downs, one of the most extensive in the county, was unclouded. The eye
of any observer who cared for such things swept over the wave-washed
town, and the bay beyond, and the Isle, with its pebble bank, lying on
the sea to the left of these, like a great crouching animal tethered to
the mainland. On the extreme east of the marine horizon, St. Aldhelm's
Head closed the scene, the sea to the southward of that point glaring
like a mirror under the sun. Inland could be seen Badbury Rings, where a
beacon had been recently erected; and nearer, Rainbarrow, on Egdon Heath,
where another stood: farther to the left Bulbarrow, where there was yet
another. Not far from this came Nettlecombe Tout; to the west, Dogberry
Hill, and Black'on near to the foreground, the beacon thereon being built
of furze faggots thatched with straw, and standing on the spot where the
monument now raises its head.

At nine o'clock the troops marched upon the ground--some from the camps
in the vicinity, and some from quarters in the different towns round
about. The approaches to the down were blocked with carriages of all
descriptions, ages, and colours, and with pedestrians of every class. At
ten the royal personages were said to be drawing near, and soon after the
King, accompanied by the Dukes of Cambridge and Cumberland, and a couple
of generals, appeared on horseback, wearing a round hat turned up at the
side, with a cockade and military feather. (Sensation among the crowd.)
Then the Queen and three of the princesses entered the field in a great
coach drawn by six beautiful cream-coloured horses. Another coach, with
four horses of the same sort, brought the two remaining princesses.
(Confused acclamations, 'There's King Jarge!' 'That's Queen Sharlett!'
'Princess 'Lizabeth!' 'Princesses Sophiar and Meelyer!' etc., from the
surrounding spectators.)

Anne and her party were fortunate enough to secure a position on the top
of one of the barrows which rose here and there on the down; and the
miller having gallantly constructed a little cairn of flints, he placed
the two women thereon, by which means they were enabled to see over the
heads, horses, and coaches of the multitudes below and around. At the
march-past the miller's eye, which had been wandering about for the
purpose, discovered his son in his place by the trumpeters, who had moved
forwards in two ranks, and were sounding the march.

'That's John!' he cried to the widow. 'His trumpet-s