KOADS IN 1739. 9 



by tliese means, get such a habit of idleness 

 and love of pleasure as makes them uneasy ever 

 after." 



What would Mr. Cresset have said had he 

 lived some forty years ago, iu the palmy days 

 of coaching — coaches full, able dragsmen, spicy 

 teams, doing their eleven miles an hour with 

 ease, without breaking into a gallop or turn- 

 ing a hair ? Or how surprised would the 

 worthy chronicler of 1672 be at the present 

 anaihilators of time and space — the railroads, 

 when "the convenience of the passage" enables 

 parties to come up to London from Liver- 

 pool, Birmingham, Manchester, Bath, and 

 Bristol in time for the play or opera, 

 and return home for dinner the foUowino- 

 day. 



In 1739 Pennant writes : — 



" I travelled in the Chester stage to Lon- 

 don, then no despicable vehicle for country 

 gentlemen. The first day, with much labour, 

 we got from Chester to Whitchurch (twenty 

 miles), the second day to the Welsh Harp, 

 the third to Coventry, the fourth to North- 

 ampton, the fifth to Dunstable, and, as a won- 

 drous effort, on the last to London, before 

 the commencement of the night. The strain 



