TOWN AND GOWN 157 



work — for with me it was " no longer fiddle, no longer 

 pay." 



Independent of this, there was a great inconvenience 

 attending my continuing to drive both coaches ; they 

 belonged to two different proprietors in London — the 

 yards were far apart ; consequently I was compelled to 

 live somewhere between them, which involved a very high 

 rental. Then, again, they were neither of them famed for 

 horsing their coaches as they should do beyond the stage 

 out of London — indeed, the work was scarcely done in a 

 decent manner. Complaint after complaint being of no 

 avail, and feelino; that such incessant toil was somethino- 

 akin to the galleys, 1 resolved to give it up, and try and 

 satisfy my daily wants with my original drag. 



I had but to say the Avord, the alteration was made, and 

 I removed my family to Cambridge. 



This formed a new epoch in my history, as for the first 

 time I sat myself down as an inhabitant householder in 

 this important University town. I had now plenty of 

 time, as well as opportunity and inclination, to study the 

 character of the community among whom I had taken up 

 my abode, and to observe the peculiarities of the dis- 

 tinction so long maintained, and so frequently exhibited, 

 between the Town and the Gown. 



But it was some little time before this attracted my 

 attention ; my leisure hours were spent partly in garden- 

 ing — having a good space for that occupation attached to 

 the cottage where I lived — and partly in writing a treatise 

 on the art of driving, with the origin and history of 

 stage- coach travelHng, the greater part of which I had 

 prepared for the press, when Government, or some other 



