274 COACHING DAYS AND COACHING WAYS 



brandy. Nor do small tradesmen with no business 

 unaccountably realize large fortunes ; nor does every- 

 body in the town loathe the sight of a lamplighter ; for 

 the pier lamps are lighted every evening ! 



No ! Dover and its inhabitants are indeed changed, 

 and the only memory of the old coaching days left in the 

 place are its long bills. Long I regret to say they were. 

 Long they remain ; and long no doubt they will remain 

 so. A sea-port cannot be the exodus of an empire 

 without some such natural tendency to extravagance. 



Of the coaches on this Dover Road I have refrained 

 from speaking, not because I was reserving the best thing 

 till the last, but in point of fact for an exactly opposite 

 reason. An indisputable authority on the subject tells 

 me that, considering its importance as the principal route 

 for travellers between England and France, there were 

 not many coaches running on the Dover Road. I fancy 

 that most people who had the wherewithal and wanted 

 to catch a packet when the tide set, posted and con- 

 gratulated themselves. Mr. Jarvis Lorry I know was 

 not amongst this number, but then he travelled by the 

 Dover Mail, which was always an institution, kept good 

 time, and carried in its day historic matter. 



Of the other coaches on the Dover Road I shall make 

 no mention. For once in the way, a catalogue will not 

 be missed, especially when that catalogue, if made, 

 would contain no sounding names in coaching story, 

 would register no records in the way of speed, catas- 

 trophes, or drivers especially cunning, sober, or drunk. 

 Yet one coach besides the Dover Mail on this road I 

 will mention, because next to the Mail it took high 

 rank — in some estimations a rank above it ; because 

 with its coachman in its best days, I have had the 

 pleasure of shaking hands. Yes ! I have shaken hands 

 with a classic coachman ! No tyro he when coaching 

 was the fashion, but an artist to the tips of his fingers — 

 one of the old school, whom I have heard described, by 

 one who knew them well, as Grand Gentlemen ; parties 



