I£0]V THE COACH PASSENGERS EARED 347 



on veal-cutlets and waiters " ; but, on the other 

 hand, travellers equally familiar Avitli the roads 

 were heard lamenting the good and varied fare 

 they had been used to find, and sought in vain in 

 later days. Lord William Lennox wrote regret- 

 fully of the " plain and perfect " English dinners 

 down the road, generally consisting, he said, of 

 mutton-broth, rich in meat and herbs, fresh-water 

 fish in every form, eels— stewed, fried, boiled, 

 baked, spitchcocked, and water-souche ; salmon, 

 the purest butter, green gooseberries, the earliest 

 cucumbers, saddle of Southdown mutton, kept to 

 a moment and done to a turn, mutton chops, 

 hot and hot, Irish stews, rump-steaks tender and 

 juicy, chicken and ham, j^lum-pudding, fruit- 

 tarts, and trifle and gooseberry-fool. 



Then the produce of the grape ! No thin, 

 washy claret, at 18s. a dozen, no fiery port, one 

 day in bottle, no sherry at 25s. the cask ; but 

 fine, sound vintages, fit for any private cellar. 



Other travellers tell less roseate tales. Often 

 they had the sole choice between ham and eggs, 

 ill cooked, and nothing at all ; or, if the choice 

 was there, the mutton was half-done and stringy, 

 the chops greasy and cold, and the rump-steaks 

 tough and dry, with everything else in accord- 

 ance. If we like to take Thomas Hughes, in 

 Tom Brown, as an authority, however, the break- 

 fasts were really noble meals ; for Tom, goijig to 

 Hugby, is represented at a table spread witli the 

 whitest of cloths, and rich in cold pigeon-pie, a 

 Yorkshire ham, a round of cold boiled beef, and 



