OLD COACHING DAYS. 211 



a night mail in those days. November was the month we 

 dreaded most, the fogs were generally so bad. A singular 

 event happened with the Bath mail that ran between Bath and 

 Devonport. Its time for arriving at Devonport was eleven 

 o'clock at night. One eventful evening, they had set down all 

 their outside passengers except a Mrs. Cox, who kept a fish- 

 stall in Devonport Market. She was an immense woman, 

 weighing about twenty stone. At Yealmpton, where the coach- 

 man and guard usually had their last drain before arriving at 

 their destination, being a cold night, they kindly sent Mrs, 

 Cox a drop of something warm. The servant-girl who brought 

 out the glass, not being able to reach the lady, the ostler 

 very imprudently left the horses' heads to do the polite. The 

 animals hearing some one getting on the coach, doubtless con- 

 cluded that it was the coachman ; at the same time, finding 

 themselves free, and being, probably, anxious to get home, they 

 started off at their usual pace, and performed the seven miles 

 in safety, passing over the Laira Bridge and through the toll- 

 bar, keeping clear of everything on the road. Mrs. Cox mean- 

 while sat on the coach, with her arms extended in the attitude of 

 a spread-eagle, and vainly trying to attract the attention of those 

 she met or passed on the road. She very prudently, however, 

 abstained from screaming, as she thought she might otherwise 

 have alarmed the horses. They, indeed, only trotted at their 

 ordinary speed, and came to a halt of their own accord at the 

 door of the King's Arms Hotel, Plymouth, where they were 

 in the habit of stopping to discharge some of the freight of the 

 coach. The boots and ostler came running out to attend to 

 their accustomed duties, but, to their astonishment, beheld no 

 one but the affrighted Mrs. Cox on the coach and two pas- 

 sengers inside, who were, happily, wholly unconscious of the 

 danger to which they had been exposed ! The coachman and 

 guard soon arrived in a post-chaise. Poor Mrs. Cox drank 

 many quarterns of gin to steady her nerves before she felt able 

 to continue her journey to Devonport, where she carried on 

 a prosperous trade for many years. Many people patronised 



p 2 



