AN EARLY TOLL-KEEPER 127 



received being, indeed, very much in the nature of 

 voluntary tolls for these services. On the following 

 declaration, Eichard Ludlow obtained his licence : — 



" In the name of God, Amen. I, Richard Ludlow, 

 before God and you my Lord Bishop of Salisbury, 

 and in presence of all these worshipful men here 

 being, offer up my profession of hermit under this 

 form : that I, Richard, will be obedient to Holy 

 Church ; that I will lead my life, to my life's end, in 

 sobriety and chastity ; will avoid all open spectacles, 

 taverns, and other such places ; that I will every day 

 hear mass, and say every day certain Paternosters and 

 Aves : that I will fast every Friday, the vigils of 

 Pentecost and All Hallows, on bread and water. 

 And the goods that I may get by free gift of 

 Christian people, or by bequest, or testament, or 

 by any reasonable and true way, receiving only 

 necessaries to my sustenance, as in meat, drink, 

 clothing, and fuel, I shall truly, without deceit, lay 

 out upon reparation and amending of the bridge and 

 of the common way belonging to ye same town of 

 Maidenhead." 



There is, perhaps, no more delightful picture along 

 the whole course of the Bath Road than the view 

 from Maidenhead Bridge up river, where the house- 

 boats, gay with flowers and Japanese lanterns, are 

 gathered beside the trim lawns of the riverside villas, 

 with the gaily dressed crowds by Boulter's Lock 

 beyond, and the wooded heights of Clieveden closing 

 in the distance. Maidenhead show^s the river at its 

 most fashionable part. 



It was at the " Greyhound " Inn, Maidenhead, 



