THE TIME JOURNEYS OCCUPIED. 77 



tables, that is by putting the minutes after the hour, 

 and speaking of time in Hke manner, as 6.45, 8.32, 

 12.14; ii"^ fs-Ct, watches are now made on this 

 principle. 



The time taken by the coaches, compared with the 

 rail, was so great that, as a rule, the time occupied by 

 all railway journeys of any importance, undertaken on 

 good lines, must be multiplied by four or five in order 

 to ascertain what time would be required by a coach 

 to perform the same journey. Thus, to Brighton by 

 rail would occupy one hour by fast train, whereas by 

 coach it would take four or five hours in the ordinary 

 course — thirteen miles an hour if the coach took four 

 hours, -and a fraction over ten miles an hour if it took 

 five hours, the distance being fifty-two miles. These 

 two speeds per hour are very high, seeing that although 

 some coaches greatly exceeded this speed, yet the 

 average performance of coaches throughout the United 

 Kingdom, taking slow and fast alike, appears to have 

 been about eight and a half miles an hour. It must 

 be remembered that the horses were changed every 

 few miles ; but when on a journey with a private 

 coach or carriage, and there is no change, every coach- 

 man should remember that it is not distance so much 

 as speed that exhausts horses. On a driving tour, 

 when there is no change, the distance should never 

 exceed twenty miles a day, and even that is too much 

 on a bad road or in a hilly country. 



The idea of a journey at the present day is a short 

 drive or a walk to a railway station, where we take 

 our ticket and seat ourselves in a comfortable railway 

 carriage, from which we probably do not stir until 

 we have almost reached our destination ; and although 

 a coach-drive on a fine day is very delightful for a 



