Page:Over fen and wold; (IA overfenwold00hissiala).pdf/60

 playing "King of the Castle" thereon, and generally romping over and round about them with much noisy merriment. I really think that these ancient mounds deserve to be better cared for; those things that are worthy of being preserved should be preserved, for antiquity once destroyed can never be replaced; it is too late when a monument of the past has disappeared to discover how interesting it was.

At Stevenage we put up for the night at the "White Lion," a homely little hostelry, where we found clean and comfortable, if not luxurious, quarters for ourselves, and good accommodation for our horses, and not being of an exacting nature, were well content. So ended our first long day's wanderings.

We had seen so much since we left London in the early morning, that we felt it difficult to realise, on the authority of our copy of Paterson's Roads (last edition of 1829), we had only travelled some thirty-one miles; the precise distance we could not arrive at, since Paterson takes his measurement from "Hick's Hall," and we did not start from the site thereof; indeed, exactly where "Hick's Hall" stood I am not very clear—somewhere in Smithfield, I believe.

Next morning, following the excellent example of the chatty Mr. Pepys, and to borrow his favourite expression, we "awoke betimes," to find the sun-*shine streaming in through our windows, whilst a glance outside revealed to us a glorious bright blue sky, flecked with fleecy fine-weather clouds.