144 HIGHWAYS AND HORSES. 



" I am very sorry to say I cannot comply with 

 your request, for I thoughtlessly sold my old sign- 

 board last year to a gentleman who was passing 

 throuQ;h here with a four-in-hand coach, and who 

 took such a fancy to it, that he never left me alone 

 till he get it." 



It is evident that both Mr. Hissey and the landlord 

 were in error as to the name of the thing upon which 

 they set such value, since it was a coaching prospectus 

 or time-table ; nevertheless, it seems to have excited 

 great attention, which is a fresh proof that all relating 

 to the old coaching days is still regarded with interest. 

 The same writer goes on to say : 



*' What a change for the worst in fifty years ! 

 Now all is rough, neglected, and deserted, which once 

 was smoothness, life, and bustle ; the easy ways have 

 become hard for the nineteenth-century traveller. It 

 is a shame that so many of our once excellent high- 

 ways should have fallen into such a disgraceful state. 

 It seems to me that the Government should keep 

 the old main roads, or see, at least, that they are 

 kept throughout in decent travellable order. In the 

 days of the turnpikes, though the constant tolls added 

 considerably to the expenses of a prolonged driving 

 tour (I have paid as much as seven shillings in one 

 day), and though the pulling up from time to time 

 was a great annoyance, still one had the satisfaction 

 of knowinor that the roads were in fair order. 



*' In some things our progress has been backwards. 

 In a certain district in Yorkshire, so terribly bad is (or 

 was when we were there) the road between two small 

 towns, that one of the inhabitants told me, had it 

 been only passable, he should have much preferred 

 driving between them, a^ then he was master of his. 



