44 ANNALS OF THE ROAD. 



' Sir, — I am old enough to remember the cheery 

 sounds of the key bugle as played upon some of our 

 crack coaches of forty years ago, and, like " Deadfall," 

 much regret that those sounds have died away. How 

 Prettyman, guard of one of the Manchester coaches, used 

 to wake the echoes in some of the sleepy agricultural 

 villages we passed through in those days ! Brandt, also, 

 on the Leicester " Union," was an accomplished player, 

 and could bring many to the windows and doors of their 

 houses by the sweet music of his bugle. Brandt was 

 also a scholar, and as great a favourite with gentlemen 

 going down to the head-quarters of the hunt as he was 

 with the pretty lasses of Dunstable. There was also a 

 fine bugler on one of the Birmingham coaches, the 

 " Tally-ho," I think, and another on a Nottingham coach, 

 which, if my memory is not at fault, was called the 

 " Highflyer." The Brighton coaches also had some good 

 players in the days of Mr. Stevenson, Mr. Jones, and 

 Sir Vincent Cotton. I think it probable that an " Ex- 

 Mail-Coachman " may be correct in stating that bugles 

 were not allowed on mail coaches, and L. R. P. may be 

 right also in saying that he has heard the bugle played 

 on the Holyhead mail. I have seen hundreds of mails 

 depart from St. Martin's-le-Grand when old Sherman 

 kept the " Bull and Mouth," with its great coach yard and 

 wonderful stables, but I cannot call to mind any instru- 

 ment being played upon them except the straight mail 

 horn. Yet I knew one guard who had a bugle snugly 

 stowed away, and brought out to the delight of the 

 people who lived clear away from the smoke. One of 



