68 STAGE-COACH AND MAIL IN DAYS OF YORE 



they not iiifroqiiontly ij^avc way under the ordeal, 

 and suddenly threw passen£^ers and coachman in 

 one common heaji of ruin. To aid him in makini;' 

 such roadside repairs as these and otlier early de- 

 fects of construction often rendered necessary, the 

 coachman carried with him a hox of tools placed 

 under his seat, and it is from this circumstance 

 that the name of " hammercloth " — the hangings 

 decorating the coachman's seat on many a State 

 carriage — was derived. 



Bad as was the situation of the passengers, that 

 of the coachman was infinitely worse. His was a 

 seat of torture, for it was placed immediately over 

 the front pair of wheels, and, totally unprovided 

 with springs, transmitted to his hody the full 

 force of every shock Avith which those wheels 

 descended into holes or encountered stones. 



In 16G7 a London and Oxford coach is found, 

 performing the fifty-four miles in two days, 

 halting for the intervening night at Beaconsfield ; 

 and in the same year the original Bath coach 

 appears, in this portentous announcement : — 



" FLYING MACHINE. 



" All those desirous to pass from London 

 to Bath, or any other Place on their 

 Road, let them repair to the ' Bell 

 Savage ' on Ludgate Hill in London, 

 and the ' White Lion ' at Bath, at 

 Loth which places they may be 

 received in a Stage Coach every 

 Mondav, Wednesday, and Friday, 



