quire 4, f [2]
...But as we travayled hearing it was out of our way and
desiring to take advantage of the fairnesse of the weather we resolv'd to go one and so
bayted at Tollerton, where Parson Rogers hearing of our
passing by rydd after us and recoverd vs at Tollerton where at myne host
Thorntons, where my gossip dischargd two borrachoe bottles vpon the myne host and
the parson, to the down fall of the one, and soe elevating the other that Master
Parson would needs bring vs one the way, where to shew his love to my gossip he fell of his
horse and after ran leaping and dancing before vs half way to Topliffe, where we went to Mistres warcups the famous good
Hostesse, where we stayed till wensday being shut vp with rayne.
The manuscript of the 'Foot Voyage' was discovered in a deposit of papers relating to the Aldersey family deposited in the Chester Archives in 1985. The identity of the narrator has not been established; see Loxley et al, Ben Jonson's Walk to Scotland, pp 3, 31–6. The village of Tollerton lies seven miles east of the Great North Road. Topliffe is a variant spelling for Topcliffe.
Record title: Ben Jonson's
Walk to Scotland
Repository: Chester Archives and Local Studies Library
Shelfmark: Aldersey papers ZCR 469/550
Repository location: Chester
The manuscript has been described below and foliation cited according to the system used by James Loxley et al in their edition (Ben Jonson's Walk to Scotland, pp 3–5).
8 July–17 September 1618; English; paper; 8 quires of 4, first quire blank and unopened; 150 mm x 200 mm; unfoliated; last folio reduced to a stub.