the life of thomas telford-第4章
按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!
mostly unenclosed; and it was possible; in fine weather; to get
from place to place; in one way or another; with the help of a
guide。 In the absence of bridges; guides were necessary to point
out the safest fords as well as to pick out the least miry tracks。
The most frequented lines of road were struck out from time to time
by the drivers of pack…horses; who; to avoid the bogs and sloughs;
were usually careful to keep along the higher grounds; but; to
prevent those horsemen who departed from the beaten track being
swallowed up in quagmires; beacons were erected to warn them
against the more dangerous places。*'2'
In some of the older…settled districts of England; the old roads
are still to be traced in the hollow Ways or Lanes; which are to
be met with; in some places; eight and ten feet deep。 They were
horse…tracks in summer; and rivulets in winter。 By dint of
weather and travel; the earth was gradually worn into these deep
furrows; many of which; in Wilts; Somerset; and Devon; represent
the tracks of roads as old as; if not older than; the Conquest。
When the ridgeways of the earliest settlers on Dartmoor; above
alluded to; were abandoned; the tracks were formed through the
valleys; but the new roads were no better than the old ones。
They were narrow and deep; fitted only for a horse passing along
laden with its crooks; as so graphically described in the ballad
of 〃The Devonshire Lane。〃*'3'
Similar roads existed until recently in the immediate neighbourhood
of Birmingham; now the centre of an immense traffic。 The sandy
soil was sawn through; as it were; by generation after generation
of human feet; and by packhorses; helped by the rains; until in
some places the tracks were as much as from twelve to fourteen
yards deep; one of these; partly filled up; retaining to this day
the name of Holloway Head。 In the neighbourhood of London there
was also a Hollow way; which now gives its name to a populous
metropolitan parish。 Hagbush Lane was another of such roads。
Before the formation of the Great North Road; it was one of the
principal bridle…paths leading from London to the northern parts of
England; but it was so narrow as barely to afford passage for more
than a single horseman; and so deep that the rider's head was
beneath the level of the ground on either side。
The roads of Sussex long preserved an infamous notoriety。
Chancellor Cowper; when a barrister on circuit; wrote to his wife
in 1690; that 〃the Sussex ways are bad and ruinous beyond
imagination。 I vow 'tis melancholy consideration that mankind will
in habit such a heap of dirt for a poor livelihood。 The country is
a sink of about fourteen miles broad; which receives all the water
that falls from two long ranges of hills on both sides of it;
and not being furnished with convenient draining; is kept moist
and soft by the water till the middle of a dry summer; which is only
able to make it tolerable to ride for a short time。〃
It was almost as difficult for old persons to get to church in
Sussex during winter as it was in the Lincoln Fens; where they were
rowed thither in boats。 Fuller saw an old lady being drawn to
church in her own coach by the aid of six oxen。 The Sussex roads
were indeed so bad as to pass into a by…word。 A contemporary
writer says; that in travelling a slough of extraordinary miryness;
it used to be called 〃the Sussex bit of the road;〃 and he
satirically alleged that the reason why the Sussex girls were so
long…limbed was because of the tenacity of the mud in that county;
the practice of pulling the foot out of it 〃by the strength of the
ancle〃 tending to stretch the muscle and lengthen the bone!*'4'
But the roads in the immediate neighbourhood of London long
continued almost as bad as those in Sussex。 Thus; when the poet
Cowley retired to Chertsey; in 1665; he wrote to his friend Sprat
to visit him; and; by way of encouragement; told him that he
might sleep the first night at Hampton town; thus occupying; two
days in the performance of a journey of twenty…two miles in the
immediate neighbourhood of the metropolis。 As late as 1736 we
find Lord Hervey; writing from Kensington; complaining that
〃the road between this place and London is grown so infamously bad
that we live here in the same solitude as we would do if cast on
a rock in the middle of the ocean; and all the Londoners tell us
that there is between them and us an impassable gulf of mud。〃
Nor was the mud any respecter of persons; for we are informed that
the carriage of Queen Caroline could not; in bad weather;
be dragged from St。 James's Palace to Kensington in less than two
hours; and occasionally the royal coach stuck fast in a rut;
or was even capsized in the mud。 About the same time; the streets
of London themselves were little better; the kennel being still
permitted to flow in the middle of the road; which was paved with
round stones;flag…stones for the convenience of pedestrians
being as yet unknown。 In short; the streets in the towns and the
roads in the country were alike rude and wretched;indicating a
degree of social stagnation and discomfort which it is now
difficult to estimate; and almost impossible to describe。
Footnotes for chapter I
*'1' Brunetto Latini; the tutor of Dante; describes a journey made
by him from London to Oxford about the end of the thirteenth
century; resting by the way at Shirburn Castle。 He says;
〃Our journey from London to Oxford was; with some difficulty and
danger; made in two days; for the roads are bad; and we had to
climb hills of hazardous ascent; and which to descend are equally
perilous。 We passed through many woods; considered here as
dangerous places; as they are infested with robbers; which indeed
is the case with most of the roads in England。 This is a
circumstance connived at by the neighbouring barons; on
consideration of sharing in the booty; and of these robbers serving
as their protectors on all occasions; personally; and with the
whole strength of their band。 However; as our company was
numerous; we had less to fear。 Accordingly; we arrived the first
night at Shirburn Castle; in the neighbourhood of Watlington; under
the chain of hills over which we passed at Stokenchurch。〃 This
passage is given in Mr。 Edward's work on 'Libraries' (p。 328);
as supplied to him by Lady Macclesfield。
*'2' See Ogilby's 'Britannia Depicta;' the traveller's ordinary
guidebook between 1675 and 1717; as Bradshaw's Railway Time…book is
now。 The Grand Duke Cosmo; in his 'Travels in England in 1669;'
speaks of the country between Northampton and Oxford as for the
most part unenclosed and uncultivated; abounding in weeds。 From
Ogilby's fourth edition; published in 1749; it appears that the
roads in the midland and northern districts of England were still;
for the most part; entirely unenclosed。
*'3' This ballad is so descriptive of the old roads of the
south…west of England that we are tempted to quote it at length。
It was written by the Rev。 John Marriott; sometime vicar of
Broadclist; Devon; and Mr。 Rowe; vicar of Crediton; says; in his
'Perambulation of Dartmoor;' that he can readily imagine the
identical lane near Broadclist; leading towards Poltemore; which
might have sat for the portrait。
In a Devonshire lane; as I trotted along
T'other day; much in want of a subject for song;
Thinks I to myself; half…inspired by the rain;
Sure marriage is much like a Devonshire lane。
In the first place 'tis long; and when once you are in it;
It holds you as fast as a cage does a linnet;
For howe'er rough and dirty the road may be found;
Drive forward you must; there is no turning round。
But tho' 'tis so long; it is not very wide;
For two are the most that together can ride;
And e'en then; 'tis a chance but they get in a pother;
And jostle and cross and run foul of each other。
Oft