THE ROAD. 
morning drive. We say pleasant ; for this extraordinary 
speed is not attained, generally speaking, by putting 
animals to anything like cruel exertion. 
A fast coach has, or ought to have, very nearly a 
horse to every mile of ground it runs reckoning one 
way, or "one side of the ground."* Proprietors of 
coaches have at length found out though they were a 
long time before they did discover it that the hay and 
corn-market is not so expensive as the horse-market. 
They have, therefore, one horse in four always at rest ; 
or, in other words, each horse lies still on the fourth day, 
thus having the advantage of man. For example, if 
ever we turn coach-proprietors, or " get into harness," 
as the proper term is which, as we have become fox- 
hunters, is by no means impossible we shall keep ten 
* For example, from London to Shrewsbury is a hundred and fifty- 
eight miles, and the number of horses kept for the Wonder coach is a 
hundred and fifty. Perhaps, for the length of ground it travels over, this is 
the most punctual coach at all its stages on the journey at this time in 
England. It leaves Shrewsbury at a quarter before six, A.M., and arrives 
at the Bull and Mouth, London, at a quarter past nine, P.M. ; and as this 
was the first coach that attempted to become a day-coach over so great an 
extent of ground, we are induced to notice one particular team on it, said to 
be the most superb of their kind, and for the purpose for which they are 
used, at this time in Great Britain. They are chestnuts, the property of 
Mr. Evans, of Wolverhampton ; and their ground is from that town to 
Wednesbury, distance six miles. The coachmen of the Wonder also 
deserve notice for their uniformly good conduct and skill. Their names are 
Wood (who drives out of London), Lyley, Wilcox, and Hayward. 
There is likewise a very fast and well-conducted coach which passes 
through Shrewsbury, viz., the Hirondelle, from Cheltenham to Liverpool, a 
hundred and thirty-three miles, in twelve hours and a half ! Both these 
coaches load uncommonly well. 
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