122 HIGHWAYS AND HORSES. 



town, neither did Sherman, who horsed the London 

 and Worcester, Exeter and Carhsle mails. Coach 

 proprietors frequently worked mail-coaches in unison. 

 Mr. Harris says that Horn, who was not the largest 

 proprietor in London, used to pay annually to Govern- 

 ment ;^25,ooo, and ^6000 a year to Wright and 

 Powell for hire of coaches ; and this did not include 

 all, as he had some from other builders. 



A coach runninor from a hundred to a hundred 



o 



and twenty miles, might be calculated to earn from 

 ^iS to ^20 a night. If this was the case, and if, 

 as it has been said, a coach cost 140 guineas only, it 

 appears ridiculous that the Postmaster-General did not 

 l^urchase the coaches right out, and merely contract 

 with horse proprietors to horse them, as the price 

 paid by the coach proprietors for the use of the 

 coach must have very soon mounted up to the actual 

 price of the coach. 



A hundred and seventy mails and stage-coaches 

 passed through Hounslow in every twenty-four hours ; 

 more horses stood at Hounslow than at any other 

 village in England. Next to Hounslow, Barnet had 

 by far the greatest number of horses ; this was the 

 first stage out of London on the great north road. 



The agreements entered into between the Post- 

 master-General and horse proprietors, when committed 

 to writing, were very lengthy and voluminous. I 

 presume that the coachmen were the servants of 

 the horse proprietors, since fines were inflicted on 

 them and on the proprietors for not keeping time, 

 although the coachman had to drive over such space 

 of ground as was ordered by the Postmaster-General. 



Nelson, Sherman and Chaplin were the largest 

 proprietors of coach-horses. Captain Haworth de- 



