I 



THE ROADS 221 



and Nottingham ' perfectly frightful,' and the great number of 

 horses killed by the ' labour of these heavy ways a great charge 

 to the country'. He notes, however, an improvement from 

 turnpikes. Many of the roads were much worn by the con- 

 tinual passing of droves of heavy cattle on their way to London. 

 Sheep could not travel in the winter to London as the roads 

 were too heavy, so that the price of mutton at that season in 

 town was high. Breeders were often compelled to sell them 

 cheap before they got to London, because the roads became 

 impassable for their flocks when the bad weather set in.^ 



In 1734 Lord Cathcart wrote in his diary: 'All went well 

 until I arrived within 3 miles of Doncaster, when suddenly 

 my horse fell with a crash and with me under him. I fancied 

 myself crushed to death. I slept at Doncaster and had a bad 

 night. I was so bad all day, that I could get no further than 

 Wetherby. Next day I was all right again. I had another 

 terrible fall between North Allerton and Darlington, but was 

 not a bit the worse.' ^ 



It was owing to this defective condition of the roads that 

 the prices of corn still differed greatly in various localities ; 

 there would be a glut in one place and a deficiency in another, 

 with no means of equalizing matters. To the same cause 

 must be attributed in great measure the slow progress made 

 in the improvement of agriculture. New discoveries travelled 

 very slowly; the expense of procuring manure beyond that 

 produced on the farm was prohibitive ; and the uncertain 

 returns which arose from such confined markets caused the 

 farmer to lack both spirit and ability to exert himself in the 

 cultivation of his land.^ Therefore farming was limited to 

 procuring the subsistence of particular farms rather than feed- 

 ing the public. The opposition to better roads was due in 

 great measure to the landowners, who feared that if the 

 markets in their neighbourhood were rendered accessible to 



* Defoe, Tour, ii. i, 178 et seq. * R. A. S. E. Journal (3rd Sen), ii. 9. 

 ' Horner, Inquiry^ into the Means of Preserving the Public Roads 

 {."^■7^7), pp. 4 et seq. 



