176 STAGE-COACH AND MAIL IN DAYS OF YORE 



of so many miles a clay ; but in the fast coaches 

 of the newer age they ran, as we have seen, out 

 and home, six or seven miles each way. It was 

 to the very last a disputed point Avhether it 

 Avas better for a horse to do his ten or eleven 

 miles and have done with it for the day, or to 

 do his two shifts of six or seven. Many coach- 

 men Avho could not depend upon their horse- 

 keepers objected to two sweats a day ; but this 

 division of work was a decided advantage to the 

 horses, if well tended, and in such cases they 

 had the advantage of sleeping at home every 

 night. The number of horses kej^t for one of 

 the fast coaches of this Augustan age would 

 have astonished the pioneers of coaching ; one 

 horse for every mile travelled was the establish- 

 ment kept up. Slow coaches could do with fewer. 



The average jorice paid for a coach-horse at 

 this period was £30, but some Avere acquired for 

 a mere trifle, oAving to their being Adcious or 

 unmanageable in private hands. The private 

 OAA^ner's dilemma Avas the coach-proprietor's opjior- 

 tunity. It mattered little to him Avhat defects 

 of temper a horse jiossessed so long as he Avas 

 sound in Avind and liml). For the rest, a little 

 discipline, harnessed Avitli three others, all subject 

 to tlie rule of those A^cry al)le disci j)linarians, the 

 coachmen, quickly sufficed to bring such an 

 animal to reason. There Avere thus some A'ery 

 queer animals draAving the coaches in these last 

 years. 



Some Avere purchased Avith a doubtful title. 



