100 SCOTLAND AT THE MIDDLE OF LAST CENTURY. PART VII. 



finding themselves at liberty, rose upon wing and flew 

 westward. Some of them were afterwards found at Lin- 

 lithgow, and others succeeded in reaching their native 

 " dub " at Campsie, some forty-five miles distant. 1 



It was long before travelling by coach was introduced 

 in Scotland. When Smollett went from Glasgow to 

 Edinburgh in 1739, on his way to London, there was 

 neither coach, cart, nor waggon on the road. He ac- 

 cordingly accompanied the carriers as far as Newcastle, 

 " sitting upon a pack-saddle between two baskets, one of 

 which," he says, " contained my goods in a knapsack." 

 The first vehicle which plied between the two chief 

 cities of Scotland was not started until 1749. It was 

 called " The Edinburgh and Glasgow Caravan," and per- 

 formed the journey of forty-four miles in two days ; but 

 the packhorse continued to be the principal means of 

 communication between the two places. Ten years later 

 another vehicle was started, which was named "The 

 Fly," because of its extraordinary speed, and it contrived 

 to make the journey in rather less than a day and a 

 half. 2 When a coach with four horses was put on 

 between Haddington and Edinburgh, it took a full 

 winter's day to perform the journey of sixteen miles. 

 The effort was to reach Musselburgh in time for dinner, 

 and go into town in the evening. 3 



In some parts of the country - as in Spain to this day 

 the beds of rivers served the double purpose of a river 

 in wet, and a road in dry weather. When a common 

 carrier began to ply between Selkirk and Edinburgh, a 

 distance of only thirty-eight miles, he occupied a fort- 

 night in performing the double journey. Part of the 

 road lay along Gala Water, and in summer the carrier 

 drove his rude cart along the bed of the stream ; in 

 winter the route was of course altogether impassable. 



1 ' Farmer's Magazine,' No. xxxiv., ! 3 G. Buchan Hepburn's ' Account 

 P. 200. ! of East Lothian.' 1794. 



2 Robertson's ' Rural Recollections.' 



