146 COACHING. 



information, and the seizure of tbe carriage and 

 horse was the consequence. 



Although, unfortunately, there have been of 

 late years many fatal accidents by rail, 'Caused 

 by carelessness, inattention, and the over-work- 

 ing of pointsmen and others employed on the 

 respective lines, I question much, taking into 

 consideration the thousands on thousands that 

 travel by steam, as compared with those that 

 journeyed by the road, whether the accidents 

 were not as serious and as numerous in 

 the days of coaching as they now are. 



I shall confine myself to mail and stage- 

 coaches, albeit private carriages and post- 

 chaises were not exempt from breakings down, 

 upsets, and other casualties, caused b}^ 

 drunken or reckless drivers, runaway horses, 

 or by fragile springs, wheels, axletrees, and 

 poles. 



Macaulav, as I have alreadv said, in describino: 

 the mishaps that befell Prince George of Den- 

 mark and his suite when visitino- the statelv 

 mansion of Petworth, draws a favourable con- 

 trast between the effects of an accident on the 

 road in bygone days and a railwa}^ collision in 

 our time ; but the great historian would have 

 thought differently had he been aware of the 



