STAGE-COACHES 29 



gers (in the Basket) get out and walk; Third Class 

 passengers (on the roof) get down and push behind." 



In the reign of George III, coaching, though still to 

 be avoided if possible, was a great improvement on what 

 had gone before. The coaches themselves had altered 

 somewhat in construction, the front and hind boots 

 began to be framed to the body of the coach, and seats 

 were placed on the roof. The driver's seat was raised 

 higher, but still unprovided with springs and, as Wilkins 

 of the Balloon told Frank Raby, "There is a great deal 

 of h'art in sitting on a coach-box."^ This is confirmed 

 by the Oxford Journal for 1779, which reports an acci- 

 dent to the Bristol Mail, caused by the coachman being 

 "shooke off the box." 



The rate of speed was nominally increased to six miles 

 an hour for fast coaches, but the coachmen considered 

 themselves in no wise tied down to a fixed time and, 

 though a coach might be due at a definite hour, the 

 coachman questioned on the subje6l would reply easily 

 that he had been every hour of the twenty-four after it. 

 He was particularly obliging with regard to meals, and 

 allowed his passengers to take their time over them, so 

 that though an hour was the time specified for dinner it 

 not infrequently lengthened into two, the coachman 

 being generally ready to help drink another bottle of 

 wine, remarking comfortably of the coach, "she could 

 wait she could." 



A man who tipped liberally in those days could 

 accomplish much: visit his friends who lived near the 

 ^ Life of a Sportsman. Nimrod. 



