Fragments of Two Centuries | Page 2

. . 117
CHAPTER XIII.
Sports and Pastimes.--Cricket, Hunting, Racing, and Prize-Fighting.--The Butcher and the Baronet, and other Champions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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 stirring events in abundance in which England played its part, for the century gives, at a rough calculation, 56 years of war to 44 years of peace, while the reign of George III. had 37 years of war and 23 years of peace--the longest period of peace being 10 years, and of war 24 years (1793-1816). But in all these stirring events, there was, in the greater part of the reign, at least, and notwithstanding some murmurings, the appearance of a solidity in the Constitution which has somehow settled down into the tradition of "the good old times." A cynic might have described the Constitution as resting upon empty bottles and blunder-busses, for was it not the great "three-bottle period" of the British aristocracy? and as for the masses, the only national sentiment in common was that of military glory earned by British heroes in foreign wars. In more domestic affairs, it was a long hum-drum grind in settled grooves--deep ruts in fact--from which there seemed no escape. Yet it was a period in which great forces had their birth--forces which were destined to exercise the widest influence upon our national, social, and even domestic