neighbouring downs, and at its markets large quantities appear of Dorsetshire skim cheese and Dorset butter. It was once famous for its ale, and its inns still maintain their ancient reputation. It is also an important railway station, being the junction-point of the Great Western, and London and South-Western lines (Southampton and Dorchester, and Dorchester and Weymouth branches). The journey from London is now accomplished in four hours; in 1739 the Dorchester stage occupied two days and a night! The great historical interest of Dorchester centres in its BRITO-ROMAN AMPHITHEATRE, South of the town; POUNDBURY, west; and MAIDEN CASTLE, 2 miles south-west. A few details will probably be acceptable to the tourist. The AMPHITHEATRE (called MAEN- or MAUMBURY), first introduced to the notice of the public by Sir Christopher Wren, is supposed by some to have been founded during the rule of Agricola; but Dr. Stukely considers it to have been formed by order of the Emperor Titus. On this point, however, there is no certain evidence. Both its slopes and area are now overgrown with long rank grass, but its outlines are plainly discernible. It is`an oval, about 218 feet in its longest diameter, and 163 in its shortest. The centre is slightly sunk beneath the level of the surrounding plain; the sides or walls, of chalk, are raised 30 feet above it. Externally, its dimensions are 343 feet by 339 feet, and so thick is its rampart on the east and west, that it is not improbable it there contained some secure receptacles for wild beasts— "Butchered to make a Roman holiday." The entrance is placed at the north-east angle, and leads to a species of pathway which ascends to the top of the superstructure. Beneath it there appears to have been a cavern, or subterraneous chamber. A terrace or passage commences near the entrance, and gradually rises until it reaches the central tier of seats, whence it descends to the opposite end of the oval. "On the top of (what were once) the row of seats is a terrace, about 12 feet broad, divided from the seats by a parapet. Between this upper terrace and the middle terrace were rows of seats, excavated in the chalk, and appropriated to the humbler spectators; while below the middle terrace were the seats for persons of higher rank; and on a podium, or broad platform, immediately contiguous to the arena, were the seats for the senators and nobles”—(Thorne). Twelve thousand persons could, from their various tiers of seats, have witnessed the savage sports enacted in the arena below "And here the buzz of eager nations ran, In murmured pity, or loud-roared applause, As man was slaughtered by his fellow-man."-Byron. Nearly as large a number thronged the grass-grown mounds when Mary Channing, in the centre of the area, was strangled and then burned for the murder of her husband (March 21, 1705). Once before a woman, one Jane Hall, had been cruelly put to death in the same manner, and on the same spot (December 31, 1660); but Mary Channing was the last person who underwent so barbarous a punishment in England. From the Amphitheatre (past the BARRACKS, built by Fentiman, at a cost of £24,000) to POUNDBURY, is neither a long nor an uninteresting walk. Poundbury rises on the south bank of the Frome, a lofty and grassy mound, 400 feet from north to south, and 1000 feet from east to west. A raised earthwork encircles it, or rather encloses an irregular oblong area, which is slightly rounded off at the south-east and south-west angles. There are three small entrances at different points, but the principal entrance is on the east side. Nature has flung over it a rich garniture of herb, grass, and wildling, and it seems to have borne unchanged the storms of centuries. What its uses, who shall say? Camden says it is a camp constructed by the Danes when, under the leadership of King Sweyn, they besieged Dorchester (circa 1003). But would they have needed so massive and formidable an entrenchment? Enough for us that it is curious in its antiquity, and that it commands a very fine and extensive prospect. TO MAIDEN CASTLE-" Mew Dun," the great hill-the path lies across the fields, and there is no difficulty in finding it, so conspicuous is it from its elevation and unusual dimensions. MAIDEN CASTLE is one of the largest earthworks in England. A double fosse and rampart-in some places treble, and the inner walls of remarkable height, even as much as 60 feet-enclose an area of 44 acres, while altogether the camp covers about 160. There are two entrances—one on the east, the other on the west, and both protected by numerous ditches and ramparts The inner area is divided by a low ditch, which runs across it from north to south, and near its southern extremity is the opening to a partially filled-up cave, which communicated, it is supposed, with the stream below. Antiquarians and topographers differ respecting the origin of this remarkable camp. We may fairly assume that it is British in its origin, and formed by the partial excavation of a commanding height, but that it was used, at a later period, by the Romans, as the castra æstiva of the troops stationed at Dorchester. [HINTS FOR RAMBLES.-1. The first "tour" in the neighbourhood will be, without doubt, to Weymouth, and the tourist should walk there (8 miles), returning by rail. The road and the rail run very closely together, intersecting each other three times. The numerous barrows on the hills around will surely attract the tourist's attention. At 2 miles from Dorchester, on the right, and at the foot of Maiden Castle, lies MONKTON (population, 400), a quiet and pleasant village, which, however, need not draw us aside from our route. Descending the hills, we may see, on the left, the camp-crowned chalk-down of CHALBURY, while, on our right, lies UPWEY (4 miles from Dorchester), at the head of a branch of the river Wey. Half a mile farther, and we enter the village of BROADWAY, from whence into Weymouth is about a three miles' walk. 2. Leaving Dorchester by the eastern road, we may strike through the fields to PIDDLETOWN (see post), 5 miles, descend into WOODSFORD, 3 miles, and, entering the valley of the Frome, return, by way of West Stafford, into the Wareham road, and so into Dorchester, 5 miles. 