An Old Coachman's Chatter, with Some Practical Remarks on Driving

by Edward Corbett · English · Gutenberg #43895 · 441,200 chars · public domain (US)

The Project Gutenberg eBook of An Old Coachman's Chatter, with Some Practical Remarks on Driving

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States,
you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located
before using this eBook.

Title: An Old Coachman's Chatter, with Some Practical Remarks on Driving

Author: Edward Corbett

Illustrator: J. Sturgess

Release date: October 5, 2013 [eBook #43895]
Most recently updated: October 23, 2024

Language: English

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/43895

Credits: Produced by Julia Miller and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
produced from images generously made available by The
Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AN OLD COACHMAN'S CHATTER, WITH SOME PRACTICAL REMARKS ON DRIVING ***

Transcriber's Note: Minor typographical errors have been corrected
without note. Irregularities and inconsistencies in the text have
been retained as printed. Words printed in italics are noted with
underscores: _italics_.

[Illustration: J. Sturgess del. et lith. M&N. Hanhart imp.
WYLE COP. SHREWSBURY. A MINUTE TO 12.]

AN OLD COACHMAN'S CHATTER

WITH SOME

Practical Remarks on Driving.

A SEMI-PROFESSIONAL,

EDWARD CORBETT,

_Colonel late Shropshire Militia_.

_With Eight full-page Illustrations on Stone, by_

JOHN STURGESS.

LONDON:
RICHARD BENTLEY AND SON,
Publishers in Ordinary to Her Majesty the Queen.

1890.

[_The right of Translation and all other rights reserved._]

MY QUONDAM PASSENGERS

DAYS GONE BY

I Venture to Dedicate this Volume,

THANKING THEM FOR THEIR FORMER SUPPORT

AND

HOPING FOR THEIR KIND PATRONAGE

THIS LITTLE BOOK.

CONTENTS.

PAGE

INTRODUCTION 1

CHAPTER I.
THE ROYAL MAILS 9

CHAPTER II.
THE ROYAL MAILS (_continued_) 25

CHAPTER III.
ACCIDENTS 48

CHAPTER IV.
COMBATING WITH SNOW, FOGS, AND FLOODS 65

CHAPTER V.
NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN 75

CHAPTER VI.
HORSES 80

CHAPTER VII.
THE ROADS 96

CHAPTER VIII.
A SCIENTIFIC CHAPTER 104

CHAPTER IX.
A NOTE ON THE HORN 120

CHAPTER X.
THE HOLYHEAD ROAD 125

CHAPTER XI.
THE BRIGHTON ROAD 140

CHAPTER XII.
EARLY DAYS 152

CHAPTER XIII.
OLD TIMES 162

CHAPTER XIV.
COACHMEN: WHERE DID THEY COME FROM 169

CHAPTER XV.
GUARDS 186

CHAPTER XVI.
WHERE DID THEY ALL GO TO? 192

CHAPTER XVII.
SOME CHARACTERS 196

CHAPTER XVIII.
MONOTONY 205

CHAPTER XIX.
TANDEM 209

CHAPTER XX.
THE CONVICT SHIP 224

CHAPTER XXI.
DRIVING 235

CHAPTER XXII.
DRIVING (_continued_) 253

CHAPTER XXIII.
THE END OF THE JOURNEY 278

APPENDIX 285-308

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

_ON STONE_

BY JOHN STURGESS.

I. WYLE COP, SHREWSBURY, "A MINUTE BEFORE TWELVE" _Frontispiece._

II. HORSES IN A HEAP, LEADER DOWN, WHEELERS
FALLING OVER HIM _to face page_ 50

III. WENT OVER BANK AND HEDGE " 52

IV. OBSTRUCTION ON THE BRIDGE " 120

V. GALLOPED THE FIVE MILE STAGE IN EIGHTEEN MINUTES " 130

VI. EXTRA PAIR OF HORSES FOR FAST COACHES FOR
STEEP ASCENTS " 172

VII. ONCE MORE RUNNING A STEEPLECHASE " 244

VIII. WE MET THE LOOSE HORSE TEARING DOWN THE HILL " 246

_ON WOOD._

THE EXTRA COACH AT CHRISTMAS " 233

DIAGRAMS.

I. A NEAT MEETING " 248

II. A MUFFISH MEETING " 248

III. DOWN HILL " 254

IV. A SUDDEN EMERGENCY " 254

V. THE TEAM EXTENDED " 256

VI. THE TEAM GATHERED " 256

AN OLD COACHMAN'S CHATTER,

WITH SOME REMARKS ON DRIVING.

INTRODUCTION.

I think it is Dr. Johnson who has somewhere remarked, that "everyone
who writes a book should either help men to enjoy life or to endure
it."

Whether these few pages will have the former effect I know not, but if
they only help to dispel _ennui_ for an hour or two, they will not
have been written quite in vain, and, at any rate, I trust they will
not be found so unendurable as to be unceremoniously thrown out of the
railway carriage window, or behind the fire.

Though several books on the same subject have been already published,
I entertain a hope that this may not prove "one too many," as the
interest taken in coaching, so far from diminishing, would appear to
be increasing, judging by the number of coaches running out of London
and other places, some even facing the inclemency of winter in the
love for the road. The number of private drags also never was so
large. "Nimrod" put it at twenty to thirty in the early part of the
century. It must be nearly four times that now.

I have not the vanity to suppose that I can contribute anything more
racy or better told than much that has gone before, but having engaged
in coaching as a matter of business, and in partnership with business
men, when and where coaches were the only means of public travelling,
and having driven professionally for upwards of four years, I have had
the opportunity of looking behind the scenes, and have had experiences
which cannot have fallen to the lot of most gentlemen coachmen, and
certainly will fall to the lot of no others again.

I lay no claim to literary merit, nor will what I offer savour much of
the sensational or perhaps of novelty; but this I can say, that it is
all drawn from personal knowledge, and that, with the exception of one
old friend, who has had great experience on some of the best coaches
in England, I am indebted to no one for my facts, which has not been
the case in all which has been published, judging from some
inaccuracies I have met with. To mention only one, which, if
considered for a moment, is so improbable, not to say impossible, that
it surely must be a misprint.

In "Highways and Horses" we are told that the fare for one passenger
by mails was eight shillings outside and twelve inside for a hundred
miles. Why, this is less than Parliamentary trains! It would have been
impossible to have horsed coaches at such prices. The real rate was
from fourpence to fivepence per mile inside, and from twopence to
threepence outside for that distance. The highest fares were charged
by the mails and fast day coaches, the heavy night coaches having to
be content with the lower rate.

The reader will observe that I do not confine myself to what were
called, _par excellence_, "the palmy days of coaching," but have
brought it down to a period twenty years later, when the coaches,
though comparatively few, were still running in considerable numbers
in out-of-the-way districts, upon the old lines, and by those who had
learned their business in those palmy days. The pace was not generally
so great, judged by the number of miles to the hour, but, taking into
consideration the great inferiority of the roads, there was little or
no falling off. Indeed, I doubt whether over some roads, eight miles
an hour was not harder to accomplish than ten had been over the better
roads. Of course, as in earlier days, the work was unequally done,
sometimes good, sometimes bad, and sometimes indifferent.

If these pages should happen to fall into the hands of any of the many
thousand passengers I have had the pleasure of driving, and on whom I
hope Father Time has laid benevolent hands, perhaps some of them may
recognize scenes which they themselves experienced; and to others
memory may bring back the recollection of happy wanderings, thereby
causing renewed pleasure. For, as the poet says:

"When time, which steals our hours away,
Shall steal our pleasures too,
The memory of the past shall stay,
And half our joys renew."

In the remarks on driving, I do not profess to have written a treatise
or to have by any means exhausted the subject--that, indeed, were hard
to do; a coachman should be always learning;--they are the result of
having carefully watched old and experienced hands, together with such
instructions as they gave me, followed up by long and continuous
practice. I know that some, whose opinions are entitled to the
greatest respect, hold different views upon some points; but, at any
rate, whether others agree with me or not, they will see, from the
examples I have given, that I have practical reasons for all that I
advance.

I should like to add that these pages were in MS. previously to the
publication of the seventh volume of the Badminton Library, and,
indeed, I have not yet had the pleasure of reading it; therefore, if I
have enunciated doctrines the same as are there given, I cannot be
accused of plagiarism. I have felt compelled to make this statement on
account of the very high authority of the writers in that book, and
when we agree, I shall experience the satisfaction of knowing that I
travel in good company.

I have been led on by my subject to spread my wings, and fly to
southern latitudes; indeed, I have ventured, like Mr. Cook, to take my
readers a personally-conducted tour round the world, I will not say
exactly in search of knowledge, though, to most, what I have
introduced them to must be an unknown world. So fast, indeed, has the
world travelled in the last half century, that it has now become
ancient history, indeed, sufficiently out of date to afford interest
to an antiquary.

"_Seated on the old mail-coach, we needed no evidence out of ourselves
to indicate the velocity. The vital experience of the glad animal
sensibilities made doubts impossible. We heard our speed, we saw it,
we felt it as a thrilling; and this speed was not the product of blind
insensate agencies that had no sympathy to give, but was incarnated in
the fiery eyeballs of the noblest among brutes, in his dilated
nostril, spasmodic muscles, and thunder-beating hoofs._"--DE QUINCEY.

OLD COACHMAN'S CHATTER,

WITH SOME REMARKS ON DRIVING.

"GOING DOWN WITH VICTORY.

"_The absolute perfection of all the appointments, their strength,
their brilliant cleanliness, their beautiful simplicity, but more than
all the royal magnificence of the horses were, what might first have
fixed the attention. On any night the spectacle was beautiful. But the
night before us is a night of victory, and, behold, to the ordinary
display what a heart-shaking addition! Horses, men, carriages, all are
dressed in laurels and flowers, oak-leaves and ribbons. The guards as
officially His Majesty's servants, and such coachmen as are within the
privilege of the Post Office, wear the royal liveries of course, and
on this evening exposed to view without upper coats. Such costume, and
the laurels in their hats dilate their hearts by giving them a
personal connection with the great news. One heart, one pride, one
glory, connects every man by the transcendent bond of his national
blood. The spectators, numerous beyond precedent, express their
sympathy with these fervent feelings by continual hurrahs. Every
moment are shouted aloud by the Post-Office servants and summoned to
draw up the great ancestral names of cities known to history through a
thousand years--Lincoln, Winchester, Portsmouth, Gloucester, Oxford,
Bristol, Manchester, York, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Perth,
Stirling, Aberdeen--expressing the grandeur of the Empire by the
antiquity of its towns, and the grandeur of the mail establishment by
the diffusive radiation of its separate missions. Every moment you
hear the thunder of lids locked down upon the mail-bags. That sound to
each individual mail is the signal for drawing off which is the finest
part of the entire spectacle. Then come the horses into play. Horses!
can these be horses that bound off with the action and gestures of
leopards? What stir! what ferment! what a thundering of wheels! what a
trampling of hoofs! what a sounding of trumpets! what farewell cheers!
what peals of congratulation, connecting the name of the particular
mail, 'Liverpool for ever,' with the name of the particular Victory,
'Salamanca for ever,' The consciousness that all night long, and all
the next day, perhaps even longer, many of these mails like fire
racing along a train of gunpowder, will be kindling at every instant
new successions of burning joy, has an obscure effect of multiplying
the victory itself_"--THOMAS DE QUINCEY, _The English Mail-Coach_.

CHAPTER I.

THE ROYAL MAILS.

It is not within the scope of a book on coaching to go behind the time
when mail bags were conveyed on wheels, and the coaches became public
conveyances, carrying passengers as well as mail bags.

The first mail coach was put on the road between Bristol and London in
the year 1784, and it is worthy of remark that it was originated by a
man who had previously had no practical knowledge of either post
office or road work. In this respect, curiously enough, the same
remark applies to what became so very large a business in the Sister
Isle, as to be quite a national institution. In the former case Mr.
Palmer, to whose energy and perseverance the mail coach owed its
existence, was by profession a theatrical manager, whilst the
inaugurator of the Irish car business, which grew to such large
dimensions as to employ more than a thousand horses, was a pedlar,
neither of which businesses would appear to lead to horse and road
work.

Bianconi's cars involuntary bring to my mind a recipe given me many
years ago by one of his foremen for preventing crib-biting in horses.
It would hardly pass muster with the Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to Animals, but he declared it was always effective if applied
in the first instance. It was to nip off a very small piece from the
tip of the horse's tongue. I never tried it, but can quite understand
why it was a cure, as horses almost invariably commence the vice by
licking the manger, and this process rendered the tongue so tender as
to put a summary end to this preliminary proceeding.

But this by the way. Before, however, carrying the history of the
mails further, I am tempted to introduce the reader to an account of a
highway robbery of mail bags, which occurred in Yorkshire in the year
1798, and which shows that the change in the way of conveying the
mails was not commenced before it was wanted.

The following letter from the Post-office in York, gives a full and
graphic account of the circumstance.

"POST-OFFICE, YORK,

_February 22nd, 1798_.

"SIR,--I am sorry to acquaint you that the post-boy coming from
Selby to this city, was robbed of his mail, between six and seven
o'clock this evening. About three miles this side Selby, he was
accosted by a man on foot with a gun in his hand, who asked him if
he was the post-boy, and at the same time seizing hold of the
bridle. Without waiting for any answer, he told the boy he must
immediately unstrap the mail and give it to him, pointing the
muzzle of the gun at him whilst he did it. When he had given up
the mail, the boy begged he would not hurt him, to which the man
replied, 'He need not be afraid,' and at the same time pulled the
bridle from the horse's head. The horse immediately galloped off
with the boy who had never dismounted. He was a stout man dressed
in a drab jacket and had the appearance of a heckler. The boy was
too much frightened to make any other remark upon his person, and
says he was totally unknown to him.

"The mail contained bags for Howden and London, Howden and York,
and Selby and York. I have informed the surveyors of the robbery,
and have forwarded handbills this night to be distributed in the
country, and will take care to insert it in the first paper
published here. Waiting your further instructions, I remain with
respect, Sir,

"Your Obliged and Obedient Humble Servant,

"THOS. OLDFIELD."

Although two hundred pounds' reward was offered nothing more was ever
found out about this transaction for about eighty years, when the
missing bag was discovered in a very unexpected manner, which is so
well described in a notice contained in the _Daily Telegraph_
newspaper of August 24th, 1876, that I cannot do better than give
their account. After describing the nature of the robbery it goes on
to say, "So the matter rested for nearly eighty years, and it would
probably have been altogether forgotten but for a strange discovery
which was made a few days ago. As an old wayside public-house,
standing by the side of the high road near Selby, in a district known
as Churchhill, was being pulled down, the workmen found in the roof a
worn and rotten coat, a southwester hat, and a mail bag marked Selby.
This led to further search, and we are told that in digging fresh
foundations on the site of the old hostel, a large number of skeletons
were found, buried at a small distance beneath the surface. There can
be no doubt that in what were affectionately known as 'good old
times,' strange scenes occurred at road-side inns, especially on the
great roads running north and west from London. The highwaymen of
those days were a sort of local Robin Hood, and were only too often on
best of terms with the innkeepers. Nothing, indeed, is more likely
than for the relic of the highwayman's plunder to be brought to light
from out of the mouldering thatch of an old wayside inn. The
unearthing of the skeletons is a more serious matter, and looks as if
the Selby hostel had, as many old houses have, a dark history of its
own."

The existence of the skeletons was, however, accounted for by
archæologists in a more natural, if less sensational manner. They
arrived at the conclusion that the spot had been the site of a very
old Christian burial ground, whence called Churchhill; and this
opinion would appear to be borne out by the fact of the skeletons
having been encased in a very primitive sort of coffin, consisting of
nothing more than the trunk of a tree, which had been sawn asunder and
hollowed out to receive the body, the two halves being afterwards
closed together again. If they had been the victims of foul play, they
would probably have been buried without any coffins at all.

The old mail bag, after some dispute about ownership, came into the
possession of the Post-Office, and is to be seen in the library of
that establishment at the present time.

Like all other new inventions, the change in the manner of conveying
the mails was not without its adversaries, and among the different
objections raised one was that it would lead to bloodshed. These
objectors, who were, I suppose, the humanitarians of the day, grounded
their argument on the fact that the post-boys were so helplessly in
the power of the highwaymen, that they made no attempt to defend the
property in their charge, but only thought of saving their own lives
and limbs; and it is clearly shown by the case adduced that this is
what did happen upon such meetings, and small blame to the boys
either. But they went on to prophesy, which is not a safe thing to do.
They said that when the bags were in the charge of two men, coachman
and guard, well armed, they would be obliged to show fight, which
would lead to carnage. It was rather a Quaker sort of argument, but,
perhaps, it was "Friends" who employed it.

Possibly the change did not all at once put a stop to the attentions
of the gentlemen of the road, but as I have not found in the archives
at the General Post-Office--which are very complete--any records of an
attack upon the mail coaches, we may infer that none of any moment
did occur. At any rate, the scheme seems to have met with popular
approval, judging by two cuttings I have seen from newspapers of the
period, which I introduce as conveying the public opinion of the time.

The first is dated January 19th, 1784, and says, "Within these last few
days Ministers have had several meetings with the Postmaster-General,
Secretary, and other officers of the General Post-Office, on the
subject of the regulation of mails, which is to make a branch of the
Budget this year. It is proposed that instead of the mail-cart, there
shall be established carriages in the nature of stage coaches, in the
boot of which the mail shall be carried, and in the inside four
passengers. The advantages proposed from this regulation are various.
The passengers will defray the whole expense of the conveyance. The
progress of the post will be considerably quicker, as the coach is to
wait but a certain time in every place, and the time to be marked on
the messenger's express, that there be no intermediate delay. The
parcels which are now transmitted from one place to another by the
common stage coaches and diligences, to the injury of the revenue,
will by a restriction be confined to the mail coaches, and, indeed,
the public will prefer the security of the General Post-Office to that
of the private man; for the same reason of safety, persons will prefer
travelling in these carriages, as measures are to be taken to prevent
robbery. The plan is expected to produce a great deal of money, as
well as to afford facility and security to correspondence. It will
give a decisive blow to the common stages, and in so far will hurt the
late tax, but that loss will be amply recompensed. The plan is the
production of Mr. Palmer, manager of the Bath Theatre, and he has been
present at the conference on the subject."

The other cutting is of the same year, and says: "A scheme is on foot,
and will be put in execution on Monday se'ennight, to send by a post
coach from the Post-office at eight o'clock in the evening, letters
for Bath, Bristol, Bradford, Calne, Chippenham, Colnbrook, Devizes,
Henley, Hounslow, Maidenhead, Marlborough, Melksham, Nettlebed,
Newbury, Ramsbury, Reading, Trowbridge, Wallingford, and Windsor. The
coach is also to carry passengers."

As will be seen from these extracts the Post-office must have made a
very good bargain, as they only paid one penny a mile to the horse
contractors, which must have been considerably less than the cost of
the boys, carts, and horses. Who found the coaches is not stated, but,
in later years, though contracted for by the Post-office, they were
paid for by the coach proprietors. At any rate, the fares paid by the
passengers, of whom only four were carried, must have been very high,
for the coach had to pay to the exchequer a mileage duty of one penny,
thereby taking away all that was given by the Post-office for the
conveyance of the letters.

There are no records to show in what order of rotation the different
mail coaches came into existence; but I know that the one to
Shrewsbury commenced running in 1785, and many others must have been
put on the roads about that time, as I find that in 1786, no less than
twenty left London every evening, besides seven that were at work in
different parts of England. The work, however, appears to have, been
very imperfectly performed. The coaches must at first have been
cumbersome.

