OUR IRON ROADS. CHAPTER I. Means made available for locomotion-Travelling as it was-Equestrians of the Sixteenth Century-Travelling in the times of the Stuarts-The country post-master of the seventeenth century-Evils set forth as arising from the introduction of coachesTravelling at the commencement of the eighteenth century-Pennant's journey from Chester to London in 1740-Establishment of a stage-coach between London and Edinburgh-Anecdote of Lord Eldon-" The coaching-days of old"-The mailDuke of Bridgewater's canals-Tram-roads-Improvements of tram-roads-Experiments on tram-roads-Schemes of Dr. James Anderson and Mr. Edgeworth. HE means of communication from place to place in our own country were extremely limited till the commencement of the sixteenth century. People did, under special circumstances, manage to go from one part of the island to another; but, as regards the masses, travelling up to that period was rather a matter of theory than of practice. A journey was often, in early times, a very serious affair. The only way of proceeding was on horseback, and the Rozinante was compelled to go on till he was tired, and then both master and horse had to wait and rest. If the horse fell lame, the rider was obliged to tarry till he was sound again; if the steed died, and another could not be obtained, the traveller had to stop, or proceed on foot. But, putting such disasters-common as they were-out of the calculation, the comfort of the rider was dependent on the roads, which were often in a miserable condition. Fatigue, even for the strongest, was inevitable, and danger was often imminent. Instead of the firm footing which the horse now has, he might suddenly plunge into a marsh; or, there being no ford or bridge over a river, B the swollen flood would often prevent a passage, while if this were attempted, both horse and rider might be drowned. Sometimes the road lay through deep woods, where the track was not easily discernible; and instead of the anticipation of the cheerful fire or the well-spread table of an inn to cheer his steps, the pilgrim had occasionally to seek repose on the cold earth, while the winds whistled round him; or to find refuge from the falling rain in some roofless ruin, and having gathered a little warmth from the dying embers of a wretched fire, to sink into welcome slumber on the "cold, cold ground." And it is necessary that we should have vividly before us such retrospects as these, not only in order to have a just idea of the past condition of things, but that we may appreciate the blessings which we now enjoy. When such were the difficulties of transit, it is not surprising that journeys were usually undertaken only by "the sterner sex," and that if ladies travelled it was necessary that they should be adepts in equestrianism. From the time of the Wife of Bath, “gilt with a pair of spurrés sharp," to the days of Queen Elizabeth, there is scarcely any record of ladies accomplishing their peregrinations in any other way than that to which Chaucer has alluded "Upon an ambler easily she sat." Improvements, however, were gradually effected, but no very decided change for the better could be made at any time, or in any country, so long as roads were in the defective condition in which they remained till a comparatively recent period. Occasionally we find that a very rapid journey was made, and Sir Robert Carey, who determined to be the first to communicate to James the intelligence that he was king of England, stole out of Richmond Palace at three o'clock on the morning of the 24th of March, 1603, and reached Edinburgh, a distance of four hundred miles, in seventy hours. Yet so slow was the general communication throughout the country, that the news of the death of Elizabeth did not reach York till the 27th.* Though the post was not then established by law, there were post-masters, at the end of the sixteenth century, on all the great lines of roads, and their speed is a good test of the rate of conveyance of the time. Yet the transmission of intelligence over the Atlantic is now easier and far more certain than was the sending a letter at that time for two hundred miles upon cross roads. The historian of Craven, alluding to the early part of the seventeenth century, tells us that, at that period, the communication *Continuation of Stow's Annals. between the north of England and the universities was maintained by carriers, who pursued their tedious but uniform route with trains of pack horses. To their care were consigned not only the packages, but frequently the persons of young scholars. It was through their medium also that epistolary correspondence was conducted; and as they always visited London, a letter could scarcely be exchanged between Yorkshire and Oxford in less than a month. Having seen the evils which constantly arose from the inefficiency of the existing means of communication, Charles I., in 1635, ordered “a running post or two to run, night and day, between Edinburgh and London, to go thither and come back again in six days," and other towns were promised similar advantages. In 1660, the general post-office was established by Act of Parliament, and all letters were ordered to be transmitted through it, except such as should be sent by coaches, common known carriers of goods by carts, wagons, and pack-horses, and should be carried along with their carts, wagons, and pack-horses respectively." 