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



A fairly full index makes the book the more useful for reference. The 

 life of the Rector and the account of the parish institutions as they 

 now exist are written in a simple and popular way which will appeal 

 especially to his friends and parishioners and neighbours, whilst the 

 sections devoted to manorial and family history and the like bear 

 evidence of wide and accurate research and are undoubtedly a valuable 

 addition to Wiltshire Topography and History. 



Villages of the White Horse. By Alfred Williams, 

 author of" Songs in Wiltshire," " Poems in Wilt- 

 shire,'' " A Wiltshire Village," &c. London : 

 Duckworth & Co, 8, Henrietta Street, Covent 

 Garden, W.C 1913; 



Linen, 7jin. X 4fin., pp. xvi. + 290. Sketch map of the district, 

 5s. net. 



In this volume the author follows up his study of South Marston in .4 

 Wiltshire Village with a series of shorter but somewhat similar studies of 

 the series of villages lying along the chalk escarpment from Basset Down 

 and Wroughton on the west to Kingston Lisle and White Horse Hill 

 on the east. The larger part of the district described lies in Wiltshire. 

 Basset Down, Barbury Castle, Salthrop, Wroughton, Burderop, Hod- 

 son, Chiseldon, Badbury, Liddington, Wanborough, Russley, Little 

 Hinton, aud Bishopstone fill eleven out of the fifteen chapters, the 

 remainder being concerned with the country over the Berkshire bor- 

 der. As in his former book so too in this the author's strength lies in 

 his descriptions of the people, the working people of the villages, and 

 his transcriptions of their conversations and sayings. To any one who 

 knows the North Wilts folk it is clear that these are records of actual 

 conversations overheard by the author, they are not imaginary talk 

 put into the mouth of imaginary rustics, as is most of such talk in 

 books. It is safe to say that the North Wilts dialect is as truly rep- 

 resented by Mr. Williams in these books as it ever has been or ever 

 will be in print, and the speakers are real as well as their talk, their 

 very houses are described, and their actual names are given. Mr. 

 Ferris of Salthrop, the old Sexton and Hunting Farmer at Wroughton, 

 the Keeper at Burderop, the Head Carter who was killed whilst break- 

 ing in a young colt at 84, young John the Blacksmith at Little Hinton, 

 and a dozen others are or have been real people. They live to a re- 

 markable age, they are all cheerful and contented, most of them have 

 a sense of humour of their own, and all are well worth knowing and 

 talking to. Mr. Williams, so far as the country is concerned, remains 

 an incorrigible optimist ; for him the hardest labour of the village and 

 the farm is a pleasure, compared with the grinding routine of the 

 Great Western Works at Swindon. He does not give us guide book 

 details, the architecture of churches and houses is but touched on and 

 that perhaps not always accurately, his derivation of place names 

 would not always commend itself to the trained etymologist, but the 

 recollections of the games, the beliefs, the village industries of the past 