In the year 1786, the coach to Norwich, _viâ_ Newmarket, weighed 21
cwt. 2 qrs., and one to the same place, _viâ_ Colchester, weighed 18
cwt., which, however, must have been well constructed, as those
coaches were known to have carried as many as twenty-two passengers.
There was also what was called a caravan, or three-bodied coach, _via_
Ipswich, carrying twelve inside, weighing 21 cwt. 3 qrs., and is
stated to have followed the horses very well indeed.

In November, 1786, Bezant's patent coach was first submitted to the
post-office, and was first used on the coach roads in the spring of
1787. Previously the mail coaches were very heavy and badly
constructed, and made of such inferior materials that accidents were
general and of daily occurrence, so much so that the public became
afraid to venture their lives in them.

The general establishment of mail coaches took place in the spring of
1788. The terms on which Mr. Bezant, the patentee of the patent
coaches supplied then, was that he engaged to provide and keep them in
constant and thorough repair at two pence halfpenny the double mile.
At first, from want of system, these coaches were often sent on their
journeys without being greased, and generally even without being
washed and cleaned, with the result that seldom a day passed that a
coach wheel did not fire.

As the business became more and more matured, spare coaches were put
on the roads, so that each one on arriving in London should have two
complete days for repair. This increased the number of coaches to
nearly double. As each came into London it was sent to the factory at
Millbank, nearly five miles off, to be cleaned, greased, and examined,
for which the charge of one shilling was to be paid for each coach,
and this price included the drawing of the coach to Millbank and back.

Before this arrangement was made, it was nothing unusual for
passengers to be kept waiting for a couple of hours, whilst some
repairs were being done, which were only discovered to be necessary
just as the coach was about to start, and then the work was naturally
done in such a hasty manner that the coach started in far from good
condition.

The coach masters objected to this payment of one shilling for drawing
and cleaning, and stated that if it was enforced they would require
threepence per mile instead of one penny, which would have made a
difference of twenty thousand pounds a year to the post-office
revenue. In the end an agreement was made with the patentee, and the
post-office paid the bills.

In 1791, Mr. Bezant, who was an engineer from Henley-on-Thames, died,
and the business fell into the hands of Mr. Vidler, his partner, and
in the following year there were one hundred and twenty of those
coaches in use on the mail roads. Their weight was from 16 cwt. to 16
cwt. 2 qrs.

I have not been able to find any time-bills for this early stage of
the work, and do not, therefore, know at what pace the mail coaches
were expected to travel, but, judging from the rather unique
instruction issued to a guard in the year 1796, great pace on the road
was not desired. Perhaps, however, this omission is not important, as
the time of arrival at the journey's end must have depended very much
upon how many accidents were experienced on the road. It reminds me of
the coachman on the Dover road, who, on being asked by a passenger
what time he arrived in London, replied, "That the proper hour was six
o'clock, but that he had been every hour of the four-and-twenty after
it."

INSTRUCTIONS TO A GUARD GIVEN IN 1796.

"You remember you are to go down with the coach to Weymouth, and
come up with the last Tuesday afternoon. Take care that they do
not drive fast, make long stops or get drunk. I have told you this
all before."

The following letter addressed in the same year to one of the horse
contractors throws some light upon the way in which the work was done.

"Some time since, hearing that your harness was in a very unfit
state to do duty, I sent you a set, as is the custom of the office
to supply contractors whose harness and reins are bad, when they
do not attend to the representatives of the office. The harness
cost fourteen guineas, but, as they had been used a few times with
the 'King's Royal,' Weymouth, you will only be charged twelve for
them."

Who would have supposed that from so unpromising a beginning there
should have developed the most perfect system of road travelling which
the world has ever seen? Verily, it goes to prove the truth of the old
adage that "practice makes perfect."

This same year, on 11th May, the Liverpool and Hull mail coach was
stopped by a pressgang outside Liverpool. A rather serious affray took
place, but no mischief was done. The Mayor of Liverpool was
communicated with, and asked to give such instructions to the
lieutenant of the gang as would prevent any further molestation.
Probably, the pressgang saw some passengers on the mail which they
supposed to be seafaring men, but it goes to show that the relative
positions and rights of the different branches of His Majesty's
service were not well understood. However this might have been, it
appears that the guards and coachmen of the mails were capable of
exerting their rights of free passage along the road to, at least,
their full extent. In July, 1796, three gentlemen were riding on
horseback, when the Liverpool and Manchester mail coach came up behind
them. It would appear that they did not attempt to get out of the way,
whereupon the coachman is stated to have used his whip to one of them,
and the guard pulled another off his horse, and then brought out his
firearm, and threatened to shoot them. According to the guard's
statement the gentleman, without speaking a word, stopped the horses
of the coach by laying hold of the reins, and nearly overturned it.
The coachman flogged the gentleman and his horse; the guard got down
and begged them to be off, and when they were going to strike him he
threatened to shoot them, upon which they let them go. After a full
inquiry from passengers, etc., it was found that the guard's statement
was false, and he was instantly dismissed, as was also the coachman.

From the following instructions given in 1796, to a contractor, asking
how the coachman should act under certain circumstances, it appears
that passengers were apt to be very inconsiderate and difficult to
manage in those days, as they continued to be later on.

"Stick to your bill, and never mind what passengers say respecting
waiting over time. Is it not the fault of the landlord to keep them so
long? Some day, when you have waited a considerable time, say five or
eight minutes longer than is allowed by the bill, drive away and leave
them behind, only take care that you have a witness that you called
them out two or three times. Then let them get forward how they can."

This is much more consideration than was generally shown in later
years.

I was once driving a mail when I had a Yankee gentleman for one of the
outside passengers, who was disposed to give trouble in this way, and
after being nearly left behind once or twice, he told me that I was
bound to give him five minutes at every change of horses. I told him I
would not give him two if I could help it, and would leave him behind
as soon as look at him. I guess he was smarter in his movements for
the rest of the journey.

The following instructions, issued to the guards in the same year,
seem to point to their having delivered single letters as they passed
through the villages, but I certainly never saw such a thing done in
later years. In all the towns there were probably post-offices, though
such things were then few and far between, not as they are now, in
every village.

"You are not to stop at any place to leave letters, etc., but to blow
your horn to give the people notice that you have got letters for
them; therefore, if they do not choose to come out to receive them,
don't you get down from your dickey, but take them on, and bring them
back with you on your next journey. You are ordered by your
instructions to blow your horn when you pass through a town or
village. Be careful to perform this duty, or I shall be obliged to
punish you."

In the months of January and February, 1795, the whole country was
visited by most serious storms and floods. It is described in the
post-office minutes as "dreadful;" great holes were made in the roads,
and many accidents happened through both coachman and guard being
chucked from their boxes, and frequently coaches arrived having lost
the guard from that cause. Many bridges were washed away all over the
country, of which three alone were between Doncaster and Ferrybridge.
The mail coach between Edinburgh and Newcastle took a day longer than
usual to do the journey. Nearly all the coaches that attempted to
perform their journeys had to take circuitous routes on account of
floods. Bridges were washed away, roads rendered impassable by great
holes in them, and, in Scotland and the north of England, blocked by
snow. In the south, a fast thaw set in, which suddenly changed to
intense cold, leaving roads simply sheets of ice. Through the combined
exertions of the postmasters, a large number of whom were also mail
contractors, many of the roads were cleared sufficiently to admit of
the coaches running, but it was months before the mails began to
arrive with punctuality, and many mail coach routes had to be altered
on account of the roads and bridges not being repaired. This was
owing, in most instances, to the road commissioners and local
authorities failing to come to settlement in supplying the money for
the work to be done, and in many instances the Postmaster-General was
compelled to indict them for neglecting to put the road in good
repair. The guards suffered very much from the intense cold and
dampness, and many were allowed, in addition to the half-guinea per
week wages, a further half-guinea, as, on account of their having no
passengers to carry, they received no "vails." All their doctors'
bills were paid, and the following are but a few of the many guards
who received rewards for the manner in which they performed their
duty.

John Rees, guard from Swansea to Bristol, who, in consequence of the
waters being so rapid, was obliged to proceed by horse, when near
Bridgend, was up to his shoulders, and in that condition, in the
night, did not wait to change his clothes, but proceeded on his duty;
was awarded one guinea.

Thomas Sweatman, guard to the Chester mail, was obliged to alight from
his mail box at Hockliffe to fix the bars and put on some traces, up
to his hips in water in the middle of the night, after which it froze
severely, and he came in that condition to London; awarded half a
guinea.

John Jelfs rode all the way from Cirencester to Oxford, and Oxford to
Cirencester through snow and water, the coach not being able to
proceed; awarded five shillings.

To our modern notions, the post-office authorities hardly erred on the
side of liberality, but half a guinea was thought much more of in
those days.

CHAPTER II.

THE ROYAL MAILS (_continued_).

By the beginning of the new century the mail coach system appears to
have begun to settle into its place pretty well. Mr. Vidler had the
contract for the coaches, which he continued to hold for at least a
quarter of a century, and appears to have brought much spirit to bear
upon the work.

In the year 1820 he was evidently engaged in making experiments with
the view of making the coaches run lighter after the horses, and also
to test their stability. He writes to Mr. Johnson, the Superintendent
of mail coaches, May 15, saying, "As below, I send you the particulars
of an experiment made this morning with a mail coach with the five
hundredweight in the three different positions," and he accompanied
this letter with cards, of which I give an exact copy.

POST COACH. MAIL.

MAIL. BALLOON.

DOUBLE-BODIED COACH WITH FORE AND HIND BOOT.

Weight 14 cwt.

Fore wheels 3 feet 8 inches.

Hind wheels 4 feet 6 inches.

28 lbs. suspended over a pulley moved this coach on a horizontal
plane.

The fore and hind wheels raised on blocks at 31 inches did not
upset the coach.

It required only 35 lbs. to move this coach with 5 cwt. in front
boot.

32 lbs. to move it with 5 cwt. in the hind boot.

33-1/4 lbs. to move it with 5 cwt. in the centre of the body.

I confess I am not expert enough to quite understand all this, but I
have been induced to place it before the reader, as it occupies little
space, and may be of interest to those who have a practical
acquaintance with mechanics. I am equally at a loss to say what sort
of conveyance the Balloon or the Double-bodied Coach were.

The Postmaster-General, and those under him, appear to have always
been ready to listen to any proposals or suggestions made to them for
the improvement of coaches, even if, as in the case below, they were
not very promising.

In the year 1811, the Rev. Mr. Milton tried to persuade the
Postmaster-General to adopt a system of broad wheels to save the
roads, and got it adopted by a Reading coach; but, as might be
expected, it was found to add immensely to the draught, and is
described as being the only coach which distressed the horses. The
rev. gentleman must have been a commissioner of some turnpike trust,
and had imbibed such a predilection for broad wheels for the sake of
the roads, that he resembled the tanner, who affirmed that "there was
nothing like leather."

Even without the wheels being broad, the difference between square
tires and round tires is enormous. This was brought to my notice very
strongly one summer when the round tires which were worn out were
replaced by square ones. The difference to the horses in the draught
was considerable, but it was most striking when going down hill, where
the change made the difference of a notch or two in the brake.

But, without having broad wheels, coaches were by far the best
customers the roads had. They paid large sums of money, and really
benefited the roads, rather than injured them. A road is more easily
kept in repair when it has a variety of traffic over it. When, as is
commonly the case now, it is nearly all single horse work, the wheels
and the horses always keep to the same tracks, and the new metal
requires constant raking to prevent the road getting into ruts;
whereas, with a variety in the traffic, the stone settles with little
trouble.

Probably little or no alteration took place in the build of the mail
coaches during Mr. Vidler's contract, but at the expiration of it the
telegraph spring, the same as was at work under the other coaches, was
substituted for what was termed the mail coach spring, which had
hitherto been in use as the hind spring. This alteration had the
desirable effect of shortening the perch, which was favourable to
draught, and, at the same time, it let down the body, which was of a
square build, lower down between the springs, which added to the
stability. The same axles and wheels were continued, only that the
tires, instead of being put on in "stocks," were like those on other
coach wheels fastened on in one circle.

As late, however, as the year 1839, the post-office authorities did
not appear to be quite satisfied, as an enquiry was instituted; but I
cannot find that any change of much value was suggested, and certainly
none was the outcome of the enquiry. A Mr. J. M'Neil, in his evidence,
said that there was no reason why, if the front part of the carriage
was upon telegraph springs, the hind part should not be upon C
springs. This, no doubt, would check the swing attendant upon the C
spring, but might give a rather rude shock to the telegraph spring in
doing so.

Four years later I find that the sum of thirty shillings was allowed
for "drawing the pattern of a coach." The plan, however, was not
forthcoming.

The following statement shows how large the business of the mail coach
department had become by the year 1834, just half a century after its
establishment. In England alone the number of miles travelled daily by
mail coaches was 16,262. The amount of expense for forwarding the
mails was £56,334; amount of mail guards' wages £6,743; the number of
them employed was 247; the number of roads on which the coachman acted
as guard was 34; the number of roads on which the patent coaches were
used was 63, and on which not used was 51. The patent coaches,
therefore, seem to have been brought into use slowly.

MILEAGE WARRANTS (October, 1834).

3 at 1d.
1 at 1-1/4d.
34 at 1-1/2d.
42 at 2d.
4 at 3d.
1 at 3-1/2d.
1 at 4d.
3 paid yearly sums.
1 received no pay.

Perhaps I shall find no better place than this for introducing the
reader more intimately to the mail guards. It will be seen that their
numbers were very considerable, and as they had exceedingly onerous
and responsible duties to perform (and that sometimes at the risk of
their lives), and were the servants of the post-office, it would
naturally have been expected that they should have been well paid. All
that they received, however, from the post-office was ten shillings
and sixpence a week and one suit of clothes, in addition to which they
were entitled to a superannuation allowance of seven shillings a week,
and frequently received assistance in illness. For the rest they had
to trust to the tips given to them by the passengers, and I think it
speaks well for the liberality of the travelling public that they were
satisfied with their places; for having post-office duty to perform in
every town they passed through, they could have had little opportunity
to confer any benefits upon them.

On the subject of fees, too, their employers blew hot and cold. At one
time, as has been observed, they made them an allowance for the loss
of "vails"; and at another, as will be seen by the accompanying
letter, the practice was condemned. A complaint had been received from
a passenger respecting fees to coachmen and guards; but the letter
will speak for itself.

"I have the honour of your letter, to which I beg leave to observe
that neither coachman nor guard should claim anything of 'vails' as a
right, having ten and sixpence per week each; but the custom too much
prevailed of giving generally each a shilling at the end of the
ground, but as a courtesy, not a right; and it is the absolute order
of the office that they shall not use a word beyond solicitation. This
is particularly strong to the guard, for, indeed, over the coachman we
have not much power; but if he drives less than thirty miles, as your
first did, they should think themselves well content with sixpence
from each passenger." It goes on to say that the guard was suspended
for his conduct.

I don't know how far coachmen were contented with sixpence in those
days; but I know that so small a sum, if offered, would have given
little satisfaction in later years, if not returned with thanks.

It will still be in the recollection of a good many that in the early
days of railways the mail bags were only forwarded by a certain number
of trains, which were called mail trains, and were in charge of a
post-office guard. They may also call to mind that there used to be
attached to those trains some carriages a good deal resembling the old
mail coaches, and constructed to carry only four passengers in each
compartment. So difficult is it to break altogether with old
associations.

The guards were then placed on what was termed the treasury list, and
their salary was raised to seventy pounds a year and upwards.

Before I pass on from the subject of the guards, I should like to put
once again before the reader the onerous and, indeed, dangerous nature
of their duties, and the admirable and faithful way in which they
performed them. Among other reports of the same nature I have selected
the following, which occurred in November, 1836:--

"The guard, Rands, a very old servant, on the Ludlow and Worcester
line, states the coach and passengers were left at a place called
Newnham, in consequence of the water being too deep for the coach to
travel. I took the mail on horseback until I could procure a post
chaise to convey the bags to meet the mail for London. This lost one
hour and fourteen minutes, but only forty-five minutes' delay on the
arrival in London."

Out of their very moderate pay, those of them working out of London,
and in Ireland, were called upon to pay the sum of six shillings and
sixpence quarterly to the armourer for cleaning arms, but in the
country they looked after their own. How far these were kept in
serviceable order I have no means of knowing, but judging from a very
strange and melancholy accident which occurred in Ireland, those in
charge of the armourers appear to have been kept in very fit condition
for use, indeed, if not rather too much so. The report says, "As the
Sligo mail was preparing to start from Ballina, the guard, Samuel
Middleton, was in the act of closing the lid of his arm chest, when,
unfortunately, a blunderbuss exploded, one of the balls from which
entered the side of a poor countryman, name Terence M'Donagh, and
caused his instant death." If this had occurred now, I suppose, by
some reasoning peculiarly Hibernian, this accident would have been
laid at Mr. Balfour's door.

As has been shown by the mileage warrant the remuneration paid to the
coach proprietors for horsing the mails was, with the exception of two
or three cases, always very small. How they contrived to make any
profit out of it, with at first only four passengers, is to me a
mystery. I can only suppose that the fares charged to the passengers
were very high. As the roads improved, and the conveyances were made
more comfortable and commodious, three outside passengers were allowed
to be carried, and the pace being accelerated, no doubt many of the
mails had a pretty good time of it till the roads were sufficiently
improved for the fast day coaches to commence running. Up to this time
the only competition they experienced was that of the slow and heavy
night coaches, and all the "_élite_" who did not object to pay
well for the improved accommodation, travelled by the mails, which
were performing their journeys at a good speed considering the then
condition of the roads.

In the year 1811, according to a table in the edition of "Patterson's
Roads," published in that year, the mail from London to Chester and
Holyhead, which started from the General Post-Office at eight o'clock
on Monday evening, arrived at Chester at twenty-five minutes past
twelve on the morning of the following Wednesday, thus taking about
twenty-eight hours and a half to perform a journey of one hundred and
eighty miles. The "Bristol" occupied fifteen hours and three-quarters
on her journey of one hundred and twenty miles, whilst that to
Shrewsbury, which at that time ran by Uxbridge and Oxford, consumed
twenty-three hours in accomplishing the distance of one hundred and
sixty-two miles, and, as Nimrod remarked in his article on the Road,
"Perhaps, an hour after her time by Shrewsbury clock." This shows a
speed of nearly eight miles an hour, which, if kept, was very
creditable work; but upon this we see that Nimrod casts a doubt, and
he adds "The betting were not ten to one that she had not been
overturned on the road."

By the year 1825, some considerable acceleration had taken place. The
Shrewsbury mail, which had then become the more important Holyhead
mail, performed the journey to Shrewsbury in twenty hours and a half,
and was again accelerated in the following year, but to how great an
extent I have no knowledge. I only know that a few years later the
time allowed was reduced to sixteen hours and a quarter, and she was
due at Holyhead about the same time as, a few years previously, she
had reached Shrewsbury, or twenty-eight hours from London; and thus,
owing in a great degree to the admirable efficiency of Mr. Telford's
road-making, surpassing by six hours the opinion expressed by him in
the year 1830, that the mail ought to go to Holyhead in thirty-four
hours. The remuneration paid to the horse contractors was, with very
few exceptions, always very small, as the table already introduced
shows.

Notwithstanding all the improvements in the mails, however, when the
fast day coaches became their rivals, they more and more lost their
good customers and then began the complaints about the small amount
paid by the post-office. So much, indeed, did this competition tell,
that when the Shrewsbury mail became the Holyhead, and changed its
route from the Oxford road to that through Coventry, the contractors
would accept no less than a shilling a mile, fearing the opposition
they would have to meet by those who had lost the mail on the other
road. It was, however, largely reduced afterwards, but to what extent
I have not ascertained; and again, upon an acceleration in 1826, it
was increased to fourpence, with the proviso that if it shared less
than four pounds a mile per month during the ensuing year, the price
should be raised to fivepence.

