156 ANNALS OF THE ROAD. 



that's perspiration ! '' I got no more talk from him 

 about the cold after that.' l 



Here is a curious inscription that is to be seen over 

 the door of an inn at Pisa in Italy. It is written in four 

 different languages, but the rhyme and metre are well 

 preserved : — 



In questa casa trouverate, 



Tout ce qu'on peut souhaitcr, 



Bonum vinum, pisces, carries, 



Coaches, chaises, horses, harness. 



The ordinan' mode, be it known, of saluting between 

 coachmen on the box, and when meeting on the road, is 

 by lifting the butt of your whip, and turning the elbow 

 outwards, the little finger being raised at the same time, 

 your forefinger being at all times up the yew, to direct 

 your points. 



In drinking toasts, too, amongst ' workmen,' the little 

 finger is always extended when raising the glass. 



A gentleman-coachman, a well-known whip — now, 

 alas, no more- — who was a member of the Road Club, 

 wrote to me of the present stage-coaches as follows : — 

 ' Most of the coaches of the present day are constructed 

 to carry twelve passengers outside, and four inside, 

 which, with coachman and guard, makes up eighteen 

 persons. Some of the coaches are light, and carry 



1 A letter I wrote to Mr. Barton, enclosing him some copies which I had 

 promised him of the ' Lamentation of the Knights of the Whip,' has just been 

 returned to me through the Dead Letter Office, informing me of his decease. 

 Poor Barton ! I asked him once to get up and let me see him handle the 

 ribbons on our drag at Canterbury. He replied that he wished he could, 

 but was too heavy. I said we'd get him up, when he replied, but how was 

 he to get down ! He was twenty-four stone, 



