158 Recent Wiltshire Books, Pamphlets, Articles, &c. 



tail. The bull knocked at the door with its horns, and, if allowed to 

 enter, chased the young people round the house, with fearsome curvets 

 and bellowings. Even in the surrounding parishes the Christmas Bull is 

 unknown, and I have never heard of the custom being practised in other 

 parts of the country. The man in whose possession the bull was until 

 quite recently, knows that it had been in his family for over one hundred 

 years. It was used till about ten years ago. On Old Christmas Eve 

 came the Wassailers with their traditional song : — 



Wassail, Wassail ! 

 All round the town 

 Your cup is so white 

 And your beer is so brown, 

 &c. 



The song of "The Plough Boy " is given at length, and a story of 

 witchcraft "in a neighbouring village,'' of an old woman who in 1904 

 believing that she was " overlooked," roasted a bullock's heart stuck full 

 of pins and sat up all night watching it until the pins one by one fell out. 

 This story savours far more of Somerset than of Wiltshire, and would 

 probably be impossible anywhere in the centre or north of the connty. 



The Mummers' Play, portions of which only are given in this article, 

 seems at Stourton to have differed considerably from either of the versions 

 given in Wilts Arch. Mag, i., 79, and xxvii. ,311. The Stourton characters 

 are given as seven in number, Father Christmas, the Duke and Duchess 

 of Northumberland, Captain Curly from the Isle of Wight, Dr. Finley, 

 Johnnie Jack, and " Bighead" or " Girthead." Johnnie Jack carried a 

 number of small dolls on his back. The Turkish Knight does not appear 

 at Stourton. 



A Guide to Avebury and Neighbourhood, by R. 



Hippisley COX. London, Edward Stanford, 12, 13, arid 14, Long 

 Acre, W.C., 1909. 



Stiff paper covers, 8fin. X 6jin., pp. 68, 2s. net, with 16 good plans, (The 

 Great Watersheds of England, Avebury Plain, The Temple, Temple and 

 Avenues (Stukeley), The Avenue, Silbury Hill, and Temple, Barbury, 

 Bincknoll, Earthworks near Clyffe Pypard, Earthworks to west of Clyffe 

 Pypard,Bradenstoke, Oldbury Castle, Oliver's Castle, Bybury, Martinsell, 

 Hatfield barrow). 



The preface of five pages by Lord Avebury explains the structure as 

 the skeleton of a great chambered barrow with its peristalith of surround- 

 ing stones and ditch. " Avebury was, it seems, the tomb of some great 

 chief. But the very magnitude of the monument precluded its com- 

 pletion. It was impossible to raise a mound or to cover over so great a 

 space. Thus we can, I think, explain the main features of this mar- 

 vellous monument." Lord Avebury makes a curious slip when he states 

 that the bank is on the inner side of the ditch and the circle of great 

 stones " inside the bank." 



