Warrens. 45 



discovered in the covn-fields of the plain immediately 

 beneath than here in the camp where one would nat- 

 urall}' look for them. 



The laborers wlio pick up these things often put 

 an immensely exaggerated value on them : a worn 

 Roman coin of the commonest kind, of which hun- 

 dreds are in existence, the}' imagine to be worth a 

 week's wages, till after refusing its real value from 

 a collector they finally visit a watchmaker whose 

 aquafortis test proves the supposed gold to be brass. 

 So, too, with fossils : a man brought me a common 

 echinus, and expected a couple of ' crownds ' at least 

 for it ; nothing could convince him that, although 

 not often found just in that district, in others they 

 were numerous. The ' crownd ' is still the unit, the 

 favorite coin of the laborers, especially the elder 

 folk. They use the word something in the same 

 sense as the dollar, and look with regret upon the 

 gradual disappearance of the broad silver disc with 

 the figure of 'St. Gaarge' conquering the dragon. 



Everywhere across the hills traces of the old 

 rabbit-warrens may be found in the names of places. 

 Warren Farms, Warren Houses, &c., are common; 

 and the term is often added to the names of the vil- 

 lages to distinguish an outl3ing part of the parish. 

 From the earthwork the sites of four such warrens, 

 now cultivated, can be seen within the radius of as 

 many miles. Rabbits must have swaniied on the 

 downs in the olden times. In the season when the 

 couch and weeds are collected in heaps and burned, 

 the downs — were it not for the silence — might seem 

 the scene of a mightj^ confiict, the smoke of the 

 battle rolling along the slopes and hanging over the 



