i66 THE BATH ROAD 



I told him I certainly was not a native of that 

 town. 



" Well," said he, '•' you won't never have heerd of 

 'iin, p'raps." 



It seems, then, that about fifty years ago Newbury 

 boasted a pedestrian of that name, who obtained such 

 a great local reputation that he has become pro- 

 verbial with the country people, so that a " regular 

 Mountjoy" is any one who possesses good walking- 

 powers. 



Church Speen passed, an undulating road leads 

 past a curiously castellated old toll-house to Hunger- 

 ford. 



XXVIII 



It is at Hungerford, sixty-four miles from Hyde Park 

 Corner, that one leaves Berkshire and enters Wilts, 

 coming into wilder and less pastoral country. Hun- 

 gerford town, however, is just within the Berkshire 

 borders. The constant Kennet flows across the road 

 here, and is crossed by a substantial bridge, from 

 whose parapets anglers may be seen patiently waiting 

 to lure the wily trout from their swims. Fuller 

 quaintly says : " Good and great trouts are found in 

 the river of Kennet nigh Hungerford ; they are in 

 their perfection in the month of May, and yearly 

 decline with the buck. Being come to his full growth, 

 he decays in goodness, not greatness, and thrives in 



