PICTURESQUE OLD DAYS 



107 



camped under the ample shelter of the great waggon ; 

 or, perhaps, if they had anything to squander on 

 mere luxuries, spent sixpence or ninepence on a 

 supper of cold boiled beef and bread, to be followed 

 by a shake -down on straw or hay in the stable- 

 lofts, which were quite commonly put to this use 

 amono; the second- and third-rate inns of the old 

 times. 



Those were the days of the picturesque ; if, indeed, 



liOAD.SIDE SCENE (aFTKH KI iWLANDSON). 



Rowlandson and Morland and the other delightfully 

 romantic artists of the period did not invent those 

 roadside scenes. Here, for instance, is Rowlandson's 

 charming group of three old topers boozing outside 

 the ' Half Moon.' I cannot tell you where this ' Half 

 Moon ' was. Probably the artist imagined it ; but at 

 anyrate the kind of place, and scenes of this descrip- 

 tion, must have existed in his time. Here, you w411 

 observe, the landlord has come out with a mug of 

 ' humming ale ' or ' nut-brown October ' for the thirsty 

 driver of the curricle, who is apparently going to 



