OLD STABLES ON THE ROADS. 457 



duced the speculative builder to the place, when, of 

 course, its old appearance is entirely changed, in some 

 respects by the alteration of the fronts of the houses 

 in the main streets, by putting in large windows with 

 plate glass, or throwing out a bay-window, and other- 

 wise transforming the place to such d,n extent as 

 to render it scarcely recognisable ; and then, in ad- 

 dition to alterations, erecting a number of cottages or 

 so-called villas, or converting ranges of stabling 

 down the yard into dwelling-houses. 



Two characteristics there invariably were about the 

 villages on the great roads. The first was length, 

 probably from half to three-quarters of a mile, or 

 even more, the houses nearly all standing on each 

 side of the main road ; the second was that about 

 one house in six on both sides of the road would be a 

 public-house, or inn, none aspiring to the name of an 

 hotel, though almost every one would have stabling, 

 more or less, some ranges extending on each side 

 down a long yard. 



This was, of course, a most valuable adjunct to the 

 house, as the stabling necessarily brought a number 

 of persons there, the majority of whom would feel it 

 incumbent upon them to ' take something for the good 

 of the house.' 



Although many of the ranges of stabling attached 

 to these old public-houses have been converted into 



