THE PORTSMOUTH ROAD 169 



the trying journey to London he made the spectators 

 stare at his pusillanimity ; as Grey, his companion in 

 bonds, made them stare with his incessant cheerful chatter 

 on dogs, field sports, horses, and other subjects of general 

 interest, not however supposed commonly to occupy the 

 attention of travellers going to certain death. 



At the pretty town of Godalming, four miles two fur- 

 longs further on, most coaches stopped for refreshments 

 at the King's Arms ; a house which I see scored in 

 my note-book as famous for good dinners ; and here 

 or at the George some of the coaches from town, as I 

 have already observed, stopped altogether. Charles the 

 Second used to be seen at Godalming a good deal, hunt- 

 ing and flirting when he ought to have been otherwise 

 employed ; and a timbered house in Bridge Street is said 

 to have been his hunting lodge, or, to be quite accurate, 

 was said to be, before it was (as usual) pulled down. A 

 short distance west of the railway station is Westbrook, 

 not a particularly beautiful house by any means, but long 

 the residence of the Oglethorpes. Here a very delightful 

 gentleman of the old school was born in 1698, and here 

 he died in 1785. I refer to General Oglethorpe, sports- 

 man, soldier, and kindly patron of literature ; an amiable 

 combination surely which deserved success in life, and 

 General Oglethorpe gained what he deserved. As a 

 patron he defended Samuel Johnson ; as a soldier he 

 was present with Prince Eugene at the siege of Belgrade ; 

 and as a sportsman he shot a woodcock in what is now 

 the most crowded part of Regent Street. As a triple 

 record, this, I believe, will be found hard to beat — if 

 indeed it does not absolutely take the cake. 



After leaving Godalming and Milford behind them, 

 careful coachmen used in the old days to save their 

 horses, especially if they had a heavy load and the roads 

 were heavy ; for it is collar work now almost all the 

 five miles on to the top of Hindhead Hill, long before 

 which summit was reached careless coachmen who had 

 not followed the above prescription discovered the pain- 



