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.
Hannah More, who was born in 1745, wrote a large number of stories
chiefly of a religious character, and was said to have earned L30,000 by
her writings, amongst them a religious tract bearing the title of "The
Shepherd of Salisbury Plain." We found he was not a mythical being, for
David Saunders, the shepherd referred to, was a real character, noted
for his homely wisdom and practical piety, and, as Mrs. More described
him, was quite a Christian Hero. He resided at Great Cherwell, near
Lavington, where his house was still pointed out to visitors. A typical
shepherd of Salisbury Plain was afterwards pictured by another lady, and
described as "wearing a long black cloak falling from neck to heels, a
round felt hat, like a Hermes cap without the wings to it, and sometimes
a blue milk-wort or a yellow hawk-weed in the brim, and walking with his
plume-tailed dog in front leading his sheep, as was customary in the
East and as described in the Scriptures--"the sheep follow him, for they
know his voice.
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