HOW THE COACHES WERE NAMED 295 



certainly did not fully answer the description 

 given above ; although, from the evidence of the 

 very curious old painting, it still retained a 

 certain elegance, in spite of carrying outsides, 

 and owning that vulgar appendage, a "basket," 

 behind. This Post Coach, which in the contem- 

 porary painting bears its name, starting-point, 

 and place of destination plainly to be seen, is 

 first heard of in 1773, running daily from the 

 "King's Head," Old Change, at noon. What 

 the fare was to Marlow we have not been able 

 to discover, but to Maidenhead, distant from the 

 City 31 miles, it was 5s. 



"Accommodation" coaches abounded all over 

 the country from about 1800. They were gener- 

 ally slow coaches, with ample room, travelling 

 along the roads in leisurely fashion, and stopping 

 anyAvhere and everywhere, to pick up passengers 

 and luggage. The nearest parallel to them 

 nowadays is the slow, stopping, long-distance 

 .train, which halts at every little wayside station 

 and sees the express flash by at sixty miles an 

 hour. 



Thus far we have recorded chiefly the titles 

 by which types of coaches were known. We 

 now come to coaches individually named. Early 

 among these is the " Eockingham," London and 

 Leeds stage, established in 1781, and continued 

 rmtil the railway came to Leeds, in 1811. 

 Uockingham was, indeed, a name to conjure 

 with in Yorkshire, and there were at least tAVO 

 other coaches with that name running on branch 



