OLD STABLES ON THE ROADS. 459 



stable. In another place you will see two or three 

 unhappy geese put up to fatten, with a small pan 

 of water, with the object, it may be presumed, of 

 holding out to them the hope of one day being 

 released and enabled to return to their native element, 

 so that, living in a state of unbroken quietude, they 

 have nothing to do but eat and grow fat. Lastly, in 

 the entire absence of all live-stock, either equine, 

 bovine, or canine, a stall may be appropriated either 

 as a coal or wood depot. I think I have now 

 summed up the various purposes to which these 

 buildings are applied, and in default of their being so 

 required, you may find them wholly unused, the door 

 open, and possibly half off its hinges. 



By-the-bye, I had forgotten to mention one species 

 of living occupant which may be found, I may 

 venture to say without exception, in every one of 

 these old buildings — I allude to the spiders, who, 

 judging from the quantity of cobwebs, and the 

 numerous large specimens you will see of their 

 weavers, must for very many years have had most 

 peaceful and quite undisturbed abodes, far removed 

 from the destructive and troublesome broom of the 

 housemaid, or the duster of the neat and prim old 

 maid in her little parlbur. 



It happened to me one day some years since to be 

 compulsorily fixed in one of the coaching villages on. 



