Page:Over fen and wold; (IA overfenwold00hissiala).pdf/410

 *way of London Bridge. According to Drayton (Polyolbion, xxii.) the men of the defeated army in this encounter

Cut off their country's coats to haste their speed away Which "Loose-Coat Field" is called e'en to this day.

Leaving storied and picturesque Scrivelsby with regret, we retraced our road to Horncastle, and got on the old Lincoln turnpike highway there; a splendid wide coaching road running for some miles along the top of an elevated stretch of ground, from which we obtained glorious prospects over a country of rolling hills (the Wolds) to our right, and over a fine expanse of well-wooded land to our left, a sea of waving greenery stretching away till lost in misty blue. I trust that our coach-travelling ancestors—to whom was granted the privilege of seeing their own country when they made a journey—enjoyed the scenery on the way as much as we did that morning; if so their enjoyment must have been great. But the love of scenery is of recent birth. I sadly fear that our ancestors, from all accounts, thought far more of the comforts of their inns than of the beauties of the landscape they passed through; as for mountains they simply looked upon them as ugly obstructions to easy and speedy travel, and heartily hated them accordingly!

It was one of those fine, fresh, breezy days that make it a delight simply to be out of doors; the atmosphere was life-giving. The sky above was compounded of about equal parts of deep, pure blue and of great white rounded clouds, that as they sailed along caused a ceaseless play of sunshine and