The Chester mail also obtained a rise to sixpence at the same time, as
it did not earn four pounds a mile; doubtless in consequence of its
having ceased to carry the Holyhead traffic.

The dissatisfaction of the contractors, appears to have continued,
and, indeed, became more intense as the coaches improved and
multiplied, till at last a committee of the House of Commons was
appointed to investigate the circumstances, which, however, I should
have thought were not very far to seek; but at any rate, it elicited
some good, sound, common sense from Mr. Johnson, the superintendent of
mail coaches.

He was of opinion that anything under fivepence a mile was too little,
and that mail coaches which received less than that were decidedly
underpaid. Still the competition was so great that persons were
generally found to undertake the contract for less; but he did not
desire to bring forward persons to take it at less than threepence a
mile, as it would be injurious to them if they excited that sort of
opposition. He considered that a dividend of four pounds a mile a
month was sufficient to cover loss, but with scarcely sufficient
profit. Indeed, fast coaches ought to share five, and I can quite bear
him out in this.

He was, evidently, a very sensible, practical man, and knew that
innkeepers would be found to horse mails for almost nothing, merely
for the sake of the prestige which attached to them, the increased
custom they brought to the bar, and old rivalry, which was often
exceedingly strong, and he preferred to pay a fair sum to be sure and
keep responsible men.

He considered that mails, on account of the limited number of
passengers, worked at a disadvantage when opposed by other coaches;
and no doubt he was right, because if a coach carrying fifteen or
sixteen passengers was nearly empty to-day, it would be remunerated by
a full load to-morrow; whereas, the mail with only seven, when full,
could not be reimbursed by one good load. It required to be pretty
evenly loaded every day to make it pay.

He said a majority of our mail coaches are not earning what is
considered the minimum remuneration for a public carriage.

He considered that to run toll free and duty free was sufficient to
secure them against competition, but, curiously enough, this never
seems to have been tried, for though the roads were compelled to let
the mails run without paying toll, the Chancellor of the Exchequer
always claimed the mileage duty, which was twopence a mile. There was
also a duty of five pounds for the stage-coach licence, or what was
termed the plates, which they were obliged to carry. The mails,
however, were excused from carrying the plates, as it was said His
Majesty's mails ought not to be disfigured; but whether they enjoyed
the more substantial benefit of having the five pounds remitted I have
not been able to ascertain.

As time went on, and fast coaches increased, Mr. Johnson must have
been at his wit's end to know how to get the mail bags carried. Mail
carts appear to have been an expensive luxury, as they cost a shilling
a mile, and he could generally do better with the coach proprietors.

In some cases there was so much difficulty in filling up stages that
it was repeatedly necessary to send orders that if no horses were to
be found to take the coach over a certain stage, to forward it by post
horses.

The Norwich mail, through Newmarket, received eightpence a mile, of
which two hundred pounds seems to have been advanced to help the
proprietors out of difficulties, and to induce them to go on at all;
but that mail was very strongly opposed by an excellent day coach, the
"Norwich Telegraph," from the "Golden Cross," Charing Cross.

So little at this time was the post-office work valued where it
interfered with the hours or increased the pace, that a night coach on
the same Norwich road as the mail declined to compete, and it was
suggested, but not carried out, to put a guard upon a coach, making a
contract with him to carry the letters, giving them some advantage for
so doing, which would make it worth their while; and a coach at one
time was employed to carry the bags between Alton and Gosport, which
were brought to the former place by the Poole mail.

It did not, however, meet with Mr. Johnson's approval. He says, "I
think that the use of coaches in that way goes directly to destroy the
regular mail coach system. I think that if any coach from London to
Manchester were to be allowed to carry ten outsides, it never would
arrive within an hour of the present mail coach, from the interruption
which is occasioned by the number of outside passengers, not to speak
of the insecurity of the bags."

No doubt he was quite right, as a rule; but if he lived to witness the
"Telegraph" coach perform with regularity that journey of one hundred
and eighty-six miles in eighteen hours, he would have confessed that
there might be exceptions to the rule.

He says, speaking generally of the system, with a justifiable spice of
_esprit de corps_, "I think we should look to the general result of
the mail coach system, and that we should provide the best expedient
we can for cases of difficulty. If we employed such coaches we could
not prevent the parties from writing Royal Mail Coach upon them, and
writing Royal Mail Coach Office upon all their establishments in the
towns where they reside; all of which would go very much to destroy
the distinction by which the present mail coaches greatly depend, and
we should consider that after the mail coach system has supplied all
the uses of the post-office, it is still valuable as a national
system. It originally set the example of that travelling which is so
much admired, not only at home, but even throughout Europe, and I hope
continues to set an example now. I am persuaded that the manner in
which the stage coaches have been accelerated arose entirely from
their desire to rival the mails upon their old plan, and they now try
to keep as close to them as they can, though, in all long distances,
they are certainly very far behind. Persons of the first distinction
travel by the mail coaches. I don't mean amateur whips, but persons
who depend upon the regularity, security, and comfort of the mail
coach, and being less likely to meet with disagreeable passengers."

He adds, "I am not aware of any coach that goes as fast as the mail
for a hundred and fifty miles, not even the 'Wonder,' and if some days
as fast, they are able, whenever they think proper, to relax their
speed, which the mail, being under contract, cannot do."

The keen competition between the mails and other coaches is well
emphasized by a letter written by Mr. Spencer, the coach proprietor at
Holyhead, to Mr. Chaplin in London, complaining that as the "Nimrod"
had commenced running through to Holyhead, they were obliged to carry
passengers at lower fares, and saying that he had by that night's mail
booked a lady through to London, inside, for four pounds; and from my
own experience, I can quite believe this, as some of the ladies of the
Principality are like Mrs. Gilpin, who, though on pleasure bent, had a
frugal mind.

When I was driving the "Snowdonian" upon one up journey, upon looking
at the "way-bill," as I left Dolgelly, I perceived that there was a
lady booked, to be taken up a mile or two out of the town, to go a
short distance, the fare for which was three shillings and sixpence
"_to pay_." She took her place in the coach in due course, and having
alighted at her destination, I demanded her fare from her, upon which
she assured me that she could only pay half-a-crown, as she had no
more money with her. I told her that I was responsible for the full
fare, and that she really must pay it; and when she saw that I was
determined to have no nonsense about it, she asked me if I could give
her change for a sovereign, to which I replied, "Yes, or two, if you
like;" whereupon, she opened her purse and exposed to my delighted
eyes two or three shiners.

But to show how serious was the reduction made by the Holyhead mail,
it will be sufficient to say that the fares by the Edinburgh mail,
which ran a distance of only one hundred and thirty miles more, were
eleven guineas and a half inside, and seven and a half outside: a full
way-bill amounting to sixty-eight guineas and a half. Now this, with
fees to coachmen, guards, and porters, would make a journey to the
northern capital from the southern one cost about fourteen pounds for
an inside passenger, and about ten for one travelling outside, and it
occupied forty hours.

The distance may now be performed in nine hours and at a cost of two
pounds, or less by Parliamentary train.

We have seen the mail bags no heavier than could be carried by a boy
riding a pony, but before the railway system commenced they had
increased to such an extent that some mail coaches could carry no
more, and, in two cases, they required to be subsidised. For some time
the "Greyhound," Shrewsbury coach, was paid every Saturday night for
two outside places to Birmingham, in consideration of their carrying
two mail bags as far as that town on account of the number of
newspapers; and when that coach ceased running the Holyhead mail was
paid for outside places to enable them to dispense with that number of
passengers, and find the extra space required for these bags. The
Dover mail also received assistance in the form of an extra coach once
a week for the foreign, or what were called the black bags, as they
were dressed with tar to render them waterproof.

With this before me I cannot help asking myself whether it was not
somewhat of a leap in the dark to reduce the postage at one bound from
the existing high rates to one penny. If the railways had not been
constructed with the celerity they were, there must have been great
difficulty and increased expenses in conveying the mails, as it would
have been impossible for the mail coaches to carry them and passengers
as well. I suppose, however, we must conclude that Sir Rowland Hill
had, with great foresight, and much consideration, assured himself
that such would be the case with the railways, and that he might
safely trust to their rapid development and co-operation for carrying
out his great project. Though the result might not have been equally
clear to others as to himself, he was only like the great engineer,
George Stephenson, who, when examined before a Committee of the House
of Commons, for the sake of humouring the distrust and nervousness of
his interrogators, placed the speed at which he expected the trains to
travel at ten miles an hour, though, at the same time he quite
reckoned upon, at least, double that speed.

The mail coaches working out of London had a gala day every year. On
the King's birthday they all paraded, spick and span, with the coaches
new or else freshly painted and varnished, the coachmen and guards
wearing their new scarlet liveries, picked teams with new harness, and
rosettes in their heads: blue and orange ones in old George the
Third's day; but the orange, for some cause or other, was changed to
red in the succeeding reign. In this form they formed up and paraded
through several of the principal thoroughfares at the West End,
returning to their respective yards preparatory to the serious
business of the night.

It was a very pretty pageant, but there was another scene connected
with them, and which, to my mind, was quite, if not more interesting,
which could be witnessed every week-day evening in St. Martin's-le-Grand,
between the hours of half-past seven and eight. Soon after the former
hour all the mail coaches--with the exception of seven or eight, which
left London by the western roads, and received their bags at the
"White Horse Cellar," or "Gloucester Coffee-house," to which places
they were taken in mail carts--began to arrive at the General
Post-Office to receive their bags. They turned into the yard, through
the gateway nearest to Cheapside, and took up their places behind the
building in a space which has been very much encroached upon since by
buildings, and, as eight o'clock struck, they were to be seen emerging
through the lower gateway, and turning off on their respective routes,
spreading out like a sky rocket as they advanced into the country.

During the long days in summer they turned out nearly as smart as upon
the Royal birthday, but on a dark, stormy blustering evening in
December or January, when snow or rain were falling steadily, there
was an appearance of business, and very serious business about them.
The scarlet coats were obscured from view by the somewhat elaborate
upper coats which have been elsewhere described; and there was a
feeling of serious reality about the whole thing, not unlike that
which comes over one upon seeing a ship start on a long voyage, or a
regiment embarking for foreign service. One felt that they would
probably meet with more or less difficulty, or, at any rate, that
there was an arduous task before them. The horses would be changed,
the coachmen would be changed, the guards would be changed, probably
there would be a considerable change in the passengers, but the wheels
roll on for ever, or, at any rate, till they arrive at their journey's
end, which, in some cases, would extend not only through that night,
but continue till darkness again returned, when the same work went on
through another night, and in two or three instances was not concluded
till the sun was again high in the heavens; and so admirably was the
service performed that the betting was long odds in favour of each
coach reaching its destination at the correct time.

They had to contend not only with climatic influences, but sometimes
the malice of man placed stumbling-blocks in their way. The same
diabolical spirit which induces men at the present time to place
obstructions across the permanent way of railways, led some miscreants
in November, 1815, to place several gates at night right across the
road near Warrington, which caused the guard of the Leicester mail to
get down ten times to remove them, and, but for the moonlight, would
have caused serious accidents, and a cart was also fixed across the
road. Gates were also, on a subsequent occasion, placed on the road
near Stockton to catch the Chester mail. The perpetrators of these
wanton outrages do not appear to have been discovered, or they would
doubtless have met with their deserts, as the Postmaster-General was
armed with large powers for protecting and preventing delay to the
mails. Among other convictions for interrupting the free passage of
the mails, one toll-gate man near Henley is recorded to have been
fined fifty shillings, and also different carters in sums up to thirty
shillings. An innkeeper was liable to the forfeiture of his licence
for such an offence.

The most trying time for the coachmen and guards were the two first
hours on the road. After that, few vehicles were moving about, but up
to that time a large number of all sorts, many of which were without
lights, were in motion, and not only was a very careful look-out by
the former necessary, but the latter had often, especially on thick
nights, to make a free use of his horn to avoid collisions. The roads
for the first ten miles out of town, as far as Barnet to the north and
Hounslow to the west, might, when the days were not at their longest,
be said to be a blaze of light. Between the down mails leaving London
and the day coaches arriving, none with less than three lamps, and
many with five, and some even with six, it was a bad look-out for
travellers who drove horses that were frightened at lights. Indeed, I
have known some persons very nervous on this subject. They seemed to
think that because the strong light dazzled them, it must have the
same effect upon the coachman's eyes; and, when I have been driving a
coach very strongly lighted, I have known men to leave the road and
drive into a field to get out of my way. The presence of a number of
coaches carrying powerful lights, and going both ways, probably does
have the tendency of throwing small carriages without lamps into the
shade, and so making it more difficult to see them. An aspiring
costermonger, trying to thread his way with his donkey and cart among
the numerous other vehicles, might be overlooked without much
difficulty among such a brilliant company.

CHAPTER III.

ACCIDENTS.

I have sometimes been asked, when I was driving coaches, whether I had
ever had an accident, to which I was able to reply for a good many
years, that, though I had been very near several, I had been fortunate
enough to steer clear of them. I had experienced different things
which might easily have ended in an accident, such as a leader's rein
breaking, the bit falling out of a wheel horse's mouth, a fore wheel
coming off, and similar things, but had always managed to pull up
without coming to grief. The case of the wheel might have been
attended with very serious consequences if we had been going fast at
the time, but fortunately it occurred just when I had pulled up to go
slowly round a corner.

At last, however, it did come, and I think I may say "with a
vengeance," though it was not accompanied with any loss of life or
limb, or indeed any very serious consequences. It occurred when I was
working the Aberystwith and Caernarvon "Snowdonian." A pole chain
broke when descending a rather steep fall of ground, which caused the
coach to approach the off-side of the road, and, as the lamps threw
their light very high, I did not see a large stone, commonly called in
the parlance of the road, "a waggoner," until it was close under the
roller bolt, and immediately afterwards the fore wheel struck it with
such violence that the concussion threw the box passenger and myself
off the box. He was thrown clear of the coach, whilst I was pitched
over the wheelers' heads, but, alighting upon the leaders' backs, was
quietly let down to the ground between them. This, mercifully, laid me
what the sailors call "fore and aft," and consequently the coach was
able to pass over without touching me, and beyond a broken arm, I was
little the worse. The horses galloped on for a few hundred yards, and
then ran the off-side wheels up the hedgebank, upsetting the coach
into the road.

This was somewhat of a lesson to me, for perhaps I had got the horses
into the habit of going rather too fast down the falls of ground, of
which there were several in the stage, but if I had not made play
there, it would have been impossible to keep time. We were horsed by
one of the hotel proprietors in Caernarvon, and it was certainly the
worst team I ever drove. Underbred to start with, and, though our pace
was not fast, yet from age and other infirmities too slow for it even
such as it was.

Nevertheless, time was bound to be kept somehow, as we not
unfrequently carried passengers who wanted to proceed from Caernarvon
by the up mail train, and there was not much time to spare.

There was one thing I never would do, and that was to call upon good
horses, the property of one proprietor, to fetch up time lost by the
bad ones belonging to another.

I have previously alluded to being near accidents in consequence of a
broken rein, and when I was driving the Aberystwith and Kington
"Cambrian" I had a very near shave indeed from that cause. We had just
commenced the descent of Radnor forest on the up journey, and I had
begun to "shove 'em along a bit," when the near lead rein broke, and,
consequently, the leaders got, to use a nautical phrase, athwart the
wheelers. Of course, I tightened the brake at once, and was able to
bring the coach to a standstill before any harm was done, as the pole
held, and the horses were quiet, but another yard or two more and the
coach must have gone over, as the leaders were already jammed in
between the wheelers and a high hedgebank, with their heads turned the
wrong way.

[Illustration: J. Sturgess del. et lith. M&N. Hanhart imp.
HORSES IN A HEAP. LEADER DOWN, WHEELERS FALLING
OVER HIM.]

Perhaps some reader may say, "What a shame it was to use such reins,
they ought not to be able to break;" and of course they ought not, but
horsekeepers were not the most reliable of men, and no coachman could
possibly find time to examine the harness at every stage. If leading
reins could be cut out of one length of leather, there would be very
few or no breakages, but as they are obliged to be made of several
lengths sewn together, they are liable to break, as they get old, from
the stitches becoming rotten. Nevertheless such things ought not to
happen, but as I knew they would, I always carried about me two short
straps the same width as the reins, one about two inches long, with a
buckle at both ends, and the other with a buckle at one end and a
billet at the other, so that a breakage would be easily repaired at
whatever part it might occur.

I have twice had three out of the four horses in a heap, from a leader
coming down and the two wheelers falling over him; but in such a case
as this there is very little danger if the coachman has the presence
of mind not to leave his box till there is sufficient strength at the
horses' heads to prevent them jumping up and starting off frightened.

These, and a few others which have come to the front in connection
with other subjects, are all the accidents and close shaves which I
have experienced as a coachman; and when I call to mind the many
thousand miles I have driven, over some very indifferent roads, with
heavy loads, at all hours, in all weathers, and with all sorts of
"_cattle_," I think I may consider myself fortunate. But then I
was insured in the "Railway Passengers' Insurance Company," and
recommend all other coachmen to do the same.

So much for my own experiences. Now for a few which have been gone
through by others.

[Illustration: J. Sturgess del. et lith. M&N. Hanhart imp.
WENT OVER BANK & HEDGE.]

All those which have resulted from climatic influences will be
introduced in connection with their respective causes, but I will
venture to present to the reader others which, from one cause or
another, possess more or less a character of their own, and are
distinguished either by extraordinary escapes, great recklessness, or
some other remarkable feature. The first I shall notice is
distinguished by the singularity of the escapes, and I cannot convey
the circumstances connected with it better than by giving the report
of the inspector upon the accident which occurred to the Gloucester
and Caermarthen mail on December 19, 1835. He says:--

"It appears from the tracks of the wheels, which are still visible,
owing to the frost setting in immediately after the accident, that
about a hundred yards before the cart was met, the mail was in the
middle of the road, leaving room on either side for the cart to pass,
and at this distance the cart was seen to be on the wrong side of the
road. The coachman called out in the usual way when the carter crossed
to his near side of the road, and had the coachman gone to his near
side, no accident would have occurred; but, by the tracks of the
wheels, it is quite clear that the coachman took the off-side of the
road in a sort of sweep, when the leaders coming in front of the cart,
and not being able to pass, went over the bank and hedge, the latter
being low; and then the wheelers followed in as regular a manner as if
they had been going down a street, and all the four wheels of the
coach went on the bank straight forward and went down the precipice in
this manner for some short distance before the mail went over, which
it did on the right side, and turned over four times before it was
stopped by coming against an oak tree. But for this impediment to its
progress it would have turned over again and fallen into a river. The
pole was broken at both ends, and the perch and hind springs were
broken. The fore boot was left in its progress; the mail box was
dashed to atoms, and the luggage and bags strewed in all directions. A
tin box containing valuable deeds was broken, and the deeds scattered
in all directions, but have been all recovered, and are safe in
Colonel Gwynne's possession, to whom they belong. When the coach came
against the tree it was on its wheels. Colonel Gwynne caused it to be
chained and locked to the tree till the inspector should see it. The
distance from the road to the tree is eighty-seven feet. The
passengers were Colonel Gwynne on the box, Mr. D. Jones, Mr. Edwards,
and Mr. Kenrick on the roof, and Mr. Lloyd Harris and Mr. Church
inside. Colonel Gwynne jumped off when he saw the leaders going over
the bank, as did Edward Jenkins the coachman and Compton the guard.
The latter was somewhat stunned at first, but all escaped with slight
hurt.

