The Scouring of the White Horse

e, when we had walked a few hundred yards,

arder!” and that we should have been waited upon at lunch by an old white-headed man in black velvet, with a silver chain, and keys round his waist. Somehow, the story of the battle, and all the talk about Pendragon and Arthur, coming upon the back of

; but then the other sides are clearly not Roman. The best antiquaries who have noticed it call it Danish. On the whole, I think it must have been seized and occupied in succ

a bank of earth, eight or ten feet high in some places, but lower at others. Then, outside, there is a great, broad, deep ditch; it must be twenty-five feet from the top of the inner bank to the bottom of the ditch; and outside[84] that again, is another large bank of earth, from the foot of which the downs slope away on every sid

nd such parts as were not wanted for the sports, were let at small rents to any one who wanted them. But nobody seemed to be satisfied with his lot. Here a big gypsy, who wouldn’t pay any rent at all, was settling his cart and family, and swinging his[85] kettle, on a bit of ground, which the man who owned the pink-eyed lady had paid for. There a cheap-Jack was hustling a toyman from Wantage, and getting all his frontage towards the streets, (as they called the broad spaces whi

re wasn’t a single policeman to look like keeping order.[86] But Joe made light enough of it—he was always such a resolute boy, and that’s what made me admire him so—and said, “For the matter of that, if they were ten times as rough a lot, and twice as many, the Squire and the farmers and their men would tackle them pretty quick, without any blue-coated chaps to help! Aye, and nobody knows it better

, but very politely; “this gentleman is my guest. He has d

these parts. Then,” said he to me, “I shall take my snack with the rest presently; you’ll see me about s

casks, marked XX and XXX, ranged upon one another against the side of the booth, and small casks of spirits hooped with bright copper, and cigar boxes, and a table covered with great joints of beef and pork, and crockery and knives and forks, and baskets full of loaves of bread, and lettuces and potatoes. It must have cost a deal of money to get it all up the hill, and set the booth up. Beyond the bar was a sort of inner room, partly screened from the rest of the booth by a piece of sail-cloth, where a long table was laid out for

ough planking had been put up to serve for stalls, and the boot

pence for you; and now mind what you are at, and do

leman, kept pulling away at his forelock, and hunching u

end, “but if you like just to walk round wit

d come in by, and then round the outer earthwork of the castle. As we passed along, the inner ba

are upon is the Ridgeway, one of the oldest roads in England. How far it once extended, or who made it, no man knows; but you may trace it away there along the ridge of t

at, Sir,” said I, “after it

en have found that they will grow decent turnips and not very bad oats. Well, they plough them up, find two inches of soil only, get one crop out of them, and spoil them for sheep. Next year, no crops. Then co

I; “they won’t plough up any more, if it doesn

s’ graves. The Tenth Legion, Sir, has probably marched along this road; Severus and Agricola have ridden along it, Sir; Augustine’s monks have carried the Cross along it. There is that in that o

and it was a hundred yards before they drew up. I followed, thinking that he couldn’t be a clergyman after all, to be swearing like that about nothing. When

ee the great wood in the middle of the down. That is Ashdown Park, Lord Craven’s seat, and just on the edge of it there is a circular earthwork, which is called Alfred’s camp. Aubrey says that in his time it was ‘almost quite defaced, by digging for[92] the Sarsden stones to build my L

his host is in motion; scouts fly out, riding for life across to ?thelred’s camp. ‘Come up, my brother! the Pagan is upon us—while I live they shall not divide us—I will hold the crest of the Ridgeway, come life, come death.’ The vans are together with a wild shout, squadron by squadron the hosts close up, the fight sways slowly backwards and forwards, the life’s blood of a brave man pays

an, and the fight is restored; and with many an ebb and pause, but steadily, throu

u think, Sir?” said I, pointing to one w

s dead, a hundred yards below; by his side his standard-bearer and Earl Fr?na; Halfdene is still unhurt, but near him Osbert totters under his shield; Harold[94] can scarce back his charger, and the life-blood trickles slowly down his leg, and f

pick those bones, if the Pagans are to be beaten this day. Round them rally the Danes as they are driven up the slope. Again and again the advancing Saxons reel[95] back from the stunted thorn, before the shock of the two Boersirkir. He comes! it is the sickly prince, the stripling on the white horse, trampling fetlock-deep in blood. Round him a chosen band of yellow-bearded men of Wessex. One moment’s pause, and they meet in a last death-grapple. Bite, Saxon blade; pierce, Saxon spear! Think of your homes, my countrymen; think of the walls of Reading, of Ethelwulf and his last war-cry, ‘Our commander, Christ, is braver than they!’ The black horse

