130 DUDLEY.

regiment, then under the command of my excellent friend, Captain Bennitt. Let us hope these strikes and combinations may not one day prove fatal to the very existence of Dudley as a great producing district. But now to our brief history and description of the town. ,

Everybody in the midland counties has heard—or ought to have heard—of Dodo, the famous Saxon; he was contemporaneous with Oddo, another powerful chieftain; they were said to have been the founders of Tewkesbury Abbey and Dudley Castle, and their ashes are now resting quietly probably at Pershore. Dodo's lea, or Dodo's place, was the origin of the name Dudley. When the proud Norman came to England, Dudley and its castle fell to William Fitz Ansculf; the Faganels followed, and in the time of Henry II the castle was destroyed. De'Somerys next held Dudley, and one of them built the stronghold the remains of which we see to this day. The Suttons had it next, and then it fell by marriage to Humble Ward, son of a jeweller to the Queen of Charles I. It need scarcely be added that the present representative of that family, and the largest owner of property in and around the town, is the Earl of Dudley, the lord of the manor. The middle-age history of the castle is the history of the town, which gradually gathered around its walls, and enjoyed the protection of that strong fortress. In the civil wars the castle stood a siege of three weeks, and was dismantled, but being partially restored, was occupied occasionally by the Barons Ward, till 1750, when it was destroyed by fire, said to have been occasioned by a gang of coiners* while carrying on their illicit occupation within its walls. The ruins of the castle, with the grounds in which they lie, and the stupendous and enchanting limestone caverns underneath, when lit up and occupied by thousands of people, as I saw them on the visit of the British Association, altogether leave an impression on the mind which nothing can eradicate. This feature of the town, together with the ruins of the ancient Priory, constitutes the largest "lion" of the place, and is a very favourite