Recent Wiltskirc Boohn, Bfrmphlds, ^ir tides, &c, 621 



hardly any other writer on such subjects has, in that ho has actually 

 seen both sides, and has actually experienced both lives himself. But 

 apart from matters of opinion the strength of the book lies in the 

 pictures of country life and farm work, and the character sketches of 

 the older inhabitants of the village that it gives us. T^ancelot Whitfield 

 and his staff at Burton (kove farm, Jimmy Boulton the Carter, Old 

 Betsy llorton, Grubby, the " Voggcr,'' Hichard Chillingworth, and the 

 old sexton are all deliglitfully described, and the language that they 

 speak is the real thing, a pleasure to read or hear. Here and there he 

 touches a deeper note, as in the chapter on the Tragedy of th:; Work- 

 house, for which he has all the old-fashioned countryman's abhorrence. 

 The present system of education in elementary schools he holds to be 

 on wrong lines altogether. Incidentally he mentions various interesting 

 ])oints. He speaks of " Boman Kemains" formerly existing in Bow- 

 l)orough Field, in South Marston, which have now entirely disappeared. 

 Apparently a square space of about an acre was surrounded by " walls " 

 4ft. high or so, but no further particulars are given, except that the 

 tradition of the place is that " there was one lot o' sowjers yander at 

 Liddinton, an' another in thase field, lookee ; an' both on 'em belonged 

 to one another." A very curious story indeed is that of the laying of 

 the ghost of Sir Edmund Warneford, who was in the habit of riding 

 u[) the drive at Warneford Place at midnight as though the hounds 

 were in full cry. A company of twelve parsons met him one night and 

 proceeded to lay him on his own conditions, which were that "a couple 

 of Gamecocks taken with a pair of Clay Gloves " should be offered to 

 liim. The ghost retired into a hollow tree, the twelve parsons stood 

 in a ring near reading their bibles backward as hard as they could, the 

 cocks were laid at the foot of the tree, the ghost rent the cocks violently, 

 and vanished in a pond under the trees, to remain till the pond 

 runs dry, and then to reappear. He mentions the big sarsen mere-stone 

 at Stanton Fitzwarren, and another beside the road at South Marston, 

 which has also sometimes been supposed to be a mere-stone. As to 

 this latter, however, he expressly records the fact that that Josh Hughes 

 brought it from a field at Cats Brain some sixty years ago. Among 

 other children's games he includes " Huddle Duck " and " Bow Bow 

 Rad-i-o," which do not seem to be elsewhere recorded, and he mentions 

 the belief that you should always touch a dead person when you go to 

 see him, otherwise you will dream of the corpse. As to the future of 

 the agricultural labourer he considers that the cry of " Land Hunger" 

 and "]^)ack to the Land" is largely the political claptrap of town dwellers, 

 but at the same time he thinks that agricultural wages should be 

 considerably higher, and that a system of small holdings tending to 

 ownership may do something. As to education, he thinks that the 

 country population will never be im})roved to any extent by mere 

 " book learning." It is greatly to be hoped that we may have more 

 pictures of the country and tlic people of the Wilts and Berkshire 

 border from the author of A Wiltshire Villagt. ileviewed Times 

 Liternry Supplnneyit, Nov. 7tli, 1!»1-J : M'ilfs/n'n 7'i)/i..<, Nov l'th.i:M2 . 



