HO IV THE COACHES HERE NAMED 



303 



synonym for siDeed — were necessarily the fastest 

 on the road, but they did not, of course, obtain 

 the title from the electric telegraph, invented 

 only in 1838. It Avas derived from the system 

 of semaj^hore signalling, the quickest method of 

 communication then known, by which messages 

 were signalled between London and the coast, 

 from lofty hills even yet marked on the Ordnance 

 maps, "Telegraph Hill." Of how inconceivably 

 swift telegraphy would in a comparatively short 

 time become, the old coach-projirietors could have 

 had not the remotest inkling, but they did not 

 suffer from excess of modesty, and had the in- 

 stantaneous signalling of electricity been known 

 in their time, it would by no means have deterred 

 them from christening their coaches in impudent 

 rivalry with it. 



The " Exeter Telegraph " was put on to 

 compete with another, and equally famous, 

 coach, the Devonport Mail, generally known in 

 coaching annals as the " Quicksilver." This 

 celebrated mail started about 1820. Passing 

 through Exeter, it went on to Plymouth and 

 Devonport, and performed the whole journey in 

 21 hours 11 minutes, an average speed, including 

 stops, of 10 miles If furlongs an hour. " Quick- 

 silvers," of course, became fashionable on other 

 roads after the fame of this performance had 

 spread. 



Our great wars with Erance and Sj^ain gave 

 coaches a plentiful croj^ of titles, taking a higher 

 note than merely that of party. The victory 



