452 
PEDESTRIANISM. 
them in matters of hafte and expedition, and men have 
therefore had few opportunities of fhowing their alert’ 
nefs. In England, indeed, from the goodnefs of the roads, 
the opportunities of changing horfes, and their extraor¬ 
dinary fpeed for fingle ftages, fwiftnefs in man is of lefs 
confequence to us than it was to our anceftors, who kept 
in their fervice men of prodigious fwiftnefs called run¬ 
ning footmen, and ufed in all meffages and affairs of dif- 
patch. 
Foot-races formed one fpecies of the games among 
the ancients; but we do not find any inftances of walking 
a confiderable diftance for a wager. However, the exer¬ 
tions of men muff have been often called into ufe for the 
purpofe of delivering meffages, and of carrying difpatches 
and other intelligence. 
Philippides, who was fent by the Athenians to implore 
the afliftance of the Spartans in the Perfian war, in the 
fpace of two days ran 170 Roman miles. Euchides was 
fent from Athens to get fome of the holy fire from Del- 
phos; he went and returned the fame day, which is 125 
Roman miles. 
Henry V. king of England, was fo fwift in running, 
that he, with two of his lords, without bow or other en¬ 
gine, would take a wild buck or doe in a large park. 
There was a fort of footmen, called pieclii, who attended 
upon the Turkilh emperors, and were occafionally dif- 
patched with orders and expreffes. They ran fo admira¬ 
bly fwift, that with a little pole-axe and a phial of fweet 
waters in their hands, they have gone from Conftantino- 
ple to Adrianople in a day and a night, which is about 
160 Roman miles. 
Among the moderns we have however numerous and 
curious inftances of pedeftrianifm. 
On the 4th of January, 1759, Geo. Gueft, of Birming¬ 
ham, who had laid a W'ager that he could walk 1000 miles 
in twenty-eight days, fetout on his journey, and finifhed 
it with great eafe. It feemed that he had laid by for bets; 
for in the two laft days, we are told, he had 106 miles to 
walk, but walked them with fo little fatigue to himfelf; 
that, to fhow his agility, he came the laft fix miles within 
the hour, though he had full fix hours to do it in. 
In July, 1765, ayoungwoman went from Blencogo to 
within two or three miles of Newcaftle, in one day, being 
72 miles. Notum quid fcemina pojfit. 
But the moft famous champion of pedeftrianifm, the 
man, at leaft, who firft fet the thing a-going, as we may 
fay, inour time, was Mr. Fofter Powell, a lawyer’s clerk 
in New Inn. He was born at Horfeforth, near Leeds, in 
Yorkfhire, in the year 1734. His firft pedeftrian feat 
upon record is in the year 1764, when he went a journey 
on the Bath road, fifty miles, which he accompliflied in 
(even hours, going the firft ten miles in one hour. 
In the former part of his life, he travelled into feveral 
parts of Swifferland and France. But the firft journey which 
he undertook, that fpread his fame, was in the year 1773, 
when he engaged to go on foot from London to York 
and back again, (the diftance is 402 miles,) in fix days, 
which he accompliflied in five days eighteen hours. He 
fet off from Hicks’s Hall, and returned to the fame place. 
After that he did not undertake any journey till the year 
1786, when he engaged to go on-foot 100 miles on, the 
Bath road in twenty-four hours, which he accompliflied 
in twenty-three hours and a quarter. He fet off from 
Hyde Park corner, and returned to the fame place. The 
nextyear, 1787, he undertook to go on foot from Canter¬ 
bury to London and back again in twenty-four hours; 
the diftance is 112 miles; which he accompliflied to the 
great aftonifliment of many thoufand fpeftators, who 
waited his return. The following year, 1788, he under¬ 
took, at Canterbury, to run one mile againft Mr. Smith 
of the fame place. This wager he loft. The fame year 
he engaged to perform, his favourite journey from 
London to York, and back again, in fix days, which he 
accompliflied in five days twenty hours. In the year 
1789 he engaged to go on-foot from Canterbury to Lon¬ 
don and back again in twenty-four hours; and would 
have accompliflied it but for the misfortune of lofing 
his way on Blackheath, as he was coming to town, and 
which detained him near an hour above the time allowed 
him. The next year, 1790, he engaged to go on-foot 
from London to York and back again in fix days, which 
he accompliflied in five days eighteen hours. The fame 
year he undertook to go againft Mr. Weft, of Windfor, 
forty miles on the Bath road. In this undertaking Hfe 
was beat, owing to tire great difference of age between 
him and Weft. This bet was for twenty guineas on each 
fide. 
