Dick Turpin was hanged at York in 1739, and it was not until eighty years later that John McAdam published his famous book on roads, which made his name synonymous with good road-paving for a century more. Indeed it is only during the last few years that concrete and such materials have begun to replace on main roads the macadam which in years of lighter traffic had served Britain so well. When Turpin rode to York asphalt and macadam and wood-blocks were unknown ; cobbles or granite setts were the rule in towns, and an unpredictable natural product encountered the man who ventured off the turnpike roads, outside. It was no uncommon event then for men and horses alike to become completely enmixed. Mr. Beales, who gives this talk on the roads of England two centuries ago, is well known as a lecturer at the London School of Economics and to the W.E.A.