” 
however, to Simeon of Durham, whose statements ought, perhaps, 
to be received, when not in direct opposition to earlier authority, we 
are told that the battle was not fought until the third day after 
leaving Egbert’s stone; and, further, that the two armies spent the 
night previous to the battle opposed to each other at Ethandun. 
“ After the third day” (post tertiam diem) says Simeon, in his 
somewhat inflated style, “Alfred came with a great army to a 
_ place which is called Edderandun, near which he found immense 
hosts of the pagans prepared for battle. After a brilliant sun-rise, 
the king and the chief of his followers, armed themselves for battle, 
not omitting the triple breast-plate of faith, hope, and the love 
On turning, 
1 “ Vita Alfredi,” 1678, p.33. ‘Nobis hodie, ni fallor, Brixtona,” 
2 It is worth notice that Gaimar, whose authority, however, ts not decisive, 
makes Alfred reach Ethandun at noon on the third day. ’ 
‘*® lendemain a hure de none, 
‘¢Done sunt yenuz a Edenesdone.”’—Line 3189. 
L'2 
