THE 'BELLS OF O USE LEY' 89 



The ' Bells of Ouseley ' bad at one time a reputa- 

 tion for a very much less innocent thing than 

 picturesqueness, for a hundred and fifty years ago, or 

 thereabouts, it was very popular with the worst class 

 of footpads, who were used to waylay travellers by 

 the shore, or on the old Bath and Exeter Roads, and, 

 robbing them, were not content, but, practically 

 applying the axiom that ' dead men tell no tales,' 

 gave their victims a knock over the head, and, 

 tying them in sacks, heaved them into the river. 

 These be legends, and legends are not always truth- 

 ful. ])ut it is a fact that, some years ago, when the 

 Thames Conservancy authorities were dredging the 

 bed of the river just here, they found the remains of a 

 sack and the perfect skeleton of a human being. 



XV 



Regarding the country through which the road 

 passes, between Kensington, Egham, Sumiingdale, 

 Virginia Water, and Bagshot, Cobbett has some 

 characteristic things to say. Between Hammersmith 

 and Egham it is ^ as flat as a pancake,' and the soil 

 ' a nasty stony dirt upon a bed of gravel.' Sunning- 

 hill and Sunningdale, 'all made into "grounds" and 

 gardens by tax-eaters,' are at the end of a ' black- 

 guard heath,' and are ' not far distant from the Stock- 

 jobbing crew. The roads are level, and they are 

 smooth. The wretches can go from the "'Change" 

 without anv danoer to their worthless necks.' 



