COACHING 



THE many boons conferred by Mr. John 

 Palmer upon his generation faded before the 

 advance of the railways ; but he has deserved 

 well of posterity, if only for that he altered the 

 coach team from three horses to four. Until that 

 enterprising man undertook to demonstrate that the 

 coach could carry letters more rapidly and safely 

 than could the post-boy, our ancestors had been 

 content with the unicorn team ; but after Palmer 

 had astonished the world by making the journey 

 from Bath to London, in 1784, at the rate of 

 nearly seven miles an hour, the team of four 

 horses gradually but steadily supplanted that of 

 three in the stages on almost every road in the 

 country. 



It is generally assumed that fast coaching only 

 came into existence after the macadamisation of 

 the roads ; but this is not quite the case. Under 

 favourable conditions the speed attained in pre- 



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