OLD COACHING DAYS. 215 



Versailles, but only for a short time. He visited Ireland in 

 1 883, at the request of the late Captain Chaine, to see if it was 

 possible to put a coach on from Larne to the Giant's Causeway, 

 but he considered the expense of working too great. 



Selby's name will be memorable in the annals of coaching 

 in consequence of his having beaten the record by driving from 

 London to Brighton and back in 7 h. 50 min. At the Ascot 

 meeting of 1888 a bet of i,ooo/. to 5007. was offered and taken 

 that the journey could not be done in 8 hours. On July 13 

 Selby started from the White Horse Cellar punctually at 10 A.M., 

 having on the coach Messrs. Carleton Blyth, McAdam, Beckett, 

 Walter Dixon, W. P. Cosier, and Alfred Broadwood. Passing 

 along Piccadilly, Grosvenor Place, and Buckingham Palace 

 Road, over the Chelsea Suspension Bridge, the Horse and 

 Groom at Streatham was reached at 10.28, and here the first 

 change occupied 47 seconds. West Croydon was passed at 

 10.45 o'clock. A pace of thirteen miles an hour was maintained 

 to the Windsor Castle, Purley Bottom, where anothef^change, 

 occupying i min. 5 sec., took place. Horley was reached at 

 1 1.51^, the coach having travelled some of the distance between 

 Earls wood and that town at a speed of 20 miles an hour. At 

 Crawley the time was taken 12.11, a couple of minutes having 

 been lost by a delay at some level crossing gates which were 

 open to let through a train. Fresh teams were taken on at 

 Peas Pottage, Cuckfield, Friars Oak the galloping stage 

 between the two last-named places being covered in admirable 

 style and Patcham. The coach drew up at the Old Ship, 

 Brighton, at 1.56. ro that is to say, 3 min. 50 sec. under four 

 hours. 



Of course there was no delay at Brighton ; the coach was 

 turned round, the return journey begun, and the Cellar reached 

 at 5.50. 



One other notable performance may well conclude this 

 chapter. In 1834 opposition coaches the Oxford Age, driven 

 by Joe Tollit (one of four brothers, John, William, George, 

 and Joe), and the Royal William, driven by Snowden ran 



