142 ANNALS OF THE ROAD. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 



ON ACCIDENTS. 



When the history of railway-travelling comes to be 

 written, one of the longest chapters, and one of the 

 saddest too, will be the chapter ' Of Accidents.' The 

 newspapers have long made us familiar with the heading 

 — ' Railway Accidents.' But accidents happened also 

 in the good old times of stage coaching ; and, when we 

 indulge in dreamy regrets over the vanished poetry 

 of the road, it is well that we should call to mind that 

 accidents used to happen even to the best regulated 

 coaches, with the finest teams, and the most accom- 

 plished whips. In the course of a year, they were 

 frequently numerous enough to furnish forth a pretty 

 long story. A goodly number of these coaching mis- 

 chances befel in driving downhill ; and a good deal of 

 discussion took place as to the merits of various methods 

 of prevention, especially of the locking of wheels, and of 

 having" the harness constructed with breeching. 



Nimrod, as will be seen from his Essays, was in 

 favour of breeching, on the ground of its saving horses' 

 legs; and so was 'Jehu,' whose words on the subject 

 are worth quoting : — 



