the sleeves of his smock-frock, and lay himself down
with his arms by his sides; and then the others, one at head, and
the other at feet, sent him rolling down the hill like a barrel or a
log of wood. By the time he got to the bottom, his hair, eyes, ears,
nose, and mouth were all full of this loose sand; then the others
took their turn, and at every roll there was a monstrous spell of
laughter."

[Illustration: _Weydon Mill, Farnham._]

When will _Rural Rides_ be added to the cheap editions? No other book
of the open air and open politics mixes the two with such a breezy grip
as Cobbett's. One rides with the sturdy old man over the road which he
thought the prettiest in England--the four miles between Guildford and
Godalming--or across "the most villainous spot God ever made," which was
Hindhead, and listens to him praising the bean fields and the turnips
here, and the oaks and acacias there, cursing the Wen-devils and
place-men and pensioners, the reptiles, toad-eaters and tax-eaters, and
yet the sheer honesty and affection of the man shine from every page.
There never was such a mixture of execration and the scent of
bean-blossom. But _Rural Rides_ remains a book of the library rather
than the bookshelf.

Farnham has two other authors, one a native and one a friend. Miss Ada
Bayly, known to her readers as Edna Lyall, made Farnham her holiday home
since she was four years old, and set the scenes of two of her novels in
the town. Even better known by his work, if not by his name, is Augustus
Toplady, the author of the hymn, "Rock of Ages." Toplady was born in a
little house in West Street, now pulled down, in 1740. He wrote much
that was bitter; all that is remembered is his hymn.

Every town on the Portsmouth road has its old coaching inn, and
Farnham's is the Bush. It stands modestly aloof; you must walk under an
arch to finds its oldest walls and its wistaria. It was not always the
best inn in Farnham. In 1604, in the account of the Borough, the
receipts of the Bailiffs are thus recorded:--

"Dewes which hath bene payed accostomly paied to the Baylleffs of
the Borrough and Towne of Farneham, beyond the memory of any man
that now liveth as Aniale rents always as followeth:--

For the 4 Inns 28s
That to saye of the Georg 7s
of the Whit Hart 7s
of the Anteolop