And so forth. Another side of the monument takes up the tale, and tells us what manner of cleric this was: “A man of whose character and endowments it is difficult to speak in any other language than that of admiration and reverence. His person and appearance interesting and attractive. His deportment and manners graceful and engaging. His intellectual and sacred attainments so various, so extensive, and so captivating as to render him everywhere the Desire and Delight of his edified associates.” All these advantages and virtues did not avail him much for preferment, for he never became a Right Reverend. And yet this surely would have been the man for a Bishopric. Nay, Primates could be no more—and are commonly less. XVII Regaining the old turnpike at Haygate Inn, the Wrekin broods monstrous on the scene for miles to come, its central bulk reinforced by Ercall to the left, and little attendant Wrekins, crowned with fir-trees, on the right. In midst of this comes Burcot toll-house, situated on a lonely rise, where cross-roads seem to butt up against the great hill on one side and disappear into a valley on the other. This toll-house may well compare for size and solidity with any on the way from London to Holyhead; but why it should, and why a shield carved in stone, and inscribed “W.T., 1835,” should especially distinguish it from its fellows, are things now hid from mortal ken. Nor has “W.T.” achieved the fame he evidently desired, for the initials—to whomsoever they really belonged—are commonly and erroneously ascribed to Telford, whose Christian name was Thomas. [Illustration: THE WREKIN.] From this point, for a distance of nearly two miles, Telford made what were described in the published projects of that time as “sundry valuable improvements.” He planned and carried out a new line of road through the shoulder of Overley Hill, so that the coaches, instead of toiling over its crest, went through a short piece of rocky cutting below, and left so much of the old Roman road to solitude and decay. Coming from Shrewsbury, even this improved road remains a weary drag; the summit and its little group of villas gained with joy.