COUKSE OF THE WANSDYKE. 11 



" She ürst of plains,* and that first wonder of the land,f 

 She Wansdyke also wins, by whora she is embraced, 

 That in bis aged arins dotb gird her ampler waist. 

 Who (for a rnigMy mound, sith long he did remain, 

 Betwixt the Mercian rule, and the "West Saxon reign, 

 And therefore of bis place himself he proudly bare) 

 Had very oft been heard with Stonehenge to compare; 

 WTiom for a paltry ditch, whcn Stonehenge pleased t' npbraid, 

 The old man taking heart, thus to that trophy said, 

 'Dull heap, that thus thy head above the rest dotb. bear, 

 Precisely yet not know'st, who first did place thee there ; 

 But traitor basely turned, to Merlin's skill do'st fly, 

 And with bis magicks do'st thy maker's truth bely : 

 Conspirator with tirne, now grown so mean and poor, 

 Comparing these bis spirits with those that went bcfore ; 

 Yet rather art content thy builder's praise to lose 

 Thau passed greatness should thy present wants disclose. 

 111 did these mighty nien to trust thee with their story, 

 That hast forgot their narnes, who reared thee for their glory ; 

 For all their wondrous cost, thou that hast served them so, 

 "VVhat 'tis to trust to torubs, by thee we eas'ly know.' 

 In these invectives, thus, while " "Wansdike " dotb complain, 

 He interrupted is by that imperious piain, 

 To bear two crystal floods to court her, that apply 

 Theruselves, which should be seen inost gracious in her eye." 



Seeing tlien that aged Wansdyke can so manfully speak 

 for himself, let us proceed to see what are some of the 

 traces of his antient merit. 



Wansdyke seems to have been the boundary line of the 

 last Belgic conquest in ßritain. It has occupied the at- 

 tention of many learned antiquaries, as Camden, Awbrey, 

 Stiikeley, and Sir R. G. Hoare ; the latter bas traced it 

 with great care and accuracy in the second vol. of his 

 Antient Wiltshire\ Dr. Gucst, the master of Caius Col- 

 lege, Cambridge, has likewise given some valnablc notiees 

 of it in his papers published by the Archajological Insti- 



* i.e. Salisbury. f Stonehenge. 



