A TRANSATLANTIC OPINION. 145 



own time, but as such was not practicable, he was 

 forced to go by rail. This is not as it should be, 

 however beneficial to railway shareholders : people 

 should not be compelled to take to the iron way." 



Whilst on the subject of roads, I would mention 

 that I came the other day across a work written by 

 an American, describing a tour through England in 

 the old coaching days, and this is what he says of 

 them : " It is worth an American's while to go to 

 England, merely to see the splendid roads and soft 

 verdure of the fields. There is scarcely a turnpike 

 road in the island, that is not as smooth as a floor ; 

 and in many places I have seen men repairing them, 

 when it was impossible for me to discover a necessity 

 for their doing so." 



Mr. Hissey, in his " Driving Tour," says : "When 

 leaving Charmouth in Dorsetshire, my horses had a 

 deal of collar-work ; in truth, our whole day's stage 

 was either mounting or descending long and often 

 steep hills ; but this very fact gave us glorious and 

 extended prospects ever and again as we gained the 

 various summits. And then this had been an old 

 coaching road, and so the gradients, though severe, 

 were well engineered ; but it had to get over the 

 hills, and very trying it must have been for the 

 ' cattle ' when the mail was loaded and the going 

 heavy. 



" Terrible work in the winter, when the snow was 

 thick on the ground. As the ostler informed us, on 

 one particular hill, as many as eight horses were 

 required to 'get through.' But the mails did not 

 always get through, 



" One bleak, stormy winter night, the snow falling- 

 hard and drifting as well, it is recorded that the mail 



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