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~275~~ That every age is an improved edition of the former I am not
(recollecting the splendid relics of antiquity) prepared to admit;
but that the present is particularly distinguished for discoveries
in science, and vast improvements in mechanical arts, every accurate
observer must allow: the _prodigious_ inventions of late years
cannot fail in due time of producing that perfectibility, the great
consummation denominated the Millennium. Of all other improvements,
perhaps the most conspicuous are in the powers of motion as connected
with the mode and means of travelling. With what astonishment, were it
possible to reanimate the clay-cold relics, would our ancestors survey
the accelerated perfection to which coaching is brought in the
present day! The journey from London to Brighton, for instance, was,
half-a-century since, completed at great risk in twenty-four hours, over
a rough road that threatened destruction at every turn; and required the
most laborious exertion to reach the summit of precipices that are now,
like a ruined spendthrift, cut through and through: the declivities
too have disappeared, and from its level face, the whole country would
appear to have undergone another revolutionary change, even to the
horses, harness, and the driver of the vehicle.
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