CHAPTER X 



coACH-PROPRiETOiis {continued) 



Edward Sherman, who ranked next to Chaplin 

 as the hirgest coach-proprietor in London, was in 

 many respects unlike his hrethren in the trade. 

 He established himself at the " Bull and Mouth," 

 St. Martin's-le-Grand, in 1823, in succession to 

 AVillans, and came direct from the Stock Exchange, 

 where he had been a broker in alliance \\ith Lewis 

 Levy, a noted figure in those days of Turnj^ike 

 Trusts. It is perhajis scarcely necessary to add 

 that Levy was a Jew. He Avas referred to by 

 Lord E-avens worth in the course of a discussion 

 in the House of Lords on Metropolitan Toll-gates 

 in 1857 as " a gentleman of the Hel)rew per- 

 suasion." Persuasion, indeed ! As well might 

 you descrilje a l^orn Englishman or Erenchman 

 as born into those nationalities by personal choice 

 and election. Levy was, of course, a Jew by 

 birth, and had no choice in the matter. He was 

 a farmer of turnpike-tolls to the extent of half a 

 million sterling per annum, and a very Avealthy 

 man. Levy ^\\i Sherman into the coaching 

 business, and lie immediately began to make 

 things extremely uncomfortable for the older 

 proprietors, who had up to that time been content 

 with going at eight or nine miles an hour. 



