LIFE IN THE TIME OF THE STUARTS 105 



ruffians haunted the woods and waste lands, and no 

 one of any importance dared undertake a journey 

 without an armed escort. 



The travellers complained bitterly of the state of the 

 roads, and pressure was constantly being put on the 

 parishes through which the principal roads ran to put 

 them into some sort of repair. Very little was, however, 

 done, the proper method of making a hard road being 

 entirely unknown in England, whilst even if the 

 people of the villages had known how to make one, 

 it is doubtful if they would have undertaken it The 

 parish only wanted to get to the nearest market town, 

 and they naturally evaded the duty of repairing the high 

 roads for the benefit of the traders and other travellers 

 from the cities. As a rule, the roads seemed to have 

 remained in the state of decay in which they had been 

 for many generations. Probably, however, some of the 

 great main roads were kept in better repair. Certainly 

 an attempt was made to get the Great North Road 

 patched up, and in 1663 * the justices were authorized 

 to set up toll-bars and make a charge for those who 

 went along this road, so that the users might con- 

 tribute to the costs of the repairs. This idea was not 

 a new one: tolls charged to passengers over bridges, 

 to be employed in their repair, had been common 

 enough from the earliest times : but this seems to 

 have been the first occasion such a scheme was 

 applied to roads. It was a first step towards the 

 turnpike system which was adopted throughout 

 England in the following centuries. 



At the beginning of the century the Church, which 

 had in Tudor times already lost much of its influence and 

 1 See Appendix, p. 173. 



