Castle Arch, Guildford. 



III.— THE PORTSMOUTH ROAD. 



THE Portsmouth Road has been described to me by 

 one having authority as the Royal Road ; and certainly 

 kings and queens have passed up and down it, eaten and 

 drunken in the Royal Rooms, still to be seen in some of 

 the old inns ; snored in the Royal Beds (also in places to 

 be seen, but not slept in), and dreamed of ruts and bogs, 

 and blasted heaths and impassable morasses, and all 

 the sundry and other mild discomforts which our an- 

 cestors, whether kings or cobblers, had to put up with ; 

 or those amon^ them at all events who travelled when 

 the weather was rainy, and there were no real roads to 

 travel upon. 



To me however the Portsmouth Road — so-called Royal 

 — presents itself in a less august guise ; so much so 

 that if I were asked to give it a name whereby it might 



