THE BATH OF LONG AGO 



253 



New Church in the Strand (by which, no doubt, Saint 

 Mary-le-Strand is indicated) at six o'clock in the 

 morning, and came to Speenhamland ('' SpinomLand," 

 says the clergyman in his diary), where they lay. 

 Tlie country, he remarks, was very rich from London 

 to this place, yet it was so level that there was scarce 



OLD PULTENEY BRIDGE. 



a good prospect the whole way, unless Clievedeu, near 

 Maidenhead Bridge, could be so called. 



AVhen the coach resumed its journey the next day 

 — the passengers, doubtless, lightened in pocket by that 

 "long bill" of the "Pelican" at Speenhamland — the 

 bleakness of Marlborouoh Downs communicated itself 

 to the air, and from Newbury to Cottenham,* a 

 distance of nearly thirty miles, the countryside was 

 very bare of trees and herbage, in addition to being the 



* He meant Chippenham. 



