CHAP. V. 



JOHN Mi'/iVALK, I;<>AI> MAKKU. 



281 



tin's stroiiir-lienrted juicl resolute man his life's work 

 over laid down his stall' and peacefully departed in the 

 iiiiietv-iliinl year of his ;ILIV : leaving behind him four 

 children, twenty grand-children, and ninety great grand- 

 children. 



The roads constructed by Metcalf and others had the 

 effect of greatly improving the communications of York- 

 si n'rc and Lancashire, and opening up those counties to 

 the trade then flowing into them from all directions. 

 But the administration of the highways and turnpikes 

 l>eiiiir entirely local, their good or bad management 

 depending upon the public spirit and enterprise of the 

 uvntlemeii of the locality, it frequently happened that 

 whilst the roads of one county were exceedingly good, 

 those of the adjoining county were altogether execrable. 

 Thus it was long before road-improvement penetrated 

 the slow-going counties to the south of London. Almost 

 within the memory of the existing generation there was 

 no carriage-road between London and Horsham, but 

 only a horse-track, impassable in winter. Even in the 

 immediate vicinity of the metropolis the Surrey roads 

 remained comparatively unimproved. Mr. Nash, one of 

 the trustees, when examined before a Committee of the 

 House of Commons in 1786, stated that the turnpike- 

 road between Camberwell and the Elephant and Castle 



place in tin- road he would find it 

 out, and say " Here, let's ha' some in 

 here!" One old lady told Mr. Sut- 

 clit't'e that when her mother was first 

 married she \vas standing at the door, 

 when she saw .lack coming up the 

 street ; and, having heard that he 

 could tell when he passed anyone, 

 she remained perfectly still; but -lack 

 had im sooner uot near to her than he 

 siid, "<}<Mxl morning, Mrs. Thorn- 

 ton," which very much astonished 

 her, as she had been only married a 

 lew days. Shortly after, .Jack met 

 her husband, and accosted him with 

 *' Ye'v lit of a sipiary necce woman 

 for a wife, Thornton.'' One old lady 



of eighty-nine, the daughter of the 

 landlord of the head and only inn in 

 Spofforth in Jack's time, told Mr. 

 Sutcliffe that when the " Arle o' Agri- 

 mony" [Egremont] first came to see 

 his estate there, he provided Jack 

 with a house rent-free, and ordered 

 that he should have three dinners 

 a-week at the inn on his Lordship's 

 account. The lady in question gener- 

 ally waited on him on those occasions, 

 and he would sometimes say to her, 

 "Here, lass, come and have a game 

 \vi' me, an' thoo'l be able to say when 

 tin HI'S an auld woman at thoo'.s played 

 cards wi' Blind Jack." 



