2 86 STAGE-COACH AND MAIL IN DAYS OF YORE 



roads had to be content with a mere " stage- 

 coach," while the great trunk roads were 

 thronged with " machines " and " post-coaches." 



In 1753 the Shrewsbury "Long Coach" and 

 "Stage Coach" were started, and long continued; 

 but from Vl^A things changed swiftly. In that 

 year the " Machine " began. The next spring 

 it had become the " Plying Machine," and in 

 1773 its success had raised up a "New Mying 

 Machine," soon re-christened the " New My." 

 To the challenge of this "New Ely," fitted, 

 according to its proprietors, " quite in the modern 

 taste " and with steel springs, the owners of the 

 " original London and Salop Machine " replied, 

 not only with the boast of being pioneers in 

 days of old, but (much more to the point) 

 advertised that their conveyance also was in the 

 modern taste and fitted with springs ; and, more- 

 over, pointed out that the Coventry route, taken 

 by it to London, was shorter than that by Oxford, 

 taken by the rival firm.: 



" Machine " seems to have been a favourite 

 description for coaches at any time between 

 1754 and the beginning of the nineteenth century. 

 If the term had any specific meaning at all, and 

 was anything more than a vague, grandiose 

 way of advertising an ordinary stage, it must 

 originally have indicated a vehicle just in 

 advance of the usual ruck. The Bath "Plying 

 Machine " was probably of lighter build than 

 the other coaches, and the Edinburgh " new 

 genteel, two-end glass coach machine, on steel 



