Page:A short history of social life in England.djvu/344

324 breakneck speed of the latter half of the century. We have reached the age of our own great-grandfathers, and the portraits which hang upon our walls have familiarised us with the general bearing of the men and women of this generation, the cut and colour of their clothes before the dawn of photography, when the travelling artist made his way from country house to country house, painting his model in home surroundings.

As yet there were no trains, although the birth of "Puffing Billy" in 1813 had suggested vast and appalling possibilities to the faint-hearted of the earth. But while a revolution in road-making had taken place, thanks to the genius and perseverance of Macadam, coaching from place to place was still slow and laborious, though in this way whole English families travelled to the various sea-side resorts, which were springing into fashion. Brighton was becoming a favourite watering-place, in spite of Dr. Johnson's description of the country as "so desolate, that if one had a mind to hang oneself for desperation at being obliged to live there, it would be difficult to find a tree on which to fasten a rope."