IMPROVEMENT IN COACHES. m 



poor for hours to come. In villages, what the guard 

 said was repeated in the squire's drawing-room, the 

 vicarage parlour, the village inn, and by the occupants 

 of many a humble cottage. Before the advent of 

 coaches it was the pedlars, the packmen, and the 

 waggoners who transmitted the news. So far as the 

 discussion of the guard's news was concerned, there is 

 little doubt that in the bar of a village inn, under the 

 influence of alcoholic liquids, many trifling incidents 

 were distorted into the most terrible and traQ;ic events. 

 Speaking of coaches, there is little doubt but that 

 they have greatly improved since the regular coaching 

 days. They could not fail to do so, as coach-building 

 has made rapid strides of late years, and coaches have 

 naturally benefited by this fact. xA.s time progresses, 

 every trade gradually improves, and the same thing 

 applies to the tradesmen employed by a coach-builder 

 in the construction of a coach. For instance, the 

 wheelwright, the smith, the painter, the liner, and 

 trimmer have all learnt something fresh since the days 

 when Englishmen travelled by coach ; so also has the 

 lamp and harness-maker. In fact, although coach- 

 builders and harness-makers are people with very 

 strong Conservative tendencies, yet gradual improve- 

 ments are always being made in the two important 

 trades to which they belong ; and this is apparent to 

 any one who compares a very old carriage with a 

 modern one, or an old set of four-horse harness with 

 that made at the present time by a first-rate London 

 tradesman. So that to speak of harness or coaches in 

 the old days as being superior to what is manufactured 

 at the present time, is to convey a very erroneous 

 impression to people's minds who are unacquainted 

 with such matters. It is only the roads that have 



