1 2 THE SMUGGLE!!* 



straggling manner upon its almost upright springs, and was 

 elevated far above any necessary pitch. The top was deco- 

 rated with round iron rails on either side; and multitudinous 

 were the packages collected upon the space so enclosed; 

 while a large cage-like instrument behind contained one or 

 two travellers, and a quantity of parcels. The colour of the 

 sides was yellow; but the numerous inscriptions which they 

 bore in white characters left little of the ground-work to be 

 seen ; for the name of every place at which the coach stopped, 

 was there written for the convenience of travellers who might 

 desire to visit any town upon the road ; so that each side 

 seemed more like a leaf out of a topographical dictionary of 

 the county of Kent than anything else. Underneath the car- 

 riage was a large wicker basket, or cradle, also filled with 

 trunk-mails, and various other contrivances for holding the 

 goods and chattels of passengers; and the appearance of the 

 whole was as lumbering and heavy as that of a hippopotamus. 

 The coachman mounted on the box was a very different 

 looking animal even from our friend Mr. Weller, though the 

 inimitable portrait of that gentleman is now, alas, but a record 

 of an extinct creature! However, as we have little to do 

 with the driver of the coach, I shall not pause to give a long 

 account of his dress or appearance, and, only noticing that 

 the horses before him formed as rough and shambling a team 

 of nags as ever were seen, shall proceed to speak of the tra- 

 vellers who occupied the interior of the vehicle. 



Although, as we have seen, the coach would have conve- 

 niently contained six, it was now only tenanted by three 

 persons. The first, who had entered at the Golden Cross, 

 Charing Cross, was a tall, thin, elderly gentleman, dressed 

 with scrupulous care and neatness. His linen and his neck- 

 cloth were as white as snow, his shoes, his silk stockings, his 

 coat, his waistcoat, and his breeches as black as jet; his hat 

 was in the form of a Banbury cake; the buckles in his shoes 

 and at his knees, were large and resplendent; and a gold- 

 headed cane was in his hand. To keep him from the cold, he 

 had provided himself with a garment which would either serve 

 for a cloak or a coat, as he might find agreeable, being exten- 

 sive enough for the former, and having sleeves to enable it to 

 answer the purpose of the latter. His hair and eyebrows 

 were as white as driven snow, but his eyes were still keen, 



