THE COACHING AGE. 



It was thought a great thing to get to London in two 

 days by a coach which left Oxford for the capital. 

 This eventful journey was broken at Beaconsfield. 

 We can imagine how, in fine weather, the country 

 must have been enjoyed, for progress must have been 

 at the rate of two or three miles an hour, and ample 

 time was afforded for mingling riding with walking. 

 In much later times it took four days to reach the 

 capital from York. 



Between this period and the Eegency, progress in 

 coaching was slow • the roads were bad, and highway 

 robbery was frequent. In Horace Walpole's time 

 robbery on the road "had become so general, that 

 he wrote that if squires did not leave off shooting 

 partridges and take to shooting highwaymen, society 

 would be dissolved. Towards the close of Walpole's 

 life, a Mr. John Palmer effected great reforms ; and 

 after his time other improvements followed, which 

 were rendered possible by the labours of Telford and 

 the system of McAdam. In 1784 a coach reached 

 London from Bristol in one day, taking sixteen hours 

 for the journey, or fourteen hours from Bath. In 

 1836, however, the Bath coach took only eleven hours 

 to reach London. 



It was not, indeed, until George IV. was King that 

 stage-coaches approached perfection. Their career, 

 however, in this stage, though perfect, was brief, 



