74 COACHING DAYS AND COACHING WAYS 



writing wake, for there is not much in Trowbridge or 

 Bradford to chronicle, though Seend, about three miles 

 before the first-mentioned place, or rather Poulshot, 

 which lies on the left before reaching Seend, is con- 

 nected with an atmospheric catastrophe and a celebrated 

 character. In the vicarage at Poulshot lived the son of 

 the great Izaak Walton, he whom Byron (who was no 

 angler) would fain have seen impaled upon a hook in 

 the manner prescribed by the great fisherman for spring 

 frogs ; and to the same vicarage, as guest of the great 

 fisherman's son, came the good Bishop Ken, his uncle, 

 "with all his coach-horses, and as many of his saddle- 

 horses as he could bring," to prevent their being seized 

 by the invading force of William of Orange. 



Poulshot vicarage gave the good bishop shelter from 

 other troubles than that revolution, for, in 1703, while 

 Ken was sleeping under his nephew's roof, the " Great 

 Storm," sung by Addison, broke over the country and 

 buried Bishop Kidder and his wife, (who had usurped 

 Ken's place at Wells) even in the episcopal palace. 

 The deposed bishop lay awake in Poulshot vicarage 

 meanwhile escaping all harm, though the beam which 

 supported the roof ov^er his head, was shaken out to 

 that degree, that at the conclusion of the hurricane it 

 had but an inch to hold. 



My readers will not probably be unprepared to learn 

 that the name of the town of Trowbridge, 96 miles from 

 Hyde Park Corner, has much perplexed etymologists, 

 but they will remember that the poet Crabbe (who 

 ought to have been a three-volume novelist) was vicar 

 of the place ; with which mention I may leave the plain- 

 looking town behind, and passing through Bradford with 

 all convenient speed, and, still in the company of Miss 

 Burney and Mrs. Thrale, go, by Walcot into Bath, which 

 is 107] miles from Hyde Park Corner, and according to 

 Walter Savage Landor, the next most beautiful city in 

 the world to J^lorcnce. 



In 1780 Miss Burney was much of the same opinion 



