158 HIGHWAYS AND HORSES. 



weather ; the discomfort of being packed like sardines 

 in a box on the top of a coach, with somebody's wet 

 umbrella dripping down your neck, and a pool of water 

 collecting at your feet, is not pleasant. I experienced 

 this kind of thing in the Lake districts only three years 

 ago, and this, together with other things occurring 

 on the journey, gave me a thorough insight into 

 travelling on a coach in inclement weather. 



In the old coaching days, passengers occasionally 

 suffered very severely. On one occasion when the 

 Bath coach arrived at Chippenham, two outside 

 passengers were found to have perished with the 

 cold, and the third, a soldier, although still alive, died 

 the following morning, 



However charming a drive might have been in 

 fine pleasant weather behind four well-bred horses, 

 it must have been very unpleasant when forced to 

 undertake a long journey on a pitch-dark tempestuous 

 night in the depth of winter. 



It is always a surprising thing to me, that no one, 

 in those days, should have ever thought of building 

 a vehicle to run on the public road like the present 

 private four-horse omnibus ; it would have been a very 

 great improvement upon the dark interior of a four- 

 horse coach, although perhaps not so stylish in 

 appearance. On a lovely spring or summer's day, 

 with the road lightly watered by a passing shower, 

 it is more pleasant to travel short distances by road 

 than rail ; but, taking it all round, the rail is immensely 

 preferable. 



Those who regret the days of coaches must be 

 those who benefited by their running, or young men 

 who have never known the horrors of a winter coach 

 journey ; besides which there v*"ere numerous accidents 



