134 THE COACHING ERA 



who came up in the Dover stage in company with a 

 gentleman of most pleasing manners. So entirely did he 

 manage to ingratiate himself with them that they invited 

 him to come back to their house at Blackheath, and 

 take some refreshment before proceeding to Woolwich, 

 where he said he was going to join his regiment. The 

 stranger accepted willingly, and the newly made friends 

 passed a pleasant evening, playing whist far into the 

 night. Whether or no the stakes were high and the ladies 

 lost does not appear, but when at length the visitor got 

 up to take his leave he gracefully apologized for having 

 kept them up so late, adding that he must trouble them 

 to hand over all the money and portable valuables they 

 happened to have in the house. At first the ladies 

 laughed, thinking it a joke, but they very soon found 

 out it was far from being a laughing matter. The 

 stranger saw his request carried out to the very letter 

 before he departed with profuse thanks for their hos- 

 pitality, which he said Mr. Richard Turpin would always 

 remember. 



Sometimes the coaches carried queer customers, and 

 Maria Edgeworth in one of her letters gives an amusing 

 account of Lord Longford's experiences. Getting into a 

 coach one night, he dozed comfortably till morning, 

 when to his consternation he discovered that the other 

 occupant, he had supposed a gentleman in a fur coat, 

 was in fadl a live bear. Another time he fancied himself 

 in company with a gouty gentleman of great importance 

 from the extreme deference and solicitude of the man 

 who accompanied him, but when the "gouty" traveller 



