48 STAGE-COACH AND MAIL IN DAYS OF YORE 



Tyne to Wednesbury, he did not experience many 

 difficulties until he came, in the dark, to Wednes- 

 bury Town-end, where he and his comj^anion 

 stuck fast. That is indeed a bad road in which 

 a horse sticks. However, j^^ople coming Avith 

 candles, Wesley himself got out of the quagmire 

 and went off to preach, Avliile the horses were 

 disengaged from their awkward jiosition by local 

 experts. The spot where Wesley Avas bogged is 

 now a broad and firm macadamised road through 

 Wednesbury, part of the great Holyhead Road. 

 Eighteen years before this happening, an Act of 

 Parliament had been passed for repairing and 

 turnpiking the road between Wednesbury and 

 Birmingham ; but, although the turnj)ike gates 

 may have been in existence, the road itself cer- 

 tainly does not seem to have been repaired, and 

 must have remained in the condition described 

 in the preamble to that Act, when it was " so 

 ruinous and bad that in the winter season many 

 parts thereof are impassal3le for Avaggons and 

 carriages, and very dangerous for travellers." At 

 the same time, the road on the other side of 

 Wednesbury Avas "in a ruinous condition, and 

 in some places very narroAv and incommodious " ; 

 so it is evident that Wednesbury Avas in the 

 unenviable but by no means unique position of 

 l)eing islanded amid execrable and scarcely 

 jiracticable roads. 



In his old age Wesley occasionally made use 

 of coaches and chaises, Avliich Avere then a great 

 deal better and more numerous than they had 



