133 ANNALS OF THE ROAD. 



wayside changes, the hospitable inn and the fire-side gos- 

 sipings at nights ; all this makes travelling down the road 

 enjoyable in a way which many present travellers <annot 

 understand. 



' At eight o'clock p.m. the mail-coach was in all the 

 " pride and panoply " of authority, with its mettled steeds 

 "on parade" at St. Martin's-le-Grand, waiting to receive 

 its bags. Or perhaps it was one of those special occasions 

 in which all ordinary circumstances were surpassed. 

 The tidings of a victory had been received, a national foe 

 had been defeated, and the mail was about to convey the 

 intelligence to a thousand homes. Instead of the news 

 being quietly spread over the length and breadth of the 

 land in a few seconds, as in our own day, resort was 

 had to more ordinary means. Horses, men, and carriages 

 were accordingly dressed in laurels and flowers and 

 ribbons. Coachmen and guards displayed themselves 

 to the best advantage with royal livery around their 

 rotund forms. Passengers merged the reserve of their 

 individuality in a stronger feeling of national exultation, 

 and when the loud noise of the lids locked down on the 

 mail bags smote on the ear, the trampling of fiery steeds 

 was heard as they bounded off like leopards amidst the 

 thundering- of wheels and the boisterous shouts of the 

 assembled hosts of observers. In the vivid remembrance 

 of such scenes, it is scarcely surprising that we should 

 regret that they have passed away ; that tidings must 

 now be transmitted by steam or electric telegraph, and 

 that the voice of the trumpet that once announced from 



