THE IK )\A 1IKAD ROAD 369 



nothing so long as the coach kept on its wheels, demi- 

 gods whose steel nerves their passengers implicitly 

 trusted, well knowing as they did that if those steel 

 nerves had for an instant failed their owners the whole 

 stock and lot w r ould have gone to the Deuce in an 

 instant. 



It was this sort of fiery opposition kept up between 

 the two crack Manchester coaches which called forth 

 some such comment as the following, comments con- 

 stantly to be culled from contemporary magazines : — 



" Whoever takes up a newspaper in these eventful 

 times it is even betting whether an accident by a coach 

 or a suicide first meets his eye. Now really as the month 

 of November is fast approaching, when from foggy 

 weather and dark nights both these calamities are likely to 

 increase, I merely suggest the propriety of any unfortunate 

 gentleman resolved on self-destruction, trying to avoid 

 the disgrace attached to it by first taking a few journeys 

 by some of these Dreadnought, Highflyer, or Tally-ho 

 coaches ; as in all probability he may meet with as in- 

 stant a death as if he had let off one of Joe Manton's 

 pistols in his mouth, or severed his head from his body 

 with one of Mr. Palmer's best razors." 



1; l; 



