THE GOLDEN AGE, 1824— 1S48 175 



command, that any one of his coachmen found 

 in the possession of one of those instruments of 

 torture, resembling a cat-o'-nine-tails, for punish- 

 ing horses, and knoAvn as a " short Tommy " 

 woukl be instantly dismissed. Chaplin's direct 

 iniliience and interests may be said to have 

 described a radius of from forty to fifty miles 

 from London, and within that circle the " short 

 T(nnmy " was therefore Imt seldom seen. One 

 historic occasion there Avas, lioAveA^er, Avhen such 

 an object did most dramatically present itself 

 before Chaplin, Avho chanced to be at a Avayside 

 inn Avlien one of his coaches pulled up to change. 

 On the roof Avas a Avarder Avith tAvo conA'icts. 

 As the coachman, Avith much delil)eration, loAA^ered 

 himself from his box to the ground, the " short 

 Tommy " he had been sitting on fell in front 

 of the AvindoAvs, and as it lay there attracted 

 the eagle eye of that great coach-proprietor, avIio, 

 sternly bent upon executing justice ujion the 

 offender, strode forth. The coachman, dismayed, 

 saAA" his employer and the forbidden instrument 

 at once, in one comprehcnsiA^e, understanding 

 gaze ; but he Avas a resourceful man, and handed 

 it to the Avarder, telling him, Avith a portentous 

 AAdnk and a Avarning jerk of tlie head, that he 

 had dropped something. That Avorthy, entering 

 into the spirit of the deception, accepted the 

 pretended cat-o'-nine-tails, and the coachman 

 breathed freely again. 



The days of ten- or eleven mile- stages, just 

 at this time faded aAvay, gaAe a horse one stretch 



