INN YARDS AND STABLES. lo: 



A time there was, ere railroads came ia force, 

 When every mile of ground maintained its horse ; 

 Coach afcer coach then rattled briskly by, 

 " Live and let live" was then the wholesome cry. 

 'Tis past ! and now succeeds the general doom 

 Of landlord, barmaid, waiters, ostler, groom ; 

 The coachman's glories have for ever set. 

 And " Boots " has got a place — in the Gazette. 



There were some wonderful old inns in London 

 in the coaching days which have been mentioned 

 elsewhere ; they were the " Bull and Mouth," St. 

 Martin's -le- Grand, close to where now stands the 

 General Post Office, this belonged to Sherman, and 

 the " Belle Sauvage," Ludgate Hill, which belonged 

 to Robert Nelson. The "Bull Inn," Aldgate, belonged 

 to Mrs, Nelson, the mother of Robert; the "Swan 

 with Two Necks," Lad Lane, the "Spread Eagle," 

 Gracechurch Street, and the "White Horse," Fetter 

 Lane, belonged to Chaplin ; the "Cross Keys," Wood 

 Street, Cheapside, the "Golden Cross" at Charing 

 Cross, and the "George and Blue Boar," in Holborn, 

 were leased by Home. There were several others, 

 all of which were provided with extensive stabling, 

 although very few coach-houses were used, the coaches 

 generally standing in the open yard. All the mails 

 left London of a night at exactly the same hour, 

 this was eight o'clock, and they arrived at the General 

 Post Office at about the same time in the morninof. 

 Mr. Harris in his well-illustrated and well-written 

 book, entitled, " Old Coaching Days," says that the 

 mails for the western part of England all stopped at 

 some West End booking-office to take up passengers 

 and luggage. The West End offices were the " Green 

 Man and Still," the "Gloucester Coffee House" in 

 Oxford Street, the "White Bear" in Piccadilly, the 



