] 54 COACHING. 



there beinof still from two to three feet in breadth 

 of the bridge standing, he, with great peril, 

 passed it. 



Great apprehensions were entertained that 

 the bridge of Daviot would have been swept 

 away, although founded on a rock considerably 

 bej^ond the usual height of the water. If this 

 bridge had been carried away the communication 

 with the south by this road, at least for carriages 

 and carts, would have been completely cut off, 

 as there is no place within four miles of the 

 Higchland road where the river is ford- 

 able. After much toil and perseverance the 

 ofuard reached his destination at Inver- 

 ness. 



In July, 1827, the Bath mail-coach was over- 

 turned on its way from London, between 

 Reading and Newbury, in consequence of the 

 horses taking;' fris^ht and bolting from the road 

 into a gravel-pit. The coachman was thrown 

 from the box among the horses, and received 

 several contusions from being trod upon. The 

 guard and a foreigner, who were on the top, were 

 precipitated by the shock to such a distance, 

 and with such violence, as would probably have 

 proved fatal to them had not the earth and 

 gravel on which they lighted been saturated with 



