THE OLD BRIDLE ROAD.

O, the bridle-way, the bridle-way,
Is a merry path on the bridal-day.
Old Song.

It is not merely a participation in the beauties of the scenes which are presented around with a liberal hand;-it is not merely the splendour of the distant prospect, or the magnificence of the woods with their immense mass of dense and variegated foliage, and with the countless songs of their countless choristers ;nor the green sunny slopes which form the most appropriate margin to the high sylvan sanctuary, and which also present a striking contrast to the hue of the summer fallows;-nor the belts of thriving plantations formed for the purpose of use, as well as for ornament, shielding off the cold north-east winds and affording a sure protection for game, feathered or furred;

-nor the gushing of the tireless springs, which, uniting their waters with a turbulence of gladness, form the gentle murmuring stream, which, hushed by the ancient pollard willows, supplies the dam of the old corn mill;-nor the distant white-walled farin-homesteads, with the welstored garner and the well-stored stack yard, the produce of the last harvest, after weeks of severe toil, and months of deep anxiety; nor the tower of the old village church, looking over all with an aspect of paternal, yet unostentatious grandeur;

-nor the old hall, with its ivied porch and its windows oriel;-nor the welcome call of the plover along the old commons and the low grounds; -nor the lowing of cattle; -nor the bleating of sheep; nor the voice of the milk-maid as she proceeds to the distant pasture, in the rich exuberance of health, and the joyousness of a heart unstained by the wickedness of a heartless, turbulent, and selfish world;-nor all sounds from the stroke after stroke of the hedger driving his stake, to the shout of the farmer's boy tending the young wheat lands-from the loud laugh of the haymakers to the cheerful voices of the reapers;-nor the flight of all the children of the air from the lark on high to the merry little sedge-warbler below; nor the

crow of the village cock, or the gobble of the turkey, or the incessant and somewhat mournful cry of the guinea fowl, always wandering during the day, but always returning to the roost at night; it is not these objects, merely considered as objects, though highly attractive in themselves and peculiar to a life spent amid rural scenes, which present an inexhaustible fund of placid amusement and of delightful recreation. But it is the almost countless associations which give to them their additional charm-associations, indeed, which extend through far distant and by-gone days, when those, who are now sleeping in the quiet village church-yard, in spots marked by the simple record of the humble head-stone, were active in their own day and generation, and lived the life of peace and soberness, and shared in their many unostentatious comforts and enjoyments, the just reward of their own laborious toil, leaving behind them a bright example to their numerous descendants, daughters as well as sons-associations, which bring before the mind's eye the progress of change, perhaps of improvement, which tell of changes by death, by descent, by will, by decay -the good old family gone, or banished, or drooping in the distant obscurity-the stranger,

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in many instances, usurping its place, through the all-powerful influence of wealth; and modern pride and arrogance assuming the position of ancient frankness and hospitality, and harshness and tyranny reigning with a spirit so haughty and predominant, that the old family escutcheon would now have blushed in utter shame.

With these associations, the OLD BRIDLE ROAD is intimately connected. Although the number of these ancient tracks is becoming, and, in many instances, has become, stopped up and absorbed in the cultivation of the land, in accordance with that predominant desire which would grasp at any seeming, however remote advantage, even in the face of ancient usage and in defiance of time-honoured custom, their remnants are yet to be found in some localities. Tracing back their formation to by-gone ages, the probability seems to be, that they were the old track-ways across the old unenclosed commons, from hamlet to hamlet, or from village to village, or, in some instances, to the nearest market town. Hence, they were continually travelled upon by the inhabitants of those places, as they presented a shorter cut to the desired point than by pursuing the comparatively new-formed

road. Nor under all circumstances, does it seem too much to presume, that the very existence of the Bridle Roads at the present day is to be ascribed to the public spirit of some hardy old English yeoman or farmer, who, at the period of the enclosure, had stuck out against the wishes of the landed proprietor-against what he deemed a shameful innovation-an infringement of a right which had been held sacred by his forefathers, on the principle, if principle it can be called, that what had been enjoyed by them as an undoubted, an inalienable right from time immenorial should be strenuously retained for the benefit of their successors through all future years.

Yet, it may be fairly questioned, whether if, in the present degenerate days, a proposition were made, in due form, before a bench of magistrates, especially if the proprietor of the soil itself formed one of the unpaid body-the ancient Bridle Road would be closed without the expression of one murmuring word from those who are most deeply interested in the preservation of the old track.

The time was, when the people of this country were extremely tenacious of their rights with regard to inclosures, and when such innovations