78 PAINTING AND LETTERING CH. IV 



of the panels ; but this is, perhaps, putting too much 

 on the coach. Sometimes a device, such as a comet 

 or a meteor, suggestive of the name of the coach, 

 is painted on the upper panels, but there is never 

 any lettering there. 



In the old coaching days, the name of the princi- 

 pal place to which the coach ran, was often painted 

 on the under side of the foot-board, so that the 

 coaches, when standing- under a shed at a large 

 coaching inn, could be readily distinguished ; or 

 else the name of the coach was there painted, a 

 fashion which has been copied in the mail-coaches 

 recently built in Paris. 



The mail-coaches in England were all painted 

 alike ; the under-carriage red, the body a maroon 

 or claret colour. On the side of the front boot 

 was the cipher G.R. or V.R., of the sovereign, in 

 large interlaced gold, script letters ; on the side of 

 the hind boot the number of the coach {(^/p. jg), 

 in similar letters. On the crest-panel, which was 

 deep, were the names of the towns between which 

 the mail ran, and the words 'Royal Mail,' in gold. 

 On the four black panels were the stars, of the 

 Thistle on the near side, and of the Bath on the 

 off side, of the front boot ; of the Garter on the 

 near side, and of St. Patrick on the off side, of 

 the hind boot ; on the doors the royal arms ; on 

 the hind boot panel the names of the places be- 

 tween which the mail ran. On the iron legs sup- 

 porting the guard's seat on a mail-coach, there was 





