2 14 STAGE-COACH AND MAIL IN DAYS OF YORE 



as an informer in a confidential moment was 

 heard to declare, the Acts were so many and so 

 conflicting that it was impossible to travel with- 

 out a breach of the laAY. 



The greatest of all informers was Byers, who 

 combined the occupation with that of a small 

 shopkeeper in the outskirts of London. The acts 

 of Byers may be traced through many old files of 

 newspapers, and even then you shall not discover 

 his Christian name ; for in those records it is 

 generally " Byers again ! " or " Byers appeared 

 before So-and-so charging What's-his-name." 

 Thus do we speak of the great in war, in science, 

 in literature ; for custom tells only of a Welling- 

 ton, a Newton, or a Thackeray. We know their 

 titles and Christian names, but suppress them to 

 gain a grand and monumental simjilicity. To 

 reduce the argument to a logical conclusion, 

 Byers was a greater than these, for Ave do not even 

 know his baptismal cognomen. He is a classic 

 noAv, for Barham accorded him the honour of an 

 allusion and an explanatory note in one of the 

 IngoliUhij Legends — the " Lay of St. Nicholas," 

 where we read : — 



The Accusing Byers " flew up to Heaven's Chancery," 

 Bkishing hke scarlet with shame and concern. 



The note describes him as " The Prince of Peri- 

 patetic Informers, and terror of Stage Coachmen, 

 Avlien such things Avere. Alack ! alack ! the Bail- 

 roads have ruined his ' vested interest.' " Time 

 has so dimmed the meanina" of both the reference 



