Modern Dorchester is a delightful, one might almost say a lovable, town, so bright and cheery are its streets, so countrified its air.  But it is probably true that nearly every one is disappointed with it at their first visit.  Historical towns are written of, and written up, until the stranger’s mind pictures a sort of Nuremburg.  Dorchester is a placid Georgian agricultural centre.  In fact there is very little that antedates the seventeenth century and yet, for all that, it is one of the most interesting towns in the south.  Its loss of the antique is due to more than one disastrous fire that swept nearly everything away.  It is when the foundations of a new house are being dug that the past of Dorchester comes to light and another addition is made to the rich store in the museum.  Describing “Casterbridge” Hardy says:  “It is impossible to dig more than a foot or two deep about the town fields or gardens without coming upon some tall soldier or other of the Empire who had lain there in his silent unobtrusive rest for a space of fifteen hundred years.”  It is needless to say that “Casterbridge” and the town here briefly described are identical.  To the limits laid down by the Roman, Dorchester has kept true through the ages, and until quite lately the town terminated with a pleasant abruptness at the famous “Walks” that mark the positions of the Roman Walls.  The so-called Roman road, the “Via Iceniana,” Roman only in the improvement and straightening of a far older track, passed through the town.  This was once the highway between that mysterious and wonderful district in Wiltshire, of which Stonehenge is the most outstanding monument, and the largest prehistoric stronghold in England—­the Mai dun—­“the strong hill,” south of Dorchester.

The South Western station is close to another fine relic of the past, though this cannot claim to have any Celtic or pre-Celtic foundation.  The great circle of Maumbury Rings was the original stadium or coliseum of the Roman town; the tiers of seats when filled are estimated to have held over twelve thousand spectators.  The gaps at each end are the obvious ways for entering and leaving the arena.  In digging the foundations of the brewery near by, a subway was found leading toward the circus, which may have been used by the wild beasts and their keepers in passing from and to their quarters.  Maumbury was the scene of a dreadful execution in 1705, when one Mary Channing was first strangled and then burnt for the murder of her husband by poison, though she loudly declared her innocence to the last.  On this occasion ten thousand persons are said to have lined the banks.  It is difficult at first to appreciate the size of the Rings.  If two or more persons are together it is a good plan to leave one alone in the centre while the others climb to the summit of the bank.  By this means a true idea of the vast size of the enclosure may be gained.

[Illustration:  DORCHESTER.]