COACHING DAYS AND WAYS 



Macadam days was nearly as great as it became 

 later. The Sporting Magazine of June 1807 says : 

 * Lately one of the stage coaches on the North 

 road ran from London to Stamford, a distance of 

 90 miles, in 9 hours 4 minutes. The passengers, 

 four in number, breakfasted and dined on the 

 road, so it must have run at the rate of 12 miles 

 an hour all the time it was travelling.' 



The * old heavies ' discarded under Palmer's 

 drastic rule worked out their lives as ordinary 

 stage coaches, and some of these remained on the 

 road until well on in the nineteenth century. 



Nimrod's description of the old-time coachman 

 is worth giving : — 



* The old-fashioned coachman to a heavy coach — 

 and they were all heavy down to very recent 

 times — bore some analogy with the prize-fighter, 

 for he stood highest who could hit hardest. He 

 was generally a man of large frame, made larger 

 by indulgence, and of great bodily power — which 

 was useful to him. To the button-hole of his coat 

 were appended several whipcord points, which he 

 was sure to have occasion for on the road, for his 

 horses were whipped till whipping was as necessary 



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