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1
435
Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
111
I
understand
from
Hope,
that
after
1784,
when
he
came
to
the
bar,
he
and
Braxfield
rode
a
whole
north
circuit;
and
that,
from
the
Findhorn
being
in
a
flood,
they
were
obliged
to
go
up
its
bank
for
about
twenty-eight
miles,
to
the
Bridge
of
Dulsie,
before
they
could
cross.
I
myself
rode
circuits
when
I
was
an
Advocate
Depute,
between
1807
and
1810."
A
day
and
a
half
was
still,
at
the
end
of
the
last
century,
taken
up
between
Edinburgh
and
Glasgow.
In
1788,
a
direct
mail-coach
was
put
on
between
London
and
Glasgow,
to
go
by
what
is
known
as
the
west
coast
route,
viâ
Carlisle.[64]
The
Glasgow
merchants
had
long
wished
for
such
a
communication,
as
much
time
was
lost
in
going
by
way
of
Edinburgh.
On
the
day
on
which
the
first
mail-coach
was
expected,
a
vast
number
of
them
went
along
the
road
for
several
miles
to
welcome
it,
and
then
headed
the
procession
into
the
city.
To
announce
its
arrival
on
subsequent
occasions,
a
gun
was
fired.
It
was
found
a
difficult
task,
however,
to
drive
the
coach,
especially
in
winter,
over
the
bleak
and
rugged
hills
of
Dumfriesshire
and
Lanarkshire;
the
road,
moreover,
was
hurriedly
and
badly
made,
and
at
times
quite
impassable.
Robert
Owen,
travelling
between
his
model
village
in
Lanarkshire
and
England,
tells
us[65]
that
it
often
took
him
two
days
and
three
nights,
incessant
travelling,
to
get
from
Manchester
to
Glasgow
in
the
coach,
the
greater
part
of
the
time
being
spent
north
of
Carlisle.
On
the
eastern
side
of
the
country,
in
the
direct
line
between
Edinburgh
and
London,
a
grand
new
road
had
been
spoken
of
for
many
years.
The
most
difficult
part,
viz.
that
between
Edinburgh
and
Berwick,
was
begun
at
the
beginning
of
the
present
century,
and
in
1824,
a
good
road
was
finished
and
opened
out
as
far
south
as
Morpeth,
in
Northumberland.
A
continuation
of
the
road
from
Morpeth
to
London
being
greatly
needed,
the
Post-Office
authorities
engaged
Mr.
Telford,
the
eminent
engineer,
to
make
a
survey
of
the
road
over
the
remaining
distance.
The
survey
lasted
many
years.
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