68 STAGE-COACH AND MAIL IN DAYS OF YORE 



We recollect, being old travellers, that the 

 fares to Newcastle used to he niiicli cheaper. 

 Time was when they Avere only four guineas 

 inside and £2 10s. outside, hut prices went up 

 during the late wars Avitli Prance, and they have 

 stayed up ever since. The travelling, however, 

 is better by some five hours than it was fifteen 

 years ago. 



Here we are at the " Bull and Mouth," in 

 St. Martin's-le-Grand, now newly rebuilt by 

 Sherman, and named the " Queen's." It is a 

 handsome building of red brick, with Portland 

 stone dressings, but the old stables are still to 

 be seen at the side, in Bull-and-Mouth Street. 

 A strong and penetrating aroma of horses and 

 straw pervades the neighbourhood. 



Wonderful building, the new General Post 

 Office, opened last year, nearly opposite. They 

 say the Government has got something very like 

 a Avliite elejihant in that vast pile. A great deal 

 too big for j)i'esent needs, or, indeed, for any 

 possible extension of Post Office business. Here's 

 the "Lord Wellington." What's that the yard- 

 porter says .^* — He says " they don't call it nothin' 

 but the ' Vellington ' now."-^Smart turn-out, 

 is it not, Avitli its yellow wheels and body to 

 match ? You can tell Sherman's coaches any- 

 where by that colouring. What a d d 



nuisance those boys are, pestering one to buy 

 things one doesn't want ! No ; be off with you, 

 we don't want any braces or pocket lookiug- 

 srlasses, nor the " Life and Portrait of His Late 



