A TRAGICAL DINNER 107 



guess to say that the roads which cross the Bath 

 Road ill the midst of Slough, and go respectively left 

 and right to Windsor and Stoke Poges, form the 

 dividing line. For all practical purposes, however, 

 the places are one. Salt Hill has decayed, rather than 

 grown, while the town of Slough (unlovely name !) is 

 almost wholly a creation of the railway. Not only 

 strangers have noted the unpleasing name of the place, 

 but some of the inhabitants even endeavoured to 

 change it a few years ago. The proposition was to 

 rechristen it " Upton Royal," Upton being a hamlet 

 near by, the " Royal " a bright idea of the local boot- 

 lickers, who wanted to emphasize the fact of their 

 proximity to Windsor. The project fell through. 



Many of the crack coaches halted at Salt Hill, 

 where, at the "Castle " or the "Windmill," they found 

 accommodation of the very best. Salt Hill, in fact, 

 was a place which thrived solely on coaching, and the 

 glories of it are now departed. A tragical event 

 clouded over the fair fame of the "Castle" in 1773. 

 It seems that on the 29th of March in that year, a 

 number of gentlemen forming the Colnbrook Turnpike 

 Commission met there, when the Hon. Mr. O'Brien, 

 Capt. Needham, Edward Mason, Major Mayne, Major 

 Cheshire, Walpole Eyre, Capt. Salter, Mr. Ishervvood, 

 Mr. Benwell, Mr. Pote, senr., and Mr. Burcombe 

 attended and dined together. The dinner consisted 

 of soup, jack, perch, and " eel pitch cockt " (whatever 

 that may have been), fowls, bacon, and greens, veal 

 cutlets, ragout of pigs' ears, chine of mutton and 

 salad, course of lamb and cucumbers, crawfish, pastry, 

 and jellies. The wines were Madeira and Port of the 



