116

THE HOLY THORN.

hung by the order of that despot Henry the Eighth, for not acknowleding his supremacy.

The hill was remarkable for the holy thorn, which was said, in former times, to blossom yearly on Christmas-day. The story is, that it sprung from St. Joseph of Arimathea's staff, stuck by him in the ground. It would discompose the most serious gravity to read what Hearne, Broughton, and Camden, have written on this subject. Dr. James Montague, Bishop of Bath and Wells, in King James the First's days, was so wonderfully taken with the holy thorn, that he thought a branch of it a present worthy the acceptance of the then Queen Anne, King James's consort. Natural historians have since discovered, that this marvellous tree is only a deviation from the common standard of its species. Thus does science put to flight the dreams of superstition!

A few miles onward, we came to the small, but neat city of WELLS, which, together with Bath, forms a joint bishopric. It is situated at the bottom of the Mendip Hills, and derives its name from the great number of springs that are in and about it. The cathedral is a fine piece of architecture; the front of this Gothic structure, which has been built upwards of 500 years, is much admired for its imagery and carved stone work. It has also a painted window. The palace of the Bishop, fortified with walls and a moat, is reckoned the handsomest in the kingdom. Here the pious and learned Bishop Kidder and his lady

were killed in their bed, by the palace falling in during the storm of 1703, which did immense damage in different parts of the country. The city abounds with public charities.

Not far from Wells, on the south side of the Mendip Hills, is a cave, known by the name of Okely Hole. The entrance to this cave is parallel to the horizon, at the bottom of a cave 180 feet high, and over the rock is a steep mountain, the top of which is thought to be a mile above the bottom of the rock. At the entrance into the cave, there is a deep descent of fifty or sixty feet; the cave itself is about two hundred feet in length, in some parts fifty or sixty broad, and the greatest height is fifty feet, though, in some places, the roof is not above four or five feet from the bottom. There are several divisions of it, which the imaginations of some people have distinguished into a kitchen, a hall, a dancing-room, a cellar, and other apartments. Water of a petrifying quality constantly drops from the roof, and, forming a variety of stony figures, fancy has improved them into resemblances of old women, dogs, bells, organs, or other things. The echo of any noise within this cavern is so strong, that a stone dropped on the rocky bottom of the cave, sounds with a noise as loud as the report of a cannon. At the extremity of the cavern there issues a stream of water sufficient to drive a mill, and passing with rapidity and noise the whole length of the cavern, it bursts out through the rock near the entrance into the valley!

118

BATTLE OF EDDINGTON.

Not far from this part of Somersetshire was fought the battle of Eddington, when ALFRED obtained a complete victory over the Danes, his inveterate enemy. We have already noticed his fortitude in the day of adversity while in the Isle of Athelney; let us now record his gratitude after the acquision of victory; it laid the foundation for the peace and prosperity of Britain :→→

-Loftier than the rest

Stood ALFRED. On one side the Queen appear'd
Bearing her child, and on the other ODDUNE;

While the vast host of Saxons all around

Intent stood listening.

When the KING his arm

Raised, and began-———

"Most gallant men!

One moment more: my words have not been fram'd
To self applause, nor hath my heart been taught
To see aught good but from the hand of God.
When speaking of your valour and your might,
I know you're but the instruments! On high
Dwells the great ruler of all mortal things!
With him have we found favour! He it was,
Who this deliverance wrought—who by his hand
Unseen made plain our path, and at this hour
Gives us to triumph! He it was who screen'd
Our heads in perils infinite! His arm

Fought on our side! Saxons, with me rejoice!

But to the God of HEAVEN be all the praise!" COTTLE.

It will be a sufficient apology for the number of Poetical Extracts in this letter, that many of the lines relate to the illustrious ALFRED, "whose character," says Hume, "presents that model of perfection which philosophers have been fond of delineating, rather as a fiction of their imagination,

CHARACTER OF ALFRED.

119

than in hopes of its real existence: so happily were all his virtues tempered together, so justly were they blended, and so powerfully did each prevent the other from exceeding its proper boundaries. He reconciled the severest justice with the gentlest lenity, the brightest capacity and inclination for science, with the most shining talents for action. His civil and his military virtues are almost equally the object of our admiration, excepting only that the former being more rare among princes, as well as more useful, seem chiefly to challenge our applause; and nature also, as if desirous that so bright a production of her skill should be set in the fairest light, had bestowed on him every bodily accomplishment. His countenance was open and engaging, his shape majestic; and he could only accuse that fortune, which, by throwing him on a barbarous age, had deprived him of historians worthy to transmit his fame to posterity."

I remain, dear Sir,

Yours, &c.

120

SHEPTON-MALLET.

LETTER VIII.

SHEPTON MALLET; RUINS AT NUNNY; FROME;. WARMINSTER FIGURE OF THE WHITE HORSE; STONEHENGE; ITS ANTIQUITY AND PRESENT CONDITION; LINES ON STONEHENGE, BY WARTON AND LOVELL; SALISBURY AND ITS CATHEDRAL; WILTON-HOUSE; OLD SARUM; WINCHESTER; ISAAC WALTON; PORTSMOUTH; ALRESFORD; FARNHAM; STOCKBRIDGE; RETURN TO LONDON ; TWICKENHAM; RICHMOND; THOMSON AND WAKEFIELD; KEW; FULHAM; HYDE-PARK-CORNER: CONCLUSION.

DEAR SIR,

HAVING thus passed through Taunton, Bridgewater, and Wells, reflecting on the events by which that part of our island has been distinguished, we quitted the stage-coach, and taking a post-chaise crossed the country to Frome. We saw Shepton Mallet on the right, a clothing town, for which it is fitted by the rivulets with which it is surrounded. We also passed by the little retired village of Nunny, where a dismantled castle, of some extent, tells the sad tale of former times. Ruins indeed, of every kind, form an awful spectacle, and to a mind disposed to moralize, suggest melancholy reflections. The evening sun shone on these battered towers, and reminded me of that dissolution in which all terrestrial things shall be finally involved. It is not unworthy of observation, that a celebrated author, Mrs. Woolstonecraft, speaking of insanity, pronounces the most terrific of ruins to be that of the human soul. "What," says she, "is the view of the falling co