and travelled much faster, and less comfortably, than carriages. As well as abusing their horses they had toll-gates flung open for them and frequent changes of horses, done at high speed by their company's own men. Not practicable for a private carriage. Mr Weston makes the journey to London once in a while. I doubt if John Knightley would want to do it every weekday, since it would make for extremely long days, it would actually be dangerous in the winter and he'd hardly ever see his children, who would be in bed by the time he got home. I doubt if Mr Woodhouse's absence would help all that much, since I suspect Isabella is just as nervous about travelling at a less than sedate pace.