252 COLLISION 



to be doubly particular and careful. i\s usual, I pulled 

 up at St. Albans for a minute or two. I did not get off 

 the box ; indeed, 1 was afraid to trust myself, for I began 

 to feel more and more the effects of the quantity, as well 

 as the quality, of the wine I had taken. However, we 

 proceeded very steadily and very well to the top of 

 Ridge Hill ; from thence, the worst part of the stage 

 being over, the horses were accustomed to go the last 

 four miles at a more rapid pace — consequently I put 

 them on a little faster, and, passing through the turn- 

 pike-gate at Mimms, they being all very fresh, I fancied 

 they would like a gallop ; so after leaving the village, 

 going down the little descent that opens on to the AVash, 

 I, as the term is, " sprung 'em." 



I was perhaps in the middle of the road, and the fence 

 on my off-side being very high, I did not observe the 

 Manchester " Cobourg " coming round the corner, at 

 about eight or nine miles an hour — I going about double 

 that pace. Just before we got to the turn, we met : my 

 leaders flew out of the road at the instant, over a small 

 ditch on to a bank, where was a lodge Avith a white gate 

 leading to a residence then occupied by the Duke of 

 Leeds. The carriage-road extended from the lodge into 

 the turnpike, and was marked by two white posts. 

 Inside the first my horses passed, but the sudden jerk in 

 crossing the ditch threw me off, and I \aj on my back in 

 the road, and, for a moment, saw the coach falling on 

 me ; but in that same moment the body of the coach 

 struck the post, and the hind wheel having spanned the 

 ditch, she, as the sailor would say, righted ; and, with 

 the force from the speed they were going at, broke down 



