Echoes Of The Last Century.

1797 did copper come into use , though a legal substitute for official coinage of this metal -was supplied by the trademens' tokens . It is stated that between the years 1787 and 1798 , upwards of two thousand various descriptions were minted , and every town has numberless examples . Before the subject of coinage is dismissed , we may remark that the deterioration of the coinage was a notable offence of the time" sweating" ( shaking in a horsehair bag to collect the

, gold dust ) and clipping being crimes punishable with death . The smuggling , also , of the golden currency w as a frequent , and if successful , a lucrative offence , a guinea on the Continent yielding twenty-three shillings and sixpence , and even so much as twenty-eig ht shillings . The guards of the sea-port mails were the chief transgressors , and there are instances of whole sacks full of gold being intercepted .

We will now test the quality of the roads , taking first the streets of the metropolis . Here tho distinction between the road and the path is merely distinguishable by the planting of posts along the way , which barely allowed the foot passengers room to pass each other . That the roads were scarcely desirable for any but the most cumbrous vehicles , we can well judge from the following verse of Gay , describing a usual street scene .

I' ve seen beau , in some ill-fated hour , When o ' er the stones chok'd kennels swells the shower In gilded chariot loll ; he with disdain Views spatter'd passengers all drenched with rain . With mud fill cl high the rumbling cart draws near—Now rule thy prancing steeds , laced charioteer ? The dustman lashes on with spiteful rage , His ponderous spokes thy painted wheel engage ,

Crush'd is thy pride—down falls the shrieking beau—¦ The slabby pavement crystal fragments strew ; Black floods of mire th' embroidered coat disgrace , And mud enraps the honours of his face .

Both road and path ( it would absurd to call it pavement ) were full of holes and heaps , and faggots had to be thrown along the way upon most state occasions of passage . The country roads were scarcely worthy the name , being full of ruts which were of great depth ancl flooded with mud , so that " a whole summer sometimes is not dry enough to make the roads passable . " Here is an extract from an account of a coach journey .

We set out at six m the morning , by torchlight , to go to Petworth , and did not get out of the coaches ( save only when we were overturned , or stuck fast in the mire ) till we arrived at our journey ' s end . 'Twas a hard service for the prince ( Prince George of Denmark ) tc sit fourteen hours in the coach that day without eating anything , and passing through the worst ways I ever saw in my life # * * his Highncss ' s body coach would have suffered very much if the nimble boors of Sussex had not frequently poised it , or supported it with their shoulders , from Godalming almost to Petworth * * # the last nine miles on the way cost us six hours to conquer them . "

Speaking of their coach overturning , the account runs : —• My Lord Delaware had the same fate , and so had several others . Frequently the roads were so excessivel y miry , that horses were of no avail , and oxen had to be used , sometimes as many as six being required to draw a carriage . The following are a . few of the epithets bestowed upon the roads of the time bthose compelled to travel them : — " Infamouslstony "

y upon y , " execrably muddy , " " rugged , " "heapy '" with "rubbish , " full of " holes and sloughs , " and " ponds of liquid dirt . " The tolls , too , were exorbitant , and there is little wonder that travelling was avoided as much as possible , and the communication between town and town restricted to such as were compelled to undergo the misery of the " dark lanes " called turnpike roads . Connected with the subject of roads is intimately connected that of

stagecoaches , which carried the mails , etc . Concerning the periods occupied in getting from one place to another , the following notice was displayed at Tork : — 2 c 2