Lectures delivered before the Young Men's Christian Association . of being introduced to CharlesII., and visiting our most distinguished literary thus described the mode of his conveyance from Doverto London:— That I might not take post or be obliged touse the stage coach, I went in a waggon: it was drawn bysix horses, one before another, and drove by a waggonerwho walked by the side of it. Tedious as this mode of travelling appears, it was suitedto the times and to the state of the roads. These were soimperfectly kept that travelling up to the commencement ofthe present century
Lectures delivered before the Young Men's Christian Association . of being introduced to CharlesII., and visiting our most distinguished literary thus described the mode of his conveyance from Doverto London:— That I might not take post or be obliged touse the stage coach, I went in a waggon: it was drawn bysix horses, one before another, and drove by a waggonerwho walked by the side of it. Tedious as this mode of travelling appears, it was suitedto the times and to the state of the roads. These were soimperfectly kept that travelling up to the commencement ofthe present century always implied toil, discomfort, andfatigue, though these terms must be used comparatively, ifwe believe the records and advertisements of olden time. The pleasant journey from London to Oxford, now ac-complished with ease in an hour and a half, occupied twodays in 1669. An invention, called the Elying Coach,achieved it in thirteen successive hours, which wasesteemed a wonder; but from Michaelmas to Lady day, itwas uniformly a two days performance.* .^iSte?.. PASSKNGER STAGE WAGGON. E £ PEOGEESS ; LirE OE GEOEGE STEPHEl^SOir. 415 Stage-coaches were, however, an innovation, and this wasenough to condemn them in the eyes of the men of imagi-native memory. In 1673 a writer gravely suggested thatthe multitude of stage-coaches and caravans travelling onthe roads might all or most of them be suppressed, espe-cially those within forty, fifty, or sixty miles of London. * He felt, however, that perhaps this was too good to behoped for; and so moderated his demands to the proposition,that the number of stage-coaches should be limited to oneto every shire town in England, to go once a-week back-wards and forwards, and to go through with the same horsesthey set out with, and not travel more than thirty milesa-day in summer, and twenty-five in winter. His argumentsin support of these proposals were, that coaches and caravanswere mischievous to the public, destructive to trade, andprejudi
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