9

off his hat and wiped his face, and then l

hink I’m mad

said I, stamm

when the southwest wind blows wild, and the mist comes drifting over the broad downs, many a time, as I have stolen down the silent hill-side, I have seen the weird old Pagan king and the five earls, sitting one on each of the giants’ seat

tleman a little crazy, so I said nothing. P

d books 200 years old and upwards. Every man has his madness—that’s mine—I don’t get a chance of letting it out once a-year. I have spent a very pleasant day with you, Sir; and if you ev

into my pocket-book; “but I hope yo

mes I don’t much care about, though I’m glad they go on. But not one man in a thousand who will be on the hill t

ld interest everybody else, I’m sure, just as it has me. W

9

walk down to that little clump of trees over there, towards ?thelred’s camp, you will find an old Druidical cromlech well worth examining. It is called Wayland Smith’s cave. Walter Scott, who should have kno

tres and peep-shows, and acrobats, and the pink-eyed lady, and the other shows. On the west side were the publicans’ booths, some of them all ready, and others half up, but all with their places settled; and the great street of hucksters’ stalls and cheap-Jacks was all set out along the south side, and as more and more of them came up they went off to the end of the line and pitched regularly. The gypsies and people with no regular business were all got away into a corner, behind the stalls. On the west side the county police were pitching their large tent close away

on foot, standing round the Squire. They were talking over the arrangements before going home; and I

athering up his reins; “but some of us must be up early to-morro

en o’clo

Now I shall just go and see

ow of the hill till we came to a good point for seeing the

do very well,”

rers,” said one of

of beer which the Squire had sent down to them; and one of them was singing a r

t seems he had found out that I was collecting all I could about the Horse. But I don’t quite know whether he wasn’t cutting his jokes upon me, for he is “amazin’ fo

SCOURING OF TH

Harse wants z

e hev promise

n a scrape to

ast for ma

I

a lang la

ale o’ labo

1

Great when he spw

] thay wosbirds

I

Stwun in d

Alfred’s

in tree you m

d King Alfe

V

sword play, and

for a peg,

as hisn’s a du

for zich spw

and some another, and Joe and I down the hill to the Swan

d gentleman who was treating you at dinner?” sai

u he is a very learned party, and very kind too. He told me all about the battle of Ashdown, and

we walk the bounds ourselves every year. The men as he hired told me he was looking after some old stone, the play stone I think he called it, and would have it he knew more about the names of the fields, and why

e does know more about your parish than all of you p

d when I told him. A great angu

1

Joe,” said I,

dds,” said Joe; “I calls it angula

l he said, and should like to read it t

ch of a hand at your old-world talk, you see. Or, I’ll tell you what, you

it to your sister,” said I; “and I da

er the mare’s loins; and then he began telling

his neighbours,[105] or his hired men, when he couldn’t get things quite his own way (for that’s what it came to, and Joe is a warm-tempered fellow), and that he would sooner come six miles to get the Squire to “tackle it,” than go to any other justice who lived nearer; “for he knows our ways, and manages one way or another to get it ou

go with him. But I was off round the house and into the garden, to try and find Miss Lucy. When I di

in a black coat, dark gray trousers, and a white tie. He had a great ribstone-pippin apple in one hand, off the best tree in the orchard, out of which he had taken a great bite or two, which I thought rather vulgar; and there he was, holding up his bitten apple and some of the creepers against the trellis-work, with both hands above Miss Lucy’s head. And she stood there in her pretty white-straw hat, with the ribbons dangling loose over her shoulders, tying up the creepers to the trellis-work close to his face. I could see, too, that she was very

ondon. He held out his hand, and said he had often heard Joseph speak of me, and was very glad to meet an old friend of his friend Hurst. So we shook hands, and he began eating his apple again, and she picked up her basket, and we walked together towards the house; but they were

