To\YAlM>S Till-] KND OF LAST CENTURY. 1 .'. 



that it appeared to me a complete miracle that we stuck to the 

 coach at all. But we were completely on the wing as often as we 

 passed through a village or went down a hill. 



" This continual fear of death at last became insupportable to 

 me, and, therefore, no sooner were we crawling up a rather steep 

 hill, and consequently proceeding slower than usual, than I care- 

 fully crept from the top of the coach, and was lucky enough to get 

 myself snugly ensconced in the basket behind. 



" ' 0, Sir, you will be shaken to death !' said the black-a-moor ; 

 hut I heeded him not, trusting that he was exaggerating the un- 

 pleasantness of my new situation. And truly, as long as we went 

 on slowly up the hill it was easy and pleasant enough ; and I was 

 just on the point of falling asleep among the surrounding trunks 

 and packages, having had no rest the night before, when on a 

 sudden the coach proceeded at a rapid rate down the hill. Then 

 all the boxes, iron-nailed and copper-fastened, began, as it were, to 

 dance around me ; everything in the basket appeared to be alive, 

 and every moment I received such violent blows that I thought my 

 last hour had come. The black-a-moor had been right, I now saw 

 clearly ; but repentance was useless, and I was obliged to suffer 

 horrible torture for nearly an hour, which seemed to me an eternity. 

 At last we came to another hill, when, quite shaken to pieces, bleed- 

 ing, and sore, I ruefully crept back to the top of the coach to my 

 former seat. ' Ah, did I not tell you that you would be shaken to 

 death ? ' inquired the black man, when I was creeping along on my 

 stomach. But I gave him no reply. Indeed, I was ashamed ; and 

 I now write this as a warning to all strangers who are inclined to 

 ride in English stage-coaches, and take an outside seat, or, worse 

 still, horror of horrors, a seat in the basket. 



" From Harborough to Northampton I had a most dreadful 

 journey. It rained incessantly, and as before we had been covered 

 with dust, we now were soaked with rain. My neighbour, the 

 young man who sat next me in the middle, every now and then 

 tell asleep ; and when in this state he perpetually bolted and rolled 

 s i gainst me, with the whole weight of his body, more than once 

 nearly poshing me from my seat, to which I clung with the last 

 strength of di-spair. My forces were nearly giving way, when at 

 last, happily, we reached Northampton, on the evening of the 14th 

 July, 1782, an ever-memorable day to me. 



" On the next morning I took an inside place for London. We 

 started early in the morning. This journey from Northampton to 

 the metropolis, however, I can scarcely call a ride, for it was a per- 



