The history of our English roads has yet to be
written. How interesting it will be, and how vivid a light it will throw upon the changing phases of our social and economic history and the rise or fall of individual towns, may be seen from the special study of the East Devon roads which Mr. Gilbert Sheldon has made in From Trackway to Turnpike (Oxford University Press, 10s. 6d.). Some local knowledge is required if the reader is to appreciate this excellent monograph at its full worth. But even those who are not well acquainted with East Devon may profit by reading the book. The author's account of the coaching age is particularly good. How many people have ever heard of Dr. Richard Russel and his book of 1750 on Glandular Consumption and the Use of Sea Water in Diseases of the Glands? Yet it sent many consumptives to seek health in the fishing villages, and every popular seaside resort should have a statue to the worthy doctor.
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