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The Life of Thomas Telford-Part5_Samuel Smiles(1812-1904)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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of the House of Commons travelling towards London, who took him



into their convoy, and set out on their way southward attended by

competent guides. When the "waters were out," as the saying went,



the country became closed, the roads being simply impassable.

During the Civil Wars eight hundred horse were taken prisoners



while sticking in the mud.*[10] When rain fell, pedestrians,

horsemen, and coaches alike came to a standstill until the roads



dried again and enabled the wayfarers to proceed. Thus we read of

two travellers stopped by the rains within a few miles of Oxford,



who found it impossible to accomplish their journey in consequence

of the waters that covered the country thereabout.



A curious account has been preserved of the journey of an Irish

Viceroy across North Wales towards Dublin in 1685. The roads were



so horrible that instead of the Viceroy being borne along in his

coach, the coach itself had to be borne after him the greater part



of the way. He was five hours in travelling between St. Asaph and

Conway, a distance of only fourteen miles. Between Conway and



Beaumaris he was forced to walk, while his wife was borne along in

a litter. The carriages were usually taken to pieces at Conway and



carried on the shoulders of stout Welsh peasants to be embarked at

the Straits of Menai.



The introduction of stage-coaches, like every other public

improvement, was at first regarded with prejudice, and had



considerable obloquy to encounter. In a curious book published in

1673, entitled 'The Grand Concern of England Explained in several



Proposals to Parliament,'*[11] stagecoaches and caravans were

denounced as among the greatest evils that had happened to the



kingdom, Being alike mischievous to the public, destructive to

trade, and prejudicial to the landed interest. It was alleged that



travelling by coach was calculated to destroy the breed of horses,

and make men careless of good horsemanship,--that it hindered the



training of watermen and seamen, and interfered with the public

resources. The reasons given are curious. It was said that those



who were accustomed to travel in coaches became weary and listless

when they rode a few miles, and were unwilling to get on horseback



--"not being able to endure frost, snow, or rain, or to lodge in

the fields;" that to save their clothes and keep themselves clean



and dry, people rode in coaches, and thus contracted an idle habit

of body; that this was ruinous to trade, for that "most gentlemen,



before they travelled in coaches, used to ride with swords, belts,

pistols, holsters, portmanteaus, and hat-cases, which, in these



coaches, they have little or no occasion for: for, when they rode

on horseback, they rode in one suit and carried another to wear



when they camp to their journey's end, or lay by the way; but in

coaches a silk suit and an Indian gown, with a sash, silk



stockings, and beaver-hats, men ride in, and carry no other with

them, because they escape the wet and dirt, which on horseback they



cannot avoid; whereas, in two or three journeys on horseback, these

clothes and hats were wont to be spoiled; which done, they were



forced to have new very often, and that increased the consumption

of the manufactures and the employment of the manufacturers; which



travelling in coaches doth in no way do."*[12] The writer of the

same protest against coaches gives some idea of the extent of



travelling by them in those days; for to show the gigantic nature

of the evil he was contending against, he averred that between



London and the three principal towns of York, Chester, and Exeter,

not fewer than eighteen persons, making the journey in five days,



travelled by them weekly the coaches runningthrice in the week),

and a like number back; "which come, in the whole, to eighteen



hundred and seventy-two in the year." Another great nuisance,

the writer alleged, which flowed from the establishment of the



stage-coaches, was, that not only did the gentlemen from the

country come to London in them oftener than they need, but their



ladies either came with them or quickly followed them. "And when

they are there they must be in the mode, have all the new fashions,



buy all their clothes there, and go to plays, balls, and treats,

where they get such a habit of jollity and a love to gaiety and



pleasure, that nothing afterwards in the country will serve them ,

if ever they should fix their minds to live there again; but they



must have all from London, whatever it costs."

Then there were the grievous discomforts of stage-coach travelling,



to be set against the more noble method of travelling by horseback,

as of yore. "What advantage is it to men's health," says the






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