HOLYHEAD TO KINGSTOWN. 39 



proceed only because fourteen Members of the 

 House of Commons, who were going up in a 

 body to Parliament with guides and numer- 

 ous attendants, took him into their com- 

 pany." 



The great route through Wales to Holyhead 

 was in such a state that, in 1G85, Henry Hyde, 

 Earl of Clarendon, Viceroy, on his way to 

 Ireland, was five hours in travelling fourteen 

 miles from St. Asaph to Conway. Between Con- 

 way and Beaumaris he was forced to walk great 

 part of the way, and the Countess was carried 

 in a litter. His coach was, with great difficulty, 

 and by the help of many hands, brought after 

 him entire. In general, carriages were taken 

 to pieces at Conway, and borne on the shoul- 

 ders of stout "Welsh peasants to the Menai 

 Strait. 



At that period, and long after, the passage 

 in the ferry-boat at the Menai Strait was slow 

 and tedious, and the packet-boat from Holy- 

 head to King:stown seldom crossed over under 

 eight or ten hours. Now a man may, as I 

 did last Autumn, breakfast in London, and 

 sit down to a half- past seven dinner in 

 Dublin. 



In Sussex the roads were so bad that when 



