246 STAGE-COACH AND MAIL IN DAYS OE YORE 



Those country liancis Avere not in general very 

 great respecters of rank or station. The London 

 coachmen were civil, had a peculiar humour ahout 

 them, and did not consider themselves quite the 

 equal of the hox-seat passenger who sat heside 

 them ; but the j^rovincial performer poked one in 

 the ribs when he wanted to say anything, and 

 perhaps nearly ejected one from the box by his 

 " knowing " jerk of the elbow when he considered 

 emphasis necessary to point his remarks. The old 

 six-inside coaches survived here long after they 

 had been forgotten in most other jiarts of the 

 country, often driven by a coachman as comfort- 

 able as a " drop " of gin could make him, and 

 drawn by horses as weak as the Avater he forgot to 

 put into his last tumbler. In such an ominous 

 combination, the passengers involuntarily repeated 

 the prayer in the Litany for "all travellers by land." 



Drunken coachmen are heard of in the old 

 coaching annals, and accidents caused by them 

 when in that state stand on record, but they are 

 comparatively few. It Avas not so easy a matter 

 to make a seasoned coachman — even one of only 

 a fcAV years' experience — drunk. The capacity of 

 coachmen for drink was marvellous. As throAving 

 some light upon it, a meeting with Harry Ward 

 at the " White Hart," Andover, may be instanced. 

 He Avas then on the famous " Quicksilver " Devon- 

 port Mail. 



On this occasion it Avas a cold Avinter's night, 

 and Ward was waiting for the "Quicksilver" to 

 come up, and to take his stage. 



