340 STAGE-COACH AND MAIL IN DAYS OF YORE 



and sprinkled with those fragments of loaf sugar 

 without which the exterior of no Bath hun is 

 complete ; the cheese of Cheddar ; the toffee of 

 Everton ; pork pies from Melton Mowhray ; or a 

 barrel of real natives from Whitstable. All or 

 any of these, I say, he might carry home with 

 him, while few places Avere so unimportant in 

 this particular way that he could not ring the 

 changes on gastronomic rarities as he went. 



All these things were the products of that old 

 English tradition of good cheer and hospitality 

 Avhich lasted even some little way into the railway 

 age. Journeys were cold, hut hearts were warm, 

 and the more rigorous your travelling the better 

 your welcome. It would seem, and actually be, 

 absurd to surround a modern arrival by railway 

 with the circumstance that greeted the advent of 

 the coach. In the bygone times the guest had no 

 sooner alighted at his inn and proceeded to his 

 room than a knock came at his door, and lo ! on 

 a tray a glass of the choicest port or cordial the 

 house contained. To this day the courteous old 

 custom survives at the "Three Tuns," in Durham, 

 whose traditional glass of cherry brandy is famous 

 the whole length of the great road to the north. 



Eor the little folks who travelled by coach, 

 either with their own people or, like Tom Brown, 

 in charge of the guard, warm motherly hearts beat 

 in the bosoms of the stately landladies of the age, 

 all courteous punctilio to their grown-up guests, 

 but sympathy itself to the wearied youngsters. 

 Such'was Mrs. Botham, of the "Pelican," at 



