POSTING IN ENGLAND. 307 



and convenient method of travelling, and the riding and driving 

 of the postboys was a science that had reached as near per- 

 fection as possible. 



Posting was not only a pleasant and comfortable way of getting 

 about the country, but it was also a very safe way of travelling. 

 The driving was good, the horses well accustomed to their work, 

 and the carriages and harness strong ; the patent axletree box 

 was only just invented before the finish of coaching and posting, 

 so that most of the carriages had the old linch-pin. Every 

 now and then a linch-pin came out and a wheel came off, and 

 then there was a disaster, but not often a serious one. Some- 

 times a collision was caused by a runaway horse or the dark- 

 ness of the night. I knew of one very strange accident, though 

 it ended with no damage being done. During the debates 

 in the House of Commons on the Reform Bill in 1831 and 

 1832 many members used to go home after the divisions, have 

 a bath, put on their boots, and ride down into the country to 

 hunt The Marquis of Worcester constantly d : d this, keeping 

 three hacks on the road, and riding down for a day with his 

 father's hounds in the Heythrop country. Oxford is fifty-four 

 miles from London, and Heythrop fifteen miles beyond. He of 

 course went wherever the meet of hounds was. On one occa- 

 sion, either to save himself or his hacks, he posted part of the 

 way down. Not having been to bed he fell asleep. After some 

 little time he was awoke by an unusual jolting, and finding him- 

 self going exceptionally fast he looked out of the front window. 

 The day was just breaking, and to his astonishment he found 

 that there was only one horse attached to the 'bounder,' that 

 this was the hand-horse, and he was on the near side of the 

 pole ! There was no postboy and no riding-horse. Just then 

 they came to a steep hill with a sharp turn in it. The horse 

 was unable to turn the post-chaise, and so ran the pole bump 

 into the bank, which happened to be of sand, and the pole 

 penetrating some inches, there they stuck. The traveller got 

 out, and shortly after the postboy rode up. It appeared that 

 a donkey had lain down in the road, and just before daybreak 



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