COACHING IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY 93 



in four days and a half after leaving Man- 

 chester." The distance, it may be remarked, was 

 182 miles. 



The ancient rivalry of Manchester and Liver- 

 pool Avas roused by this, and four years later the 

 Liverpool " Flying Machine " Avas established, to 

 travel the 206^ miles between Liverpool and 

 London in three days. The fare, at £2 2.9., thus 

 represents about ^\d. a mile. This was followed 

 by the Leeds " Plying Coach " of 1760, advertised 

 to do the 196 miles in three days, by Barnsley, 

 Wakefield, and Sheflield, but actually taking 

 four. 



Another great centre of coaching activity at 

 this period was Shrewsbury. Those who know 

 that grand old town, seated majestically on its 

 encircling Severn, that girdles the ancient blood- 

 red walls with a flow as yellow as that of the 

 Tiber, will have observed an ancient metrojoolitan 

 air, an atmosphere of olden self-sufliciency, subtly 

 characterising the place. It is complete in itself : 

 within the double ceinture of river and hoary 

 defensive walls it comprises something typical of 

 each separate estate of the realm. The monarch 

 and the governing idea are represented within that 

 compass by the Castle and by the Council House, 

 and all around are still to be seen the toAvn houses 

 of the old nobility and county families, neigh- 

 boured by prosperous shops and smaller residences. 

 Shrewsbury, like York and Edinburgh, is in fact 

 an ancient seat of government, delegated directly 

 from the Crown, once as vitally viceregal as the 



