Chiles denied the charge in toto. The body was not recovered, and, in fact, conflicting evidence was given to show that Courtney was still alive. The wife's statement, however, was so circumstantial, that the Justices were greatly puzzled, and had the case under consideration for four months. At length, the prisoner was committed to the Dorset Assizes, for trial. Our curiosity as to the upshot of this seventeenth century trial cannot be gratified, for no report appears to be extant. Let us hope that justice was ultimately done. This was a cause célèbre, and the alleged ghastly murder of the man with the flaxen hair and yellow beard" must have been remembered in Weymouth for many a long year.*

66

THE FAT CAPTAIN OF HORSE.

We now turn for a moment to an entirely different scene. Some time after the Civil War had ceased and the townsmen had quieted down, George Fox, the celebrated founder of the Quakers, visited Melcombe and held a meeting with the Quakers, who had become fairly numerous here. He met with a remarkable man amongst the Parliamentary troops quartered in the town. Fox speaks of him as a Captain of Horse. When Fox left the place, they rode together up the old Ridgeway road to Dorchester, and a very strange pair they were. Fox says, in his well-known “Journal,” † This Captain was the fattest, merriest man, the most cheerful and the most given to laughter that ever I met with." Fox, the grave Quaker, therefore felt bound to admonish him to come to sobriety;" but, at first, to little effect, for Fox naïvely adds, "And yet, he would presently laugh at anything he saw." What a splendid character this fat,

66

* Weymouth Corporation Record (formerly Sherren Papers), 245, p. 78. ↑ Journal of George Fox, by W. Armstead, Vol. 1, 223,

cheery Captain of Horse would have made in Dickens' hands! Which character, think you, would you have liked best, the fat boy in "Pickwick," who was always sleeping, or the fat Captain in Weymouth, who was always laughing? I believe you would have preferred the merry Captain, who "would presently laugh at anything he saw." With this tribute to his memory, I conclude my Paper.

Interim Report on the Excavations at Maumbury Rings,

Dorchester, 1910.

Committee:

H. Colley March, M.D., F.S.A., Chairman.

John E. Acland, Hon. Sec., Dorset County Museum, Dorchester.

AT

T the request of the Committee of the Maumbury Rings Excavation Fund, we again introduce the Report written by Mr. H. St. George Gray, dealing with the work carried out in the autumn of 1910, and which lasted from August 26th to September 24th.

We are glad to say that Mr. Gray has secured an excellent series of photographs, and has prepared accurate plans and sections of all the excavations. We are especially grateful to Mr. C. S. Prideaux, who provided the camping requisites, lived on

the ground, and shared with Mr. Gray the supervision of the workmen.

The Town Council of Dorchester once again showed their interest in the proceedings by the loan of hurdles; Messrs. Lott and Walne supplied a shepherd's hut for use as an office; Mr. Foot, Mr. Slade, and Mr. Feacey assisted by lending material and appliances, and we gratefully acknowledge their kind help.

The total receipts for the year amounted to £53 7s. 4d. and the expenditure to £83 6s. 11d.; but, as there was a balance to the credit of the fund, brought on from last year, there is a small sum remaining in hand. Expenses connected with the preparation of this year's report and its distribution to subscribers have, however, still to be met.

After three seasons' work, in three successive years, we propose to make a pause in the course of the excavations, so that we may give due consideration to the important, and, in some respects, the unexpected features already revealed, and have time to decide on any future action that may be necessary in order to complete the investigations.

Signed on behalf of the Committee,

H. COLLEY MARCH, Chairman.
JOHN E. ACLAND, Hon. Sec.

December, 1910.

SHORT REPORT

ON THE EXCAVATIONS OF 1910.

By H. ST. GEORGE GRAY.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PLATES ACCOMPANYING THIS REPORT :

PLATE I.-Sketch-plan of Maumbury Rings, based on the plan made by Mr. J. Feacey previously to the excavations. It is intended to show the relative position of the cuttings made from 1908 to 1910, but the scale is too small to attempt to show any of the structural details.

PLATE II.-Cutting XIX., N. Entrance, September 15th, 1910. Photograph taken from the N.N.E., showing the silting of the seventeenth century trench in section, with its solid chalk floor rising in a southerly direction. The levelling-rod (depth 6·5ft. below the surface) rests on the floor of the Roman entrance way, which gradually rises in a northerly direction; the dividing. wall, also of Roman date, is seen to diminish in height towards the north.

PLATE III.-Cutting XII. Extension, September 19th, 1910. Photograph taken from the slope of the terrace on the W.S.W., showing (1) a series of the quadrangular post-holes at the base of the arena-wall; (2) the position of six strut-holes on the top of the wall; (3) the slope of the terrace on the lefthand side; (4) the " gangway "between the arena-wall and the "inner trench"; (5) the solid arena-floor, and its junction with (6) the prehistoric shaft, No. IV., partly re-excavated-right-hand side of the photograph; (7) "the inner trench," between the gangway and the shaft, seen in diminishing proportions as far westwards as its outline is represented by solid chalk. The rod is extended to a height of 9.5ft.

PLATE IV.-Cutting XX., September 21st, 1910. Photograph of the cutting, taken from the top of the highest part of the western terrace, looking S.S.E., giving a general view of the structural features revealed. The solid chalk wall covers a large part of the right-hand side of the photograph, its end representing the S.S.W. boundary of the quadrangular enclosure. In the foreground, a part of the flat platform is recessed into the wall. Between the wall and platform and the gangway the upper margins of three prehistoric shafts, Nos. V., VI., and VII., are seen; and beyond, the "inner trench," the arena-floor, and the group of stones found just above the floor level. Owing to the necessary tilt of the camera, the view is somewhat distorted.

66