Thanks to Mr. John Macadam, whose system of using broken stones is still adopted, the country roads were very much improved. He, unlike Hansom, received £10,000 from Parliament, and was appointed Surveyor-General of the Metropolitan roads in 1827. He died in 1836. In describing travelling in England during this reign, I cannot do better than quote from Baron d'Haussez, because a foreigner looks upon things with a far more critical eye than a native, who is always used to them. Says he-- "The taste for travelling, an expensive taste in any country, is truly a ruinous one in England. If the means of satisfying it are numerous, and accompanied by all that can promote pleasure, one is steeled against this seductive consolation by the perpetual warning of a speedily drained purse. [Illustration: Vehicule.] "Posting, placed on a totally different footing from that service in the rest of Europe, is not the object of an exclusive privilege. By means of a licence, which cannot be refused, relays of post-horses are established according to the caprice or will of those who possess them. The rivalry arising from this practice does not lower the price of posting, which, London excepted, is nearly the same on all roads, and differs but little from the price of relays in France. The number of horses is always fixed at two or four, without regard to the number of travellers, or to the form or weight of the carriages. When you desire a post-chaise, the innkeeper is obliged to furnish it, without your paying an additional price. These chaises, in the shape of our _coupés_, are well hung, and very clean and commodious. "England has not, as we find in France, a breed of horses specially appropriated to posting. The greater part of the post-horses in England are hunters or carriage-horses, which, having become unfit for either of these purposes, wear out the remnant of their strength in post-chaises, before they are transferred to hackney coaches and waggons. Their speed answers in a great degree to what one would expect from their breed. You travel at the rate of eight or nine miles an hour (about three and a half leagues), which includes the time of changing horses. "The height of the postillions (always chosen among the smallest men), and their dress, consisting of a jacket, short breeches, and half boots, are calculated with a view to reduce to the smallest possible compass the burden of the horses. There is no difference between the town harness and that which is kept for posting. They are both in excellent condition.