The Lord my pasture shall prepare,
  And feed me with a shepherd’s care;
  His presence shall my wants supply,
  And guard me with a watchful eye;
  My noonday walks He shall attend,
  And all my midnight hours defend.

And then there was his magnificent paraphrase of the nineteenth Psalm: 

  The spacious firmament on high,
  With all the blue ethereal sky,
  And spangled heavens—­a shining frame—­
  Their great Original proclaim. 
  Th’ unwearied sun from day to day. 
  Doth his Creator’s power display. 
  And publishes to every land
  The work of an Almighty hand.

  Soon as the evening shades prevail. 
  The Moon takes up the wondrous tale,
  And nightly to the listening Earth
  Repeats the story of her birth;
  Whilst all the stars that round her burn,
  And all the planets in their turn,
  Confirm the tidings as they roll. 
  And spread the truth from pole to pole.

  What though in solemn silence all
  Move round the dark terrestrial ball;
  What though no real voice nor sound
  Amidst their radiant orbs be found? 
  In Reason’s ear they all rejoice,
  And utter forth a glorious voice;
  For ever singing as they shine,
  “The Hand that made us is divine.”

After resting a short time and carefully writing down the instructions given us as to how to reach Stonehenge, and the way thence to Amesbury, we resumed our journey; and near the place where we crossed the River Avon we had the first indication of our proximity to Stonehenge by the sight of an enormous stone lying in the bed of the stream, which we were told was like those we should find at Stonehenge.  It was said to be one that the Druids could not get across the stream owing to its great size and weight, and so they had to leave it in the river.  The country became still more lonely as we walked across Salisbury Plain, and on a dark wet night it might quite come up to the description given of it by Barham in the Ingoldsby Legends in “The Dead Drummer, a Legend of Salisbury Plain,” the first verse of which runs: 

  Oh, Salisbury Plain is bleak and bare,
    At least so I’ve heard many people declare,
  For I fairly confess I never was there;—­
    Not a shrub nor a tree, not a bush can you see;
  No hedges, no ditches, no gates, no stiles,
  Much less a house, or a cottage for miles;—­
    It’s a very sad thing to be caught in the rain
  When night’s coming on upon Salisbury Plain.

Cruikshank’s illustration of the legend represents a finger-post on the Plain without a bush or a tree or a house being visible, one finger of the post being marked “Lavington” and the other “Devizes.”  The Dead Drummer is leaning against the post, with two men nervously approaching him in the dark, while a flash of lightning betrays the bare plain and the whole scene to the terrified men.