. The dawn of the XIXth century in England, a social sketch of the times. ^for traffic ami barter with each otiier. Wc, in our iia\, THE ROADS. 1^3 have been spoilt, by, almost suddenly, having had a roadtraffic thrown open to us, which renders every village in ourIsles, of comparatively easy access, so that we are apt tolook with disfavour on the old times. Seated, or lying, inthe luxurious ease of a Pullman car—going at sixty milesan hour—it is hard to realize a tedious journey by waggon,or even an outside journey by the swifter, yet slow, mail orstage coach, with its many stoppages, and its
. The dawn of the XIXth century in England, a social sketch of the times. ^for traffic ami barter with each otiier. Wc, in our iia\, THE ROADS. 1^3 have been spoilt, by, almost suddenly, having had a roadtraffic thrown open to us, which renders every village in ourIsles, of comparatively easy access, so that we are apt tolook with disfavour on the old times. Seated, or lying, inthe luxurious ease of a Pullman car—going at sixty milesan hour—it is hard to realize a tedious journey by waggon,or even an outside journey by the swifter, yet slow, mail orstage coach, with its many stoppages, and its not altogetherpleasant adventures. For, considering the relative numbersof persons travelling, there were far more accidents, and of. A STAGE COACH—1S04. a serious kind, than in these days of railways. It was allvery well, on the introduction of steam to say, If you areupset off a coach, why there you are ! but if you are in arailway accident, where are you t The coach might breakdown, as it often did, a wheel come off, or an axle, or a polebreak—or the coach might be, as it ofttimes was, over-loaded, and then in a rut—why, over all went. The horses,too, were apt to cast shoes, slip down, get their legs overthe traces, or take to kicking, besides which the harnesswould .snap, either the traces, or the breeching, or the reins. I $4 THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. and these terrors were amplified by the probabihty oJencountering highwaymen, who were naturally attractedto attack the stage coaches, not only on account ofthe money and valuables which the passengers carriedwith them, but because parcels of great price were en-trusted to the coachman, such as gold, or notes andsecurities, for country banks, remittances betwe
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjectgreatbr, bookyear1890