"Mr. D. Jones was found about half-way down the precipice, bleeding
much, having received several cuts about the head and face, and was a
good deal bruised and in a senseless state. Mr. Harris, when the coach
came in contact with the tree, was forced through the part from which
the boot had been separated, and fell into the river. He remembers
nothing of the accident except feeling cold when in the river, from
which, somehow or other, he got out and went to a farmhouse near,
where he was found in a senseless state. He has a severe cut on the
upper lip, but both he and Mr. Jones are recovering rapidly. Mr.
Kenrick was not hurt in the least. The accident appears to have been
one of the most extraordinary ever heard of, and the escape of the
passengers with their lives most miraculous. The coachman's conduct
seems to have been most censurable. He is reported by the guard and
passengers to have driven the whole of the way most irregularly. He
was remonstrated with by them, but, as has been seen, with no effect.
One of the passengers thought he was drunk, but the guard says he did
not observe it, but that he only heard him speak once. The horses were
so little injured that they were at work the next day in their usual
places."

The coachman was afterwards brought before the magistrates, when he
pleaded guilty to negligence and being on the wrong side of the road,
and was fined five pounds.

On 13th January, 1836, when the Falmouth and Exeter mail was about
three miles from Okehampton, the coachman drove against a heap of
stones which had been placed too far out from the off-side of the
road, and the concussion was so great that both himself and the guard
were thrown off. The horses, finding themselves under no control,
immediately went off at a smart pace, and, although they had three
sharp turns to take, and a hill to go down, actually arrived at the
Okehampton turnpike gate without the slightest accident. There was one
gentleman inside, who was not aware that anything was amiss, but
merely thought the coachman was driving too fast. Perhaps the despised
turnpike gate prevented a serious accident in this case.

In July, 1839, the Ipswich mail, when arriving at Colchester, the
coachman Flack, as is usual, threw down the reins and got down when no
horsekeeper was at the horses' heads, and they galloped off till the
near leader fell and broke his neck, which stopped them. Probably this
accident would not have occurred if the coach had been fitted with a
brake, which the coachman ought to put on tight before leaving his
box.

An old friend of mine writes me, "One night I was a passenger in the
Glasgow mail, driven by Captain Baynton, and felt rather uneasy when I
found we were racing with the Edinburgh mail for the Stamford Hill
toll-gate. The consequence was, we cannoned in the gate, and a most
awful crash ensued, killing two wheel horses and seriously injuring
the other two. It is needless to say that Billy Chaplin never allowed
the captain to take the Glasgow mail out of the yard again." Anything
more reckless than this could not possibly be. Not only were they
racing down hill, but the gate was too narrow to admit of both coaches
going through abreast; consequently, unless the nerve of one of the
coachmen gave way before it was too late, so as to make him decline
the contest in time, a smash was inevitable. Neither had they the
excuse that they were driving opposition coaches.

On September 29th, 1835, when the coachman of the Ipswich mail was
getting into his seat at the "Swan with Two Necks" yard in Lad Lane,
the horses suddenly started off, knocking down the man who was
attending at their heads, and throwing the coachman off the steps.
They then proceeded at a rapid pace into Cheapside, when the coach,
catching the hind part of the Poole mail, the concussion was so great
that it threw the coachman of that mail from his box with such
violence that he was taken up senseless, and was carried to the
hospital in a dangerous state. The horses of the Ipswich mail,
continuing their speed, ran the pole into the iron railings of the
area of Mr. Ripling's house, which breaking, fortunately set the
leaders at liberty, when the wheel horses were soon stopped without
doing any further damage.

To anyone who remembers the situation of the yard of the "Swan with
Two Necks," it will be a matter of surprise how four horses, entirely
left to their own guidance, could possibly steer the coach clear of
the different corners between it and Cheapside.

The following is an instance of a coach absolutely rolling over.

The "Liverpool Express," when near Chalk Hill on her journey to
London, though not a particularly fast coach, was going at a great
pace, as the stage was only four miles, and she was making time for a
long stage to follow. Somehow or another she got on the rock, which is
easily done with a coach heavily loaded on the roof if the wheel
horses are not poled up even, or not the right length, and the coach
is kept too much on the side of the road.

Though I have elsewhere said a good deal on the subject of pole
chains, I have been induced to make a practical application here for
the benefit of any young coachmen who may be disposed to spring their
teams on a nice piece of flat ground. But to return to the "Express."

It was a very old coach, and the transom plate was so much worn as to
have become round, and she rolled over, killing one passenger and
severely injuring two more. "They were thrown off like a man sowing
wheat broadcast," says my informant. One passenger brought an action
against the proprietors and recovered heavy damages, though they tried
to saddle it on the coachman's driving too fast; but the jury laid it
to the bad state of the transom plate, and gave damages accordingly.

The following accident, like many others, is one which ought not to
have happened at all, and it appears to me that, after all the
investigation which took place, the saddle was put upon the back of
the wrong horse. However, I will give the Post-office minute upon the
occasion:--

"London and Worcester mail coach accident caused through carrying an
extra passenger on the box, July 9th, 1838.

"As the mail coach was entering Broadway, the horses ran away; when
the leading reins breaking, the coach was drawn against a post, and
the pole and splinter bar were broken. Fortunately, the coach did not
overturn. The reason for the horses taking fright could not be
ascertained, but the guard stated that the book-keeper at Oxford had
insisted on placing an extra passenger on the box seat with the
coachman, who had declared since the accident that, if the extra
passenger had not been on the box seat, he would have been enabled to
stop the horses.

"An order was issued that the book-keeper and coachman were to be
summoned, with the intent of punishing them both with the utmost
rigour of the law; as regards the coachman for allowing an extra
person to ride with him, and the book-keeper for insisting that the
coachman (who was in a manner obliged to obey his orders) should carry
the passenger on the seat with him.

"The inspector found, when applying for the summons, that he could
only proceed against the coachman. The case was heard before the
magistrates at Oxford, when the coachman was fined in the penalty of
fifty shillings and costs."

The question was raised as to asking the contractor to dismiss the
coachman, but the opinion of the Postmaster-General was that the
punishment had fallen on the wrong man, and he would, therefore, not
insist upon his dismissal.

I should have supposed that, in such a case as this, the guard would
have had power to summarily prevent an extra passenger being carried.
If he had not that power he surely ought to have had it, and if he did
possess it, and did not exercise it, he alone was to blame. But, after
all, it is difficult to understand how the presence of a third person
on the box could have contributed to the breaking of the reins, which
was the ultimate cause of the accident.

Amongst the other old institutions and customs which I have raked up
from the dust-heap of time, is the law of Deodand, and I will now, by
means of an accident, give a practical insight into the working of it.

As the Holyhead mail was one day galloping down a sharp pitch in the
road at Shenley, three boys on their way to school, as was a not
uncommon practice with boys in those days, tried which of them could
run across the road nearest to the horses' heads of the coach. Two of
them got across in time and escaped without harm, but the third, being
foolhardy, tried to return; the lamentable result of which was that
the near side leading bar struck him and knocked him down, causing the
mail to run over him, and he was killed on the spot.

A coroner's inquest was held, before which the coachman had to appear,
but no blame was attached to him, although a deodand of one sovereign
was levied on the coach.

The law appears to have worked hardly in this case. If any one was to
blame, it must have been the coachman, and it was rather rough on the
proprietors to fine them indirectly for an accident over which they
could have no control.

There was a coach from Cambridge to London, called the "Star," what
was called an up and down coach; that is, leaving Cambridge in the
morning, and returning again in the evening, from the "Belle Sauvage,"
Ludgate Hill, which was driven by Joe Walton, a very steady, good
coachman, but which, nevertheless, met with a very serious and
expensive accident.

Sir St. Vincent Cotton, well known afterwards on the Brighton road,
whenever he travelled by the "Star," was allowed by Mr. Nelson, the
London proprietor, to waggon it, and it was considered a great piece
of condescension on the part of old Joe to give up the ribbons to
anyone; but the baronet was a first-rate amateur, and a liberal
tipper, so he waived the etiquette. On one of these occasions the
"Star" was a little behind time, and St. Vincent was making it up by
springing the team a little too freely, which set the coach on the
rock, and old Joe becoming nervous, seized hold of the near side reins
and thus threw her over. Calloway, the jockey, who was on the coach,
had his leg broken, and the accident altogether cost the proprietors
nearly two thousand pounds. Sir St. Vincent was unable to assist them
much, as he was hard-up at the time.

Probably the fact of the coach being driven by an amateur was not
without its effect upon the costs, as, whether he was to blame or not,
a jury would not be unlikely to arrive at the conclusion that he was
the wrong man in the wrong place.

And now I will wind up this formidable chapter of accidents with one
which indicates that the palmy days were passing away, and as it is
always somewhat painful to witness the decay of anything one has been
fond of, I will draw the veil over the decadence of a system which
arrived nearer to perfection than any other road travelling that was
ever seen in the world. Sufficient to say that my own experience on a
journey during that winter on the Holyhead mail quite confirms the
description given of the state of the horses and harness.

I was on the box of the mail one night in the month of January in that
winter, when I saw the old short Tommy, which had lain so long on the
shelf, reproduced, to enable time to be kept, and in one place there
lay by the side of the road the carcase of a horse which had fallen in
the up mail. Perhaps it was not very much to be wondered at that the
proprietors should be unwilling to go to the expense of buying fresh
horses at such a time, but they carried their prudence so far that it
partook of cruelty.

The mail coach minute of the General Post-Office says: "Collision
between the Holyhead mail coach and the Manchester mail coach, 29
June, 1838, at Dirty House Hill, between Weedon and Foster's Booth."

"Both coachmen were in fault. The Holyhead coach had no lamps, and the
explanation of their absence was that 28th June of that year was the
Coronation Day of our beloved Queen, and the crowd was so great in
Birmingham that, in paying attention to getting the horses through the
streets, and having lost considerable time in so doing, in the hurry
to get the coach off again, the guard did not ascertain if the lamps
were with the coach or not. The Manchester coach, at the time of the
accident, was attempting, when climbing the hill, to pass the Carlisle
mail coach, and was ascending on the wrong side of the road. The
horses dashed into each other, with the result that one of the wheel
horses of the Holyhead mail, belonging to Mr. Wilson, of Daventry, was
killed, and the others injured, one of the leaders seriously. The
harness was old, and snapped like chips, or more serious would have
been the consequences. In fact, the horse killed was old and worn-out,
otherwise, the sudden concussion might have deprived the passengers of
life, and, probably, more horses would have been killed. As it was
difficult to decide which of the two coachmen was most in the wrong,
it was left to the two coachmasters to arrange affairs between
themselves."

How the Holyhead, the Manchester, and the Carlisle mails ever got
together on the same road I am unable to say, but can only suppose
that the railway being open at that time from Liverpool and Manchester
to Birmingham, the bags were in some way handed over to them for
conveyance as far as was possible, and were then consigned at the
terminus at Birmingham to their respective mail coaches; but, even
then, I should have thought that the weight of the bags could not have
been sufficient to necessitate a separate coach for each place.

CHAPTER IV.

COMBATING WITH SNOW, FOGS, AND FLOODS.

How vividly do these words recall the many wet and snowy journeys
which I have experienced, both as coachman and passenger, in years
gone by, and, strange as it may appear to most people now-a-days, with
no unpleasurable associations, though no doubt it was rather trying at
the time. Snowstorms, in particular, were very detrimental to
coachmen's eyes, particularly when accompanied with high winds. A good
look out forward could on no account be relaxed, and that placed the
eyes in such a position as was most favourable for the large flakes to
fall into them. One coachman on the Holyhead mail, I forget his name,
lost his sight from the effects of a snowstorm in the pass of Nant
Francon, but probably his eyes had already been weakened by previous
experiences of the same nature. I don't think my own have even quite
recovered the effects of three winters over the base of Cader Idris.

But, notwithstanding all the bad weather I have been exposed to, I
cannot call to mind having ever been wet through outside a coach; but
then I always took care to be well protected by coats, and all other
contrivances for withstanding it. I have, however, seen a
fellow-passenger, when he dismounted from a coach at the end of an
eighty miles' journey, performed in soaking rain, whose boots were as
full of water from the rain having run down him, as if he had just
walked through a brook.

I never had the misfortune of being regularly snowed up, though I have
had some experience of snowdrifts. One of the winters that I drove the
"Harkaway" was accompanied by a good deal of snow, and the road for
part of the journey, which ran over high and exposed ground, became
drifted up, preventing the coach running for two days.

On the third, however, as a slight thaw had set in, it was determined
to try and force a way through, especially as the road surveyor had
sent some men to clear away the snow. As far as the coach road was
concerned, however, these men might nearly as well have stayed at
home, as they had confined their attention to letting off the water
where it had melted, and when the coach arrived at the spot the drifts
remained very much as they had been. Under these circumstances,
instead of the proverbial three courses there were only two offered to
us--namely, to "go at it or go home." I chose the former alternative,
and, catching the horses fast by the head, sent them at the first
drift with such a will, that, between the force of the pace and a
struggle or two besides, the coach was landed about half way through,
when it stuck fast. The workmen now came to our assistance, and dug us
out, and I had then only to do the same at the other two drifts, and
we managed to catch a train at Machynlleth, though not the right one,
as it had taken us two hours to cover a distance of one mile and a
half.

Though I have always been fortunate enough to keep clear of dangerous
floods, I did so once only by a detour of seven miles, thereby
lengthening the day's drive to one hundred, and this reminds me of a
rather droll request that was once made to me.

I was driving my drag with a party going to a picnic, and in the
course of the drive we had to ford a river which had risen very
considerably from the rains of the previous night. When we had got
about half-way across, the water had become deep enough to rise a foot
or so up the leaders' sides, and the spray was dashing over their
backs. Of course, there was nothing to be done except to push on, but
a lady called to me from behind, begging me either to turn round, or
else put her down. If I had acceded to her last request, she would
have met with a cool reception!

Notwithstanding all that was done by the great improvement made in
roads, together with the superior class of horses employed and the
general excellence of the coachmen, nothing could be effected to
prevent loss of time or accidents occurring through severe snows,
floods, and fogs, and the mail-bags were from these causes delayed,
although, as we have already seen, almost superhuman efforts were made
by the guards to get them through the stoppages.

Neither were the Postmaster-General and his subordinates wanting in
using all the means in their power, whether by expenditure of money or
in any other way, to secure the safety and punctuality of the mails.
The expenses incurred during serious snows, in paying for the removal
of the snow or for extra horses to the coaches, were considerable. In
one heavy snowstorm the sum of one hundred and ninety pounds was paid
for these purposes, and for another the cost was one hundred and
sixty.

At one time the attention of the Postmaster-General was called to a
snow-plough, and the following circular was issued in December, 1836,
to the postmasters: "I send you some copies of a description of
snow-plough, which has been used with great advantage in former
seasons for the purpose of forcing a passage through the snow, and I
have to request that you will communicate with the magistrates,
commissioners, trustees, and surveyors of roads, or other influential
persons, urging their co-operation in endeavouring to remove the
impediments to the progress of the mails. The Postmaster-General
relies on all possible efforts being made by yourself and others to
secure this important object, and I would suggest whether, among other
methods, the passage of the mail coaches through the snow might not be
facilitated by placing them on sledges." Whether any pattern of
snow-plough or sledge accompanied this missive is not clear, but,
judging from some correspondence on the subject, I should fancy there
was.

Nothing appears to have been done with either implement, and, indeed,
it is not very likely that they would have been popular with the horse
contractors. If the snow-ploughs had succeeded in clearing a space
sufficient to permit of the passage of a coach, it would probably have
left the road in a very heavy state, and I should doubt whether in the
climate of this country sledges would have been found of much use. Our
frosts are seldom intense enough, and too frequently accompanied with
thaws, to allow of the surface being in a fit state for their use for
sufficient length of time to make it worth while adapting the coaches
to them. If sledges had been brought into general use, probably a good
many proprietors would have followed the example set them by one of
their number, who, when the coachman had succeeded by great exertions
in getting his coach through the snow, said to him, "Why don't you
stick her?" and, strange to relate, she did stick in a drift on the
next journey.

Dense fogs, although not altogether stopping the traffic on the roads,
were more conducive to accidents than heavy snows, which did
absolutely prohibit progress. In the latter case, at the worst,
conveyances were reduced to a complete standstill, and there was an
end of it for the time; but if the fog was of such a density as to be
capable of being cut with a knife and fork an attempt must be made.
Though we hear from time to time of all traffic being stopped in the
streets of the metropolis, I never recollect to have known of coaches
being quite reduced to that state of helplessness; and, here again,
the Postmaster-General is found providing what remedy he could. In
November, 1835, he ordered links to be prepared, but with the
assistance of those, even if carried by men on horseback, only very
slow progress could have been effected. It is one of the greatest
evils attendant on a fog that it renders lamps useless, and very much
circumscribes the light thrown by a link.

If the fog was not very thick indeed, it was possible, though it might
be attended by some little risk, to keep going pretty well, but when
it became so dense as to hide the horses from the coachman's view
there would be no travelling beyond a foot's pace. One could keep
pushing along pretty well, as I recollect having done myself when
driving a mail, and time had to be kept if at all possible, as long as
the hedges could be distinguished, though I hardly knew how soon my
leaders would be in the middle of a lot of loose horses which I could
not see, but distinctly hear clattering along just in front of us.

Notwithstanding all the care that could be taken, accidents were the
inevitable result of the attempts made to keep going, of which I will
now give one or two instances, though they were not of a serious
nature.

On December 3rd, 1839, the Gloucester and Stroud mails, which ran for
a long distance over the same ground, were both drawn off the road and
upset in a thick fog, and within a few days of this occurrence the
Edinburgh mail was overturned into a ditch, owing to the fog being so
thick that the coachman could not see his horses.

But floods were most to be dreaded. As has been shown, though fogs and
snowstorms were great hindrances to locomotion, and the cause of a
vast amount of inconvenience and expense, they were seldom attended
with loss of life, whereas sad records of fatal issues are to be found
in connection with floods, to a few of which I will call the reader's
attention.

On September 11th, 1829, when the Birmingham and Liverpool mail
reached Smallwood Bridge, it turned out that the bridge had been blown
up by the force of the water, and the coachman, not being aware of it,
the coach was precipitated into the river. The guard was washed down
under a remaining arch. The coachman caught hold of a stump and saved
himself. Of the three inside passengers, one being a slender, active
young man, managed to get out by breaking the glass of the window, and
helped to save the guard. The two others sunk to the bottom with one
of the horses, and nothing could be seen but water.

Strange to say, however, the bags were eventually recovered, when the
letters were carefully spread out to dry, and were, most of them,
eventually delivered in tolerable condition. Some few fragments are to
be seen now at the General Post-Office.

Moreton, the guard, was washed down about two hundreds yards, when he
caught hold of a tree, and remained there up to his neck in water for
an hour before he was rescued.

A most serious flood took place near Newport Pagnel, in November,
1823, though, fortunately, not attended with any fatal consequences,
though the stoppage of traffic was very great.

The report to the General Post-Office was, "Owing to a sudden rise in
the waters near Newport Pagnel, two mails, six coaches, and a van were
unable to proceed on their journeys, and, but for the hospitality of
Mr. R. Walker, brick-maker, the passengers, amounting to upwards of
sixty persons, would have been exposed during the tempestuous night to
all the severities of the season. He most kindly opened his doors, and
generously offered to the passengers and horses every assistance and
comfort in his power; turning his own horses out of the stables to
afford shelter to those of the mails."

On February 9th, 1831, the Milford Haven mail met with a most serious
accident.

