STAGE-COACHES IN BYGONE DAYS. 21 



in this or in any other country. With Steven- 

 son commenced the rage for driving public con- 

 veyances by noblemen and gentlemen, to which I 

 shall refer in a future chapter. 



It may here not be out of place to lay before 

 ray readers a statement of the working of the 

 stage-coaches in bygone days. In 1742 a stage- 

 coach left London for Oxford at seven o'clock 

 in the morning, and reached Uxbridge at mid- 

 day. It arrived at High Wycombe at five in the 

 evening, where it rested for the night, and pro- 

 ceeded at the same rate for the seat of learning 

 on the morrow. Here, then, were ten hours 

 consumed each day in travelling twenty-seven 

 miles, and nearly two days in performing what 

 was afterwards done under six hours by the 

 " Defiance" and other coaches. To go from London 

 to York used to take six days. 



In 1784 I read of the Edinburgh dihgence, 

 horsed with a pair, which set off daily from the 

 " Saracen's Head," in the Gallowgate, Glasgow, at 

 seven o'clock in the morning, and arrived at 

 Edinburgh at eight o'clock at night. This con- 

 veyance stopped at Cumbernauld for an hour 

 and a half in order to give tbe passengers time 

 for breakfast, and again for the same time at 

 Linlithgow for dinner. A third stoppage took 



