OLD COACHING DAYS. 181 



it up on the top of the other luggage, and then the clergyman 

 scrambled into the boot. Of course I left the door open that 

 he might breathe, and I actually left London the day after Her 

 Majesty's Coronation with four in, eleven out, a ton of luggage, 

 and a clergyman to boot, and in the boot ! Strange to say, 

 we were liable to be fined for carrying one extra passenger, 

 also if the luggage was piled up beyond a certain height ; 

 whereas, at present, omnibuses, with only a pair of horses, 

 appear to carry any number of passengers. 



Now as to pace. It often struck me that coachmen seldom 

 knew at what pace they were going, unless they were driving 

 themselves. I will give an instance of this. The Exeter 

 'Defiance' left the Cellar every evening at half-past four, loaded 

 very heavily I was always very fond of a full load. It was 

 well horsed with four dark browns, all sixteen hands, which 

 trotted much faster than they appeared to do. The usual 

 coachman kept on telling me that I was losing time, and re- 

 peated this so often that I resolved to play him a trick if I 

 could ; for, driving as much as I did in those days, I began to 

 think that I knew something of pace. So I trotted along, mak- 

 ing all possible haste I could, but, of course, without galloping. 

 When we reached Basingstoke, the ostler stood at the inn door 

 with his hands in his pockets. It was a fine summer evening, 

 and the town clock was exactly opposite the inn. The coach- 

 man said, ' Well, Jim, where are the horses ? ' ' Lor ! bless ye, 

 master, I haven't put the harness on yet,' was the man's reply, 

 ' for you be here forty minutes sooner than you've a ben for 

 six months.' I looked another way, and slipped off the coach, 

 as my journey ended there. Soon after, being invited to shoot 

 in Norfolk, I went there by the 'Phenomenon,' which left Mrs. 

 Nelson's inn at the East End of London at seven o'clock. I 

 had never been that road; the distance to Norwich is 116 

 miles, of which I drove eighty ; the coach was well horsed, but 

 we had no guard. Mrs. Nelson was a good business woman, 

 and all the passengers were asked to pay their fares when on 

 the coach before it left the inn yard. We had a very smart 



