e old. Twelve
years ago, upwards of a hundred coaches passed through Oxford in the
four-and-twenty hours. We will be bound to say, not half a dozen pass
through it now; and whatever the _University_ may think upon the subject,
it is certain that the alteration is of great detriment to the _town_,
and makes little less difference to the Corn-market and High Street, than
the turning the course of the Thames would do to Westminster and Wapping.
Who is to keep the beautiful roads by Henley and High Wickham in repair?
And who is to restore a value to the inns at the tidy comfortable towns
along the line? Will the prosperity of Steveton bring back the gaieties
of Tetsworth or Beaconsfield, and the numerous villages within an easy
distance of the road? We repeat it--the towns which formerly enjoyed the
natural advantages of their geographical position, are now deprived of
them; they become subordinates instead of principals, and will sink more
and more, as new competitors arise in the towns which will infallibly
gather round every railway station.

In every county there are numbers of towns whose fate is sealed, unless
some great effort is made to preserve their existence: Marlborough,
Devizes, Hindon, Guildford, Farnham, Petersfield, the whole counties of
Rutland and Dorset, and the greater part of Lincoln, besides hundreds, or
probably thousands, of other places of inferior note.

But what is the effort that should be made, and how are the parties
interested to bring their powers to bear in staving off the destruction
that threatens them? It is to these points we are now about to address
ourselves; and we trust, in spite of the lightness of some parts of this
paper; the real weight of the subject will command the notice of all who
feel anxious to benefit any neighbourhood in the position of some of those
we have mentioned. And the attention of the trustees of high-roads
throughout the kingdom is solicited to the following suggestions.

It is conceded on all hands, that where speed is required in draught, the
horse cannot compete with mechanical power. At three miles an hour, the
horse is the most perfect locomotive machine; but if his velocity be
increased to ten, most of his power is consumed in moving himself. The
average exertion in each horse in a four-horse heavy coach, is calculated
by the author of the excellent Treatise on Draught, appended to the work
published on the Horse by the Society for the Diffusion of Usefu