92 COACHING. 



Easter, "Whitsuntide, and the festive season of 

 Christmas, as it enables so many more to visit 

 their friends in the country than was formerly 

 the case, with a greater amount, too, of com- 

 fort to themselves, and at a considerably less 

 expense. 



In the old days of coaching and posting few, 

 comparatively speaking, would be conveyed to 

 or from the metropolis. Those who travelled 

 post were often detained for horses ; and those 

 who went by coach had to book their places 

 weeks before, paying half the fare, and even then 

 a heavy fall of snow might put an end to all 

 journeys. Now, instead of sitting for hours wet 

 through from the pelting pitiless storm outside a 

 coach — instead of being called by candlelight, 

 and traversing the streets in a slow rumbling 

 vehicle, the traveller can enjoy his breakfast in 

 London, can be conveved to the station in a 

 fast-trotting hansom, can sit snugly protected 

 from the weather, and reach his destination in a 

 fourth of the time his predecessors could on the 

 road. 



And here it may not be out of place to describe 

 a journey by coach, say from London to Bath, 

 on a cold raw Winter's day. I speak of the time 

 when the old, crawling, creaking, rattling, six 



