282 



POSTING IX FRANCE 



CH. XIII 



Tables of charges based upon these items were 

 given to obviate the necessity of computation, for 

 instance : — 



On certain steep portions of the road a traveller 

 was required to take, and to pay for, one or two 

 extra horses. 



Ordinarily a carriage was taken by the post- 

 horses, only on the main road, from one station to 

 another ; but arrangements could be made to go off 

 of the main road to a country-house or to have 

 horses sent there to take the carriage. 



In a town, the carriage was loaded at the door, 

 having been brought round by men, or by a single 

 horse, a short time before the hour fixed for start- 

 ing, at which hour the postilions and horses ap- 

 peared. 



The regulations required that postilions should 

 go at a speed of not less than from 6*^ to 8 miles an 

 hour, depending upon the road, but there was no 

 upper limit of speed prescribed. No postilion was 

 allowed to pass another on the road, except when 

 the carriage in front was stopped intentionally. 