66 The country post-master was generally an inn-keeper; and Taylor, the water-poet, in his “Penniless Pilgrimage" from the metropolis to Scotland, in the early part of the seventeenth century, describes one of these extortionate worthies:-"From Stamford," he says, "we rode to Huntingdon, where we lodged at the post-master's house, at the sign of the Crown; his name is Riggs. He was informed who I was, and wherefore I undertook this my penniless 'progress; wherefore he came up to our chamber and supped with us, and very bountifully called for three quarts of wine and sugar, and four jugs of beer. He did drink and begin healths like a horse-leech, and swallowed down his cups without feeling, as if he had the dropsy, or nine pounds of sponge in his maw. In a word, as he is a post, he drank post, striving and calling by all means to make the reckoning great, or to make us men of great reckoning. But in his payment he was tired like a jade, leaving the gentleman that was with me to discharge the terrible shot, or else one of my horses must have laid in pawn for his superfluous calling and unmannerly intrusion." In a pamphlet called “The Grand Concern of England Explained,” published in 1673, the writer gravely depicted the miseries, and the ruin of trade, occasioned by the introduction of coaches. The style of reasoning is worthy of notice, for the method of argument; and the political and social principles enunciated in it, still find acceptance among a few in our own day. "Before the coaches were set up,” he says, “travellers rode on horseback, and men had boots, spurs, saddles, bridles, saddle-cloths, and good riding suits, coats and cloaks, stockings and hats, whereby the wool and leather of the kingdom were consumed. Besides, most gentlemen when they travelled on horseback used to ride with swords, belts, pistols, holsters, portmanteaus, and hat-cases, which in these coaches they have little or no occasion for. For when they rode on horseback, they rode in one suit, and carried another to wear when they came to their journey's end, or lag by the way; but in coaches they ride in a silk suit, with an Indian gown, with a sash, silk stockings, and the beaver hats men ride in, and carry no other with them. This is because they escape the wet and dirt which on horseback they cannot avoid; whereas in two or three journeys on horseback, these clothes and hats were wont to be spoiled, which done, they were forced to have new very often, and that increased the consumption of manufacture. If they were women that travelled, they used to have safeguards and hoods, sidesaddles and pillions, with strappings, saddle or pillion cloths, which, for the most part, were laced and embroidered; to the making of which there went many several trades, now ruined.” The writer also complained, that those who travelled by the new conveyances became weary and listless when they rode only a few miles; that they were unwilling to get on horseback, and unable to endure frost, snow, or rain, or to lodge in the fields. Besides, he asked, what advantage could it be for a man's health, to be called out of bed into these coaches an hour or two before day in the morning, "to be hurried in them from place to place till one, two, or three hours within night; insomuch that, after sitting all day in the summer time, stifled with heat and choked with dust; or in the winter time, starving or freezing with cold, or choked with filthy fogs-they are often brought into their inns by torch-light, when it is too late to sit up to get supper; and next morning they are forced into the coach so early, that they can get no breakfast? What addition is it to a man's health or business to ride all day with strangers,- -oftentimes sick, ancient, diseased persons, or young children crying; all whose humours he is obliged to put up with, and is often poisoned with their nasty scents, and crippled with boxes and bundles? Is it for a man's health to be laid fast in the foul ways, and forced to wade up to his knees in mire; afterwards sit in the coach till teams of horses can be sent to pull the coach out? Is it for their health to travel in rotten coaches, and to have their tackle, or perch, or axletree broken; and then to wait three or four hours (sometimes half the day), and afterwards travel all night to make up their stage?" He benevolently argued, that only a few coaches should be allowed "to go through with the same horses they set forth with, and not |