CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 



The county of Bucks — The Chiltern Hills — Vale of Aylesbury — 

 Valley of the Thames — North of the county : Valley of the 

 Ouse — ' The classic groves of Stowe ' — ' Cymbeline ' — An 

 American's opinion — ' Why you English people so deeply love 

 your country' — -White Leaf Cross — Hughenden — Benjamin 

 Disraeli — 'Tring, Wing, and Ivinghoe' — The making of 

 England^ — Anne Boleyn, ' The Fair Maid of Aylesbury ' 



CHAPTER II 



Turnpikes and their keepers — Origin of turnpike trusts — General 

 rate of tolls — Mr. Weller's opinion of pike men — A turnpike 

 letting — 'Pikers 'and their methods — Sharp practice — Lessees 

 of tolls — Feasting after the fray — Management of roads . 13 



CHAPTER III 



Early recollections of posting — Post-horse duty — The old inns 

 and posting-houses — Collection of the duty — Manners and 

 customs of travellers who posted — Cost — Post-horse Farmers 

 — Shillibeer, the well-known Undertaker — Abolition of the 

 duty 23 



CHAPTER IV 



Eton Montem — Customs — Their origin — Collecting salt — 

 Waving the flag on the Mount ad Montem — Salt bearers — 

 The ' Windmill ' Inn— Mr. Botham— The traffic on the Great 

 Western road — Royalty — The Playing Fields— Dr. Goodall 

 — Dinton . , . . 30 



