10 PAPERS, ETC. 



writer will now attempt to supply what bc feels to have 

 been wanting in bis late paper, arid add wbat be tbinks 

 may be of interest to tbose wbo take pleasure in rescuing 

 from oblivion tbe remains of antiquity. 



And certainly a niore interesting remnant does not exist 

 tban Wansdyke. If we view it winding its course over 

 tbe Wiltsbire Downs, wbere it appears in its pristine State, 

 attended by barrows of equally deep interest, and tbe Con- 

 tents of whicb have furnisbed us witk very certain data of 

 the rera of tbeir construction. And again if we view it 

 entering tbis county in tbe neigbbourbood of Batb, wbere 

 alas ! now only faint traces remain of its magnitudc, tbough 

 sufficient to guide us in delineating its course. The im- 

 proved state of cultivation has been tbe great enemy to 

 its continuance, and wbile tbe toast of all well-wishers to 

 their country will ever be " Speed tbe Plough ;" the anti- 

 quary occasionally wishes tbat the ploughman would turn 

 bis team aside wben he encounters tbis old boundary line, 

 or any antiquc rnound, and that the farmer intcnt lipon 

 making the most of bis land, (as indeed every good farmer 

 will bc) would no longcr spread its broad back over the 

 surface of bis tillcd field, and for the sake of the soil 

 reduce tbis antient majestic barrier to the level of a com- 

 mon hedge row, as has been done not far from the Bnrnt 

 House turnpike-gate, near Bath. Occasionally however 

 the task of levelling tbis niighty ridge, has proved too 

 great even for the persevcring industry of the cultivator, 

 and Wansdyke, notwithstanding the lapse of 2000 years, 

 Stands out again in all bis breadth, and carries bis irregu- 

 lär wilidings along the northern face of the hills, giviug no 

 doubtful sign bow bold and commanding a front he once 

 prcsented. Well has Drayton in bis Polyolbion, song iii, 

 thus described the subject of tbis paper : 



