174 1(4MBLES OF A <DOfMINI8 



his boots before he gave up his hold upon the castle. In 

 Somerton King John of France spent a part of his 

 captivity. The marshes of Athelney gave Alfred breath- 

 ing space before that day of reckoning when his fierce 

 antagonist was humbled on the hills of Ethandune. 

 The noble fragments of ruin in the Isle of Avalon recall 

 the fame of the proudest of English abbeys, ruled by 

 Dunstan, and dowered by King Ina. And from still 

 farther back, through the dim haze of old tradition, 

 loom the grand figures of Arthur and his knights, 

 " magnified by the purple mist, the dusk of centuries 

 and of song." 



The Mendips formed in early ages a well-marked 

 border line. They were the frontier that parted the 

 western Gael and the Belgic invader ; and when in later 

 days the Saxon conqueror Ceawlin pushed his way 

 westward over the Wansdyke, the barrier wall of 

 Mendip formed the farthest limit of his conquests. 

 Massive leaden ingots, too, have been found among the 

 hills, whose imperial stamps show plainly how early in 

 their occupation the Romans laid hands upon the mines 

 of Somerset. 



Thus is it that on each commanding hill are the 

 ramparts of some stronghold of British, Roman, Saxon, 

 or even Danish handiwork; and on all Mendip, with 

 the exception possibly of Weston Hill, no fort was better 

 guarded than this camp of Dolbury. Its site was 

 singularly strong, and the elaborate nature of its 

 defences shows the importance attached to it by its 

 builders. The ancient way, winding gently upward from 