1

rom him about this Mr. Warton. I found Joe with his fogger,[24] as he called him, looking at some calves, and thinking of nothing but them and the pigs. However, I

I was afraid he couldn’t come down

he, Joe?

somewhere in London, and a real right sort. He was c

you and Miss Lucy

ompany in the world, and not[109] a bit proud, like some parsons. When he was down here, he used to drop

older than we,

him; what does it matter?” and so we got to the front door, and I went up-stairs to my room to wash my hands before tea. I made myself as s

n jealous about her. But suppose she shouldn’t see it in that light? Mightn’t she[110] only think, perhaps, that I was a very changeable and disagreeable sort of fellow? That would never do. Besides, after all, thought I, I’m down here at Joe’s house, and I owe it to him to be as pleasant as I can. How’s he to know that I am in love with his sister already? And this

and rattled away about every thing; except when they talked about any of his old parishioners or scholars, and then he was as[111] kind and tender as a woman, and remembered all their names, and how many children there were in every family, and the sort of mistakes the boys and girls used to make in school. And he drew Miss Lucy out about the school, and Joe about the markets an

ectly about the stalls and the sights, and the racing and the music; and cold dinner on the hill-side

s true, we shall have a fine treat on the stage; for they tells me there’s a lot of the

hey won’t be allowed to

head? Why, there’s the printed list of the sports, an

all the respectable people for miles round will be on t

t be one man in twenty up there who’ll care to see any

if the women are against these games, they can’t

didn’t say any thing because I knew he meant it kindly; “but as for you, Lucy, you, a west-country yeoman’s daughter, to talk like[113] that! If you

I can walk up by myself, if it comes to that; besides, any of the neigh

nd the parson walked in just as I was going to speak. I was ve

p and take me up the hill, if he leave

etty to do!” said he, laughing. “What

backsword play,” struck

nterrupting him; “I know he won’t say it’s right for men to

1

they are old English games, and we sets great store by them down here, though some

clergymen have been preaching against

etter what to preach against. I don’t take all fo

hocked, but Mr. Wa

our spiritual pastors! However, I won’t say y

ly, “I’m sure no clergyman can stan

,” said he; “b

re just fighting, and nothing else, and lead t

1

the kind,” shouted Joe; “and yo

“didn’t Reuben Yates get his head broken, and

a week, to come and be doctored and lectured? Rube liked his suppers well enough, and didn’t mind the plasteri

ungrateful, wicked f

won’t break his heart if you don’t give him the preaching by itself. It does seem to me plaguy

prained his ankle at the[116] wrestling, and was in the hous

better have been at backsword; for a chap can go to work with a broken head ne

eeping back, and seemed a little on Joe’s side, and if he

ain’t you, Sir? Do tell Joe how wrong i

into the quarrel as your knight; you’re quit

heart,” said I to Miss Lucy; “only he’s

you and I must have it out; only mind, Miss Lucy, y

1

a word, Sir,

nd clear. Do you approve of the other sports, run

of course I

one man beating anothe

, no har

st have activity and endura

It takes as much heart, I’m sure, any day,

aside, tell me which you think the best man, he who

bit, for I thought I saw what he was dri

o do with circumstances. Suppose there were no circumstanc

the one[118] who doesn’t mind having h

up his hat on the stage, he said he could get his pint of beer any day for tuppence, but it

Warton—” brok

t to say a word,

e began

hold your

Sir,” said J

ust the same qualities to win at backsword as to win a ra

hat I say is, that backsword is a game in which men

imes lose their tempe

1

perhaps,” said I,

don’t lose them at

erhaps n

the temper than other games. Surely that’s no reason for stopping it, but only for putting

what to say, but Mis

, did you ever see

he; “but I don’t mind answering. I never d

ave got the best of me, I don’t believe

now in favour of backsword play and wrest

We’re not talking about preaching[120] sermons, but ab

games, as was their duty if they had considered the subject well, and thought them wrong. I have never thought much about the matter till to-night. At present I t

as soon as ever prayers were over, he bustled his mother and sister off to bed, though I could see that Miss Lucy wasn’t half satisfied in her mind about the backsword play and wrestling, and wanted to stay an

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