PREF/ICE 



Vy^ 



*' J-IANG up my old wliip over the fireplace,'''' 

 said Harry Littler, of the Southampton 

 " Telegrapjh,'" lohen the London and Southampton 

 Mailioay icas opened, in 1833, — " I shan't loant it 

 never no more " ; and he fell ill, turned his face to 

 the wall, and died. 



The end of the coaching age was a tragedy for 

 the coachmen ; and even to many others, whose 

 careers and livelihood were not hound up with the 

 old order of things, it tvas a bitter uprooting of 

 established customs. 3Iany travellers v:ere never 

 reconciled to railways, and in imagination dioelt 

 fondly in the old days of the road for the rest of 

 their lives ; while many more never ceased to re- 

 count stories of the peculiar glory and exhilaration 

 of old-time travel, forgetting the miseries and in- 

 conveniences that formed part of it. But although 

 reminiscent oldsters have talked much about those 

 vanished times, they have rarely attempted a con- 

 secutive story of them. Such an attempd is that 

 essayed in these pages, confined within the compass 

 of tioo volumes, not because material for a third 

 was lacking, but simply for sake of expediency . Lt 



