POSTING IN FRANCE. 329 



very little progress is the best recollection the writer has of 

 travelling by diligence. From Calais through Paris and Lyons 

 to Marseilles by malle-poste was something like travelling, as 

 good as going from London to Edinburgh or Glasgow by the 

 mail, and in a much more comfortable carriage, particularly 

 if you w r ere lucky enough to go in one that held but two 

 passengers. As, however, only two or four passengers could 

 travel each night by the malle-poste^ if the traveller could not 

 afford time to w r ait, he had to face the horrors of the diligence, 

 unless possessed of a carriage and able to afford post-horses. 

 Belgium was far in advance of France in the matter of railways, 

 which were well organised, though they travelled very slowly ; 

 but on their cross roads there were still diligences nearly fifty 

 years ago. 



