42 THE BRIGHTON ROAD 



Sentiment hung round the expiring age of coaching, 

 and has cast a halo on old-time ways of travelling, 

 so that we often fail to note the disadvantages and 

 discomforts endured in those days ; but, amid regrets 

 which were often simply maudlin, occur now and 

 again witticisms true and tersely epigrammatic, as 

 thus : 



For the neat wayside inn and a dish of cold meat 

 You've a gorgeous saloon, but there's nothing to eat ; 



and a contributor to the Sporting Magazine observes, 

 very happily, that " even in a ' case ' in a coach, it's 

 ' there you are ' ; whereas in a railway carriage it's 

 ' where are you ? ' in case of an accident. 



On September 21st, 1841, the Brighton Railway 

 was opened throughout, from London to Brighton, 

 and with that event the coaching era for this road 

 virtually died. Professional coach proprietors who 

 wished to retain the competencies they had accumulated 

 were well advised to shun all competition with steam, 

 and others had been wise enough to cut their losses ; 

 for the Road for the next sixty years was to become a 

 discarded institution and the Rail was entering into a 

 long and undisputed possession of the carrying trade. 



The Brighton Mail, however — or mails, for Chaplin 

 had started a Day Mail in 1838 — continued a few 

 months longer. The Dav Mail ceased in October, 1841, 

 but the Night Mail held 'the road until March, 1842. 



VI 



Between 1841, when the railway was opened all the 

 way from London, and 1866, during a period of twenty- 

 five years, coaching, if not dead, at least showed but 

 few and intermittent signs of life. The " Age," 

 which then was owned by Mr. F. W. Capps, was the 

 last coach to run regularly on the direct road to and 

 from London. The " Victoria." however, was on 



