XIV

PREFACE.

English canals, I shall not consider all the benefits to be.receivedfrom them, which may reasonably be expected. The cheap andvery pleasant conveyance by the Dutch trucktkuyts are mentionedwith satisfaction by all travellers in that country : in general, thecanals of England pass through a country more pleasant, andmore varied with hill and dale; the conveyance would be safe;and the voyage, if I may so term it, would in the summer seasonbe enchanting, enjoying motion without fatigue, and all the plea-sures of travelling at a very small expence.

There is a certain wood in Great Britain which has the advan-tage of a saw-mill; but being situated in the midst of mountains,where there are hardly any roads, it is the work of one horseto drag away four small deal boards, and, if the distance on oneside exceed twelve miles, they come dearer than if originallybrought from Norway.

Bad roads tend not only to render things dearer, but also scarcer.Before the establishment of the post-office (which may be com-pared to an open road of the easiest communication), the carriageof a single letter was not only extremely dear, but very few werewritten. People might live happily were the number of lettersdiminished two-thirds ; they could not, however, be said to livehappily were the quantity of necessaries diminished two-thirds.The badness of roads lengthens the time of transportation ofgoods; for the fame waggon that, upon an open and plain road,would be a weekly waggon, upon a rugged and difficult road be-comes a monthly one ; and the carrier is obliged to quadruple his

charge