In the chalk hills of Berkshire, beyond Reading and north of Hungerford,
there rises an eminence over nine hundred feet high, known as the White
Horse Hill. It is a famous place; upon the summit, covering a dozen
acres, and from which eleven counties can be seen, there is a
magnificent Roman camp, with gates, ditch, and mound as complete as when
the legions left it. To the westward of the hill, and under its shadow,
was the battlefield of Ashdown, where Alfred defeated the Danes and
broke their power in 871. He fought eight other battles against the
Danes that year, but they were mere skirmishes compared with the
decisive victory of Ashdown, and in memory of it he ordered his army to
carve the White Horse on the hillside as the emblem of the standard of
Hengist. It is cut out of the turf, and can be seen to a great distance,
being three hundred and seventy-four feet long. After a spell of bad
weather it gets out of condition, and can only be restored to proper
form by being scoured, this ceremony bringing a large concourse of
people from all the neighboring villages. The festival was held in 1857,
and the old White Horse was then brought back into proper form with much
pomp and great rejoicing. The ancient balladist thus quaintly describes
the festivity on these memorable occasions:
"The owld White Harse wants zettin to rights, and the squire hev promised
good cheer,
Zo we'll gee un a scrape to kip un in zhape, and a'll last for many a
year.
A was made a lang, lang time ago, wi a good dale o' labor and pains.
By King Alferd the Great, when he spwiled their consate and caddled[B]
thay wosbirds[C] the Danes.
The Bleawin Stwun in days gone by wur King Alferd's bugle harn,
And the tharnin tree you med plainly zee as is called King Alferd's
tharn.
There'll be backsword play, and climmin the powl, and a race for a peg,
and a cheese.
And us thenks as hisn's a dummell[D] zowl as dwont care for zich spwoorts
as theze."
Leaving London by the Great Western Railway, and passing beyond
Berkshire, we cross the boundary into Wiltshire, and go through the
longest railway-tunnel in England, the noted Box Tunnel, which is a
mile and three-quarters in length and cost over $2,500,000 to construct.
It goes through a ridge of great-oolite, from which the valuable
bath-stone is quarried, and the railway ultimately brings us to the
cathedral city that boasts the tallest church-spire in
England--Salisbury, the county-town of Wiltshire, standing in the valley
formed by the confluence of three rivers, the Avon, Bourne, and Wiley.
[Footnote B: caddled, worried.]
[Footnote C: wosbirds, birds of evil omen.]
[Footnote D: dummell, stupid.]