The Sun.
London, England, 1838-08-08 00:00:00

THE ROAD IN FORMER TIMES.

( Abridged from the Doncaster Gazette.)
The reign of Elizabeth is generally cited as the period
when coaches were introduced into England, and under that
term carriages of every kind have been considered as included ;
but long anterior to that period, vehicles with wheels, under
the denomination of chares, cars, chariots, caroches, and
whirlicotes, were used in England. Another species of con-
veyance, which was long in use, especially amongst females
of rank, and on state occasions by persons of distinction, was
the horse litter, of which mention is made at very early pe-
riods of our history. Ladies fair and gentle, Prelates Right
Reverend, and Abbots jovial, all travelled in goodly array,
with their households and "chappell and wardrobe stuffes,"
on ambling palfreys, " varey nobly drest," and well
trapped mules ; grave Judges of Assize, and the Learned
Members of the Bar, attended by their associates and clerks,
literally " rode" the circuit, oftentimes, perchance, to their
own discomfiture and sore hindrance. In 1526, Henry
Clifford, on his creation as Earl of Cumberland rode from
Skipton to London, with thirty-three servants, at an ex-
pense of 71. 15s. Id.; and Henry, the fifth Earl of North-
umberland, when on a journey, appears, to have been ac-
companied by no less than seventeen carriages, or long
waggons, filled with every needful article of household fur-
niture, and attended by thirty-six horsemen.
The communication • between the metropolis and other
parts of the kingdom, by means of public stage coaches,
was established as early as the middle of the seventeenth
century. On the 2d May, 1659, Sir Wm. Dugdale in-
forms us, in his Diary, that he " set forwards towards
London by Coventre coach ;" and in 1663, Mr. Edward
Parker, writing to his father, at Brosholme, in Lancashire,
relates the misery which he had endured in the course of
a coach journey to London. "My journey," says he,
" was noe ways pleasant, being forced to ride in the boote
all the waye; ye company yt came up with mee were
persons of great quality, as knignts and ladycs. My
journey's expence was 30s. This traval bath soe indis-
dosed men yt I am resolved never to ride up againe in ye
coatch. I am extrearsely hott and feverish. What this
may tend to I know not. I have not as yet advised with
any doctor." The boot of the coach which this gentleman
states he was forced to occupy, with so much personal in-
convenience, appears to have been an uncovered projection at
the sides of the vehicle, which was used for the accommoda-

tion of the persons of passengers, as well as of their luggage ;
and the individuals who occupied them sat with their backs to
the carriage and their faces to the road-side. The present
construction of the state coach of the Lord Mayor of London,
hi which the City officers are so placed as to look out front-
wise at the doors, originated when these side boots were dis-
used.
Stowe, in his Annals, speaks of long waggons for passengers
and commodities being used about the year 1564; they were
afterwards called caravans, and usually carried twenty or five
travelled by them, taking with them their servants,
passengers. People of quality and gentry fre-
quently Sir W. Dugdale, writing in his Diary, 1660,
plate, Src.
atidtenty
says that his daughter " went towards London by wag-
gon ~ Less than a century ago, there might be seen, day
uot
:II
ed
themg :
metropolis,
rnaogupsoei
iws a, Y :
day, plodding their weary way upon a narrow cause-
wayost of our principal roads, strings of pack-horses
from thirty to forty in a row, bearing in huge pile,
after'
onm
generally furnished with bells, partly by
upon theliorthbiearckasnd thet buLlekeydsmemrcehoaenfadeitzuerero. f
Tthhee
leNaVdeesrt
Riding c
and partly to give warning to travellers,
coming in the opposite direction, who usually
convenient spot whereon to halt until the train,
oswwno.fihnutyohg theselo,
might
tfsi
sggoohar
ornament, !bins
ee% vnats
a plunge into the soft unmade road on each side
projecting packages, had passed by, in preference to
out of which they sometimes experienced
considerable difficulty in being extricated. The partial intro-
duction of the main lines of commercial intercourse with
duction of toll-gates, aendthteheinceoannsseoqfuesnutpiemrsperdoivnea-
draw a curious comparison between the demand
the Corporation, in whose hands
.
horses at Doncaster in former days and the present
for post-
appears to have been vested, made an order at
period.
the power of granting licenses for letting animals of this
Iytns
tobfebuyretahreili.6B 1 ,
description
one of their meetings, that six post-horses should be kept
thesemevt e i beasts erna
as
in the town during the ensuing year, and that the two men
who should keep them should be allowed the " eadish" of the
great
Holmes, one close at the Carr-side, and one close at
the Lodge
and they further directed that no other person
should with any post-horses, unless the two men so ap-
pointedbad not horses to spare, or should chance to be
abrod
of posting," upon pain of certain penalties to be im-
posed upon trausgressors by the Council.
These notices of former simplicity may be amusing to us
now ; but the days seem fast approaching when our own rapid
and highly-finished style of travelling must sink into insignifi-
cance
before the widely-spreading influence of that all-power-
ful instrument the steam engine. And there will be those
who, in the course of a century hence, will peruse the accounts
of our modern performances on the road, with our " fast" and
. safety" carriages of every description, and the equestrian
feats of modern gentry on thoroughbred horses, with a smile
upon their countenances, at the high notions which their an-
cestors entertained of the fancied state of perfection to which
the flattered themselves they had attained.

