sound is the wood. The twigs at the bottom are sometimes so firm, as to resist the sharp spade usually employed. These trees are of various species: some of them are oaks, alders, willows, and firs the others are so much decayed that their kinds cannot be distinguished. The small roots are generally perished; yet their remains are sufficient to prove, that the trees, however they were thus buried, were neither felled by the axe, nor cut down with the saw; as the marks in either of those cases must have been visible. No acorns are found in the peat, though the cones of the fir tree frequently are, and also a great number of hazelnut-shells.

The peat is cut with a peculiar kind of spade, in pieces commonly called long squares: these are about three inches and a half broad every way, and four feet in length, if the depth of the peat will admit. When the pieces are cut, they are laid in regular order on the ground, to be dried by the sun and wind; and as the moisture evaporates, are turned, and broken into smaller lengths. When perfectly dry, it is sold for firing, or burnt into ashes on the spot for manure, being exceedingly good both for arable and grass lands. The price of the peat is about ten shillings a load; and the ashes from five-pence to seven-pence a bushel. The peat lies continually in water, and is cut through without much difficulty,

"Some years ago an urn, of a light brown color, and large enough to contain above a gallon, was found in the true peat, about eight or ten feet from the river in Speen Moor. It lay about four feet below the level of the ground, and about a foot within the peat, and over it was raised an artificial hill, about eight feet higher than the neighbouring ground: as the whole hill consisted of both peat and meadow-land mixed together, it plainly appeared that the peat was older than the urn, and that the person who raised the hill, must first have dug a large hole in the peat to bury the urn, and then formed the hill of the peat and meadow-ground mixed together. Round the hill where the urn lay, were several semicircular ridges, with trenches between

them:

them: the extremities of the semicircles were bounded by the line of the river."* Various other things have been found embedded in the peat, but so irregularly dispersed, as to render it evident that their situation was the effect of accident only. The horns, heads, and bones of several kinds of deer; the horns of the antelope, the heads and tusks of boars, the heads of beavers, human bones, &c. have at different times been discovered in it. These things are generally found at the bottom of the peat; a circumstance which warrants the supposition that its gravelly bed was once the surface of the earth, and that the peat itself, however produced, must have arisen from the later operations of nature.

SPEEN.

THE small village of Speen is situated on a gentle ascent, about a mile north-west of Newbury. It is a place of considerable antiquity, deriving its name from the Roman Spinæ, which is supposed to have been situated in Speen-field, between the village and Speenham-land, that, branching from this town, seems to connect itself with Newbury,

This station, though mentioned by Antoninus, was apparently of but inconsiderable importance, as it does not appear that any antiquities, or remains of buildings, have been discovered in its vicinity; nor is the place yet of any magnitude, the number of houses hardly amounting to 200. Its relation to Newbury is the chief circumstance that renders it deserving notice. Near the church is a well, called Our Lady's Well, where there is a very distinct and clear echo. It repeats but once; but at such intervals of time, and so loud, that a word of four or five syllables is heard as articulately from the echo, as from the voice of the person pronouncing it. The sums given to the parish for chari table uses, amount to about 601. a year.

Nearly opposite this village, on the north, is DONNINGTONGROVE, the residence of William Brummell, Esq. The house is a handsome modern building, pleasantly seated on a sloping I 4 lawn,

*Philosophical Transactions, Vol. L.

lawn, under a ridge of woody hills, which screens it from the north, and forms a rich back-ground, where the ruined towers of Donnington Castle breaking the line of trees, enliven the scenery, and contribute to form a prospect of much beauty. The Lamborn stream, enlarged into a handsome piece of water, flows through the vale in front of the house, having its banks decorated with clumps of trees, and its bosom studded with islands, where the feathered visitants of the lake reside in full security. Near the lower extremity the water is crossed by a wooden bridge of one arch, the outlet of the stream being judiciously hidden by plantations. The contracted channel at the upper end is concealed by stately groves, so that only a broad and clear expanse of water is presented to the eye. The grounds are well furnished with wood, and many additional plantations have been made by the present owner,

DONNINGTON CASTLE

REARS its lofty head above the remains of the venerable oaks which once surrounded it, on an eminence north-east of the grove. It was formerly a place of much importance; and, by commanding the western road, gave to its possessors a considerable degree of authority. When it was originally built is uncertain; but from a manuscript preserved in the Cotton Library, it appears that it belonged to Walter Abberbury, who paid C. shillings for it to the King. Towards the latter end of the reign of Richard the Second, Sir Richard Abberbury obtained a license to rebuild it; and from him it descended to his son Richard, of whom it was purchased by Geoffrey Chaucer, the parent of English poetry.

