234 THE COACHING ERA 



with a very circumstantial narrative of all the shocking 

 scenes during the late riot in that city. . . . 



"At length we arrived at London without any accident, 

 in a hard rain, about one o'clock." 



Moritz added that he looked "like a crazy creature" 

 after his journey, and was most earnestly thankful to 

 be at the end of it. 



Washington Irving says: 



"In the course of a December tour in Yorkshire, I 

 rode for a long distance in one of the public coaches, 

 on the day preceding Christmas. The coach was 

 crowded, both inside and out, with passengers, who, 

 by their talk, seemed principally bound to the mansions 

 of relations or friends, to eat the Christmas dinner. 

 It was loaded also with hampers of game, and baskets 

 and boxes of delicacies; and hares hung dangling their 

 long ears about the coachman's box, presents from 

 distant friends for the impending feast. I had three 

 fine, rosy-cheeked schoolboys for my fellow passengers, 

 inside, full of the buxom health and manly spirit 

 which I have observed in the children of this country. 

 They were returning home for the holidays in fine 

 glee, and promising themselves a world of enjoyment. 

 It was delightful to hear the gigantic plans of 

 the little rogues, and the impracticable feats they 

 were to perform during their six weeks' emancipa- 

 tion from the abhorred thraldom of book, birch, and 

 pedagogue. They were full of anticipations of the 

 meeting with the family and household, down to the 

 very cat and dog; and of the joy they were to give their 

 little sisters by the presents with which their pockets 

 were crammed; but the meeting to which they seemed 



