e
continually travelling all over England some time after it was
written, and found the roads, in many parts, in a very bad state.

Even near London they were often terrible. 'Of all the cursed roads
that ever disgraced this kingdom in the very ages of barbarism, none
ever equalled that from Billericay to the King's Head at Tilbury.[496]
It is for near 12 miles so narrow that a mouse cannot pass by any
carriage. I saw a fellow creep under his wagon to assist me to lift,
if possible, my chaise over a hedge. The ruts are of an incredible
depth, and everywhere chalk wagons were stuck fast till 20 or 30
horses tacked to each drew them out one by one' Others said that
turnpike roads were the enemies of cheapness; as soon as they opened
up secluded spots, low prices vanished and all tended to one level.
Owing to the work of Telford and Macadam, the high roads by the first
quarter of the nineteenth century attained a high pitch of excellence;
and were thronged with traffic, coaches, postchaises, private
carriages, equestrians, carts and wagons: so animated a sight that our
forefathers built small houses called 'gazebos' on the sides of the
road, where they met to take tea and watch the ever varying stream. It
should not be forgotten, too, that the inns, where numbers of horses
put up, were splendid markets for the farmers' oats, hay, and straw.

The seasons in the latter part of the eighteenth century were
distinguished for being frequently bad. In 1774 Gilbert White wrote,
'Such a run of wet seasons as we have had the last ten or eleven years
would have produced a famine a century or two ago.' Owing to the
dearness of bread in 1767 riots broke out in many places, many lives
were lost, and the gaols were filled with prisoners.[497] 1779 was,
however, a year of great fertility and prices were low all round:
wheat 33s. 8d., barley 26s., oats 13s. 6d., wool 12s. a tod of 28 lb.:
and there were many complaints of ruined farmers and distressed
landlords. Though England was now becoming an importing country, the
amount of corn imported was insufficient to have any appreciable
effect on prices, which were mainly influenced by the seasons, as the
following instance of the fluctuations caused by a single bad season
(1782) testifies[498]:

Prices after harvest of 1781. Prices after harvest of 1782.

L s. d. L s. d.

Wheat, per bushel 5 0 Wheat, per bushel