The following is the report of the inspector, which, though rather
involved, affords a graphic account of the circumstances, and I think
I cannot do better than give it in his words. He says, "About two
o'clock in the morning, when crossing a small bridge near the river
Towy, about six miles from Caermarthen, on the London road between
Caermarthen and Llandilo, owing to the heavy falls of snow and rain on
the mountains and a rapid thaw afterwards, which caused the river to
overflow the bridge and high road, the morning also being very dark,
and the rain falling heavily, the coach was overtaken by the flood,
and before the coachman was aware of it, the water rose to such a
height in a few minutes that the four horses were unfortunately
drowned, and all on the coach would undoubtedly have shared the same
fate but for the meritorious conduct of a passenger named John Cressy
(a servant in the employ of Sir Richard Phillips), who swam through
the flood for about one hundred yards, and secured some boats, which
he brought to their assistance, just as the water had reached the top
of the coach, and by this means all the passengers, together with
coachman, guard, and mails, were saved. John Cressy was awarded
fifteen pounds by the Postmaster-General for his gallant conduct."

Some years after this, but I have not got the date, a somewhat similar
accident happened on the down journey of the Gloucester and
Aberystwith mail. The water had flooded the road at Lugwardine to a
considerable depth, and one of the arches of the bridge had collapsed;
the result of which was that coach, horses, passengers, and all were
precipitated into the water, and were with great difficulty rescued,
and though no life was lost at the time, one passenger, a Mr.
Hardwick, died afterwards from being so long immersed in the water.

CHAPTER V.

NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN.

There can be but few left now who are able to call to mind that the
style of coaches which now run in the summer months from the "White
Horse Cellars," and traverse the different roads out of London, were
to a great extent anticipated more than fifty years ago. But so it is,
and I have a vivid recollection of having seen, in the years 1837 or
38, a remarkably well-appointed coach start from the "Cellars," which
created quite a crowd of people, even in those days when coaches were
as common as blackberries. It was named the "Taglioni," after a
favourite _danseuse_ of those days, and ran to Windsor and back in the
day. It was painted blue, with a red undercarriage, the family colours
of Lord Chesterfield, who horsed it, in conjunction with Count d'Orsay
and Prince Bathyani. Young Brackenbury was the professional coachman,
for, though his Lordship and his brother proprietors drove very
frequently, they kept a curate to do the work when they had other
things to do which they liked better. Brackenbury used to wear a most
_récherché_ blue scarf, with "Taglioni" embroidered on it by the
Countess's own hands.

His Lordship had the credit of being a very good coachman, as will be
seen from the few lines I venture to produce, which appeared in one of
the sporting periodicals of that time:--

"See Chesterfield advance with steady hand,
Swish at a rasper and in safety land,
Who sits his horse so well, or at a race,
Drives four in hand with greater skill or grace."

No doubt, the "Taglioni" did take her share in the ordinary business
of a public conveyance, and not, as in the present day, of carrying
only parties on "pleasure bent," but it had a certain spice of the toy
about it; and I should think did not much exercise the minds of Pears
or Shepherd, who each had a coach on the same road. As a boy, I had an
eye for a coach, and remember, as well as I remember old Keat's birch,
seeing those two coaches pass through Eton. Shepherd's was a true blue
coach, and travelled on the maxim of "Certain, though slow." Pears
drove a coach painted chocolate with red undercarriage, and was
altogether a smarter turn-out than the gentle Shepherd, and travelled
somewhat faster, but, I believe, ran little chance of being run in for
furious driving.

Whilst I stand in fancy upon the classic ground of Eton, there arises
before my sight a pageant, which for better or worse has now, like so
many other antique customs, passed away never to be revived. I suppose
this is a necessary accompaniment of the progress of the age, and that
"Montem" could hardly have been carried on in the days of the boiling
kettle. It would have been as easy to get blood out of a stone as
_salt_ from a rushing train; besides which the present facilities
of locomotion would have brought together an exceedingly miscellaneous
gathering at Salt Hill, to say the least of it.

Still it was a unique institution, and contained in it a very kindly
feeling--that of giving a little start in the world to a youth who had
attained the top rung of the college ladder, and was entering upon his
university career.

Most of the ways and doings of old Eton have found plenty of
chroniclers. The institution in the library is never forgotten. The
birch and the block always come in for their fair share of comment,
but the triennial festival of "Montem" has, so far as I am aware, not
received anything like the same amount of attention; and as I acted a
part in two of them, both in blue and red, I will venture to intrude
upon the patience of the reader whilst I make a short digression,
emboldened thereto by the fact that Eton customs have already been
handled, as well as the ribbons, in a book on coaching.

Well, then, "Montem" was celebrated every third year. The day's work
began by four boys, selected for the purpose and gaily habited,
starting off by two and two, early in the morning, to scour the
principal roads in the neighbourhood, and gather donations in
money--called for the occasion "_Salt_"--from all the travellers
they met with. By this means a nice sum was collected, which was
given to the senior boy on the foundation upon his leaving the college
for the University of Cambridge. At a later hour, about ten o'clock,
the whole school assembled in the college square. The sixth form, if I
recollect rightly, wore fancy dresses, representing some classical or
historical characters, and attended by one or two pages, selected from
the lower boys, and also wearing fancy dresses. The fifth form wore a
rather heterogeneous dress, a mixture of military and civil. It
consisted of a red coat and white trousers, with a sword and sash,
surmounted by a cocked hat, from which was fluttering in the wind a
feather, such as was worn by a Field-Marshal or a General Officer,
according to the taste of the wearer, or in what he could get. The
lower boys were dressed in blue jackets and white trousers, each
carrying in his hand a white wand, in length about six or seven feet,
and in the procession were mixed alternately with the semi-military
fifth form.

In this formation they marched round the quadrangle of the college,
upon debouching from which a somewhat strange scene ensued. The
wearers of the red coats drew their swords and began hacking
vigorously at the wands, which were held out by their owners for the
purpose of being cut to pieces. The swords, however, were so blunt
that more wands owed their destruction to the hands of the blue boys
than the swords of the red. The work of destruction being
accomplished, the whole fell in again and marched to Salt Hill, where
dinners were provided for them by their different houses; and dinner
being ended, they returned to college as they liked.

The two hotels at Salt Hill are, I believe, now converted to other
uses, and the dwellers there would be as much astonished to see a
"Montem," as one of the hundred and odd mails and coaches which passed
their doors in those days.

CHAPTER VI.

HORSES.

A book about coaching would be very incomplete without touching on the
subject of horses, as they were like the main spring of a watch: the
coach could not go without them.

Of course, a very large number of horses were employed in the coaches,
and I can remember that many people feared that, if coaches ceased to
run, the number and quality of the horses bred in the country would
deteriorate, in consequence of this demand for them falling off; but
that, like most prognostications of the same sort, has proved to be
unfounded, and I should think the number of horses at the present time
employed in public conveyances, must exceed considerably what it was
in the days of road travelling.

However that may be, no doubt very large numbers were kept by the
different coach proprietors, both in town and country, at the head of
which stood Mr. Chaplin, with about thirteen hundred; and a very large
capital was invested in the business, though probably not so large as
might be supposed by the uninitiated; for, judging by my own
experience, I should say that the price of horses used for that
purpose has been over-stated. Nimrod, who was no doubt a very
competent authority on the subject, at the time he wrote his article
in the _Quarterly Review_,[1] puts the average price at twenty-five
pounds, with about thirty pounds for those working out of London; but
I think those prices are rather high.

[1] _Quarterly Review_ for 1832, vol. 48, pages 346-375.

This statement may appear erroneous to those who would judge by the
sums now obtained for the horses which have been running in the summer
coaches out of London in the present day; but the two businesses have
little in common, except that the coaches go on wheels and are drawn
by horses. Six months' work on a coach, loaded as they used to be,
would take more out of the horses employed in them than would two
years in the coaches which look so pretty at Hatchett's on a fine
summer morning, and no one could have afforded to give high prices for
what wore out so quickly; not but that horses increased in value for
the work required of them as they became seasoned to it; but, again,
some wore out in the seasoning. Many horses, doubtless, were bought at
the price of twenty-five pounds, and perhaps in some cases a little
over, though those were exceptional cases, and for myself, I can say
that I never found it necessary to exceed that sum; but in drawing the
average, we must not leave out of the calculation the large number of
horses which found their way into coaches in consequence of the
infirmity of their tempers, and, I may add, of the bad management they
had been subjected to.

If a horse, though from no fault of his own, ran away with the
parson's or lawyer's "four-wheeler," he was immediately offered to the
nearest coach proprietor. If another kicked a commercial traveller out
of his buggy, he was at once offered to the coach proprietor. If a
gentleman's carriage-horse took to any bad habit, which rendered him
unfit for his work, or unpleasant to the coachman to drive, he also
was offered to the coach proprietor; and I once came into possession
of a very good horse at the price of ten pounds from this last cause.
He had taken to jibbing, probably because he had a very light mouth,
which caused him to resent the bearing rein, and was offered to me for
the above-named sum, at which I immediately closed. The coachman
brought him to my stable in time for him to be harnessed and take his
place in the team going out that evening, and he stayed to witness the
start, quite expecting, I make no doubt, to see some fun. I put him at
lead, by the side of a very good horse, though, by the by, he had
brought a coach to grief when placed alongside of the pole. Of course,
there was no bearing rein, and he only just stood for a moment till
the bars began to rattle against his houghs, when he started off with
a bound and a hop, and never gave the slightest trouble.

Horses also got into coaches in consequence of unsoundnesses, which,
though little or no detriment to them for work, reduced their market
value very considerably; and I once became possessed, for the sum of
eighteen pounds, of a very fine horse, nearly thorough-bred, and only
five years old, because he had become a roarer, and which had been
bought as a hunter for one hundred guineas only a short time
previously; but though he ran over a nine-mile stage with some very
heavy hills upon it, having no weight on his back, he never made the
slightest noise. There are other causes of unsoundness, such as
crib-biting, which are no detriment to a coach-horse, though lowering
their value in the market.

Then, again, if a horse fell and chipped his knees, whether it arose
from any fault or not, he was, as a general rule, sold out of a
gentleman's stable; and I once picked up an excellent horse merely for
fear he should break his knees. He was a very well-made animal, with
the exception that he turned his toes in. He was the property of a
clergyman, who must have known little or nothing about horses, and, I
suppose, some knowing friend who thought he _did_ know must have
alarmed him by telling him that the horse was certain to come down
with such a pair of forelegs; so, to save a greater loss, a horse
worth thirty pounds at least came into my possession for twenty. So
far from falling, he was a safe goer, both in saddle and harness.

The instances to which I have alluded may be classed perhaps more as
shortcomings and failings than vice, but to those must be added many
whose tempers were apparently incorrigible, and they could only be put
in a coach, as those who travelled post would not put up with them.

Just one word _en passant_ on that mode of travelling, as it must be
quite unknown to the majority of people now living; but, as one who
can recollect it, I venture to say that a well-built comfortable
carriage with four post-horses was the perfection of travelling. It is
not to be denied that it took a day or two to get over the same
distance as is now travelled by a train in a few hours, but the inns
on the road were good, generally afforded comfortable accommodation,
the cooking was also good, and the wine very fair, of which it was
usual to order a bottle for the "good of the house." Some of them had
a special character for what were called sleeping-houses, and
travellers would continue their journey for an extra stage for the
purpose of reaching one of these houses for the night. The attention
paid to posting travellers was very great. Upon the carriage stopping
at the door, the entrance was perceived to be lined by the hostess,
waiters, chambermaids, etc., and the universal question was, "Will you
please to alight?" If they elected to proceed, the cry was immediately
raised, "First and second turns out," and in a minute would be seen
approaching two mounted postboys, with two other men leading the hand
horses, and in about three minutes they were off again, dashing along
at about nine miles an hour. If, however, the day's journey was ended,
the dusk of evening was exchanged for a comfortable private
sitting-room with a bright fire--no public rooms in those days. At the
time appointed a comfortable dinner would be served, the _piece de
resistance_ being very commonly placed on the table by the host
himself. Indeed, one of the great recommendations of the inns of those
days was that the host and hostess interested _themselves_ in the
comfort of their guests. If we add to this the fact that at the
beginning of the journey you were taken from your own door, and at the
end of it landed at your own or a friend's door, without the
experiences of a crowded railway station, there may be something to be
said in favour of it.

I can imagine I hear someone say, "Oh, yes, it might have been
pleasant enough for those swells who could afford to pay for four
horses, but how about the smaller fry who were obliged to be contented
with the modest pair?" Well, I must confess that the odd mile or two
an hour did make a difference, and posting in a travelling carriage
packed with all its boxes, and containing four or five persons about
it, such, in fact, as was called by the postboys a "_bounder_, having
everything except the kitchen grate," was often, especially in winter,
not unattended with discomfort and tediousness. How well can I
recollect, when quite a child, at the end of a day's travelling of
seventy or eighty miles on a winter's day, when twilight was fast
sinking into darkness, envying the people who I could see through the
windows of the houses, sitting round a blazing fire! And, indeed, the
blacksmith, blowing up the fire on his hearth and making the sparks
fly from the iron by the blows administered by his brawny arms,
possessed much attraction. This, however, was quite made up for on the
down journey later in the year. This, indeed, was unalloyed delight.
After having been "cribbed, cabined, and confined" in London for five
months, with nothing more nearly approaching to the country than Hyde
Park and Kensington Gardens (and in those days there was not a
flower-bed in either of them), when one emerged from the suburbs,
which was sooner done in those days than now, and the eye beheld the
fields and green hedges, made brilliant by wild flowers, it seemed a
very Elysium; and to hold in one's hand a posy of dog-roses was bliss
itself, even though they had received a peppering of road dust. I have
always loved a dog-rose since, and shall continue to do so as long as
I live. The longest summer day was hardly long enough for taking in
such happiness. No amount of railway travelling will ever leave behind
such happy reminiscences of childhood. Then, again, there was time and
opportunity for other things, which can never be the case in railway
travelling; amongst which was the childish pleasure of being fitted
with a new straw hat whilst the horses were being changed at
Dunstable. It was not all _couleur de rose_, neither was it all labour
and sorrow. Like all other things in this world, it had its lights and
shades.

Perhaps it may be urged against this that there is no time for such a
mode of travelling now. It may be so, but, as a nearly worn-out old
roadster, it strikes me there may be too much haste for comfort. It
was undeniably slow and expensive, though it may be doubted whether
people generally spent more money in travelling than they do now. The
facilities offered by railways cause the present generation to move
about a great deal more freely than did their ancestors.

But all this is skirting, and I must return to the scent, which was, I
think, very much the sort of horses which we coachmen had to drive.
They were, indeed, often a very queer lot, but they had to be driven,
and were driven. Of course, four of this sort were not put all
together; there were always one or two steady ones among them. But
even if they had been, and all had determined to do wrong, it is most
improbable that all would have gone wrong in the same way, and one
could have been played off against another. This is one great
advantage in four. In single harness, if the horse takes to bad ways,
you have the whole team against you, but that is, as I have said, very
unlikely with four. Perhaps this may account for the old saying that
"half the coachmen were killed out of gigs."

When I got a horse that was very troublesome, I always found that
doubling him, that is, making him run his stage double, brought him to
his senses in the course of a week or two. Some may say it was not
right to risk the lives and limbs of the passengers, by using unruly
horses, but, practically, very little danger was incurred. I will not
say that no accidents ever occurred from this cause, but they were
very rare. If an accident should have happened, and a life been lost
from that cause, the old law of "deodand" would have touched up the
proprietor's pockets severely; besides which, horses of this
description were only entrusted to the hands of well-tried men.

Notwithstanding all this, however, accidents did occasionally happen
from this cause, and sometimes of a very serious nature, one or two of
which I will now produce. The first was an exceedingly calamitous one,
and I think I cannot do better than use the words of a friend of mine,
who was an eye-witness to the scene, as they will be more likely to
convey a full idea of the horrible appearance presented by the mingled
heap of injured human beings and horses, with the coach on the top of
them, than anything I can say at second hand. He says: "I was staying
at the 'White Horse,' at Hockliffe, for a few days, and on the first
night I was disturbed by a man knocking at the front door and
shouting, 'Get up, the "Greyhound" is overturned and all the
passengers are killed.' Upon hearing of this terrific slaughter," he
proceeds to say, "I got up, and with others started to the scene of
the catastrophe, which was about a mile and a half distant, opposite
to a large mansion called 'Battleden House,' then the residence of Sir
G. P. Turner, and there we found a mass of human beings and horses all
of a heap. The coachman was under the coach with his leg broken, many
of the passengers dangerously injured, and two horses had legs broken.
It was a shocking sight to witness, and melancholy to hear the
squealing of horses, and the passengers moaning."

After all, however, it was found that there was not so much damage
done here to the passengers as would have been expected. None were
killed, nor any so seriously injured but that they were able to be
conveyed to their destinations in a few days.

The cause of the accident originated in the near side wheeler
accomplishing what she had tried to do many times before, viz., kick
over the pole, which broke, when, of course, all control was lost, and
the coach was overturned into the ravine where it was found.

In the other case no injury was sustained by anyone except the culprit
himself, who must have been an exceedingly violent brute.

In October, 1839, when near Maidenhead a horse in the Bristol mail
kicked so violently that he broke the pole-hook and harness, and put
out his own shoulder in his fall.

Blind horses, again, found their way into coaches, and, if high
mettled ones, performed very good work. The worst of them was, that
they became too knowing about the corners, and when at wheel, where
they were generally driven (though in Ireland I have had both leaders
blind), if the coachman was not on the look out for it, might hang him
into one. Some however, were very bold, and high couraged. I recollect
one which ran in the lead of the "Greyhound" out of Shrewsbury, of
this sort. He was so handsome a horse, that, if he had been all right,
he would have commanded at least a hundred guineas for a gentleman's
carriage, but being blind, of course, was only fit for a coach. One
day, when I was travelling by that coach, and was as usual driving, he
quite won my heart by the high couraged manner in which he elbowed his
way through the large droves of cattle which were being driven along
the road from Shrewsbury fair.

The reader will now understand how it came to pass that the average
value of coach-horses was so low, as these blemished, unsound, and
vicious ones never cost more than fifteen pounds, and very often not
much above half that sum. I once purchased a good mare for the very
modest figure of twenty-five shillings. It may be asked, how was it
possible to buy a horse fit to run a coach, or indeed do any fast
work, for such a sum? to which I reply, that she had only one place
where she could possibly be utilized, and that at the time she came
into my possession coaches were continually being supplanted by
railways, and therefore there was very little demand for such as her.
She had neither size nor form for a wheeler, even if she would have
condescended to go there, and only of use on one side at lead, I
forget which, and I suppose would very promptly have made fragments of
any carriage behind her in single harness. She was, however, a real
good leader where she chose to go, and I drove her in a match team of
chestnuts for a considerable time. I bought her with confidence, as I
had frequently driven her in another coach previously.

Talking of only going on one side, I do not think coachmen always
consider this enough. There is a theory with many gentlemen, and their
coachmen, that the sides should be changed frequently; but with hard
work, such as that in a coach, horses do their work better and easier
to themselves by always going in the same place. At one time I was
horsing a coach, and driving one side, as it was called, another
coachman driving the other; and, consequently, we both drove the same
horses over some stages. He said to me, "That in one of my teams, one
leader could not go up to the other." I asked him on which side he
drove him. He replied, "I put him on the off side, because I can get
at him better there." I said, "You try the near side," which was where
I always drove him, "and you will not want to get at him." Of course,
if a horse begins to hang to one side, it has become time to change
him.

The vices which most commonly brought horses into coaches were jibbing
and kicking. I do not recollect to have ever known a case of either of
them being thoroughly eradicated, though they were sufficiently kept
under to render them of little moment; but they were liable to return
if a fresh hand took hold of them, especially if he showed any signs
of indecision. It is astonishing how soon horses find out a change of
hand.

