12 s. i. APRIL i, 1916.] NOTES AND QUERIES.
271
The following notes may be of interest.
As to the route taken, Carey's own
narrative supplies sufficient information
for us to know the road. He does not say
the precise route he took from Richmond
to Charing Cross. He probably crossed
the river at Brentford and came through
Chiswick. Later in the day when he left
London he would have gone by Stamford
Hill, Tottenham High Cross, Edmonton,
Enfield, Waltham Cross, Amwell, Ware,
Buntingford, Royston, Caxton, and Hunt-
ingdon. This is verified in Ogilby's
- Itinerarium Angliae.' Those acquainted
with road history know that there is a North Road and a Great North Road. The former is the older, and follows the route taken by the old Roman road to Lincoln. Both roads run parallel for about the first sixty miles, and meet at Alconbury Hill, a little north of Hunting- don, and sixty-eight miles from London. In the documents unearthed about 1844 at Somerset House relating to the " Master of the Postes " in Elizabeth's time, the route to Berwick is clearly defined ; it proceeded in continuation (after the places named above) to go through Stilton, Stamford, Grant ham, Newark, Tookesford (Tuxford), Foroby (Ferriby), Doncaster, Ferry Bridge, Wetherby, Boroughbridge, Northallerton, Derneton (Darlington), Durham, Newcastle, Morpeth, Belford, Berwick.
The reason why Carey made for Doncaster was because a branch of his own family lived there (see Hunter's
- Deanery of Doncaster,' vol. i.), and he
could therefore count upon suitable hospitality and possibly better horses. tThe London-Berwick posts, in a petition to the Council during Elizabeth's reign, stated that on account of the great number riding over that road many of their horses were injured or were not paid for, while the constables, whose duty it was to see that horses were provided, were often ill- treated. See J. C. Hemmeon's * History of the British Post Office,' p. 91.
Carey's second day's journey brought him to Widdrington. Here he had his own house, which we have seen came to him through his marriage (Aug. 20, 1593), at Berwick-on-Tweed, with Elizabeth, widow of Sir Henry Widdrington.
At Norham, where he next stopped, other members of the Carey family resided (see Jerningham's ' Norham Castle,' pp. 269-71). The Carey family long held official positions at Berwick-on-Tweed,
Even in these present days of mac-
adamized roads Carey's journey would
have been thought remarkable. Under-
taken in Elizabethan days, it reveals almost
superhuman endurance considering the
short time occupied.
Three years later in May, 1606 John Lepton of York undertook to ride on six consecutive days between York and London. He left Aldersgate first on May 20, and reached York before -dark. Ben Jonson footed it to Edinburgh in June, 1618; and Taylor, the water poet, in his ' Pennylesse Pilgrimage,' relates how in 1623 "he travailed on foot from London to Eden- borough." In 1740 Thornhill, landlord of the Bell at Stilton, rode to London and back to Stilton (154 miles) in eleven hours, thirty- three minutes, and forty-six seconds.
I hope I may be forgiven if I say that one leading reason why I have endeavoured to reply to this query is that in the year 1884 I walked from this door to the post office in Prince's Street, Edinburgh. Before the days of motor-cars, and conse- quently changed conditions of road travel, a great bond linked up all those who had covered the journey between England and Scotland by road.
The manuscript of Carey's ' Memoirs ' descended to Lady Elizabeth Spelman, wife of William Spelman of Wickmere, co, Norfolk (see The Herald and Genea- logist, vol. iv.). Lady Elizabeth Spelman lent the manuscript to John, Earl of Cork, who transcribed it and issued it at Wai- pole's suggestion (' Royal and Noble Authors '). Lady E. Spelman died Jan. 11, 1748. Her will describes her as of St. James's, Westminster, and it gives valuable details hitherto overlooked of family portraits, including a group portrait of Sir Robert Carey and family, which, with other pictures, she left to " James Hamilton, Lord Viscount Limerick." The group portrait is doubtless the same as is referred to in Emily G. S. Reilly's ' Historical Anecdotes of Boleynes, Careys, &c.,' 1839. The picture was then in the possession of Lord Roden. The only portrait of Carey alluded to in the ' D.N.B.' is the one included in the Tapestries of the House of Lords. Of the various editions of Carey's 'Memoirs,' that issued in 1808 by Ballantyne in Edinburgh with Sir Robert Naunton's ' Fragment a Regalia ' is the pleasantest. Arber's reprint in the " English Garner " is very good, and has the additional value of notes by C. H. Firth.
