3o6 STAGE-COACH AND MAIL IN DAYS OF YORE 



Mr, Schraeder, who was on the box-seat, travelling 

 to Brighton to join his family, made an effort, 

 desjiite the protests of the coachman, to get down 

 to disentangle them, when he fell between the box 

 and the horses, and the coach ran over him. The 

 "Comet" ran to the " Swan with Two Necks," in 

 Lad Lane, and seems, from Pollard's spirited 

 picture, to have been an exceptionally smart coach. 

 The great era of coaching, with its attendant 

 competition, opened about 1820, and from that 

 time the " Defiances," the " Celerities," the 

 "Rapids," "Expresses," "Reindeers," "Darts," 

 "Stags," and "Antelopes" increased; while 

 fiercely militant titles, such as those of the 

 "Retaliator," the "Spitfire," "Vixen," "Pear- 

 less," " Dreadnought," and "Invincible" reflected 

 the extraordinary bitterness and animosity with 

 which that competition was conducted. The 

 reverse of this unamiable feature is seen in the 

 names — breathing a spirit of goodwill, or at least 

 of meekness, reliability, and inoff'ensiveness — of 

 the "Amity," the "Live and Let Live," "Hope," 

 "Endeavour," the "Give and Take," "Reliance," 

 "Safety," "Regulator," "Perseverance," "Good 

 Intent," and " Pilot " coaches. It is probable that 

 some of these titles were given by small joro- 

 prietors, anxious to disclaim rivalry with more 

 powerful men. Others were intended to secure 

 the patronage of the old ladies and the timorous, 

 and all those to whom coach travelling, with its 

 many accidents and hairbreadth escapes, was a 

 disagreeable necessity. 



