CHAPTER III 



DAWN OF THE COACHING AGE 



Meanwhile the first stage-coaches had been put 

 upon the chief roads out of London, and had 

 begun to ply betAveen the capital and the principal 

 towns. Stage-coaches are, on insufficient authority, 

 said to have begun about 1640, but no particulars 

 are available in support of that statement, and in 

 considering this point we are bound to look into 

 the social state of England at that time, and to 

 consider the likelihood or otherwise of a public 

 service of coaches being continued throughout 

 those stormy years which preceded, accompanied, 

 and followed the great Civil War that opened 

 with the raising of the King's standard at Not- 

 tingham in 1042, and ended with the Battle of 

 Naseby in June 1645. That victory ended the 

 war in favour of the Parliament men, but the 

 political troubles and their attendant social dis- 

 placements continued. 



It has been said that hawking parties pursued 

 their sport between the opposed armies on Marston 

 Moor, and the inference has been drawn that the 

 nation was not disturbed to its depths by what we 

 are usually persuaded was a tremendous struggle 

 between King and Parliament. Certainly the 



