FROM PADDINGTON TO PENZANCE
By the Author of the Present Volume.
Demy 8vo, cloth extra, 16s.
THE BRIGHTON ROAD:
OLD TIMES AND NEW ON A CLASSIC HIGHWAY.
With a Photogravure Frontispiece and Ninety Illustrations.
“The revived interest in our long-neglected highways has already produced a considerablecrop of books descriptive of English road life and scenery, but few have been more attractivethan this substantial volume. The author has gathered together a great deal of amusingmatter, chiefly relating to coaching and life on the road in the days of George IV., wherewithto supplement his own personal observations and adventures. He wields a clever penon occasion—witness his graphic sketch of the ‘ungodly tramp’ whom he met betweenMerstham and Crawley. The book, in brief, is inspired by a genuine love of the road andall its associations, past and present, animate and inanimate. Its ninety illustrations,partly sketches made by the author on the way, and partly reproductions of old-time picturesand engravings, will add greatly to its attractions.”—Daily News.
“This is a book worth buying, both for the narrative and the illustrations. The formeris crisp and lively, the latter are tastefully chosen and set forth with much pleasing andartistic effect.”—Scottish Leader.
“The Brighton Road was merry with the rattle of wheels, the clatter of galloping horses,the bumpers of hurrying passengers, the tipping of ostlers, the feats of jockeys and ‘whips’and princes, the laughter of full-bosomed serving-wenches, and the jokes of rotund landlords,and all this Mr. Harper’s handsome and picturesque volume spreads well before its readers.To the author, Lord Lonsdale, with his great feat on the road between Reigate and Crawley,is the last of the heroes, and the Brighton Parcel Mail is the chief remaining glory of whatwas once the most frequented and fashionable highway of the world. As Mr. Harper sadlysays, ‘the Brighton of to-day is no place for the travel-worn;’ but, with his book in hand,the pedestrian, the horseman, the coachman, or the cyclist, may find the road that leads toit from town one of the most interesting and entertaining stretches of highway to be foundanywhere.”—Daily Chronicle.
“Space fails us to mention the many sporting events that have been decided upon, ornear, the Brighton Road. They are duly recorded in this lively volume.... An old writer,speaking of Brighton shore, talks of the ‘number of beautiful women who, every morning,court the embraces of the Watery God;’ but these Mr. Harper found wanting, so he fledto Rottingdean.”—Spectator.
“This handsome book on the Brighton Road should be attractive to three classes in particular—thosewho like coaching, those who enjoy cycling, and the ‘general reader.’”—Globe.
“A pleasant gossiping account of a highway much trodden, ridden, driven, and cycled bythe Londoner; a solid and handsome volume, with attractive pictures.”—St. James’s Gazette.
“The Brighton Road is the classic land, the Arcadia, of four-in-hand driving. An ideallysmooth, hard, high road, with no more of uphill and down than a coach could travel over ata canter going up, and at a rattling trot, with the skid on, going downhill, it was a road thatevery sporting Londoner knew by heart, and many a London man and woman who carednothing for sport.... The ancient glor