Havingnow convinced the world fo often that he could 
accomplifti the journey to York and back again in lefs 
than fix days, he was determined, for the laft time in his 
life, to attempt it in a much ftiorter time, although he 
was at the advanced age of fifty-eight years. Accor- 
dingly, in the year 1792, he fet off from Shoreditch 
Church to York Minfter and back again, and accom¬ 
pliflied it in five days fifteen hours and a quarter, to the 
great aftonifliment of many thoufand fpeftators. This 
fame year he walked, fora bet of twenty guineas, on the 
Clapham road, fix miles in fifty minutes and a half. Af¬ 
ter that he went down to Brighton, and engaged to walk 
one mile and run another in fifteen minutes, which he 
performed in fourteen minutes forty-three feconds. He 
walked the mile in nine minutes twenty feconds, and ran 
the other in five minutes twenty-three feconds. So great 
was his fame fpread as a pedeftrian, and fo defirous were 
people in general to have a fight of him, that, abfurd as 
it may appear, he was engaged at Aftley’s Amphitheatre 
for twelve nights, where he had a benefit, and exhibited 
the different paces at which he travelled, though in a 
finall circle. Mr. Powell in perfon was tall and thin, his 
height about five feet nine inches, made ftrong down¬ 
wards, and well calculated for walking. His complexion 
was of a fallow colour. Fie was very particular in his 
diet when he was about fetting out on his journeys ; and 
feldom or never ate meat when travelling, but moltly 
light food. His laft journey to York was fuppofed by 
the faculty to be the caufe of his death, as he never re¬ 
covered the fatigue which he experienced in performing 
it in fo (hort a time, and at fo advanced an age, his health 
at that time being indifferent. He departed this life 
Monday morning, about four o’clock, April 15, 1793, in 
the fifty-ninth year of his age 5 and was interred in the 
burying-ground of St. Faith, the eaft corner of St. Paul’s 
church-yard, near Cheapfide, at his own defire. 
The following inftance of exertion in {walking, per¬ 
formed by one Thomas Savager, which took place the 
beginning of the year 1789, is related by the Rev. John 
Lodge, in his Sketches towards a Topographical Hiftory 
of the County of Hereford. “This man, who was at 
that time about fifty years of age, five feet four inches 
high, and lame, from one leg being confiderably ftiorter 
than the other, undertook, for a wager of twenty gui¬ 
neas, to walk 404 miles in fix days. The line agreed 
upon for the difplay of his agility, was on the turnpike 
road from Hereford to Ludlow, and back again. Owing 
to the unevennefs and badnefs of the road in general, 
and efpecially to the lofty hill of Dunmore, which he was 
obliged to pafs at leaft three times a-day, the odds at 
ftarting were a guinea to a (hilling againft him, and were 
ftill further increafed on the third day by a fall of (now, 
which made the road exceedingly (lippery and dirty. He 
continued his career, however, with infinite fpirit, and 
won his wager five hours within the time allowed. It 
appeared afterwards, by adding together the fuperfluous 
ground he had walked to his lodgings at Hereford, Lud¬ 
low, and elfewhere contiguous to the road, that, inftead of 
404, he had actually travelled no lefs than 429 miles,” 
which makes more than three miles an hour for the whole 
139 hours! 
Jan. 10, 1810, a journeyman taylor, named Macdonald, 
undertook for a trifling wager to walk from Weftminfter 
bridge 
