. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

CHAPTER XIV.

Old Coaching Days.--Stage Wagons and Stage Coaches . . . . . 142

CHAPTER XV.

New Wine and Old Bottles.--A Parochial Revolution.--The Old
Poor-House and the New "Bastille" . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

CHAPTER XVI.

When the Policeman Came.--When the Railway Came.--Curious
and Memorable Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174

CHAPTER XVII.

Then and Now.--Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191

ERRATA--Page 16, lines 9 and 29, for _Dr. Monsey_, read _Dr. Mowse_.

[Transcriber's note: These changes have been incorporated into this
e-book.]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

Portrait of King George III. . . . . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_

Old Stage Wagon, A.D. 1800 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

The "Fox and Hounds," Barley, Herts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17

Lady in Reign of George III. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Old Jockey House--King James' Stables--Near Royston . . . . . 22

Staircase into Royston Cave . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36

Illustration of a portion of the Interior of Royston Cave . . 37

Dogberry "On Duty" . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52

Napoleon Buonaparte . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63

Tinder-Box, Flint, Steel, and Matches . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

A Lady of the Period . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76

The Old Parish Stocks at Meldreth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Reading the News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106

The Hunt Breakfast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

Third-Class to London . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144

A Cambridge Election Party . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

Triumphal Arch at Buntingford .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187

Triumphal Arch at Royston . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188

Wimpole Mansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189

{1}

FRAGMENTS OF TWO CENTURIES.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION.--"THE GOOD OLD TIMES."

The Jubilee Monarch, King George III., and his last name-sake, had
succeeded so much that was unsettled in the previous hundred years,
that the last half of the 18th Century was a period almost of
comparative quiet in home affairs. Abroad were