DOWN TH£ ROAD in days OF YORE 67 



" five o'clock and a fine morning ! " and so Ave 

 will e'en, like Christians and Britons able to 

 call their souls their own, go by the afternoon 

 coach. Let the " Lord Nelson " in this year 

 1830 go if it will from the " Saracen's Head," 

 Snow Hill, at half-past six in the morning. Por 

 ourselves, we Avill wait until a quarter to three 

 in the afternoon, and take the " Lord Wellington" 

 from the " Bull and Mouth." We can do no 

 better, for the " Lord Wellington " goes the 274 

 miles in 30 hours, which a sim})le calculation 

 resolves into 9 miles an hour, including stops. 

 The fare to NcAvcastle is £5 15s. inside, or about 

 5f/. a mile. Outside, it is £3 10s., or a fraction 

 over 3f/. a mile, xls our trij^ is taken in summer- 

 time, we will go outside ; and so, although a good 

 deal of the journey will have to be through the 

 night, Ave, at least, shall not haA'C the disad- 

 vantage of being stcAved during the daytime in 

 the intolerable atmosphere of the inside of a 

 stage-coach on a July day. Why, indeed, coach- 

 proprietors do not themselves observe that in 

 summer-time the outside is the most desirable 

 place, and charge accordingly, is not easily under- 

 stood ; nor, indeed, to be understood at all. That 

 clever felloAV De Quiucey notices this, and j^oints 

 out that, although the roof is generally regarded 

 by passengers and CA^eryone else connected 

 with coaching as the attic, and the inside 

 as the draAving-room, only to be tenanted by 

 gentlefolk, the inside is really the coal-cellar in 

 disguise. 



