any person who may visit that spot.

What I have since learnt convinces me that the Duke was not going to
Christchurch. He was on his way to Bournemouth, where he expected to
find a vessel. Monmouth Close is in the direct line from Woodyates to
Bournemouth.

About sixty years ago there was hardly a house there. It was the leading
place of all the smugglers of this neighborhood.

SHAFTESBURY.

St. Giles's House, Nov. 27. 1849.


HISTORY OF MONMOUTH CLOSE.

"The small inclosure which has been known by the name of MONMOUTH CLOSE
ever since the capture of the Duke of Monmouth there, in July, 1685, is
one of a cluster of small inclosures, five in number, which stood in the
middle of Shag's Heath, and were called 'The Island.' They are in the
parish of Woodlands.

"The tradition of the neighbourhood is this: viz. That after the defeat
of the Duke of Monmouth at Sedgemoor, near Bridgewater, he rode,
accompanied by Lord Grey, to Woodyates, where they quitted their horses;
and the Duke having changed clothes with a peasant, endeavoured to make
his way across the country to Christchurch. Being closely pursued, he
made for the Island, and concealed himself in a ditch which was
overgrown with fern and underwood. When his pursuers came up, an old