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317 



m many public companies, though the original 

 proprietors may have been ruined, yet the 

 project has still flourished ; and we suspect 

 this will be the case on the present line of 

 road between London and Liverpool. The 

 branches from the populous towns will join it, 

 and rail-road travelling will become the gene- 

 ral mode of travelling, while stage-coaching 

 will be the exception. 



It then becomes a question how much the 

 breeding of Horses may be affected by it. 

 The consumption of Horses by stage-coaches, 

 must have proved immense ; so much so, that 

 it does not seem unreasonable to suppose but 

 that it may limit the breeding of Horses in the 

 same proportion as the demand for them has 

 ceased. This powerful element of nature 

 (steam) controlled by the hand of man, has 

 had the most important results? However 

 paradoxical it may appear, it has made Eng- 

 land, in effect, half as large again, while it 

 has reduced her to one-third of her former 

 size. In six hours it will enable passengers to 

 arrive from London to Liverpool, thus anni- 

 hilating space ; and by taking some thousands 

 of Horses off the road, will leave the land that 

 found food for them, to be cultivated only for 

 the use of man. 



The use of steam will have the same effect, 

 we know, in whatever country it may be em- 

 ployed, that of diminishing space ; but it is 

 in England only where the rapidity of the 

 execution will be unrivalled, and projects so 

 gigantic, have scarcely been conceived before 

 the genius, skill, and capital of this country 

 have forced them into maturity. 



It may be an assumption only that the 

 breeding of Horses may be limited in this 

 country, for we are not sure that they may not 

 still be bred for exportation, as they have 



been much sought for lately on the continent ; 

 and although there may be some opinions 

 afloat amons: ourselves that our racins: breed 

 requires invigorating by new blood (of which 

 we shall speak more at large in its proper 

 place), yet, from late demands for English 

 Horses abroad, they seem to be held in high 

 estimation. 



The rate of coach-travelling in this country 

 has excited almost as much wonder among 

 ourselves as it has amongst foreigners. It is 

 within our own recollection that the time the 

 coaches took in going from London to Coven- 

 try was nineteen hours ! Since then there has 

 been almost as much difference between the 

 coaches of that date, as to speed, as between 

 the rate of the present coaches and steam. It 

 must not, however, be considered that the 

 Horses had a sinecure of it ; for the roads 

 were not then in the present state of repair, 

 and in wet weather, some of them might be 

 half-axle deep or more. A retrospective view 

 of the roads for coaches within the last thirty 

 or forty years, would prove an interesting 

 article to the juniors of the present day. We 

 avail ourselves of a description by a talented 

 man of the state of the road between London 

 and Parkgate, the principal place of that day 

 where passengers landed from Dublin, before 

 Holyhead became the regular station for the 

 Dublin packets. It is as follows : — 



When I was a school-boy, Parkgate, in 

 Cheshire, was the port whence the Dublin 

 packets sailed : there were a few at Holyhead, 

 but there all the principal intercourse between 

 the countries was effected. At that time pro- 

 bably not one craft of any description passed 

 in a month between Dublin and Liverpool. 

 Lpon the arrival of a packet at Parkgate, tli* 

 passengers made their way, as they could beat 

 4 L 



