3540 Notices of New Boohs : 



the other, much to the amusement not only of those present, but also 

 of those who long after heard the tale." — P. 87. 



It is impossible to resist the pleasure of giving a long quotation 

 from the journal of this delectable trip. 



" At half-past eleven we set off with merry hearts, unprophetic of 

 the evils that befel us, in full expectation of a good hard road all the 

 way to Peterborough, but alas ! how grievously were we disappointed ! 

 this was indeed to us ' nigro dies notanda lapillo.' 



" For two miles the road is good ; when we arrive at Gatesbridge 

 we turn to the left upon a raised causeway, on one side of which was 

 the forty-foot river; on the other, which was very steep, a deep ditch: 

 at first the road was wide enough to drive our vehicle without any ap- 

 prehension, but after a time it became so narrow as not to leave more 

 than a foot on each side of our wheel and the brink, so that we were in 

 as great peril as navigators of yore, who had to steer between Scylla and 

 Charybdis : what increased the danger was, the road was without rut 

 or horse-path, so that there was nothing to direct the horse but the 

 driver. My friend was greatly alarmed, and my fears were not small, 

 being altogether unused to driving to a hair : on either side of the 

 causeway, for the benefit of starting horses, were erected draining- 

 mills. We were so unfortunate as to meet two carriages (though in a 

 place where there was room to pass) : in one the horse and master 

 appeared equally alarmed, so that we trembled for their safety ; we 

 ourselves once were within a nail's breadth of an overthrow, but pro- 

 videntially we escaped. After this our alarm rose to such a pitch that 

 we dismounted, and gave our horse to the care of a boatman whom we 

 met, and with joy committed ourselves once more to terra firma. On 

 the causeway we had to pass through a toll-gate where they exacted 

 a heavy toll : I thought it hard to pay toll for keeping a road in so 

 dangerous a state ; if they w T ould permit ruts and a horse-path, poor 

 travellers would be spared much alarm. The causeway is four miles 

 in length, of which we walked three. From the bridge the road is 

 hard and spacious for a mile, but then we plunge into a black moor. 

 This was so wet, from the rain of the day before, that it was with dif- 

 ficulty we could persuade our steed to make a walk of it. By the way 

 we observe Ranunculus Lingua in abundance ; on our right we leave 

 a considerable farm-house, with a row of the largest willows I ever 

 beheld: in this dreary unornamented country this was one of the most 

 pleasing objects we had seen. 



*' We now make for the Green Man, a small alehouse on the other 



