"THE OLD PATHS" 



HE ferny fragrances, the deep morning 

 dews, the reign of flowers under summer 

 sunshine, and the wild fruits that follow 

 them, will make my theme upon another 

 page. Here I design no more than a note in general 

 terms concerning Devonshire lanes, and the first road- 

 ways from which they sprang. 



The county lacks a good and comprehensive register 

 of its early means of communication. Certain Roman 

 military roads which traversed the South are recorded 

 by Latin writers, and the Mediaeval Chronicle gives 

 other details, and specifies some lines of principal 

 routes ; but, for the most part, the early historians, 

 when concerned with the subject, confine themselves 

 to a general statement that the roads in the West 

 Country cannot be matched for badness. Bishop 

 Cloyne treated of the matter some hundred years 

 ago, and his lordship's paper, which was printed as 

 an appendix to the brothers Lysons, their history of 

 Devon, is good reading and much to the point. 

 Another admirable piece upon the subject that I have 

 met with is by Mr. J. R. Chanter, who many years ago 

 contributed some notes on the Highways and Byways 



