journey to oxford.—stage-coach travelling and company.
thursday, july 1.
the stage-coach in which we had taken our places was to start at six. we met at the inn, and saw our trunks safely stowed in the boot, as they call a great receptacle for baggage, under the coachman’s feet: this is a necessary precaution for travellers in a place where rogues of every description swarm, and in a case where neglect would be as mischievous as knavery.—there were two other passengers, who, with ourselves, filled the coach. the one was evidently a member of the university; the other a fat vulgar woman who had stored herself with cakes, oranges and cordials 355for the journey. she had with her a large bundle which she would not trust in the boot, and which was too big to go in the seat, so she carried it upon her lap. a man and woman, who had accompanied her to the inn, stood by the coach till it set off; relations they seemed to be, by the familiar manner in which they spoke of those to whom she was returning, sending their love to one, and requesting to hear of another, and repeating ‘be sure you let us know you are got safe,’ till the very last minute. the machine started within a few minutes of the time appointed; the coachman smacked his whip, as if proud of his dexterity, and we rattled over the stones with a fearful velocity, for he was driving four horses. in piccadilly he stopped at another inn, where all the western stages call as they enter or go out of town: here we took in another cargo of parcels, two passengers mounted the roof, and we once more proceeded.
we left town by the great western road, 356the same way which i had entered. it was a great relief when we exchanged the violent jolting over the stones for steady motion on a gravel road; but the paved ways were met with again in all the little towns and townlets;[22] and as these for a considerable distance almost join each other, it was a full hour before we felt ourselves fairly in the country. several stages passed us within a few miles of london, on their way up: they had been travelling all night; yet such are their regularity and emulation, that though they had come about thirty leagues, and stopped at different places, not one was more than ten minutes distance apart from another.
22. lugares. villages would have been an improper name for such places as kensington, &c.
englishmen are not very social to strangers. our fellow-traveller composed himself to sleep in the corner of the coach; but women are more communicative, and the good lady gave us her whole history before we arrived at the end of the first 357stage;—how she had been to see her sister who lived in the borough, and was now returning home; that she had been to both the play-houses; astley’s amphitheatre, and the royal circus; had seen the crown and the lions at the tower, and the elephants at exeter ’change; and that on the night of the illumination she had been out till half after two o’clock, but never could get within sight of m. otto’s house. i found that it raised me considerably in her estimation when i assured her that i had been more fortunate, and had actually seen it. she then execrated all who did not like the peace, told me what the price of bread had been during the war and how it had fallen, expressed a hope that hollands and french brandy would fall also; spoke with complacency of bonniprat, as she called him, and asked whether we loved him as well in our country as the people in england loved king george. on my telling her that i was a spaniard, not a frenchman, she accommodated her conversation 358accordingly, said it was a good thing to be at peace with spain, because spanish annatto and jar raisins came from that country, and enquired how spanish liquorice was made, and if the people wer’n’t papists and never read in the bible. you must not blame me for boasting of a lady’s favours, if i say my answers were so satisfactory that i was pressed to partake of her cakes and oranges.
we breakfasted at slough, the second stage; a little town which seems to be chiefly supported by its inns. the room into which we were shown was not so well furnished as those which were reserved for travellers in chaises; in other respects we were quite as well served, and perhaps more expeditiously. the breakfast service was on the table and the kettle boiling. when we paid the reckoning, the woman’s share was divided among us; it is the custom in stage-coaches, that if there be but one woman in company the other passengers pay for her at the inns.
359we saw windsor distinctly on the left, standing on a little eminence, a flag upon the tower indicating that the royal family were there. almost under it were the pinnacles of eton college, where most of the young nobility are educated immediately under the sovereign’s eye. an inn was pointed out to me by the road side, where a whole party, many years ago, were poisoned, by eating food which had been prepared in a copper vessel. the country is flat, or little diversified with risings, beautifully verdant, though with far more uncultivated ground than you would suppose could possibly be permitted so near to such a metropolis. the frequent towns, the number of houses by the road side, and the apparent comfort and cleanliness of all, the travellers whom we met, and the gentlemen’s seats, as they are called, in sight, every one of which was mentioned in my book of the roads, kept my attention perpetually alive. all the houses are of brick; and i did not see 360one which appeared to be above half a century old.
