152 HIGHWAYS AND HORSES. 



front of one of the houses in St. Giles's, facing- 

 Oxford Street, with an inscription, points out the spot- 

 The Barnet road and all the roads in the north 

 and north-west of the kingdom were measured from 

 the place where Hicks's Hall formerly stood ; viz. at 

 the end of St. John's Lane, St. John's Street, West 

 Smithfield. A stone in the front of one of the 

 houses has an inscription pointing out the spot. 



The Ware and Huntingdon roads, with the 

 branches therefrom, were measured from Shoreditch 

 Church ; but the milestones were numbered from 

 this standard no further northward than Alconbury 

 Hill, where these roads join the great north road, 

 as measured from Hicks's Hall. 



The Essex roads were measured from White- 

 chapel Church ; and time can have had no effect on 

 these measurements. By means of these road-books, 

 any town or village, however small, could be found, 

 and the distance from London, or from where the 

 road started, ascertained, first by tracing the main 

 road, and then by branching off to the cross-road. 



An eighteenth edition of Paterson's road-book 

 appeared in 1829 ; this edition was edited by Edward 

 Mogg, and was very much enlarged ; it was de- 

 dicated to King George IV. In this edition there 

 is a very curious table giving the rates of postage 

 and the times of arrival and departure of the mails. 

 As it would occupy too much space to give this list 

 in full, I have only mentioned towns of importance ; 

 this was, of course, before the days of penny postage. 

 In this list may also be seen the time at which the 

 mail-coaches arrived and returned to London. This 

 list was copied from the returns made to Parliament 

 in 1 83 1, and was corrected by competent authorities. 