Hither about the year 1397, in the 70th year of his age, the bard retired, in order to taste those sweets of contemplation and rural quiet, which the hurry and fatigues of a court had before prevented his enjoying. In Gibson's edition of Camden, it is asserted, that " an oak was here standing till within these few years, under which Chaucer penned many of his famous poems." This tradition is in all probability a mistake, as most, if not all,

of

of Chaucer's poems were written before his retirement; and even so long as forty years ago not the least remains of it could be found after the strictest search, and most diligent enquiry, among the neighbouring inhabitants. That " he composed his pieces under an oak of his own planting," is a story that has likewise been current, but is an absolute impossibility, as he was not in possession of the estate more than three years. He died in London, whither he had gone to solicit the continuation of some of his grants, in the year 1400.

Alice, the grand-daughter of the poet, by marriage with William de la Pole, Duke of Suffolk, conveyed the castle into his possession. This Lord was the favorite of Henry the Sixth; but having abused the power which he had obtained over that weak monarch, was banished by the Commons. On returning to England, he was seized near Dover by the partizans of the Duke of York, and beheaded. From him it descended to Edmund de la Pole, who being executed for treasonable practices in the reign of Henry the Seventh, it escheated to the crown, where it remained till the 37th of Henry the Eighth, when it appears to have been granted to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. In the reign of James the First, it belonged to the family of the Packers, whose heiress married Dr. Hartley, ancestor to Mr. Hartley, the present proprietor. In the civil wars it was a post of great consequence, being fortified as a garrison for the King, and the government entrusted to Colonel Boys. During these troubles it was twice besieged; the last time by Colonel Horton, who, raising a battery against it, at the foot of a hill near Newbury, fired upwards of 1000 shot, by which three of the towers were demolished, and part of the wall; but the governor refused either to give or accept quarter on any terms whatever; and bravely defended the ruined fortress till relieved by the King's army, when his gallant behaviour was recompensed with the honour of knighthood. The day after the second battle of Newbury, it was again summoned by the Parlia rment's generals, who threatened, if the castle was not surrendered, that not one stone should be left on another. To this the governor replied, “that he was not bound to repair it; but was determined

by

On the south beyond the vale, which is intersected by the Kennet, we have a fine prospect of Hampsted-Marshal Park, and its woody accompaniments. The grounds on this side are agreeably varied in appearance, and decorated with clumps of stately trees, whose deep shadows playing on the water, give animation and contrast to the contiguous scenery. The high grounds on the west are crowned with extensive woods, whose back-ground is formed of bold projecting tracts of the Wiltshire Downs. Towards the east, the eye ranges over a large district of well cultivated country, interspersed with wood, and diversified with a tract of prolific meadow land.

The house is a regular building of the Ionic order, composed of freestone, with an elegant portico on the south front. It stands on a sloping bank, embosomed in a deep and solemn grove, where uniformity of tone has been judiciously prevented by the intermixture of trees of various coloured foliage. A handsome sheet of water, supplied by the silver Kennet, and bounded with agreeable lines, flows before the mansion, in the vicinity of which is a small wooden bridge of three arches, built after a Chinese design. The north side of the grounds is ornamented by woods, which extend to the western gate, and conceal the termination of the park, which is here confined by a sweep of the Bath road. The general character of the place is simplicity and beauty. The scenery is too regular to be picturesque, and too tame to be romantic.

HUNGERFORD

Is a small market town, situated at the western extremity of the county, bordering on Wiltshire, and consisting principally of one long street. It was anciently called Ingleford CharmanStreet, which Mr. Gough supposes to be a corruption from the ford of the Angles, on Herman-Street; a Roman road that crossed this town, and whose name appears to be yet preserved in one of its avenues, called Charman-Street.

Hungerford stands in a marshy soil on the Kennet, and is watered by two separate streams of that river. Near the centre of the

principal