The great thing to attend to with jibbers is not to keep them
standing. If they have time to plant themselves they will give
trouble; but if the coachman is up and off at once, they will
generally start.

With kickers at wheel I never found two or three good punishments over
the ears to fail in bringing them into subjection, or, at any rate,
sufficiently so, though a "ventilated" front boot might occasionally
be the result. With a road coach, however, this did not much signify.
A leader might be harder to tame, as he cannot be got at in the same
way. I have heard it said of some one that he was so excellent a whip
that he could hit a fly on a leader's ear. I can only say I never saw
it done. But if a leader will not stand still to kick, he can be
driven; kick and keep going doesn't much matter.

In justice to the horses, however, it must be said that they are not
the only ones to blame. No small number of them are rendered vicious,
or unsteady, by mismanagement, and irremediable mischief is not
unfrequently produced from quite unexpected causes. To give one
instance: I am convinced that many a leader is set kicking by the
pole-chains being too slack.

I fancy I hear someone say, "What on earth have the pole-chains to do
with the leaders?" Well, I will try and show how intimately they are
connected.

When pulling up or going down-hill, the wheel horses must come back
towards the coach sufficiently to tighten the pole-chains. They will
thus be nearer the coach, or further off, by just that number of
inches. Then, as the leaders' reins are held in the same place as the
wheelers', they must also come back by the same number of inches,
which may, in the case of very slack pole-chains, be sufficient to
allow the bars to fall upon the leaders' houghs, which is a fertile
source of kicking; and it is a very true saying that a horse which has
once kicked in harness is never to be trusted again.

For a large number of jibbers I believe the bearing rein to be
responsible. But, after all, horses are queer creatures. They have as
many fads and fancies as men and women. Some will kick for being
touched in one spot, and some in another. I drove a leader for some
time who was easily set kicking by the bar touching him above his
houghs; but upon lengthening his traces by two or three holes, so as
to let the bar fall below the hough, in case it should touch him, he
was quite contented. And, again, some horses will kick when touched by
a low pole, others by a high one.

Coupling reins also are frequently so arranged as to be a cause of
discomfort to horses. It is manifest that when one horse carries his
head high, and his partner low, the coupling rein of the former should
be above that of the latter; and, again, if one horse tosses his head,
and his coupling rein is the under one, he must cause much annoyance
to the other, especially if he has a light mouth.

Parliament has now passed a Bill for the purpose of regulating the
traffic in horseflesh. Such an Act, if it had been placed on the
Statute Book, and had resulted in creating a demand for horseflesh for
food, would have been a great boon to stage coachmen formerly, as they
would not have been called upon to wear out the old horses. It would
have paid the proprietors better to put them up to feed when they
became stale, and fatten them for the market. It would also have
prevented much suffering to horses.

And now, if any reader is astonished at the price of horses, if he has
never heard of a less price for a set of harness than sixty guineas,
he will be incredulous when I mention the cost of that generally used
with coaches. Eighteen pounds was the top price usually given, and I
have driven with well-shaped and good-looking harness which only cost
sixteen. Indeed, at Walsall, which was the chief emporium for
low-priced harness, if two or three sets were taken at the same time,
they could be had for eleven pounds each. Collars were not included.

Of course, such harness as this did not last long, and, perhaps, was
not the cheapest in the long run; though I doubt whether the leather
was not better then than it is now, being all tanned with oak bark.

CHAPTER VII.

THE ROADS.

As the railways are dependent upon the excellence of the permanent way
for the pace at which they can travel, so were coaches indebted to the
good state of the roads for the great speed at which they were able to
perform their journeys by day and night; and it may be safely said,
without fear of contradiction, that in no other country had they been
brought so near to perfection, although a good deal of improvement
still remained to be done, and would have been effected if the railway
era had been postponed for another decade. Everything that could be
thought of to lighten the draught was being adopted. Not only were
hills cut down and valleys filled up, but on one hill on the Holyhead
road, between Dunstable and Brickhill, a tram of granite had been laid
on one side of the road to render the draught lighter to carriages
ascending the hill, though it had been very greatly eased by a deep
cutting through the chalk. I was one day travelling up by the
"Wonder," and when going up this hill, Harry Liley, who was driving,
although it was a hard frost, put the wheels upon the tram to show me
what a help it was to the horses. If it was of so much benefit when
the frost had hardened the road, what must it have been when the road
was soft? If these trams had become general, they would have saved the
extra pair of horses which used to be frequently employed to pull the
fast coaches up the worst ascents. Notwithstanding all that had been
done on the main roads, there remained miles and miles of cross roads
which were traversed by coaches at high speed, where little had been
effected in the way of lowering hills, and it was then that the
greatest care and skill were required to ensure the safety of heavily
loaded coaches.

It must be recollected that up to quite the latter end of the great
coaching days no patent breaks were in use. They were not invented
till about the year 1835, and were very slow in coming into use. I
knew a case of the Post-Office authorities refusing their sanction for
the proprietors to have one attached to a mail coach at their own
expense, because they thought it would break the contract with the
coachmaker, and I can quite imagine that the breaks were no favourites
of those who miled the coaches, as there was not only the original
cost, but the use of one has a considerable influence in wearing out
the hind wheels.

I had on one occasion undertaken to horse a coach over a stage, when
the coach was supplied by one of the proprietors, and to save his hind
wheels he wanted to omit the break. I immediately said, that no horse
of mine would be put to a coach which was sent out without a break, as
I believed them to be a great security against accidents. I have known
of one instance, however, where, a break caused an accident instead of
preventing it, but then the hind wheels must have been in a shameful
condition, as they both broke upon its application.

I really think that wheel horses held back better in the days before
breaks came into use than they do now. It was then necessary to take a
hill in time, as it was called, which meant going slowly over the
brow, and about half-way down it; and horses were, by this means,
better educated in holding than they are now, when it is not generally
necessary even to slacken the pace at all, as the pressure upon the
horses can be regulated by the break. This is also an enormous help to
a fast coach, even if it did not render the use of the skid almost
unnecessary.

I was once talking this subject over with little Bob Leek, who, from
having driven the "Hirondelle" for some years, was a very competent
judge, and I remarked that I thought a break was worth a mile an hour
to a coach. He replied, he thought it was worth two, and I have little
doubt he was right over hilly roads, such as some which the
"Hirondelle" travelled over.

It was to the system of turnpike trusts, now unfortunately no more,
that this country is indebted for the general excellence of its roads,
and against which I never heard more than two objections raised. One,
that it was very unpleasant and annoying to be obliged to stop at the
toll bars and pull out the money when the fingers were cold, and the
other, that it was a very expensive method of collecting money. The
first of these objections, I think, may be passed over in silence. It,
no doubt, is unpleasant to do anything which requires the use of the
fingers when they are cold, but surely that should not be held to be
sufficient reason for putting an end to a system which in the main
worked well. To the second a plea of guilty must be returned; but with
mitigating circumstances. Indeed, there was no necessity for it at
all, if the trustees had carried out their work well.

The "pikers," as they were called, did, no doubt, make a good living
out of the business, but so do most middlemen, and they need not have
been permitted to make an exorbitant profit. But before going further,
perhaps, I had better explain what a "piker" is, as they, like the
dodo, no longer exist. Well, then, they were a class of men who leased
the turnpike tolls, each of them generally taking all the gates in a
larger or smaller district. Sam Weller said they were "Misanthropes
who levied tolls on mankind;" but, as a general rule, these men did
not collect themselves, but employed others to do it, who resided in
the houses. Of course, these "pikers," like other people, thought
their first duty was to themselves, and they usually put their heads
together previous to the lettings of the gates, and agreed to divide
the spoils amicably, instead of bidding against one another. There was
nothing, however, to prevent the trustees putting in collectors, the
same as the pikers did, and by that means find out the real value of
the tolls, and at the same time keep Mr. Piker up to the scratch.
This, indeed, was often done, but when it was omitted, great losses
were incurred, as I have found to my own advantage.

The tolls were not levied under the General Turnpike Act of
Parliament, but under local Acts, and it was usual to insert in these
local Acts a clause compelling coaches to pay toll both going and
returning, even if drawn by the same horses. This, I think, was a
decided hardship, but it was generally mitigated by the pikers
allowing them to pay for only three horses instead of four, making six
a day instead of eight, and this led to a contest which I once had
with a piker.

At the first gate, a short distance out of Machynlleth, the lessee of
it refused this concession to the "Harkaway" coach; therefore, when
the day arrived for the annual letting, my partner and myself outbid
him and took the gate, putting in a collector, and at the end of the
year, after paying for the collecting, we had fifty pounds to divide
between us. Now, I think I have shown that if proper care was taken by
the trustees, no necessity existed, on this score, for abandoning the
turnpike system, for in this one example they gratuitously threw away
at least sixty pounds a year, which ought to have been available for
repairing the roads.

In another trust on the same road, the trustees tried to be a little
too sharp. As I have already said, the tolls were levied under local
Acts, and in this case, the special clause relating to coaches had
been, either intentionally or inadvertently, omitted, and we
consequently claimed that the coach should, like all other
conveyances, be exempted from paying if returning with the same
horses. The trustees, however, contended that a public conveyance was
liable to pay both ways, independently of a special clause to that
effect. The question was referred to counsel's opinion, which was
given in favour of the coach, and this so exasperated the trustees
that they proceeded in hot haste to erect a new toll-gate to catch it
after the change of horses.

In their hurry, however, they forgot that there were yet three months
before the annual letting of the gates, and they found themselves face
to face with the difficulty that no one could be persuaded to become a
lessee for that short period.

In this dilemma, we coach proprietors stepped in, and, _faute de
mieux_, were accepted as lessees, the result being that, instead of
paying the toll at the end of the three months, we retired from the
business with a profit of thirty shillings, after paying the expenses
of collecting.

On the day following, the stables were changed to the other side of
the gate, and the coach ran through free with a ticket from the
previous one.

These seem small things to write about, but they afforded some
interest and amusement at the time, and may be worth mentioning as
being a sample of the life.

The turnpike system, no doubt, like all other human inventions, had
its defects, but to it we are indebted for the excellence of our
internal communications; and I cannot help thinking that it was unjust
both to the bondholders and the ratepayers to allow it to die out.
Though the former were fairly liable to the diminished value of their
property caused by the rivalry of the railways, they, or those before
them, had honestly lent their money upon the understanding that the
Acts of Parliament would be renewed from time to time, and it was
little short of robbery to allow them to expire. Hardships, no doubt,
did exist in some districts from the excessive number of the toll
gates, especially in Wales, where it was no uncommon thing to be
called upon to pay at three gates in a distance of ten or twelve
miles.

This was found so burdensome that it produced the Rebecca riots in
South Wales, which led to the passing of an excellent Act for that
part of the Principality, and if that Act had been extended to North
Wales and England, the turnpike gates would, most probably, have been
standing at the present day, and I know not who would have been losers
by it, except the doctors and the timber merchants and other hauliers.
At any rate, the cost of repairing the roads fell on those who enjoyed
the benefit. The system, on the whole, worked well, and might easily
have been made to work better, and I entertain no doubt, indeed, I
know it, that large numbers of those who clamoured against it, would
now recall it if possible. If it was expensive to collect the tolls,
it appears to be impossible to collect a wheel and van tax.

It is easier to destroy than to build up, and I only hope that, after
the same length of trial, it may not be found that it would have been
wiser if we had remained contented with the old form of county
government, which had done its work so well for a great number of
years.

Since the above was penned the South Wales Turnpike Act has expired,
thereby saddling £25,000 a year upon those who do not use the roads,
instead of upon those who do. Where is Rebecca now?

CHAPTER VIII.

A SCIENTIFIC CHAPTER.

I had intended to conclude my remarks on the subject of the mail
coaches, but have been induced to invest in another chapter by an
ingenious proposal which was brought to the notice of the
Postmaster-General in the year 1807. If it led to no results, at any
rate it shows that there were those who took a keen interest in the
subject.

[Illustration]

The Rev. W. Milton, Rector of Heckfield, Hartford Bridge--the same
reverend gentleman whose acquaintance we have previously made as the
advocate of broad wheels--invented a coach, which he claimed would
prevent overturns and breakdowns. The body of it was this shape, which
I give as it appears in the minutes on the subject, still preserved at
the General Post-Office. It is certainly singularly deficient in
graceful curves, and I can only suppose that it is meant to indicate
the manner in which the luggage box was placed. At any rate, we are
told that the coach was so constructed that nearly all the luggage was
carried in a box below the body of the carriage, which was not higher
than usual; but the appearance of the coach was deemed heavy, and as
the load was low, it was thought that the draught would be heavier
than the coaches then in use. Many coaches which loaded heavily with
luggage were already furnished with a receptacle for it denominated
the "slide," which was fixed under the hind axle, and thus, no doubt,
did add considerably to the draught; but to remedy this, as we shall
see, Mr. Milton makes use of unusually high wheels.

To prevent breakdowns the coach was fitted with idle wheels on each
side of the luggage box, with their periphery below the floor, and
each as near as was requisite to its respective active wheel. These
idle wheels were ready, in case of breakdowns on either side, to catch
the falling carriage, and instantly to continue its previous velocity,
till the coachman could pull up the horses. The bottom of the luggage
box was fourteen inches from the ground, and the idle wheel five or
six inches. The following extracts will convey a better idea of the
value of the invention. It evidently received a practical trial:--

"Mr. Ward, the coachman, soon found what he might venture, and he took
the coach accordingly over such ground as would most assuredly have
caused an overturn of any stage-coach with its usual load. This was
repeatedly done in the presence of six insides and ten outsides,
besides the coachman. Seven parts, perhaps, in ten of the load, which
was nearly three tons, lay on the hind wheels. These, by the
patentee's directions, were six feet high, and with no dishing, and,
as he deemed, sufficiently strong. They did not fail; but it was the
opinion of Mr. Thomas Ward, and all the practical men on the spot,
that they were not such as could show the principle of safety as to
dangerous and side-long ground up to its full extent. As it was,
however, any common coach would have gone over at fifty different
places during the stage which this coach took without the least
symptom of overturning. A linch-pin of one of the hind wheels was
taken out. The coach went on, and presently off came the wheel, and
down dropped the carriage about seven inches on a small idle wheel,
which immediately continued the motion without the least inconvenience
to the outside passengers or puzzle to the horses, and the shock was
not greater than what was produced by taking over a stone in the
night, and, if it had been required, the coach might have been taken
five or six miles by means of the idle wheel; and Mr. Thomas Ward very
confidently thinks these two circumstances of safety would invariably
attend any stage-coach so constructed."

So confident was the reverend patentee that he wrote the following
challenge: "I have no fear that either science or practice can
effectually controvert the following remark: Supposing, in a
stage-coach as at present, that the centre of gravity be four feet
above the main axle, and the width on the ground the same in two
cases, then the higher the wheels the greater will be the danger of an
overturn from an equal cause. It is not so with me, for the higher the
wheels the deeper may the luggage box be, so that the antidote follows
the growth of the danger; and here, from the full conviction I have of
its truth, I wish to offer the following opinion: Let seven or eight
parts in ten of the total load be within the hind wheels, and let them
be at least six feet high, on horizontal cylindric arms, by this
disposition, compared against the present, more than one horse in
forty would be saved or spared, for the goodness of the draught would
come out even through the intricacy of the medium, the fore-carriage;
but in many coaches the door at the middle of the side does not permit
so advantageous a hind wheel, and that at the expense just mentioned."

The invention was not accepted by the Postmaster-General, although it
was, to some extent, admitted to combine a principle of safety with
the celerity required in mail carriages. The cost, however, of such a
change in the mail coaches would have been very heavy, which, no
doubt, had a good deal to do with its rejection.

The fact, however, is that these inventions were not wanted, clever as
they might have been and effective where required. The mail coaches
were not called upon to travel over "dangerous and side-long ground,"
but upon fairly good roads at the worst, for which the coaches, as
then constructed, possessed quite sufficient stability, and the idle
wheels, however great the security they would have imparted to
heavily-loaded stage-coaches, were not required on the mails, where
the sustaining power was so great in proportion to the comparatively
light loads which they carried, that a broken axle was unknown among
them, and it was impossible for a wheel to come off with Mr. Vidler's
axle and boxes; and, of course, the idle wheels must have added to the
weight.

Although these patent-safety coaches were rejected by the Post-office,
they did find favour in one or two quarters. One worked for some time
between London and Stroudwater, and several were in use in Reading, as
the following certificate will prove:--

"We, the proprietors of the Reading coaches, beg leave thus
jointly to inform our friends and the public that we have each of
us, during the last five weeks, tried the Rev. W. Milton's
patent-safety coach, built by Brown and Day. We are fully
persuaded that its draught will be as fair as that of any coach on
the road, and have such a conviction of the safety of its
principles, that we have no doubt that we shall be induced to put
them on as early as shall be convenient to every coach we have.

"Signed,

"WILLIAMS & CO., Coachmasters, London and Reading;

"E. EDWARDS, Coachmaster, Reading;

"J. MOODY, Coachmaster, London."

It is very disappointing that no drawing appears to have been
preserved showing what these coaches looked like when they stood up
upon their wheels; but evidently the patent parts were capable of
being applied to the ordinary coaches, as is proved by the following
portion of an advertisement:--

"Any particulars regarding these coaches and the application of the
principles of it to stage-coaches at present in use may be had by
applying to Brown and Day, Coachmakers, Reading." And again they say,
"The safety of the plan depends upon the union of the two principles.
The same charge will be made for the application of the luggage box or
idle wheels, where either may be required separately, as for the two
together."

The Postmaster-General appears to have been fortunate in the number of
his counsellors, but, judging by the following suggestion, it would
have required a very great multitude to produce wisdom. Indeed, a more
objectionable change could hardly have been thought of.

By a memorandum at the General Post-Office, it appears that in
February, 1831, the Rev. W. C. Fenton, of Doncaster, made a suggestion
that postilions should be substituted for the coachmen. The suggestion
was rejected, as it was considered that the change of postilions would
necessarily be much more frequent than the change of coachmen, and
therefore the chances of delays would be greatly multiplied. It was
also thought that, were such a mode of driving adopted, it would be
the means of raising the fares, and the mails would again require
support. Many of the coachmen drove from forty to fifty miles without
a change. The Postmaster-General, Duke of Richmond, considered the
horses had enough to do without carrying additional weight.

The horses would not only have had the weight of an extra man to share
among them, but they would have had to carry both men in a way best
calculated to distress them. The easiest way for a horse to move a
weight is by his draught, the worst when placed upon his back.

Then again there was the difficulty of who was to pay the postilions.
They must have been changed at every stage, and I should think the
passengers, although in those days pretty well accustomed to giving
fees of one sort or another, would have objected to being _kicked_ by
two postboys at the end of every stage.

I can fancy I hear one of the uninitiated exclaim, "I should think
they would object to such treatment as that at any time," but, in the
language of the road, the word _kicking_ had no brutal signification
attached to it--it only meant asking the passengers for their fees,
and the word _shelling_ was often used to express the same process in
less objectionable language. The word was understood something in the
way that an Irishman uses the word _kilt_, which the following
anecdote will explain:--

An English gentleman had rented some shooting in Ireland, and had gone
over to enjoy the sport. On the morning after his arrival, having
engaged a lot of boys to beat for him, he started off to look for
game, but before he had gone very far, after firing a shot, he heard a
great commotion and chatter among the boys. Thereupon he called out to
them to ask if anything was the matter, to which the answer he
received was, "Nothing your 'anour,' only you've kilt a boy." I need
hardly say, that, being a stranger to the country, he was very much
alarmed till he reached the spot where the boys were assembled, when
he discovered, to his infinite relief, that the word "kilt" conveyed
no mortal signification in that country.

