THE ROAD. 
a stage-coach first appeared upon the road ; but it seems 
to be pretty well ascertained, that in 1662, there were 
but six: and one of the wise men of those days John 
Crosswell, of the Charter House tried his best to write 
them down. It was supposed he had the countenance 
of the country gentlemen, who were afraid, if their 
wives could get easily and cheaply conveyed to London, 
they might not settle so well afterwards to their domestic 
duties at the Hall or the Grange. We will, however, 
only go back ninety-four years. In 1742, the Oxford 
stage-coach left London at seven o'clock in the morning, 
and reached Uxbridge at mid-day. It arrived at High- 
Wycombe at five in the evening, where it rested for the 
night ; and proceeded at the same rate for the seat of 
learning on the morrow. Here, then, were ten hours 
consumed each day in travelling twenty-seven miles, 
and nearly two days in performing what is now done 
with the greatest ease under six hours. To go from 
London to York two hundred miles used to take six 
days ; it now occupies twenty hours ! * From London 
to Exeter, eighty years ago, the proprietors of coaches 
promised " a safe and expeditious journey in a fortnight." 
Private carriages now accomplish the journey one 
hundred and seventy-five miles in twenty hours ; and 
the mail (the Devonport) in seventeen, passing through 
Wincaunton, a new route, within the last month. The 
* According to Creech's " Fugitive Pieces," there was only one coach 
from Edinburgh to London, which was from twelve to sixteen days on the 
road. 
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