Redy to wenden on my pilgrimage
To Canterbury with devout corage,
At night was come into that hostelrie
Wel nine and twentie in a compagnie
Of sondry folk, by aventure yfalle
In felawship; and pilgrimes were they alle,
That toward Canterbury wolden ride.
The chambres and the stables weren wide,
And wel we weren esed atte beste.
And shortly, whan the sonne was gone to reste
So hadde I spoken with hem everich on,
That I was of hir felawship anon."

But the tenants of the waste and the woodland were not the only lords of
the highway. The Norman baron drew little profit from the natural
produce of his ample domains. In his way he was a staunch protectionist;
but he left agriculture very much to take care of itself, and looked to
his tolls, his bridges, and above all to his highways, for a more rapid
return of the capital he had invested in accoutring men-at-arms, squires,
and archers. We know, from 'Ivanhoe,' how it fared with Saxons,
Pilgrims, and Jews, whose business led them near the castles of Front de
Boeuf or Philip de Malvoisin: and we are certain that the Lady of
Branksome kept, an expensive establishment, who were expected to bring
grist to the mill of the lord or lady of the demesne, by turning out in
all weathers and at all hours, whenever a herd of beeves or a company of
pilgrims were descried by the watchers from Branksome Towers. For it
must have taken no small quantity of beef and hides to furnish the
Branksome retainers in dinners and shoe- and saddle-leather; since--

"Nine and twenty knights of fame
Hung their shields in Branksome Hall:
Nine and twenty squires of name
Brought them their steeds to bower from stall:
Nine and twenty yeomen tall
Waited duteous on them all:
They were all knights of mettle true,
Kinsmen to the bold Buccleugh."

When the traveller carried money in his purse, or the merchant had store
of Sheffield whittles or Woodstock gloves in his pack, the lowest dungeon
in the castle of the Bigods was his doom; and he was a lucky man who came
out again from those crypts which now so much delight our archaeological
associations, with a tithe of his possessions, or with his proper
allowance of eyes, hands, and ears.

Even on the Roman roads, with their good accommodation of pavement,
milestones, and towns, journeys were for the most part performed on foot
or horseback. Fo