The Coachmaster 



Coaching at that time was a very different 

 thing from what it became a few years 

 later. Not so very long before, the best 

 conveyance between London and Brighton 

 was a '' Flying Machine," which an adver- 

 tisement of that date describes in this wise : 

 "A new large Flying Chariot, with a box 

 and four horses, to carry two passengers 

 only, except three should desire to go 

 too^ether." This vehicle left Briorhton or 

 Charing Cross at six m the mornmg, to 

 arrive at its journey's end at the somewhat 

 indefinite hour "that evening," such 

 journey, according to the advertisement, 

 ''to be performed (if God permit)." As 

 Briorhton orrew more fashionable, and the 

 dandies and beauties of the Court came 

 down for an airing to the village by the 

 sea, there appeared on the road Patent 

 Coaches, and various other vehicles ; 

 but none of these reached the even 

 moderate standard of convenience and 

 comfort attained a few years later. When 

 my Father started with his two-horse 

 coaches in the very first years of this 

 century, four and a half miles an hour was 

 considered a respectable pace, and to do 

 the distance between London and Brighton 

 in twelve was all that would reasonably be 

 desired. But then, to be sure, there was a 

 45 



