BERKSHIRE WORDS AND PHRASES. By M.J. Bacon, M.A. 235 BULL-BAITING IN BERKSHIRE. By Canon Sturges, M.A. 244 INDEX. By William Andrews, F.R.H.S. 258 BYGONE BERKSHIRE. Historic Berkshire. BY REV. P.H. DITCHFIELD, M.A., F.S.A. Berkshire has played an important part in the annals of our country, and been the scene of many stirring events in English history. For eight hundred years it has enjoyed the proud distinction of being the Royal County; Windsor Castle, the ancient home of the kings and queens of England, is within its borders, and it has shared the fortunes and misfortunes of the Royal House. Indeed, its proud distinctive title may be traced to a period more remote than that of the building of the Castle by the Plantagenet Kings; Alfred the Great was born in Berkshire, and there were royal palaces in Saxon times at Farringdon and Old Windsor. Here the Confessor King oft resided. Here the Conqueror hunted the tall stags whom he loved "as though he were their father." Hence from Saxon times to the present day Berkshire has deserved its royal title, and has been pre-eminently the county which kings delight to honour. The history of Berkshire is indeed the history of England. Successive waves of conquerors passed over our hills and vales, and have left their traces behind them in the names of hamlets, towns, and villages, or in barrows or earthworks. In Celtic times the greater part of Berkshire was held by the powerful family of the Segontiaci; eastern Berkshire was inhabited by the Bibroci; whilst on the south dwelt the Atrebates, a tribe of the Belgæ, mentioned by Cæsar, who migrated into these parts from Gaul and drove the Celts northward. Silchester, the famous Roman city, the Pompeii of England, was their capital before it was captured by the Roman legions; and the walls, which seem to defy the attacks of time, were built along the Atrebatian earthworks. Very numerous are the remains of these ancient inhabitants of Britain in various parts of the county. There are the old roads and trackways, the most important being the Ridgeway, running along the Ilsley Downs, forming part of the Icknield Street, which connected the east and west of Britain. The road is flanked by fortresses of earth at various places along its course, and barrows mark the burial places of the heroes of their tribes. The chief of these are Letcombe, Uffington, Lowbury, Churn Knob, and Scutchamore Knob. The so-called "King Alfred's Bugle Horn," near Kingston Lisle, a large stone pierced with natural holes, is really a Celtic Memorial. Its trumpet-note can be heard for miles, and was used by the British tribes to summon their scattered bands together when danger threatened. And Wayland Smith's Cave, immortalized by Sir Walter Scott, and supposed to be the burying-place of a Danish chieftain, is probably a British cromlech. In other parts