SINGULAR ACCIDENT.—BetWeen two and three
o'clock on Sunday morning the inhabitants of Cheshunt were placed
in a state of considerable alarm in consequence of a report that the
farm, the property of Mr. Williams, situated a short distance from the
high road, was on fire. They who were awakened from their sleep im.
mediately arose from their beds to render what assistance they could.
The hemisphere was illuminated for some miles, though the centre of
the conflagration appeared to be in the vicinity of Wormsley, which is
at a distance of a mile and a quarter from Cheshunt. They directed
their course thither, when the object on fire was found to be a waggon.
It was entirely enveloped in flames, which ascended to a great height.
The horses were detached, but owing to a report that there was a quan-
tity of gunpowder in the conveyance, those who had collected at the
spot did not assist in removing any of the property. The whole was
reduced to ashes in little more than an hour. From the account com-
municated to our informant, it appeared that the waggon was the
property of Messrs. Deacon and Co., the extensive carriers,
Fore-street, Cripplegatc, and it was under the care of two men
of the names of Lea and North, the driver and guard.
They started ou Saturday night, and had passed through Cheshunt
without having observed any appearance of fire; when about to enter
Wormsley, they observed flames issuing from several parts of the wag.
gon. The first thought of the men was to take care of their horses (live
in number), and they were promptly disengaged.
They then tried to
remove some of the goods, in doing which their hands were severely
burnt ; but the progress of the fire was so rapid, that they soon perceived
their efforts were ineffectual. There was no water to be got. There
was a pump, but the handle of it was chained and locked. Some
waggons passed them, but the waggoners were afraid to afford assistance
from the report of gunpowder being in the waggon. The men attri-
bute the fire to the breaking of a carboy (a basket in which is a large
bottle that contains turpentine), which, flowing among other things of
a combustible nature, ignited. During the fire an explosion was
heard. The waggon had not a full load ; but the property destroyed
is estimated to be worth near 3,0001. It consisted of tea, a piano-
forte, with case, weighing 6 cwt., household furniture of various de.
scriptions, linen, hams, (several of which were yesterday brought to
IMessrs. Deacon, completely roaste I), a large quantity of percussion
caps, wine, spirits, &c. The whole was uninsured.

• -
Great improvements are now making by a company
of enterprising individuals in the western parts of Gravesend, where
new streets, crescents, and terrace; have been erected and are in the
course of erection.
A woman, named King, the wife of an itinerant
fish-vender, Was yesterday committed to Newgate for trial from Queen_
square, on the capital charge of having stabbed in the bark, with an
oyster-knife, a rival oyster.monger, named Allen, who was quarrelling
with het husband.