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Her Majesty's Mails
·
William Lewins
55
Public
opinion
was
divided
as
to
the
merits
of
stage-coach
travelling.
When
the
new
threatened
altogether
to
supersede
the
old
mode
of
travelling
on
horseback,
great
opposition
was
manifested
to
it,
and
the
organs
of
public
opinion
(the
pamphlet)
began
to
revile
it.
In
1673,
for
instance,
a
pamphlet[27]
was
written
which
went
so
far
as
to
denounce
the
introduction
of
stage-coaches
as
the
greatest
evil
"that
had
happened
of
late
years
to
these
kingdoms."
Curious
to
know
how
these
sad
consequences
had
been
brought
about,
we
read
on
and
find
it
stated
that
"those
who
travel
in
these
coaches
contracted
an
idle
habit
of
body;
became
weary
and
listless
when
they
had
rode
a
few
miles,
and
were
then
unable
to
travel
on
horseback,
and
not
able
to
endure
frost,
snow,
or
rain,
or
to
lodge
in
the
fields."
In
the
very
same
year
another
writer,
descanting
on
the
improvements
which
had
been
introduced
into
the
Post-Office,
goes
on
to
say,
that
"besides
the
excellent
arrangement
of
conveying
men
and
letters
on
horseback,
there
is
of
late
such
an
admirable
commodiousness,
both
for
men
and
women
to
travel
from
London
to
the
principal
towns
in
the
country,
that
the
like
hath
not
been
known
in
the
world,
and
that
is
by
stage-coaches,
wherein
any
one
may
be
transported
to
any
place,
sheltered
from
foul
weather
and
foul
ways;
free
from
endamaging
of
one's
health
and
one's
body
by
hard
jogging
or
over
violent
motion;
and
this
not
only
at
a
low
price
(about
a
shilling
for
every
five
miles),
but
with
such
velocity
and
speed
in
one
hour
as
that
the
posts
in
some
foreign
countreys
cannot
make
in
a
day."[28]
M.
Soubrière,
a
Frenchman
of
letters
who
landed
at
Dover
in
the
reign
of
Charles
II.,
alludes
to
stage-coaches,
but
seems
to
have
thought
less
of
their
charms
than
the
author
we
have
just
quoted.
"That
I
might
not
take
post,"
says
he,
"or
again
be
obliged
to
use
the
stage-coach,
I
went
from
Dover
to
London
in
a
wagon.
I
was
drawn
by
six
horses
placed
one
after
another,
and
driven
by
a
wagoner
who
walked
by
the
side
of
them.
He
was
clothed
in
black
and
appointed
in
all
things
like
another
St.
George.
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