we crossed the thames over maidenhead-bridge, so called from the near town, where a head of one of the eleven thousand virgins was once venerated. here the river is rather beautiful than majestic; indeed nothing larger than barges navigate it above london. the bridge is a handsome stone pile, and the prospect on either hand delightful; but chiefly up the river, where many fine seats are situated on the left bank, amid hanging woods. as the day was very fine, d. proposed that we should mount the roof; to which i assented, not without some little secret perturbation; and, to confess the truth, for a few minutes i repented my temerity. we sate upon the bare roof, immediately in front, our feet resting upon a narrow shelf which was fastened behind the coachman’s seat, and being further or closer as the body of the coach was jolted, sometimes it swung from under us, and at others squeezed the 361foot back. there was only a low iron rail on each side to secure us, or rather to hold by, for otherwise it was no security. at first it was fearful to look down over the driver upon four horses going with such rapidity, or upon the rapid motion of the wheels immediately below us: but i soon lost all sense of danger, or, to speak more truly, found that no danger existed except in imagination; for if i sate freely, and feared nothing, there was in reality nothing to fear.
the oxford road branches off here from the great western one, in a northerly direction. a piece of waste which we crossed, called maidenhead thicket, (though now not woodland as the name implies,) was formerly infamous for robberies: and our coachman observed that it would recover its old reputation, as soon as the soldiers and sailors were paid off. i have heard apprehensions of this kind very generally expressed. the soldiers have little or no money when they are discharged, and the 362sailors soon squander what they may have. there will of course be many who cannot find employment, and some who will not seek it. indeed the sailors talk with the greatest composure of land-privateering, as they call highway robbery: and it must be confessed, that their habits of privateering by sea are very well adapted to remove all scruples concerning meum and tuum.
at henley we came in sight of the thames again,—still the same quiet and beautiful stream: the view as we descended a long hill was exceedingly fine: the river was winding below, a fine stone bridge across it, and a large and handsome town immediately on the other side; a town, indeed, considerably larger than any which we had passed. these stage-coaches are admirably managed: relays of horses are ready at every post: as soon as the coach drives up they are brought out, and we are scarcely detained ten minutes. the coachman seems to know every body along the 363road; he drops a parcel at one door, nods to a woman at another, delivers a message at a third, and stops at a fourth to receive a glass of spirits or a cup of ale, which has been filled for him as soon as the sound of his wheels was beard. in fact, he lives upon the road, and is at home when upon his coach-box.
the country improved after we left henley; it became more broken with hills, better cultivated, and better wooded. it is impossible not to like the villas, so much opulence, and so much ornament is visible about them; but it is also impossible not to wish that the domestic architecture of england were in a better taste. dinner was ready for us at nettlebed: it was a very good one; nor was there any thing to complain of, except the strange custom of calling for wine which you know to be bad, and paying an extravagant price for what you would rather not drink. the coachman left us here, and received from each person a shilling as a gratuity, which he 364had well deserved. we now resumed our places in the inside: dinner had made our male companion better acquainted with us, and he became conversable. when he knew what countryman i was, he made many enquiries respecting salamanca, the only one of our universities with which the english seem to be acquainted, and which, i believe, they know only from gil blas. i do not think he had ever before heard of alcala; but he listened very attentively to what i told him, and politely offered me his services in oxford, telling us he was a fellow of lincoln, and insisting that we should breakfast with him the following morning.
at nettlebed we passed over what is said to be the highest ground in england, i know not with what truth, but certainly with little apparent probability. we could have ascended little upon the whole since we had left london, and were travelling upon level ground. about five o’clock we came in sight of oxford, and i resumed 365my place on the roof. this was by no means the best approach to the city, yet i never beheld any thing more impressive, more in character, more what it should be, than these pinnacles and spires, and towers, and domes, rising amid thick groves. it stands on a plain, and the road in the immediate vicinity is through open corn fields. we entered by a stately bridge over the cherwell: magdalen tower, than which nothing can be more beautiful, stands at the end, and we looked down upon the shady walks of magdalen college. the coach drove half way up the high-street, and stopped at the angel-inn.
