232 



COACHING DAYS AND COACHING WAYS 



troops all the way from Cornwall, pitching their tents, 

 and immediately afterwards suffering defeat at the hands 

 of Henry the Seventh. 



Here we have found history enough in seven short 

 miles from London — and yet not half the history 

 which can be directly associated with Blackheath. For 

 this celebrated spot occupied in the annals of England 

 much the same sort of position apparently as Rotten 



The Leather Bottle, Cobhavi. 



Row occupies in the annals of contemporary fashion. 

 It was the place where kings and ministers met casually 

 on their way to or from London, and babbled of the 

 weather, the price of corn, the latest hanging, the odds 

 on the next bear-fight, the state of the unemployed, or 

 any other kindred subject which might suggest itself to 

 mediaeval brains, in an open space, where it was not too 

 wind}'. Here then, to notice a few of such meetings, in 



