KING ARTHUR'S LAND 79 brambles and creepers cling thickly, while the long hart's-tongue ferns dip in the running water, float- ing down stream like strange seaweed ; then you see a great monolith with a Latin inscription, of which the only word still decipherable is " filius." You point out to the little guide that in all prob- ability King Arthur was not buried here at all but in Scotland where the evidence shows that the Battle of Camulodunum was fought, and she makes no objection provided the fee is forthcoming. No doubt some great chieftain was laid here after the battle, where thousands were killed, so that a thousand years later the bridge retains the name of Slaughter Bridge, but it is likely the event took place long after Arthur's death. For its date is generally now acknowledged to be the year 823 in the time of King Egbert. It was between the Britons and Saxons, and history does not say which was victorious. It may have been a drawn fight, in which case the ground was strewn with bodies and the waters of the stream dyed crimson all for nothing. It is in later times that the dignity of King has been conferred on Arthur, and some suppose he was King of Britain ; but it seems more likely that he gained slices of territory spasmodically as
