the window of the chaise, exclaimed, " Well, I never saw roads 

 mended with such materials as these before I" This, of course, drew 

 my attention to the same object, which had so strongly engaged, his ; 

 and I am confident, that the astonishment excited in my mind was 

 but little, if at all, less than that which possessed our friend ; when 

 I beheld a labouring man breaking to pieces, with a large hammer, 

 a stone nearly circular, half as large as the fore-wheel of our chaise, 

 and bearing the exact form of a serpent closely coiled up. Curi- 

 osity prompted me to stop the chaise, and to ask the man the name 

 of the stone, and where it came from. "This stone, sir/' says he, 

 " is a snake-stone, and comes from a pit in yonder field ; where 

 there are thousands of them." We all alighted, and with surprise 

 examined some of the same species of stones, which he had not yet 

 broken, and which, though evidently bearing the form of some 

 strange animal, were undoubtedly formed entirely of stone. 



As we sauntered along, the chaise following us, we came to a neat, 

 though a small house, on the road side ; which a sign, stuck in the 

 hedge, on the opposite side of the road, taught us was a house of 

 public entertainment. Hoping to gain some further information, 

 respecting that which had so strongly attracted our notice, we entered 

 this, literally, hedge ale-house. But when introduced into a very 

 neat room ; the casement of which, surrounded by roses and honey- 

 suckles in full bloom, opened into a garden, rendered charming by the 

 wild luxuriancy and profusion, with which its various productions 

 displayed themselves to our view, we had very little hesitation in de- 

 termining to stop, and partake of such refreshments, as our cottage 

 would yield. Whilst these were preparing, WILTON, who was exa- 

 mining the furniture of the old oaken chimney-piece, said, " Well, 

 if the object of travelling is to behold novelties, surely this country 

 will yield that gratification, in the highest degree ; for among the 

 various things with which this mantle-piece is ornamented, there is 

 not one, of which I have ever seen its like." They now passed under 



