212 ECHOES OF OLD COUNTY LIFE. 



of horses, and 3^-. for four horses ; the post-boys were 

 paid something over 3<^. per mile ; and as there were 

 generally two turnpike gates, often three, between every 

 stage, at a charge of 9^. to is. per pair, this, in addition 

 to the tip of 6d. to the ostler at each stage, brought the 

 cost of posting to about 2s. per mile. The old yellow 

 post-chaise, immortalized by Caldecott, and generally 

 seen in elopements, had one seat for two people inside, 

 and a small " dickey," as it was called, in front, where 

 the gentleman's valet could ride. This gave way to the 

 post-chariot, with box-seat holding two, for the valet and 

 lady's maid ; in turn the post-chariot was supplanted by 

 the fly, which held four inside, and threw open, with a 

 lofty box-seat, and conveyed six people. Soon after the 

 pair of horses began to disappear, and the '•' one-horse 

 fly " became the fashion, to the horror of the old- 

 fashioned post-master and his old boys. The introduc- 

 tion of the railways put a stop to all this system, post- 

 ing has degenerated into a fly to and from the station, 

 and this aristocratic species of locomotion has become a 

 thing of the past. 



Dickens makes the immortal Sam Weller say, "No- 

 body ever saw a dead post-boy or dead donkey," and 

 the longevity of the former was proverbial ; although 

 their lives were passed out in all weathers, oftentimes all 

 night through, with constant liquoring up at roadside 

 public-houses, yet they were a healthy, hardy race. 

 Arrived at the end of a stage they groomed their horses, 

 washed their legs, unharnessed and fed them with a good 

 feed of hay, chaff, and corn at the charge of is., and 2d. 

 for ostler, and the boys went indoors and had, free of 



