n
says, "turning her gray head in every way, she bade the executioner, if
he would have her head, to get it as he could, so that he was
constrained to fetch it off slovenly." She was beheaded in May, 1541,
being too near in kinship to the throne to be allowed to live. Little is
left of the ancient priory buildings beyond the ruins of the old Norman
gateway. The castle of Christchurch has also almost disappeared, leaving
only massive fragments of the wall of the keep crowning a mound. It was
of slight historical importance; and a more perfect relic is the ruin of
the ancient Norman house standing near by on the bank of the Stour, an
ivy-clad shell of masonry still showing the staircase and interior
apartments. This crumbling memorial of the twelfth century was the home
of Baldwin de Redvers, then Earl of Devon.

SOUTHAMPTON.

Crossing over the New Forest back to the Southampton Water on its
eastern border, the river Itchen debouches on the farther shore near the
head of the estuary, making a peninsula; and here is the celebrated port
of Southampton, located between the river Itchen and the river Test, and
having an excellent harbor. The Southampton Water extends from the Red
Bridge, a short distance above the city, to Calshot Castle, about seven
miles below, and varies in breadth from a mile and a half to two miles,
the entrance being well protected by the Isle of Wight, which gives the
harbor the peculiarity of four tides in the twenty-four hours--double
the usual number, owing to the island intercepting a portion of the
tidal wave in its flow both ways along the Channel. Southampton comes
down from the Romans, and remains of their camp, Clausentum, now known
as Bittern Manor, are still to be seen in the suburbs, while parts of
the Saxon walls and two of the old gates of the town are yet preserved.
The Danes sacked it in the tenth century, and afterwards it was the
occasional residence of Canute, its shore being said to be the scene of
his rebuke to his courtiers when he commanded the tide to cease
advancing and it disobeyed. Southampton was destroyed by foreign
invaders in the fourteenth century, and rebuilt by Richard II. and
strongly fortified. For many years it was a watering-place, but within
half a century extensive docks have been built, and it has become a
great seaport, being the point of departure for steamship-lines to all
parts of the world, especially the East Indies and America, as it is but
seventy mi