rH/S, tlie fifth volume in a series of tvorhs 

 picrpo7^ting to tell the Story of the Great 

 Roads, requires hut few forewords; hut occasion 

 may he taken to say that i^erhaps greater care has 

 heen exercised than in precediyig volumes to collect 

 and p>ut on record those anecdotes and floating 

 traditions of the country, which, the gossip of yester- 

 day, ivill he tJie history of to-morrow. These are 

 precisely the things that are neglected hy the County 

 Historiayis at one end of the scale of writers, and 

 tJie compilers of guide-hooks at the other; and it is 

 just hecause this gossip ayid these loccd anecdotes 

 are generally passed hy and often lost that those 

 which are gathered notv ivill hecome more valuahle 

 as time goes on. 



For the inclusion of these hitherto unconsidered 

 trifles much archceology and much purely guide- 



