g. The incident embodies the _superstition of sitting in the
Druid's Chair_, similar in its portentous moment to sitting in St.
Michael's Chair, in Cornwall. It is told with considerable force and
picturesque beauty.

"In the morning, Hengist informed his daughter, to her no small dismay,
that he meant to take her to Canterbury for the purpose of introducing
her to her uncle Horsa, desiring her to make preparations for her
immediate departure. 'But before I leave Caer-Broc,' said the Saxon, 'I
would fain mount that lofty cliff up which I climbed fifteen years ago,
in order that I might discover, if possible, upon what coast the storm
had cast me. It commands, as I recollect, an extensive inland view, and
I would show my fellow-soldiers the beauty of the country into which I
have led them.'

"'It must have been the Druid's Chair, for that is the loftiest headland
upon our coast.'

"'The higher the better, my child, for so shall we gain the wider
prospect. The morning is at present, clear, and I would climb the cliff
before those clouds which I see gathering in the west, shall be blown
hither to intercept our prospect.' So saying, he invited his comrades,
as well as Oscar, to accompany him; while Gryffhod, on learning his
purpose, joined his party with Leoline and others of his men, in order
that they might render assistance, should any such be required, in
climbing the broken and somewhat perilous ascent to the dizzy summit of
the cliff. Ropes were provided in case of accident, as persons had more
than once slipped from the narrow ledge, and fallen upon lower fragments
of the cliff, whence they could be only extricated by hauling them up.

"Battered and undermined by the storms of ages, the Druid's Chair has
long since been shivered into fragments and wasted away; but at the
period of which we are writing it formed the outermost of a chain of
crags which were connected together by a tongue of rock and cliff
sufficiently continuous to allow a passage, but broken into sharp
acclivities and descents which rendered the undertaking toilsome to all,
and not without peril for those who were liable to be giddy, or who did
not possess a good portion of activity. 'Surely,' said Hengist, as he
followed Gryffhod, 'this ridge was much more even when I traversed it
fifteen years ago.'

"'You are right,' replied the Briton; 'but rains and frosts have since
broken away its surface. This is our steepest ascent, but it is the
last.