THE ROAD. 
those days twenty-mile stages were in fashion ; and 
what was the consequence ? Why, the four-horse whip 
and the Nottingham whipcord were of no avail over 
the latter part of the ground, and something like a 
cat-o'-nine-tails was produced out of the boot, which 
was jocularly called "the apprentice;" and a shrewd 
apprentice it was to the art of torturing, which was 
inflicted on the wheelers without stint or measure ; but 
without which the coach might have been often left on 
the road. One circumstance alone saved these horses 
from destruction ; this was the frequency of ale-houses 
on the road, not one of which could then be passed 
without a call. 
Still our old-fashioned coachman was a scientific 
man in his calling more so, perhaps, than by far the 
greater part of his brethren of the present day, in as 
much as his energies and skill were more frequently put 
to the test. He had heavy loads, bad roads, and weary 
horses to deal with, neither was any part of his harness 
to be depended on, upon a pinch. Then the box he sat 
upon was worse than Pandora's, with all the evils it 
contained, for even hope appeared to have deserted it. 
It rested on the bed of the axletree, and shook the 
frame to atoms ; but when prayers were put up to have 
it altered, the proprietors said, "No; the rascal will 
always be asleep if we place his box on the springs." 
If, among all these difficulties, then, he by degrees 
became a drunkard, who can wonder at his becoming 
so ? But he was a coachman. He could fetch the last 
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