lis COACHING. 



Jehu was so venturesome that in descending a 

 hill he would come to grief. 



After a time the public cars, introduced by 

 M. Biancoui displaced the regular coaches. 

 In form they resembled the common outside 

 jaunting-car, but were calculated to hold from 

 twelve to sixteen persons. They were admir- 

 ably horsed, had steady drivers, the team 

 generally consisting of three horses, which 

 travelled at the rate of seven Irish miles an 

 hour, equivalent to nine English miles, the fares 

 averaging twopence a mile. They were open 

 cars, but a huge leather apron afforded pro- 

 tection from showers of rain, which are so 

 prevalent in the sister isle. Post-chaises, which 

 are now nearly extinct, were awful convey- 

 ances. 



T have a very lively impression of a journey 

 from Cork to Dublin some fifty years ago in 

 these vehicles ; the one furnished by the pro- 

 prietor of the Imperial Hotel, Cork (then, and 

 I believe now, an excellent hotellerie), which 

 took me the first stage, was clean and com- 

 fortable ; not so those that followed. Springs 

 they appeared to have none; or, if they had, 

 they were so covered with rope that there was 



