or, as we now say, cocked upon | every fresh tug which they gave his knee, then sat together; not as at present, upon a close, compact, varnished seat, but over a very long and narrow boot, which passed under a large spreading hammer cloth, hanging down on all sides, and finished with a flowing and most luxuriant fringe. Behind the coach was the immense basket stretching far and wide beyond the body, to which it was attached by long iron bars or supports passing beneath it; though even these seemed scarcely equal to the enormous weight with which they were frequently loaded. They were, however, never very great favourites, although their difference of price caused them frequently to be well filled; for, as an ancient Teague observed, 'they got in so long after the coach, that they ought to set out a day sooner, to be there at the same time. Arrah!' continued he, 'can't they give it the two hind wheels, and let it go first?' The wheels of these old carriages were large, massive, ill-formed, and usually of a red colour; and the three horses that were affixed to the whole machine the foremost of which was helped onward by carrying a huge long-legged elf of a postillion, dressed in a cocked hat, with a large green and gold riding coat- were all SO far parted from it by the great length of their traces, that it was with no little difficulty that the poor animals dragged their unwieldy burthen along the road." It groaned, and creaked, and lumbered, at it, as a ship, rocking or beating up through a heavy sea, strains all her timbers with a low moaning sound, as she drives over the contending waves. "With the exception of the basket, which is an invention of comparatively modern science and skill, such were the stage coaches of a former day; conveyances at once solid, safe, slow, wearisome, and devoid of every sort of comfort: vehicles which seemed admirably adapted for robbery, as well from their utter incapacity of speed, as from their heavy construction, and the scattered and defenceless train which they formed. It is not to be wondered at then, when all these things are considered, that our ancestors were so cautious in making long journeys in such very ponderous and dilatory carriages. It seems like a jest now, but scarcely an hundred years have passed away since he was considered as rash and presumptuous who ventured many miles from his home without making his will, charging his executors, calling together his debtors and creditors, arranging all his affairs, and taking leave of his family, as if there was little or no probability of his ever returning to it. and Tickets for places may be had by giving timely notice.' Street, as it was then called, | Coach carrieth but four passengers, beyond which it continued the road to Highgate, in a wild lane bounded by rude ill-shaped banks, enclosing marshy fields and pieces of water. But we shall commence at an earlier period of the journey, in order that the characters and histories of the travellers may unfold themselves; which shall be done rather by their conversation, than by a plain recital of their various destinations, whether connected or separate. "The Ashbourne Dispatch,' said the bill of intimation, 'is a new Posting Coach excellently well provided with relays throughout the whole of the journey; and being drawn by three horses, one of which is ridden by the Postboy, is much more safe than the Derby Mercury, which hath but two, and no Postillion! 'Tis also an entire new Coach, with all the last improvements, and it starteth from the Talbot Inn, nigh unto the Spittle Hill, in the town of Ashbourne, at 4 of the clock in the morning of the Monday in every fourth week; and, God being willing, it getteth into the Bear and Ragged Staff Inn, at the north-west corner of West Southfield, before bed-time on the following Monday night, which is Three days sooner than slow-paced Derby Mercury, and notwithstanding its speed it is perfectly secure! The Ashbourne Dispatch is set forth and run by Giles Hooftrotter, who hath been at great charges to have the same carefully driven, and watched by an armed Guard. The "Of the four persons who on that day week had seated themselves in this crawling vehicle, three only remained, for the other, a stout Quaker, had parted company at Barnet, and in taking leave of his fellow-travellers he said to them, 'Verily I am sore aggrieved by having tarried so long in this leathern ark, for it hath marvellously fretted and worn my surtout by its lumbering roll over the road ruts. Fare-yewell, friends, I cannot but pity your further journey, howbeit you will be set down at your inn tonight.' "The persons who were left to be conveyed to town by the Ashbourne Dispatch were of the following description. The one who occupied the right hand front seat was a short and somewhat stout man, dressed in a handsome full-trimmed suit of black, wearing a smart and well-powdered queuewig surmounted by a small threecornered hat which he managed with considerable courtliness of air. There was evidently much of the bearing of an ancient gentleman about him, such as the present generation are acquainted with only in old conversation pictures, or the prints of Lombart, Faithorne, and Burghers. The second person who remained in the coach was a much younger, and evidently not so well-bred a man. His coat, of scarlet and gold lace was "The third person who was left in the Ashbourne Dispatch was a young country female. There was sorrow and thought upon her face, and she had spoken but little during the journey, excepting to return her thanks for the benevolent attentions paid to her by the elder gentleman in the black suit; or those which were more awkwardly shewn her by the stout Quaker. For her dress, it was of a coarse light brown stuff, with a long pointed stomacher, guarded A and laced with blue; her linen was of a beautiful whiteness, and a large and flat straw hat covered her