336 STAGE-COACH AND MAIL IN DAYS OF YORE 



insistently to the forecrround — wherever he ffoes. 

 They form the approach to, the outpost of, every 

 town, large or small, he enters, and are built 

 in the same way, and of the same materials, 

 whether he travels farther north, south, east, 

 or west. It was not so, need it be said, in the 

 old times. Then the coach passenger with an 

 eye for the beautiful and the unusual had that 

 sense abundantly gratified along almost every 

 mile of his course, for when men did not build 

 on contract, and when the contractor, had he 

 existed, Avould not have been able to work out- 

 side his own district, there w^as iiulividuality in 

 building design. We all know the truth of the 

 adage that " variety is charming," and of variety 

 the travellers had tlnnr fill. .Vnd not only Avas 

 there variety in design, but an endless change 

 of materials gratified the eyes of those wiio cared 

 for these things. London, with its dingy brick, 

 was succeeded, as one penetrated westwards, by 

 the weather-boarded cottages of Erentford and 

 Hounslow, by the timber framing and brick 

 nogging of the next districts, by the chalk and 

 flint of Hamj^shire and Wilts ; and at last, when 

 one had come to the stone country, h\ the yellow 

 ferruginous sandstone of Ham Hill, that character- 

 ises the houses and cottages between Shaftesbury, 

 Orewkerne and Chard, Coming into Devon, 

 the yellow stone was replaced by the rich red 

 sandstone, or the equally red "cob" of that 

 western land ; and a final change was found 

 ^vhen, the Tamar passed and Plymouth left 



