ST^^^ WM^ n^^ 



CHAPTER I 



THE LATER MAILS 



The Bristol Mail opened the mail-coach era hy 

 ffoino; at eii^^ht miles an hour, but that was an 

 altogether exceptional speed, and the average 

 mail-coach journeys were not performed at a 

 rate of more than seven miles an hour until long 

 after the nineteenth century had dawned. In 

 1812, when Colonel Hawker travelled to Glasgow, 

 it took the mail 57 hours' continuous unrelaxing 

 effort to cover the 404 miles — three nights and 

 two days' discomfort. By 1836 the distance 

 had been reduced by eight miles, and the time 

 to 42 hours. By 1838 it was 41 hours 17 minutes. 

 Nowadays it can be done by quickest train in 

 exactly eight hours ; the railway mileage 401^ 

 miles. In 1812 it cost an inside passenger all 

 the way to Glasgow, for fare alone, exclusive of 

 tips to coachmen and guards, and the necessary 

 expenditure for food and drink all those weary 

 VOL. II. 1 1 