3. TO CHARMINSTER, 2 miles, and thence along the hills to CERNE ABBAS, 4 miles. The tourist may then cross to MAIDEN NEWTON, 7 miles, and return by the Great Western Railway to Dorchester, 9 miles. 4. The ramble to ABBOTSBURY, 8 miles, is one of great interest, and opens up a succession of bold land and sea views. The return home should be made by way of PORTISHAM, 2 miles, into Dorchester, 6 miles.] BRANCH ROUTE-DORCHESTER TO BLANDFORD, The road crosses the two branches of the Frome, and then ascends the chalk-hills to PIDDLETOWN (population, 390), 2 miles, whose CHURCH is of some antiquity (1505), containing a few knightly memorials, and a brass to C. Martin, d. 1524. The village takes its name from the Piddle, which flows from hence by Wareham into Poole harbour. The hamlet of TROY TOWN which we pass on our road reminds us of the curious mise-mazes, or labyrinths, which our Celtic ancestors delighted in, and whose uses it is now impossible to ascertain. Probably they were the scene of some public spectacle or national game. They derive their name from the Armoric word troi, or winding, and not from that Homeric city which, (s.w.) F according to garrulous old Geoffrey of Monmouth, sent forth the first colonists of "the land of tin." The masses of foliage rising south of Piddletown belong to ILSINGTON WOOD. The road now follows the course of the Piddle- -or Trent, as it is sometimes called-crossing its two streams at the village of BURLESTON (population, 71), 1 mile. Just beyond, on the left, stands DEWLISH HOUSE (General Michel), while at some distance, on the right, rises the camp-crowned and fir-planted height of WEATHERBURY CASTLE, now distinguished by an obelisk,another of those ancient entrenchments which throng this part of England, so that the tourist traverses, as it were, a land of the dead, where the past is constantly recalled to his recollection by these weather-worn and time-scathed memorials. The next village we arrive at rejoices in the euphonious name of TOLPIDDLE (population, 354). Its CHURCH, a building of no particular interest, stands on the right of the road. On the lower road, across the river, stands AFFPIDDLE (population, 488). MILBOURNE ST. ANDREWS (population, 335), 84 miles from Dorchester, is a pleasant town-like village, with a CHURCH dedicated to St. Andrew, a long straggling street of ordinary houses, and an Inn, The Royal Oak, which is famous as the halfway house between Dorchester and Blandford. From hence the pedestrian may diverge to BERE REGIS (population, 450. Inns: Drax's Arms, Royal Oak), an ancient Roman station, whose soldiers placed their summer camp on the neighbouring height of WOODBURY HILL, half a mile east. Bere Regis is a dull place enough except during Woodbury fair, which is held from September 18th to 24th on the green slopes of this pleasant ascent, and attracts large numbers of farmers to its show of South Down sheep, Dorsetshire cheese, and Dorsetshire butter. The camp on the summit must have been originally British, for the Romans never built a circular entrenchment. It is defended by a triple fosse and vallum. To her palace at Bere Regis Queen Elfrida retreated after the murder of Edward the Martyr at Corfe Castle, and either the same, or a royal house of later erection was once occupied (crede tradition) by King John. In a field opposite the rustic CHURCH exist some traces of a building which the peasants declare to have been the queen-murderess's palace. Numerous memorials in the church commemorate the Tubervilles, settled here since the Conquest. At Bere Regis was born, in 1410, Cardinal Morton, Henry the Seventh's Lord Chancellor, and not one of the least able or most sumptuous of the Archbishops of Canterbury. Returning to Milbourne we turn aside, on the left, to visit MILTON ABBAS (population, 915. Inn: The Hambro Arms), and MILTON ABBEY, 24 miles. A pleasant and leafy lane winds up a gentle slope to one of the prettiest of Dorsetshire villages. It was built by the first Earl of Dorchester, and consists of two rows of the neatest cottages imaginable, with thatched roofs and quaint lattices, lining each side of a well-kept road. In the distance rises a range of verdurous hills. Each cottage stands in an open plot of ground, where the leafy chestnut rears its thick branches, and flings its far-spreading shadow, and where many a favourite English flower delights the senses with its charming bloom and honest hearty fragrance. The neat village inn is situated at the end of "the street ;" the almshouse and the fine old church stand in the centre opposite one another. No artist will omit to perpetuate in his sketch-book his visit to Milton Abbas. On leaving the village we immediately descend into the deep shady hollow where MILTON ABBEY retires from the work-day world. Its park spreads up the hills on either side, but the house itself is situated in the vale-as calm and tranquil a spot as poet or philosopher could desire. Easily enough may the imagination re-people these silent shades with cowled monks winding through the trees in processional pomp, or sitting apart upon the crisp green sward, and musing-it may be―upon passions only half-subdued, upon crushed hopes, upon a weary manhood, upon the atonement rendered by a life of solitude and sacrifice, upon all they feared, and all they durst anticipate. Milton Abbey was built here, in the shadow of the hills, by King Athelstan, and it throve mightily, through centuries of tumultuous change, until the unsparing hand of Henry VIII., Defender of the Faith, smote heavily upon it. Then its lands were given, for the certainly nominal consideration of £1000, to Sir John Tregonwell, who had acted as the King's proctor in the suit against Queen Catherine, and from the Tregonwells they passed to the Earls of Dorchester, and from the Earls of Dor |