244 ANNALS OF THE ROAD. 



ing the distance — seventy-seven miles from Hyde Park 

 Corner — in six hours ; and not expecting the ' Telegraph ' 

 so soon, the horse-keeper at Popham Lane had not 

 begun to harness his horses when it arrived. These 

 coaches have now given up all this larking. They give 

 and take the road, as we call it ; and though nine times 

 in ten the ' Telegraph' is first, I must do the ' Independent ' 

 the justice to say that it is worked in a very superior 

 manner. I know of no two such coaches on the same 

 road. 



It is somewhat singular, but yet true, that in our fast 

 work on the road, we have taken a hint from our nei^h- 

 bours (the French), although fast work with them is 

 quite out of the question, if only from the nature of their 

 tackle — harness I must not call it. I allude to the short 

 stage, or ' post,' as they term it. Very few of our fast 

 coaches now run more than ten miles, and many not 

 much more than half the distance. This is, however, 

 the only way to make stock last in quick work, and pro- 

 prietors have at last found it out. As I have before 

 remarked, a horse mav be a good coach horse for six 

 miles, but a very bad one for twelve. If then he is run- 

 ning half his ground in distress, it is soon all over with 

 him. Nature finds herself unequal to the task ; and 

 when she says ' enough,' a fresh horse must be pur- 

 chased. 



There is no part of coaching economy in which a 

 Greater alteration has been made, than in the act of 

 changing horses. It scarcely appears credible that four 

 horses can be taken from a coach, and four others put 



