40 R A M B L E S F 



not be aware how great a field for original observa- 

 tion is within their reach, or how vast a variety of 

 instructive objects are easily accessible, even to the 

 occupants of a bustling metropolis. To me it will 

 be a source of great delight to spread these resources 

 before the reader, and enable him so cheaply to 

 participate in the pleasures I have enjoyed, as well 

 as place him in the way of enlarging the general 

 stock of knowledge, by communicating the results 

 of his original observations. 



One of my favourite walks was through Turner's 

 Lane, which is about a quarter of a mile long, and 

 not much wider than an ordinary street, being 

 closely fenced in on both sides; yet my reader 

 may feel surprised when informed that I found 

 ample employment for all my leisure, during six 

 weeks, within and about its precincts. On enter- 

 ing the lane from the Ridge road, I observed a gentle 

 elevation of the turf beneath the lower rails of the 

 fence, which appeared to be uninterruptedly conti- 

 nuous; and when I had cut through the verdant 

 roof with my knife, it proved to be a regularly 

 arched gallery or subterranean road, along which 

 the inhabitants could securely travel at all hours, 

 without fear of discovery. The sides and bottom 

 of this arched way were smooth and clean, as if 

 much used; and the raised superior portion had 

 long been firmly consolidated by the grass roots, 

 intermixed with tenacious clay. At irregular and 

 frequently distant intervals, a side path diverged 

 into the neighbouring fields, and, by its superficial 



