THE OLD ENGLAND OF COACHLNG DAYS 339 



Whetstones.' " "What jorecisely Avere the cakes 

 known by tliis unpromising name we cannot 

 say, for the making of them is a thing of the 

 past. 



Stilton cheese, never made at Stilton, obtained 

 its name exactly in the manner already described. 

 It was a cheese made at Wymondham, in Leices- 

 tershire, but its merits were first discovered by the 

 coach-pai'ties who dined at the " Bell " at Stilton, 

 whose landlord o])tained his supply from AYymond- 

 ham, and drove a roaring trade in old cheeses sold 

 to the coaches to take away. " Stilton " cheese 

 is now only a conventional name, like that of 

 " Axminster " carpets, made nowadays at Kidder- 

 minster. 



To brins: home with him bas^s and boxes of 

 local delicacies was to the old coach-traveller as 

 much an earnest of his travels as the bringing 

 back of a storied alpenstock is to the tourist in 

 Switzerland. The Londoner, returning home from 

 Edinburgh, could come back laden with a number 

 of things which, easily obtainable now, were then 

 the spoils only of travel. Prom Scotch short- 

 bread the list would range to Doncaster butter- 

 scotch, York hams, Grantham gingerbread, and 

 Stilton cheeses. On other roads he might secure 

 the cloying Banbury cake, still extant, and as 

 sickly-sweet and lavish of currants as of yore ; 

 the famous Shrewsl)ury cakes, manufactured by 

 the immortal Pailin, Avho left his recipe behind 

 him, so tliat the cakes of Shrewsbury still continue 

 in the land ; Bath l)ims, phenomenally adliesive 



