COACH-PROPRIETORS 229 



" Defiance " was included. It set out at 2.30 p.m., 

 and was at tlie " Bridge water Arms," Mancliester, 

 at 5.30 the next afternoon. By 1823 it was 

 accelerated by two and a half hours ; in 1826 

 it had become the " Uoyal Defiance," in 2J^ hours. 

 In succeeding years it continued to go at 6.30 

 and 6.15 p.m., and Avhen the " Telegraph " was 

 started the pace was screwed up to the same 

 as that of the new-comer. An evening rival 

 was the fast " Peveril of the Peak," running 

 from the " Blossoms " inn, Lawrence Lane, 

 Cheapside; while Bobert Nelson, of the "Belle 

 Sauvage," also had a fast night coach, the Man- 

 chester " Bed Bover," at 7 p.m., a very lurid 

 affair on which the guards wore red hats as 

 well as red coats, and the horses red harness and 

 collars as far as he horsed the coach out of 

 London. This did not long remain in his hands. 

 Sherman afterwards obtained it ; but Nelson, 

 burning with professional zeal and no little 

 personal pique, immediately put an entirely new 

 coach on the same route to Cottonopolis. The 

 announcement of the " Beehive," as it was called, 

 is distinctly worth quoting, for it shows at once 

 the keen rivalry between proprietors at this 

 period and the excellent appointments of the 

 later coaches : — 



" New Coach from the ' Beehive ' Coach 

 Office 



" Merchants, buyers, and the public in general, 

 visiting London and Manchester, are respectfully 