I will venture to give a few more instances of the propositions made
to the Postmaster-General. Some were certainly ingenious, but he very
wisely could not be induced to give up a system which had been well
proved, for what at the best, and however clever in itself, was
untried.

On September 14th, 1816, Mr. Peter M'Kenzie of Paddington offered to
construct a steam engine to run on rails at the rate of fifteen miles
an hour. He asserted that the mountains of Wales or any other part of
the United Kingdom would not impede its velocity. To enable him to
build a small model he asked that a hundred and fifty or two hundred
pounds might be advanced to him. As may be supposed this was refused
him, and the plan was abandoned. This gentleman also claimed that in
1802 the idea of printing newspapers by steam first originated with
him.

Mr. John England, writing from Aberdeen in August, 1820, wants the
department to adopt a travelling carriage or machine, which was
impelled by means of the expansion and contraction of compound fluids.
The machine was stated to weigh about 90 lbs. The plan was not
entertained. Again, in the year 1832 the same person submitted an
improved machine worked on the same principle, but, as may be
imagined, it met with no better result than the first.

In the next suggestion we appear to be approaching the present railway
system, but I should suppose that he intended laying his rails by the
side of the turnpike roads.

Mr. Thomas Gray, writing from Brussels in November, 1821, suggests
steam coaches on iron rails. In support of it, he stated that the
journey to Edinburgh would be done in half the time taken by the mail
coaches, and that the expense of laying the iron rails would be more
than covered by the extra passengers that could be carried in the
additional coaches which could be run.

This also met with a cold reception, and no doubt appeared at the time
to be simply speculative, yet the light of time compels us to take a
different view, and to recognize in it the germs of a great invention.

Mr. James Rondeen, of Lambeth, on June 3rd, 1823, submitted a scheme
to convey the mails by engines consuming their own smoke, of four or
six-horse power, which would cost from two hundred and fifty to three
hundred pounds each, and impel a coach at the rate of from fifteen to
twenty miles an hour. He estimated that there were two hundred and
eighty coaches running daily from London and on the cross roads, the
work of which, if his scheme was adopted, would be performed by
eighty-two engines. This scheme was considered an extraordinary one,
but the condition of its acceptance imposed by the inventor could not
be complied with.

I should gather from what is said here, that Mr. Rondeen's plan was of
the nature of a traction engine to run upon the existing turnpike
roads, and, if I am right, the Postmaster-General of that day had a
better opinion of that mode of progression than of the system of
rails. No doubt, several descriptions of traction engines were tried,
but none succeeded, and I have heard of surveyors of turnpike roads
laying such extra thick coverings of stone on the roads as to clog the
engine wheels; but however this may be, experience has proved that
they are not capable of much pace, however useful they may be found
for slow traffic.

A Mr. Knight, in January, 1822, suggested an elevated road or railway.
The carriage was to be slung from the road on rails above, and two
men, suspended in it at the bottom, would turn machinery to propel it
along the groove or railway. After the idea had been talked over by
Mr. Knight with the head of the mail coach department, the latter was
satisfied that it would be of no use to the Post-office.

A Mr. Elmes of Regent Street, in October, 1823, offered to convey the
mails to any part of the United Kingdom at the rate of from fifteen to
seventeen miles an hour, by means of a mechanical carriage, which
could be worked by horses or not. He stated that his contrivance would
reduce the cost of conveyance to about a quarter of that then
incurred. It need hardly be said that this proposal was too indefinite
to be entertained.

On the 25th of November, 1826, a Mr. Thorold, of Great Milton,
Norfolk, suggested the application of steam to mail coaches for
propelling them on turnpike roads. This plan appears to have been
considered feasible, as it is recorded that the plan was not adopted,
as it was considered best to wait until the idea was _seen_ in
practice.

On April 27, 1826, a Mr. Cadogan Williams submitted a plan for the
rapid conveyance of mails by means of tubes. The outline of his plan
was this: That a square of cast-iron or brick be laid from one stage
to another, with its extremities communicating with vaults of
sufficient magnitude for the purpose; one vault having an
air-evaporating apparatus, and the other a condensing, such as is used
to blow iron furnaces worked by steam power. At the neck of the tube
joining the condensing apparatus should be two stoppers, on the
principle of those that are used in beer cocks. Between the stoppers
should be a door for putting in the box of letters. On closing it the
stoppers should be turned, and the condensed air would exert itself in
the box and produce its rapid movement. This was certainly very
ingenious, if somewhat complicated. At any rate, he was informed that
his plan was not applicable to the purposes of the department.

And now comes a really wonderful proposal. A Mr. Slade, on May 14,
1827, offered to convey the mails at the rate of a mile a minute; but
he appears not to have been of a very communicative disposition, as he
did not state by what means this very high rate of speed was to be
obtained, but he estimated the cost for carrying out his plan at two
thousand pounds a mile. As may be supposed, this was considered too
visionary and costly to be enquired into further.

And now I have got what I think will raise a smile. It will hardly be
believed, but so it was, that a Royal Engineer--an officer, I
suppose--suggested that the mails should be conveyed by means of
shells and cannon. His idea was to enclose the letters in shells and
then fire them to the next stage, three miles distant, and then to the
next stage, and so on to the end of the journey. He said a good
bombardier could drop the shell within a few feet of the spot where
the next one was stationed.

As early as the year 1811 a trial was made of a drag, or break,
apparently a good deal resembling the breaks now so generally applied
to wheels. In that year a drag, as it was then called, was introduced
by a Mr. Simpson to the Post-office authorities, and was tried on the
Brighton and Worcester mails; but the advantages claimed for it by the
patentee were not borne out in practice. The advantages claimed were
that in case of the reins or pole breaking, or horses running away,
the drag could be at once applied by the guard without leaving his
seat, as it was put in action by a lever or shaft affixed to the body
of the coach, and worked by hand. It does not appear, however, to have
possessed sufficient attractions for it to be brought into general
use, as nothing more is heard of it. In the year 1811 I don't suppose
there was much to be feared from horses running away!

Before quite taking leave of science I will venture to touch upon a
subject which, if not exactly science, is nearly related to it. At any
rate, it can only be solved, if at all, through the medium of science.
I can fancy I hear some votary of science exclaim with some
indignation, "What is this doughty question which is to puzzle
science?" To this I can only answer that if science has or can solve
it satisfactorily, I humbly beg its pardon for doubting its powers.
Well, the subject I am raising is expressed by the word _Traction_.
Traction, I mean, as connected with pace. What is the difference in
power required to move a given load at ten miles an hour and at five
miles an hour? I have somewhere seen it argued as if it was the same,
and that therefore the horses must suffer greatly over the latter part
of a stage, supposing that their powers were less and the weight to be
drawn remained the same. Of course, the weight does in one sense
continue the same, but every coachman who has had any experience in
driving will have observed how much longer time it requires to pull up
a coach going at a high speed than one at a slow pace; which of itself
proves that after the coach is once set in motion and has acquired a
fast pace, the exertion required to keep it going is considerably
reduced. Without for a moment forgetting the cardinal truth that "it
is the pace which kills," it is quite apparent that the disease and
the remedy, to some extent at least, travel together. Another fact
which can be attested by all old stage coachmen, and which goes
strongly to prove how much reduced the draught is by pace, is that
four light horses can get a load up a steep pitch at a gallop which
they would be quite incapable of surmounting at a walk.

Then there is another item which adds to the complexity, which is
this--that the greater the weight, the longer the time required for
pulling up. It would seem, therefore, as if a heavy weight, to a
certain extent, assisted its own propulsion. The same circumstances
are observed on the railways, and, probably, from the hardness of the
metal on which their wheels run, it is still more apparent than on a
road. I was once travelling for a short distance upon a locomotive
engine without a train behind it, and upon asking the driver how long
it would take to bring his engine to a standstill, he said, "I could
stop it almost immediately now, but it would be very different with a
long train behind her." Probably there are few coachmen who have
driven any great number, of miles through whose brain this question
has never trotted, but without arriving at any solution of it. At any
rate, I confess my own ignorance, and only throw down the question at
the feet of science after the custom of the ages of chivalry, when the
herald threw down the gauntlet into the midst of the assembled
knights, to be picked up by the best man.

The following narrative will convey some idea of the force of velocity
which appertains to the wheels of a coach travelling at a high
speed:--

As the "Mazeppa" coach was proceeding on her journey from Monmouth to
Gloucester, when descending a hill about three miles from the former
place at a fast pace, the tire of the near hind wheel came off, and
the impetus was so great that it caused it to pass the coach and run
on for nearly half a mile, thus proving that the power required to
draw a carriage when it has attained much speed must be very much
diminished. It only requires to be kept moving.

CHAPTER IX.

A NOTE ON THE HORN.

Many guards on the day coaches carried key bugles, on which some of
them were able to play exceedingly well, and helped to while away many
a half hour on the journey; but on the mails and night coaches, the
former especially, straight horns were employed. Formerly these were
all made of tin, hence the "yard of tin," but in later years a good
many copper or brass ones came into use, and a few, in quite late
years, adopted a twisted horn without keys, much like the infantry
field bugle used in the army.

[Illustration: J. Sturgess del. et lith. M&N. Hanhart imp.
OBSTRUCTION ON THE BRIDGE.]

These horns, of whichever sort, were generally efficacious in warning
carts, carriages, or other vehicles to get out of the way, but were of
little avail against the worst obstruction met with on the roads. At
that time all the sheep, cattle and pigs which travelled from one part
of the country to another were obliged to make use of the highways,
and though the drovers were possessed of marvellous skill in avoiding
the turnpike roads on account of the tolls, nevertheless large droves
and flocks were not unfrequently met with, and were the cause of
considerable delay, and also sometimes of altercation. I was once
forcing my way through a large drove of cattle, rather more
unceremoniously than the drover approved of, when he threw his heavy
stick at my head, and only narrowly missed it; and here perhaps it
will not be out of place to introduce a few cases which exhibit the
danger incurred by coaches from the presence of cattle and sheep,
whether in droves and flocks or straying on the roads.

On November 7th, 1789, the Preston and Carlisle mail, after changing
horses at Garstang, when about three miles on the road to Preston, in
crossing a bridge over the Lancaster and Preston canal, encountered
some drove cattle in the road, when the coach was coming down the
bridge, which is a declivity, and the coachman pulled his horses too
much to the off-side of the road to avoid the cattle, and the off
wheels ran up the bank and upset the coach. Nobody seems to have been
injured.

A curious accident happened to the Devonport mail _en route_ to Bath,
on November 7th, 1839. The guard's report says: "A short distance from
New House, a bullock straying on the road became frightened at the
light of the lamps, and attempted to leap the hedge, but falling back
against the leaders, the horses all sprung across the road, and
running the coach into the hedge, threw the coachman off the box, and
the wheels passed over him." He, the guard, then proceeds to say that
he only lost one hour and a half's time, but gives no account of what
became of the coachman. His whole thoughts appear to have been
concentrated on his business, and he reminds one of the anecdote about
the trainer and the old woman.

As a string of race-horses were out at exercise one morning, one of
them bolted and came into collision with some obstacle which threw him
down, seriously injuring him, and killing the lad who was riding him.
The unfortunate lad was soon removed, and the trainer was lamenting
over the horse when he was accosted by an old woman, who happened to
be passing by at the time, and began to condole with him on the
accident. He replied, "Ah! it is a bad job, indeed, I am afraid he
will never be able to run for another race;" but, says she, "How's the
poor boy?" "Oh! drat the boy, he's dead," was the answer.

Sheep were sometimes the cause of accidents. On January 10th, 1840,
when the London and Hull mail was within a mile of Peterborough, the
horses shied at a flock of sheep, and ran the coach into a ditch six
feet deep, overturning it, and causing three hours' loss of time.

And now, having indulged in a stave on the guards' horns, perhaps the
coachmen's whips may feel themselves neglected if I have no word to
say about them, and on this subject it must be admitted that rather
different opinions prevailed. _Tot homines tot sententiæ._ Some
preferred, I think most professionals did, a stiff crop and a light
thong, but others, especially amateurs, were in favour of a supple
stick with a heavier thong. The latter are no doubt easier to manage
in a high wind, and can also be caught up with greater facility; but,
in my humble opinion, the former are far preferable for general use, a
supple stick and a heavy thong being insufferable in wet weather.

In the selection of a whip it is easy to observe whether the person
selecting is an old hand or not. If he is he will pick out a crop
without knots, or with as few as possible, whereas the tyro is nearly
sure to take the knotty one. The large knots, of course, tend to keep
the thong, when caught, from slipping down towards the hand, but it
ought to be caught tight enough to stay in its proper place without
them, and sticks always break first at the knots.

Some people are now in favour of long crops. I fancy a cricketer might
as well demand a bat of extra length. In old days W. and T. Ward, who
were by odds the best whipmakers, never thought of turning out whips
with crops of greater length than five feet two or three inches to the
holder, and most were not quite so long. Beyond this length it becomes
almost impossible to obtain a good balance. A very long stick must be
top heavy, and I will defy anyone to use a long top heavy whip as
effectually as one that is of a more handy length.

Even when the cattle were good, and but little whip was required,
thongs soon became rotten from the sweat of the horses and the rain,
and to avoid the frequent necessity for new ones, what were called
"three quarters and middles" were made, which coachmen were generally
able to splice on for themselves. Thongs also wear out more quickly if
they are not kept supple, for which purpose a dressing of two-thirds
hog's lard and one-third bees wax will be found very efficacious.

CHAPTER X.

THE HOLYHEAD ROAD.

I have endeavoured to show in a previous chapter, on the subject of
coachmen, with what rapidity the carrying business of the country
increased and multiplied, but, perhaps, this may be better elucidated
by taking some particular road and district, and devoting a separate
chapter to the subject; and probably no better road can be selected
for this purpose than that from London to Holyhead, which, judging
from the amount of money and care expended upon it, one may naturally
conclude was better adapted for great speed than any other, and this,
I believe, really was the case. Some particular portions of other
roads might have been better--for instance, the Hartford Bridge
flats--and as great, or possibly still greater pace accomplished; but
for the distance over which this road extended, no other could vie
with it; and I will venture to say, that on no other were an equal
average number of miles of fast work performed; and we must recollect
that it is one thing to go very fast for a short distance, but another
to keep that pace up for the distance of from one hundred miles and
upwards. Well, then, if we take this road, and make Birmingham, the
most important town on the road, a sort of centre of a district, we
shall obtain a pretty good insight into the subject.

The metropolis of the Midlands has always been celebrated for its
public spirit, and it has nowhere been made more conspicuous than in
the way it met the demand for good coaches.

In the year 1823, I find there were twenty-three coaches advertised in
_Aris's Gazette_ (which was the principal medium of advertisement
at that time in the Midlands) to run out of Birmingham to all parts of
the country, though no doubt there were others, for it would appear
that some inns, from which coaches ran, did not avail themselves of
that medium of publicity. Probably, therefore, after making all
allowances, we shall not err much in putting the total number at
thirty.

Four years later, in 1827, the number of those advertised had risen to
no less than thirty-eight, and making the same allowance for those not
advertised, the total can hardly be placed at less than forty-five, an
increase of fifteen in four years. From this time the number was
steadily added to, till by the year 1835, which may be called the
culminating point (making allowances for those not advertised, of
which three occur to my memory at once--namely, the "Rocket" night,
and "Triumph" day coaches, through Oxford and Henley to London, and
the "Erin-go-bragh" from Liverpool, driven by Tolly, all three horsed
by Mr. Waddle from the "Hen and Chickens," in New Street), there must
have been at least sixty. During these years also the pace had not
been neglected, as several of these new coaches travelled at great
speed, and the pace of those of older standing had been increased. In
the year 1826, considerable stimulus was given to speed by a great
acceleration in the time of the Holyhead mail. About which time the
"Union" commenced to perform the journey from Shrewsbury to London,
through Birmingham and Oxford, in four hours less time. The "Oxonian"
also, over the same ground, was accelerated five hours.

It will tend to exhibit the great keenness with which the competition
was carried on, if I here introduce two advertisements which appeared
in the newspapers during this period.

In the month of June, 1834, the following advertisement appeared in
_Aris's Gazette_:--

"The 'Greyhound,' only carrying passengers and small parcels, leaves
Birmingham at a quarter past nine in the evening, arriving in London
at a quarter to eight on the following morning. This coach has an
imperial on the roof to prevent luggage being placed there, and
passengers' luggage must be sent to the office in time to be forwarded
by the 'Economist.'"

An attempt was at one time made to light this coach with gas, but the
practice was, I believe, discontinued. Unless it proved of very great
benefit in the power of light, it had certainly one great drawback,
which was that the necessary apparatus occupied the whole front boot,
causing that receptacle to be altogether useless for the carriage of
parcels.

Again, in July, 1835, the following advertisement appeared in the
_Shrewsbury Chronicle_:--

"Isaac Taylor, ever grateful for the distinguished support he has
received from the public, announces a new and elegant fast day coach
to London, called the 'Stag,' every morning at a quarter before five,
arriving at the 'Bull and Mouth,' opposite the General Post-Office, at
seven the same evening. I. T. has been induced to commence running the
'Stag' to prevent the celebrated 'Wonder' being in any way injured by
racing, or at all interfered with in the regularity which has been
hitherto observed in that coach."

It will be observed here, that the "Stag" was advertised to run the
distance of one hundred and fifty-four miles in fourteen hours and a
quarter. Whether this pace was really intended to be always maintained
may perhaps be doubtful. Probably it depended a good deal on the
amount of racing with the "Nimrod," but of this more will be heard
presently. For the present, however, we will retrace our steps for a
few years, and take a journey or two with the "Tally-hoes," and go
more into particulars than has yet been the case.

Previously to the great improvement which I have denoted in the night
travelling, a great advance had been established in the day work by
the three "Tally-hoes." These coaches were put on the road about the
year 1823, and were among the fastest coaches in England. Why all
three bore the same name I never heard, and cannot understand, unless
it were with the view of intensifying the keenness of the opposition,
which, as they were all on the road at the same time, was very great.
I suppose, however, that it was found to create inconvenience in
practice, as they were soon supplied with distinctive titles--one
being designated the "Independent Tally-ho," another the "Eclipse
Tally-ho," and the other the "Patent Tally-ho." They were timed at ten
miles an hour, but when racing, as was frequently the case, were not
particular to a mile or two, and, of course, went much faster. Indeed,
on the recurrence of what may be called the coach festival, May 1st,
they more than once covered the distance, one hundred and eight miles,
under seven hours. The "Independent Tally-ho," started from London
from the "Golden Cross," Charing Cross, horsed by Horne as far as
Colney, and driven by Andrew Morris to Dunstable, where the box was
filled by an old friend of mine, to whom I am indebted for assistance
in compiling this book, but whose name I am not at liberty to mention,
who also horsed it as far as Stoney Stratford. Out of Birmingham it
started from the "Nelson," horsed by Radenhurst, and driven to
Daventry and back by Harry Tresslove, who was an excellent waggoner,
and always galloped the five-mile stage between Dunchurch and the
"Black Dog" in eighteen minutes. The road was straight, hard, and
flat, and ran between a splendid avenue of trees--perhaps some of the
finest elms in the world--the property of Lord John Scott. The stage
was horsed by the landlord of the "Bell," at Dunchurch, who could
afford to do the work well, as he reaped the benefit of the coach
breakfasting at his house on the up journey, and dining there on the
down one.

