END OF THE COACHING AGE 285 



much to picture and narrative ; it is as barren as 

 an exclamatory ' O ! ' " IIoav true ! The scenery 

 on Avhat the vuli^ar call the " Tuppenny Tube " is 

 distinctly uninteresting. 



But Marian Evans had, you see, her limita- 

 tions as a diviner of things to be. Electricity 

 was not Avithin her ken; she did not suspect the 

 steam-carriages of her youth Avould be reincar- 

 nated as modern motor-cars. Yet, all the time, 

 they were simply laid by, and Gurney, Hancock, 

 and their fellows are justified in this our day. 

 Everything recurs, essentially the same as before, 

 with a complete revolution of the AA'heel of time, 

 and thus the Road has become itself again. 



"Will a time come when the day of the motor- 

 car will be looked back upon with that air of 

 res-retful sentiment with which the vanished 

 Coaching Age is regarded ? The rhythmic footfall 

 of the horses and the rattle of the bars, the 

 tootlins: of the " vard of tin " and the cheerful 

 circumstance that attends the progress of a well- 

 appointed coach, are things which have been, and 

 may still be, experienced in our time by those who 

 journey doAvn the roads affected by the summer 

 coaches, to Brighton, St. Albans, and Virginia 

 Water; but as the Coaching Age itself has 

 jiassed away, these are only sentimental revivals. 

 The horseless carriages are ujion us, and " going 

 strong," alike in speed and scent. The odour of 

 the imperfectly-combusted petrol desecrates the 

 airs of the country-side. Already the length and 

 breadth of the land have been explored by them, 



