g's forces coming
to the rescue, they decamped. But the fortunes of Charles waned: he was
defeated at Naseby, Sir John Bankes died, and Corfe was the only
stronghold left him between London and Exeter. Again it was attacked,
and, through treachery, captured. It was afterwards dismantled and blown
up by gunpowder, while its heroic defender, Lady Bankes, was deprived of
her dowry as penalty for her "malignity." She received it again,
however, and had the satisfaction of living until after the Restoration.

[Illustration: 1. STUDLAND CHURCH. 2. RUINS OF OLD CROSS IN THE
CHURCHYARD.]

Beyond the range of chalk-cliffs that here cross Dorsetshire the coast
runs several miles southward from Poole Harbor, the promontory of the
Foreland protruding into the sea and dividing the shore into two bays.
The northern one is Studland Bay, alongside which is the singular rock
of the Agglestone. The devil, we are told, was sitting one day upon one
of the Needles off the neighboring coast of the Isle of Wight, looking
about him to see what the world was doing, when he espied the towers of
Corfe Castle just rising towards completion; he seized a huge rock and
hurled it at the castle, but it fell short, and remains to this day upon
the moor. Nestling under the slopes of this moor, in a ravine leading
down to the shore, is Studland village, with its little Norman church
embosomed in foliage and surrounded by ancient gravestones and memorial
crosses. South of the Foreland, and protected by the chalk range from
the northern blasts, is Swanage Bay, bordered by its little town, which
in past times has been variously called Swanwich, Sandwich, and Swanage.
It is a quiet watering-place at the east end of Purbeck Isle, landlocked
from every rough wind, a pleasant spot for summer sea-bathing, with
huge elms growing on its beach and garden-flowers basking in the
sunshine. The Purbeck marble, which was so extensively used for
church-building a few centuries ago, and which may be seen in
Westminster Abbey, Canterbury, Salisbury, Ely, and other cathedrals, was
quarried here, though other quarries of it exist in Britain. It is an
aggregate of freshwater shells, which polishes handsomely, but is liable
to crumble, and has in later years been generally superseded by other
building-stone. The coast southward is lined with quarries, and the
lofty promontory of St. Aldhelm's Head projects into the sea, a
conspicuous headland seen from afar. It was named for t