The "Eclipse Tally-ho" was horsed out of Ludlow on one side by Mrs.
Mountain, from the "Saracen's Head," Snow Hill, and consequently
sometimes called "Mountain's Tally-ho," and on the other side by
Chaplin, from the "Swan with Two Necks," Lad Lane, as far as Colney,
and driven by Tom Boyce, who also horsed it over twenty-five miles of
the lower ground. It was horsed out of Birmingham by Waddle.

[Illustration: J. Sturgess del. et lith. M&N. Hanhart imp.
GALLOPED THE FIVE MILE STAGE, IN EIGHTEEN MINUTES.]

The "Patent Tally-ho" ran from the "Belle Sauvage," Ludgate Hill, and
horsed by Robert Nelson as far as South Mimms, and was driven out of
London by old Bob Flack, who also horsed twenty-five miles of the
lower ground.

It will be observed that a change had come over coaching, in that the
coachmen were covering a good many stages of the lower ground.
Probably this arose partly from the innkeepers, now that the
opposition had become so exceedingly keen, not caring for the
business, and also partly from the great change which had taken place
in their social position and character. They were become quite a
different class of persons to what they had been a generation before,
and, indeed, such might be expected to be the case, as the occupation
was one which brought them into contact with gentlemen, and it was
entirely their own faults if they derived no benefit from such
association. The pace, in consequence of the severe competition, had
also become so severe that the old style of coachman, who had been
accustomed to take it easy, and stop at most of the roadside inns he
passed, and got half-seas over before arriving at the end of the
journey, could no longer be employed, and their places had to be
filled with an altogether different class of men. Indeed, it was no
longer the disgusting work, in which he was most esteemed who could
hit the hardest, and had for its supporters only the lower grades of
society, but had become one which no gentleman need be ashamed to be
occupied in, or have lost his self-respect by embracing; and,
doubtless, if coaching had not been supplanted by railways, the press
of competition, which is felt by all classes, would have induced more
of them to turn their attention to it.

In new countries, such as our colonies, what a man's employment is, so
long as it is honest and respectable, goes for little or nothing,
provided he is a gentleman in every sense of the word. He may drive a
bullock dray in the morning, and associate with the _élite_ in the
evening--at least, so it was when I knew Australia a "long time
ago," which would appear to be a better system than our own more
exclusive one. Probably, however, it would be impossible to carry it
out in an old and wealthy country like that in which we live.

The dust kicked up by the Tally-hoes was not long laid in Birmingham
before the three Shrewsbury coaches came bustling through the town on
their journey to London. Of these the "Wonder" probably had the most
world-wide fame of any coach in England. It set the fashion of day
coaches running long distances, and was the first ever established to
cover much above one hundred miles in a day, the distance from London
to Shrewsbury being one hundred and fifty-four; and it was unrivalled
in its punctuality. It was horsed by Sherman out of London, from the
"Bull and Mouth" to St. Albans, to which place he worked most of his
coaches on that road, though he extended the distance in the case of
one Birmingham night coach for some time as far as Daventry, a
distance of seventy-four miles. Whether this was done because he
considered it too good a thing to part with, or that it was so poor a
concern that no one would join him in it, I do not know. The "Wonder"
was driven out of London by Wood as far as Redbourn, from whence Harry
Liley worked till he met John Wilcox, when they both turned back; and
between Birmingham to Shrewsbury, Sam Hayward occupied the box. I need
hardly say that on such a coach, which was the pride of the road, they
were all first-rate artists.

The "Wonder" was allowed to enjoy the fruits of its enterprise, and to
go on its way unmolested for several years; but by the year 1830, or
thereabouts, its success as a good loading coach tempted opposition,
and the "Nimrod" was called into existence. It started from London on
alternate days from the "Bull Inn," Holborn, and the "Belle Sauvage,"
Ludgate Hill, horsed from the former by Horne, and from the latter by
R. Nelson, and worked by them, side by side, to Redbourn, and driven
by my old friend already mentioned on the "Independent Tally-ho," who
drove it to near Stoney Stratford and back, making a drive of one
hundred miles a day. On one occasion, in consequence of the up coach
being delayed by a broken pole, he was obliged to drive on till he met
it below Daventry, which lengthened the day's work to about one
hundred and seventy miles without a rest.

This distance is, I think, one of the longest ever driven at one time.
Mr. Kenyon has been known to drive the "Wonder" the whole journey from
London to Shrewsbury, which is nearly equal; but I fancy it has seldom
if ever been exceeded, except by the memorable drive of Captain
Barclay, who undertook for a bet to drive two hundred, and won it. But
to return to the "Nimrod."

The opposition of these two coaches was, as one would have thought,
fierce enough, but it was not sufficient to satisfy the wounded
feelings of the "Wonder" proprietors, who were indignant at anyone
presuming to oppose the coach of which they were so justly proud.
After a few years, therefore, the "Stag" was ushered in by the glowing
advertisement I have given in a previous page. It was started to run a
little in front of the "Nimrod," which was followed by the "Wonder,"
and was therefore pretty well nursed. The orders given to the "Nimrod"
coachman were, if the "Wonder" pressed to keep first, which caused him
of course to run into the "Stag," and then, as may well be imagined,
the racing became somewhat exciting, and the "Wonder," we may rely
upon it, did not always act up to the pacific course laid down for her
in the advertisement, and the result was that the three coaches
sometimes arrived all together at the "Peacock" at Islington two hours
before time. Perhaps the greatest wonder would have been if a coachman
had been found who would not have joined in the fun when it was going
on under his eyes.

When the proprietors found they could not kill one another by racing,
they tried the suicidal plan of cutting down fares, which were
reduced, between London and Birmingham, from two pounds eight
shillings inside to thirty shillings, and outside from thirty
shillings to one pound. This, coupled with the wear and tear of horse
flesh caused by the pace, was, of course, ruinous, and one of them
told me that he lost fifteen hundred pounds in a little over twelve
months by it. Why an agreement could not have been come to whereby the
coaches should have run at different times seems to be a puzzle. One
would have supposed that it would have answered better for them to
have set out with an hour or two between them, which would have
afforded better accommodation to the public. I can only imagine one
reason which actuated them, which is, that every traveller would have
taken the first coach as long as there was room for him in it, for
fear of the others being full, and so the first would have had an
undue advantage, and little or nothing might have been left for the
last.

There was also another fast night coach between London and Birmingham,
called the "Emerald," driven out of the latter place by Harry Lee,
whose complexion was of a very peculiar colour, almost resembling that
of a bullock's liver, the fruit of strong potations of "early purl" or
"dog's nose," taken after the exertions of the night and before going
to roost.

Besides all the coaches I have named, the Oxford road was not
neglected. The well-known "Tantivy" commenced running over it between
Birmingham and London about the year 1832, and must have proved
successful, for in 1835 the same proprietors put on another fast day
coach, called the "Courier," to start at a quarter before seven in the
morning, and precede the old-established coach, which started two
hours later.

There was also a third road between the great Metropolis and that of
the Midlands which ran through Warwick, Banbury, and Buckingham, and
which was traversed by the Birmingham mail, and, if I recollect right,
also by a night coach called the "Crown Prince."

It was not, however, on the London roads only that coaches increased
and multiplied, for in the year 1834 the "Fairtrader" commenced
running to Liverpool, and three other new coaches were advertised in
other directions--namely, the "Red Rover" to Brecon, the "Beehive" to
Manchester, and the "Criterion" to Chester.

At this time, there was also an exceedingly keen opposition between
Birmingham and Derby. One of the coaches was horsed and driven by
Captain Baring, and the other was horsed by Stovin and driven by
Captain Douglas, who has been already mentioned as piloting the
Sheffield mail. He was a most determined fellow, and stood at nothing.
Indeed, the animosity between these two Jehus was quite alarming when
they encountered one another, and at last became so intense that they
resorted to the dangerous expedient of crossing one another, which, on
one occasion, caused Douglas to run into Baring's coach, thereby
causing a smash and bruising several passengers, but very fortunately
none were seriously injured. This is the only instance I ever knew of
coachmen driving opposition coaches entertaining a personal animosity
for one another.

And now we have arrived at the last coach which was put on the road
between London and Birmingham. In the year 1837 a very fast day mail
was started to run to Birmingham and to go on to Crewe, where it
transferred mails and passengers to the railway for conveyance to
Liverpool, and was largely patronised by Irish M.P.'s, as it ran in
connection with the packet to the Sister Isle, and booked through.
Half a dozen of those notables of the day could frequently be seen
travelling by her at one time. It was timed at twelve miles an hour.
It was horsed by Sherman of the "Bull and Mouth" out of London, and
was driven by H. Liley, who had long experience on the "Wonder" over
the lower ground. At Redbourn, he was replaced on the box by my
before-mentioned friend as having driven both the "Independent
Tally-ho" and afterwards the "Nimrod," and he drove till he met the up
coach tooled by Jonathan Morris, when they changed, each one returning
to the place from which he started, and it was taken into Birmingham
by T. Liley, a brother of Harry. He had previously driven the "Eclipse
Tally-ho," and Jonathan Morris had had his experience upon the
"Hibernia," already mentioned as running between Liverpool and
Cheltenham. He was pitted on that coach against Jordan, who drove the
"Hirondelle," and was noted as a "butcher," but was possessed of great
strength and had adamantine nerve, and only a first rate practitioner
had a chance with him. Jonathan was quite a different class of
coachman, and saved his stock as well as the pace and load would allow
him, and I have myself seen him trot by Jordan in ascending the Wyle
Cop in Shrewsbury, when the latter had nearly flogged his horses to a
standstill. Perhaps I should add, in fairness to Jordan, that, though
he had a beautiful team, it was composed of light horses, and that the
other coach was drawn by horses possessing more size and power for
enabling them to get a load up a steep ascent. I have been particular
in giving the antecedents of these coachmen, as, of course, they were
picked out as especially qualified for the great pace at which this
mail was timed, and it was a feather in their caps. Indeed, it may be
said that, as at that time the end of coaching was within measurable
distance, they represented "the survival of the fittest."

About this time the Postmaster-General started several day mails
besides the one just mentioned. There was one on the Brighton road,
and one between Birmingham and Shrewsbury, which left the Holyhead
road at Shiffnal, and, passing through Ironbridge, joined it again
about four miles from Shrewsbury, and probably there were others of
which I have no cognizance.

CHAPTER XI.

THE BRIGHTON ROAD.

So much has already been written about the Brighton road that,
perhaps, it may seem presumptuous in me to re-open the subject, but as
I have noticed the Birmingham road, I will venture to dwell very
shortly upon the Brighton one, as they may be said to have been the
antithesis to each other, much in the same way as now the business of
the southern railways differs from that of what are called by way of
distinction the heavy lines. No observant person can, I think, arrive
in London from the south and drive through town straight to one of the
large railway stations in the north, without being struck with the
difference of the traffic. So it was in the coaching days; on one road
business was paramount, on the other a little time for pleasure could
be indulged in. I do not mean to say that they carried on the old
practice of throwing away ten minutes or a quarter of an hour at each
change of horses; far from it. The work was admirably done, but it had
not about it the severe utilitarianism which was the prevailing
feature with the other. The horses on the northern road showed, as a
rule, more blood, and the coaches gave the idea of their having been
built with a view to carrying loads at a high rate of speed. Nothing
seemed wanting to ensure pace with safety, whilst, at the same time,
there was nothing to lead anyone to suppose for a moment that they
were anything but stage coaches.

On the other hand, on the road to the fashionable watering-place, some
of the coaches, from the small amount of lettering upon them, and
bright pole chains, might at first sight have been mistaken for
private drags.

Notwithstanding all this pace, it must not be supposed that a journey
by one of those fast coaches on the northern road was a hurried,
uncomfortable day's work, with no time to eat a comfortable meal. On
the contrary, though only twenty-five minutes were allowed for dinner,
so much assistance was generally given in waiters to carve and wait
upon the passengers, that a by no means bad dinner could be made in
the allotted time; and to show that the food was not otherwise than
palatable, I may instance the case of a medical gentleman residing at
Brickhill (I think), but, at any rate, in the town where the up
"Wonder" dined, who, whenever possible, went in with the passengers
and made his dinner with them.

I will now venture on a few circumstances and anecdotes connected with
the Brighton road, which may help to portray the differences I have
been describing in the two roads; but, before doing so, I should like
to remark that anyone writing at this time on the subject is liable to
make mistakes, as those coaches in some cases changed hands, as, for
instance, at one time the "Age" was the property of and driven by Mr.
Stevenson, and at a later period was in the possession of Sir St.
Vincent Cotton. Of this coach it has been written by Nimrod that "Mr.
Stevenson had arrived at perfection in his art and had introduced the
phenomenon of refinement into a stage coach." I never happened to see
this coach in his time, but can well remember Sir St. Vincent Cotton
on the box of his neat brown coach, with bright pole chains. A friend
of mine says, "Well I remember Harry Stevenson, with his beautiful
team, starting from the 'White Horse Cellars,' and calling for his box
passenger at the United Service Club, and from thence to the 'Elephant
and Castle,' the final stop before departure for Brighton, and his
guard, George Carrington, who was the essence of neatness and
politeness to his passengers."

This coach was for a short time driven by Sackville Gwynne, who ran
through all his property, and died in Liverpool, where he was driving
a cab.

It would be tedious to enumerate half the coaches, nearly thirty in
number, which ran out of Brighton every day, and many of them the best
looking turns-out in the kingdom. A few as specimens will suffice.
First and foremost came the "Times," starting at seven in the morning,
arriving at Charing Cross at twelve, and returning to Brighton at two,
driven by Sam Goodman. Bob Brackenbury, a first-rate amateur whip at
that time, used to drive from Brighton to Sam Goodman's farm, a
distance of eleven miles, and back again in the evening. Then there
was the "Dart," another up and down coach, driven by Bob Snow, a
first-rate artist. Some may even now remember his rubicund face, which
he had just helped to colour with a pint of sherry after his dinner,
as he mounted his box like a workman, when returning from the "Spread
Eagle," Gracechurch Street, with his faultless drab great-coat, and a
bale of white muslin round his neck; and such top boots! The "Elephant
and Castle" was his first stopping-place, to meet the West End branch
coach; and here he always replenished his inner man with a glass of
hot brandy and water with a spoonful of ground ginger in it, as he
said, to assist his digestion. After he started from there, it was
woe-betide the poor horse that offended him before he reached Reigate,
where the "Dart" stopped for dinner, and in those days the city
merchants and stockbrokers knew how to take care of themselves. His
only opponent was the "Item," driven by Charles Newman, who was always
wretchedly horsed, and could not come near him.

Another well known face on this road was that of John Willan, who,
after having lost a good fortune on the turf, started the "Arrow,"
which was also horsed by Horne and Sam Goodman. This coach was mostly
supported by the _élite_ of the sporting world. The turn-out was
altogether most unique.

The late Duke of Beaufort had some horses at work on this road at one
time. He horsed a coach called the "Quicksilver," and Bob Pointer was
the coachman (one of the best waggoners in England). He drove till he
met Charley Harker half way, and then turned back. One very fine day
the Duke went, as was not unusual, with some friends to see the
"Quicksilver" start from the Red Office, and there found our friend
Bob, not in the most upright position, just about to take hold of the
ribbons from the off-wheeler's back. As soon as his Grace saw how
matters stood he took them out of his hands, and drove up till he met
the other coach, which he drove back, and after kicking the passengers
handed the money to Bob, telling him not to let him see him in that
state again. The warning, however, was not attended to for long, for,
although the best of coachmen, he was a very wet 'un.

I will now ask the reader to fancy himself for a moment transported by
the touch of Columbine's wand into the Midlands, and set down in the
fashionable town of Cheltenham, which, fifty years ago, was justly
famed for its fast and well-appointed coaches, as well as for its
health-giving waters. Though situated far inland it was, like
Brighton, very much dependent on the same element for its prosperity,
and was frequented by much the same class of people, though the
efficacy of the waters at one place depended upon external, and at the
other upon internal application. Still they resembled one another in
drawing together a society of persons who had little or no occupation
except that of either bathing in or drinking the water.

The High Street of Cheltenham presents now a very different aspect to
what it did at the time I am writing about, when the seats on the
sunny side were occupied by visitors looking at the coaches passing to
and fro or turning into the "Plough" yard. It was a sight worth coming
for to see those well-horsed coaches. There were, first, the London
coaches arriving: the "Magnet," driven by Jemmy Witherington, and the
"Berkely Hunt," with Frank Martindale on the box, who was always the
pink of neatness--indeed, as he once said to me a good many years
afterwards, "You know, I was a bit of a dandy in those days."

Then there was also the London day mail with four greys, running
alternately to the "Plough" and "Queen's Hotel," and later on in the
day the "Hirondelle," driven by Finch, a rather wet soul, and the
"Hibernia," arrived from Liverpool, both of which coaches are
incidentally mentioned in another chapter, and were two of the fastest
in England. Besides them, there were others running to Bath, Bristol,
Leamington, Birmingham, and other places, and by the time all these
had been inspected, it was time to think of dinner.

And now, having already made this chapter something of a "fugitive
piece," I will, for the second time, make use of the fairy wand, and
by one of its miraculous touches translate us back again to the
Brighton road, which, being the one on which so many amateurs have
become professionals, may be not inappropriately called the border
land between them, and, therefore, as rather pointed out for
considering the difference between them. Of course, in one sense, the
demarcation is as plain as the nose on one's face. The man who drives
for pay is a professional, at any rate for a time; but the question I
would now raise is not that, but one more likely to prove an apple of
discord--I mean what allowance should be made between them in
estimating their proficiency in driving. What might be good for one
might be decidedly under the mark for the other. To more fully explain
my meaning, I will take a strong case. Sir St. Vincent Cotton, as is
well known, drove professionally for some years on the Brighton road
after having been acknowledged to be a first-rate amateur, and the
question is, how soon after taking to the box professionally could he
have been expected to pass muster with the professionals? Perhaps some
will say that he was quite as good a coachman before as after he took
to the bench professionally. No doubt his is a strong case, and I only
give it as one in point; but, for myself, I very much doubt whether,
even in those _coachy_ days, it was possible for a man to get
sufficient practice, only as an amateur, to make him equal to one who
drove professionally.

Doubtless, among the professionals there were men who never with any
amount of practice became good coachmen; but then we must remember
that in all classes and conditions of men some are to be found who,
from indolence or taking no pride in their work, never even reach
mediocrity, whilst others are too conceited to learn; but these were
in a small minority, and in driving, as in all other crafts, practice
makes perfect. If it confers no other benefit, it must strengthen the
muscles, and, no doubt, imparts a handiness, readiness, and resource
which nothing else can produce. The difference is, perhaps, oftener to
be observed in the whip hand than the rein one. A well-practised
professional with a pair of sluggish leaders will make every cut tell,
and then bring the thong up to his hand without staring about to see
where the wind had blown it to; whereas, it would too often be the
case with an amateur that, for want of having had sufficient practice,
half his cuts fell flat, and not unfrequently, especially on a windy
or wet day, he will get hung up in some part of the harness or in the
pole chains, or possibly even round the stock of the wheel.

It is not only in the art of driving that this difference is to be met
with, but it extends to huntsmen and jockeys. In neither of these
occupations does a gentleman attain to sufficient proficiency to be
called more than a good amateur, which implies that he is not equal to
a professional, or at any rate to a good one. Now, why is this? Surely
not because he was born a gentleman, and is, therefore, disqualified
by nature. Still less, because education has unfitted him. No--it is
simply because he does not give up his time to it, but only follows it
as a recreation. Cricket might, perhaps, at first sight, contradict
this rule, but in truth, I believe it only tends to confirm it. The
gentlemen are able to hold their own with the players, but then,
whilst the cricket season lasts, they work as hard as the
professionals.

To come to th

Showing first 200,000 characters. Full text: gutenberg.org/ebooks/43895