The Merry Past 



minute hand at the Gloucester Coffee House pointed 

 towards noon set out on its gay career. 



Mr. Warde of Squerries initiated the first coach- 

 box placed upon springs. He prevailed upon the pro- 

 prietors of the Manchester Telegraph to adopt the use 

 of them, and thence they were called Telegraph 

 springs. 



The opposition between the Telegraph and Defiance 

 was carried on with more spirit than any other upon 

 record. Both coaches were worked in a very superior 

 style.* Two very swell coachmen drove them out of 

 London about iSii, and may be said to have set the 

 example of neatness in dress, and respectability of 

 appearance and demeanour, which was so characteristic 

 of the more modern coachman. These were, John 

 Marchant on the Telegraph, and Bob Snow on the 

 Defiance — the latter for some years past a proprietor 

 of, as well as at work upon, a Brighton coach. 



Whilst in the last days of coaching in England very 

 great improvements were effected, the French adhered 

 to the methods of their ancestors in the matter of 

 travelling, right up to the time when railways became 

 a general mode of conveyance. 



The malle or French mail coach, drawn by five 

 heavily-shod horses, was a very ingeniously contrived 

 conveyance. It carried four besides the courier (a 

 person of much higher rank than our guards) ; three 

 in the body, similar to a chariot ; the other in a calash 

 in front, where the letters were deposited in a bag 

 attached to the apron, from which they could be 

 easily distributed. 



151 