head. The circumstance of such a person travelling in 1740 in a Stage and not in a Waggon was calculated to procure for her a respect which would not have been commanded by her dress. cut in the most extravagant manner of the strange custom of the year 1740, which was in the form of a long narrow frock, that buttoned closely down the front, to the very bottom, and hung some inches below the knees, while the pocketholes formed horizontal lines a little way above. The sleeves were then made short, to exhibit the fine quality of the Holland shirt, for which purpose also the waistcoat was sometimes left unbuttoned, and the linen tastefully brought through the aperture. A wig of white wool, slightly spreading over the shoulders, and covered by a broad-brimmed hat of brown beaver, was placed upon the head of our second traveller, a small rapier stuck out between the skirts of his coat behind, and on his feet were the high red-heeled shoes of full dress, the quarters of which reached the ankle-bone, while their fronts stretched up the top of the foot, adorned with a large crimson rosette. Slung over the immense cuff of his coat, which nearly reached his elbow, the young gallant carried a clouded amber cane, and he occasionally drew out and flourished a fringed cambric handkerchief. His manners coincided with his dress, for they were light and varying; sometimes he would be reciting in the mouthing manner of his period, at other times singing, and interspersing his idle converse with ludicrous tales, quaint remarks, or other strange fancies, but keeping throughout all the most perfect hilarity and good humour. "By the time the Ashbourne Dispatch had rolled into the lower end of Gray's Inn Lane, the dulness of a hot summer's evening was spreading itself over the streets of the metropolis. "Well, here we are at last in that receptacle for all that's good and bad, London,' cried Cleartext, and even now you may hear the signs of Holborn creaking as they swing upon their irons in the sluggish breeze of an August evening. Marry, sir, you should visit the town when a high March wind is scattering the ill-placed tiles over the short roofs of this brick Babylon; and the signs drive eastward and westward as the gale takes them. Then you may see the Turk's Head go to (that her mother wished her to be married to), Ephraim the Quaker, her guardian, and a gentleman who had studied himself dumb from Sir Roger de Coverley. . . . The next morning at daybreak we were all called, and I, who know my own natural shyness and endeavour to be as little disputed with as possible, dressed immediately that I might make no one wait. The first preparation for our setting out was that the captain's half-pike was placed near the coachman, and a drum behind the coach. In the meantime the drummer, the captain's equipage, was very loud that none of the captain's things should be placed so as to be spoiled; upon which his cloak-bag was fixed in the seat of the coach, and the captain himself, according to a frequent, though invidious behaviour of military men, ordered his man to look sharp that none but one of the ladies should have the place he had taken fronting to the Having notified to my good friend Sir Roger that I should set out for London the next day, his horses were ready at the appointed hour in the evening, and, attended by one of his grooms, I arrived at the county town at twilight, in order to be ready for the stagecoach the day following. As soon as we arrived at the inn, the servant who waited upon me inquired of the chambermaid in my hearing | coach-box. what company he had for the coach? The fellow answered, Mrs. Betty Arable, the great fortune, and the widow her mother, a recruiting officer (who took a place because they were to go), young Squire Quickset, her cousin "We were in some little time fixed in our seats, and sat with that dislike which people not too good-natured usually conceive of each other at first sight. The coach jumbled us insensibly into some sort of familiarity." CHAPTER II. Thou dost bear no grudge To whisking tilburies, or phaetons rare, Curricles or mail coaches, swift beyond compare.-KEATS. FLYING COACHES-THE EDINBURGH GLASS COACH "-INCIDENTS OF STAGE-COACH TRAVEL-DANGERS OF OUTSIDE TRAVELLING THE HIGHWAYMEN SHOT-PROOF FRENCH STAGE COACH-VEHICLES IN SPAIN. COACHES - A FLYING COACHES. ABOUT the middle of last century to dinner, and goes the the improvement of the roads, or the increasing demands of the mercantile community, or a com- | bination of the two, led to a demand for improvement in the rate at which stage coaches travelled, and to the introduction of the "Flying coaches," so called because their speed was beyond the three miles an hour which up till that time was the standard. The first illustration of the better coaches is probably that of the Birmingham and London coach in 1742, of which the announcement was as follows: "The Litchfield and Birmingham stage coach sets out this morning (Monday) from the 'Rose Inn' at Holbourn Bridge, London, and will be at the house of Mr. Francis Cox, the 'Angel and Hen and Chickens' in the High Town, Birmingham, on Wednesday next same afternoon to Litchfield, and returns to Birmingham on Thursday morning to breakfast, and gets to London on Saturday night, and so will continue every week regularly with a good coach and able horses." A bill of the "Alton and Farnham Machine," dated 1750, is headed with an engraving of the coach, which has a large basket swung behind for outside travellers, the carriage having a rounded top as described in last chapter. The coachman has four horses in hand, and a postillion rides one of a pair of leaders. It accomplished a journey of forty-seven miles in one day, starting at six in the morning and reaching its destination the same night. This was deemed a great feat, and this coach was dignified with the title of " Machine." The name soon became common, and |