CHAPTER XIV TRAVELLERS' EXPERIENCES 



IN order to gain an accurate idea of the 

 pleasures and discomforts incidental to travel 

 when the public stage and mail coaches 

 constituted the only means of locomotion, 

 it is necessary to read the diaries written by men who 

 lived in those days, and who have left an account of 

 their experiences. Some found coaching delightful and 

 enjoyed themselves, others thought it hateful and were 

 miserable; difference of opinion usually traceable to 

 their own characters, the state of the weather, and the 

 nature of their travelling companions. 



Celebrities travelling unrecognized occasionally heard 

 their merits and demerits discussed with considerable 

 freedom. Macready heard his a6ling lauded to the skies 

 by a fellow passenger who was transported with joy when 

 he found himself in such close proximity to his hero. 



Richard Brinsley Sheridan found less cause for pride 

 returning to London from an eleClioneering campaign 

 in Staffordshire, where he had swallowed quarts of 

 Staffordshire ale, and eaten innumerable legs of pork, 

 mutton, and turnips, "eating his way into the confidence 

 of the burghers." His companions in the coach were 

 three gentlemen who fell to discussing the political 

 situation with great frankness. One, who sat opposite 

 Sheridan, was especially vehement, and denounced 

 Monckton (the present member) as "A madman or a 

 fool," for taking under his wing "the adventurer 

 Sheridan," and scandalously attempting "to bolster 



