74 HIGHWAYS AND HORSES. 



and a half. Mr. Harris, in his old coaching days, says 

 that " this coach was horsed by a man named Israel 

 Alexander and started from the ' Three Tuns,' in 

 Aldgate, close to Mrs. Nelson's." This coach went 

 down to Brighton on the opening day of Parliament 

 with a copy of the King's Speech in three hours and 

 forty minutes ; this was at the rate of fifteen miles an 

 hour, a very great speed for a coach to maintain 

 throughout an entire journey, although nothing 

 compared with the speed of an express train. The 

 only present mode of travelling as regards speed that 

 can be compared to coaching is the rate at which 

 steamboats travel. On one or two occasions the 

 White Star vessels, and other ocean steamers, have 

 averaged fifteen knots across the Atlantic ; but there 

 is no limit to the speed of a locomotive. Stephenson's 

 " Rocket," when on its trial attached to a train only, 

 went twelve and a half miles an hour, but 

 afterwards by itself it steamed at the rate of 

 twenty-nine miles. This was looked upon at that 

 time as a remarkable feat, but it afterwards attained 

 a speed of sixty miles. The locomotives drawing 

 express trains travel generally at about forty- 

 five miles an hour ; but this speed is equal frequently 

 to sixty-five miles an hour, or nearly lOO feet in a 

 second, that is if the locomotive were not attached to 

 a train. Provided that the line is clear, that the rails 

 are in good condition, and that no stoppages are to be 

 made, there is no saying at what speed a locomotive 

 might not travel, either by itself, or with one or two 

 carriaofes attached. Much has been said and written 

 about Pneumatic Railways ; and, although several trials 

 have been made of the Pneumatic Railway, no one as 

 yet has been able to overcome the friction or provide 



