Rules of the Road

a poem by Henry Erskine
The rule of the road is a paradox quite,

If you drive with whip or a thong,

If you go to the left

you are sure to be right,

If you go to the right you are wrong.

In 1300 A.D. Pope Boniface VII issued the first traffic ordinance when he instructed pilgrims on the way to Rome to keep to the left side of the road. By then, the custom of riding on the left was well established in Europe. (Old Roman roads excavated in England are rutted on the left.) 

Most men were right-handed and wore their swords on the left hip. Riding on the left side of the road allowed them to respond more efficiently to threats from passersby. And with a scabbard bouncing on the left hip, the most comfortable way to mount and dismount was on the horse's left side. Furthermore, if a rider had to dismount on the road, doing so away from traffic was safest.

By 1771, one thousand hackney coaches traversed the narrow streets of London. By 1815, one and a half million people called that city home--most of them pedestrians. As the population and street traffic grew, accidents became the norm. Something had to be done to regulate the chaos.

Parliament passed a law in 1756 directing traffic on London Bridge to keep left. In 1771-72, it applied the rule to Scotland and added a fine of 20 shillings for disobedience. Lancashire passed a law on August 6, 1795 stipulating that carriages keep left.

Meanwhile, across the pond, Americans were also driving on the left side of the road. That changed with the Revolution. In 1792, Pennsylvania passed a law directing traffic on its turnpike to keep right. New York followed in 1804 and New Jersey in 1813. Canada was a mix of right and left hand driving according to province until the 1920s.

In 1794, France changed from left to right hand travel. Until then, the carriages of aristocrats bore left, while peasant foot traffic kept to the right. After the Bastille, that changed. Napoleon imposed the right hand rule on every country he conquered.

As for Britain, Parliament codified the "keep left" rule in 1835 and applied to all its colonies. Many of them--like India and Australia--still drive on the left side of the road.

Resources:

 Carriers by Land, A Practical and Elementary Abridgement of the Cases Argued and Determined in the Courts of King's Bench

Treatise on the Law of Highways (US); 1857

Laissez-faire and Government Interference, Addresses on Educational and Economical Subjects; p. 67-68

The Development of Transportation in Modern England, Vol. I

Why do the English drive on the "wrong" side of the road?

History of driving in Canada

Why do some countries drive on the right and others on the left?

Conkers and the games children played during the Regency

Autumn is the time of year when Regency children gathered horse chestnuts for an old-fashioned round of conkers. It’s believed the game was introduced into England during the late 16^thcentury from Eastern Europe. However, the first official conkers competition wasn't reported until 1848 on the Isle of Wight.

The name is thought to have originated from the French word conque which means conch. In France, the game was played with snail shells. After drilling a hole in the conker, a 10 inch string was threaded through and knotted at the bottom end. The player then held the nut while stretching the string in a sling-shot manner. The object was to let it fly and smack the conker of your opponent. A player continued the attempt until he/she missed. Then it was the other player’s turn. The first to break his opponent's conker won.

Fox and Geese

Another popular children's game during the Regency was Fox and Geese, a checkered or lattice board game with Celtic/Germanic origins. There are many versions of this game but in all of them the object was to surround your opponent until he/she couldn't move.

The “fox” was placed in the middle of the board and the “geese” on one side. Pegs/pieces were able to move into the empty spaces around them. The fox could jump over the geese into an empty space. Like checkers, the fox then took possession of the goose piece. Geese could not jump. The object was to “shut up” the fox so it couldn't move, or for the fox to take so many geese it couldn't be “shut up.”

Ducks and Drakes

A simple game of skipping a flat stone across the surface of water to see how many times the thrower could make it skip. The person with the most skips won.

Marbles

Marbles have been found in archeological digs dating to the Ice Age, in Egyptian tombs, and have been unearthed from Greek and Roman excavations. The game came to England some time during the 1600's. From 18^th Century onward, Germany was the center of the marbles trade. As the name suggests, these little round spheres were made of marble. They were also made of stone, baked clay and glass. Nuts were used by early Greeks.

At Oxford and Cambridge, undergraduates were prohibited from playing marbles on the steps of the Bodleian Library and Senate House. Complaints by members of Parliament led to Westminister school boys being forbidden to play marbles in the Hall.

Shakespeare wrote of a game of marbles called “Cherry Pit” in Twelfth Night. A one foot hole was dug in the center of a ten foot ring. Players placed their marbles on the edge of the hole. Using a “taw” or shooter, they took turns knocking their opponents’ marbles into the hole.

Spillikins

Known in America as Jack Straws or pick-up-sticks, the object of this game is to remove a stick from a pile without disturbing the remaining ones. There is evidence the game was played during the 5^th century B.C in India. Herodotus wrote of it in 450 B. C. Variations are believed to have spread from Asia to the Native Americans in British Columbia where wheat straws were used. A French version called Jonchets, which consisted of carved bone, irvory or wood sticks, was popular there during the 17^th Century.

Bilboquet

A cup and ball game found in most cultures. It was especially popular among the royal courts during the 18th Century. The object is to toss the ball into the air and catch it with a cup on the end of a stick to which the ball is attached by a string.