THE OLD ENGLAND OF COACHLNG DAYS 323 



else than around London, ajid even London's 

 suburbs were sparse, scattered, sporadic, and 

 separated by great distances from one another. 

 Takinij^ coach from tlie City, Avhere the merchants 

 and the shopkeepers commonly lived over their 

 business premises, you came presently, north, 

 south, east, or west, through suburban Stamford 

 Hill, Sydenham, Clapton, or Kensington, to rura] 

 Edmonton, Croydon, Romford, or Chiswick, and 

 so presently to the L^nknown. That was, of 

 itself, a charm in the old order of things— a 

 charm lost long since in these crowded times, 

 A\hen constant and intimate travel have made 

 us familiar with distant towns, and l)y con- 

 sequence incurious and incapable of surprises. 

 Everything is known, if not at the first hand 

 of personal observation, at least by proxy of 

 our reading in guide-book history, or by the 

 del)ilitating photograph, which leaves nothing to 

 the imagination, and renders us travelled in the 

 uttermost nooks and corners of the land, even 

 though w^e be l)edridden, or thoroughgoing 

 hahltues of the armchair and the fireside. The 

 picture-postcard — the lowest common denomi- 

 nator of the photograi^h — has come to give the 

 last touch of satiety, the final revulsion of re- 

 pletion. The Land's End has long since been 

 exploited, John 0' Groat's is merely at the end 

 of a cycle ride, the " bottomless " caverns of 

 the Peak have l)een plumbed, every unscalable 

 mountain climb^'d. " Coiiiin ! " Ave exclaim Avhen 

 we are told any fact.. Xo surprises are left^ 



