THE OLD ENGLAND OF COACHLNG DAYS izi 



temporary swamping in the mire. Even tlie 

 royal chariot woukl have farcnl no bett(n' tlian the 

 rest, liad it not been for the rehivs of peasants 

 who ])oisecl and kept it erect l)y strength of arm, 

 and shonhhn'ed it forAvard the last nine miles, 

 in Avliich tedious operation six g'ood hours were 

 consumed." 



The travellers of that era, knowing how strange 

 the country must he to most people, gravely and 

 at length described places that in these intimate 

 times an author would feel himself constrained to 

 a2:)ologise for mentioning, excejit in a personal and 

 impressionistic way ; and they not only so describe 

 them, l3ut there is every reason to believe their 

 writings w^ere read with interest. More interest- 

 ing than their dry bones of topograjihical history 

 are the accounts they give of manners, customs, 

 and thoughts common to the time when travellers 

 were few and little understood. When, in 1700, 

 the Reverend Mr. Brome, rector of the pleasant 

 Kentish village of Cheriton, determined to make 

 the explorations of England that took him, in all, 

 three years, he w^as obliged, as a matter of course, 

 to wait until the sjiring was well advanced and 

 the roads had again become passable. Setting 

 forth at last, one mild May day, his friends and 

 parishioners accompanied him a fcAV miles, and 

 then, with the fervent ' ' God be with you's " that 

 w^ere the parting salutations of the time, instead of 

 the lukewarm "Good-bye's " of to-day, turned back 

 home-along, and expected to hear of him no more. 

 But he did return, as his very dull and jejune 



