62 HIGHWAYS AND HORSES. 



by the locomotive, and yet without the roads, which 

 afford communication into the interior of the country 

 from the various railway stations cji route, the railway 

 itself would not be of such advantage to us as it is. 



Of late years the total length of the highways 

 throughout EnHand and Wales has been estimated 

 to be 25,000 miles, whilst the principal byways 

 have been estimated to be 100,000 miles. The 

 average cost of maintaining cross-roads in 1880 was 

 £12 9s. a mile, and the cost of maintaining the 

 main coaching roads was £2)S us. 



When the great main roads were Improved owing 

 to the establishment of fast coaches, the cross-roads 

 followed suit, possibly owing to the force of example. 

 As the roads became better, and coaches ran faster, 

 travellers became impatient of delays, and consequently 

 needless stoppages were not permitted by the pro- 

 prietors, and they who wished to catch the coach 

 on the main road had to hurry up a bit, having 

 no time to waste on the cross-road, as the coach 

 would wait for no one. 



It was in the palmy days of coaching, before 

 the advent of George Stephenson and his locomotive, 

 that the great main roads of England were at their 

 best. Mr. Smiles in his Life of Telford the engineer, 

 speaks of the roads in Scotland. He says, that 

 " fields lay uncultivated, mines unexplored, and all 

 branches of industry languished, in the midst of an 

 idle, miserable, and haggard population." The only 

 roads of any importance were military roads, made 

 by soldiers after the rebellions of 171 5 and 1745. 

 These roads were maintained at the public expense ; 

 they were little used, as they were laid out merely 

 for purposes of military occupation and did not traverse 



