By the Rev. W. H. Aivdry. 



323 



return a negro, if he chose, as Member. The reply was, ' No doubt, 

 but I think he would have to come from the " Guinea 33 Coast/ ' I 

 have given directions for the election of Ludgershall to be of Lord 

 Melbourne and myself/ he writes to the Premier, whose friend he 

 was, and who was himself as sleepy, as witty, and as goodnatured 

 as George." This was in 1780, and he died in 1781. George 

 Selwyn's heir was Lord Sidney, who sold his interest to Sir James 

 Graham, of Kirkstead, who in turn was succeeded by Sir Sandford 

 Graham, who was one of the Members of the borough at the time 

 of its disenfranchisement. Everybody knows that Ludgershall re- 

 turned two Members to Parliament from 1295 to 1831, a complete 

 list of whom may be found in Hoare's " History of Wiltshire." 

 The manor has changed hands twice since that time (1832), the 

 present owner, Mr. Nathaniel Young, having purchased it from the 

 executors of the late Mr. Maund. 



Of the castle, to which of course Ludgershall owed all the im- 

 portance it ever possessed, but little remains, but from some round- 

 headed windows still to be seen it was pronounced by Mr. Britton 

 to be of Norman origin. It stands in a Roman encampment nearly 

 half-a-mile in circumference. A print of the ruins as they were in 

 1775 shews that little or no alteration can have taken place since 

 that time. The old well still furnishes an ample supply of water. 

 It has never been known quite to fail, but it was so low in the dry 

 summer of 1869 that the then occupier of the Castle Farm had 

 decided to have it cleaned out, and we all looked forward to the 

 discovery of many curious relics of bygone times, but — it began to 

 rain that night, other work was found for the hands on the farm, 

 and the treasures, if any, still remain, like Truth, at the bottom of 

 the well. Some old names still linger about the place. There is 

 the " Bowling Alley " hard by the " Banquetting House." We 

 have our " Butts." There is a " West Park," a " Long Park," and 

 a "Wood Park." There is the "Deer Leap," where, no doubt, 

 many a noble hart fell a victim to his pursuers, and when restoring 

 the walls of the chancel of the Church, ten years ago, we found 

 some pieces of horn — I believe those of the red deer — in the old 

 " put-log " holes, a fact which seems to bear out the description I 



