90 STAGE-COACH AND MAIL IN DAYS OF YORE 



It is noteworthy that the Sunday was still 

 kept in this year of 1754 as a day of rest. The 

 reference to fares, in the lack of antecedent in- 

 formation, leaves us in ignorance of what the 

 passengers who paid " as usual " really did pay, 

 l)ut it seems that the coach itself was in that year 

 something new and wonderful— a great improve- 

 ment on Avhat had gone hefore. The old convey- 

 ance, hung on leather straps and with unglazed 

 windows, was discarded, and we have a " glass 

 coach-machine," on steel springs, and Avitli two 

 ends, whatever they may have been. Also, the 

 coach ran winter and summer. The rough wood- 

 cut accompanying this advertisement in the 

 Edinhurgli Coiwant for March ith, 1754, and 

 subsequent dates, shows us rather a coach built 

 on the lines of the gentleman's private carriage of 

 that age than a stage-coach. The boasted springs 

 are duly indicated. The driver has four horses in 

 hand, while a postilion, with a face like an agonised 

 turnip, has a couple of leaders. 



So much for 1751 on the Great North Road ; 

 but 1763 showed that retrogression was still the 

 note of the time in that quarter, for the Edinburgh 

 stage set out only once a month, and only when 

 the weather was favourable did it get to its 

 destination in less than a fortnight. 



A feeble effort made about 1739 to expedite 

 travelling on the Exeter Road seems also to 

 have done little. The Exeter " Elying Stage " of 

 that year, purporting to perform the journey in 

 three days, generally took six. In 1752 it was 



