THE STAGE-WAGGONS 133 



j^enny liedge-iDiis," where they were not above 

 letting a bed for the night to a young man so 

 unusually particular as to j^a-y sixi^ence extra for 

 clean sheets and a bed to himself — an exclusive 

 arrangement, it would appear, not within the 

 everyday philosophy of those humble caravan- 

 serais. He whom not only later ages, but even 

 his contemporaries, unite in acclaiming a genius, 

 generally chose to take his food with waggoners, 

 ostlers, and persons of that station. The superfine 

 Lord Orrery, who recorded these facts, and tells 

 us that Swift " delighted in scenes of low life," 

 says he " dined " with them ; but if Lord Orrery 

 had been as well acquainted with humble circles 

 he Avould have known that the low people in them 

 do not " dine " at all ; they just " have dinner," 



It is imjoossible to obtain more than a glimpse 

 of the early carriers, and even the later stage- 

 waggons were only occasionally advertised in the 

 newspapers of the past. Thus, turning to Sussex, 

 we only hear of " Thomas Smith, the Old Lewes 

 Carrier," in a reference to him after his death. 

 How many years he had jogged along the green 

 Surrey and Sussex lanes on his weekly journeys 

 between Southwark and Lewes we know not. He 

 died in 1746, and his widow carried on the busi- 

 ness, according to her advertisement in tlie Lewes 

 Journal :— 



"THOMAS SMITH, the Old Lewes Car- 

 rier, being dead, the business is now continued 

 BY HIS WIDOW, Mary Smith, who o^ets into the 



