3i6 HIGHWAYS AND HORSES. 



away with, and the timber was increased in pro- 

 portion ; nevertheless, it weighed twenty hundred- 

 weight. This writer goes on to speak about doing 

 away with the perch, but in that case the vehicle 

 would no longer be a coach. He further remarks 

 that it is not essential, in order to maintain the ancient 

 glories of the road, to draw a vehicle of twenty-four 

 hundredweight just because it is a particular shape. 

 He says that the quidnuncs at Hatchett's would be 

 dreadfully shocked were four horses driven in any- 

 thing but a coach. This entertaining writer signs 

 himself " Quaint Bits ; " and with a few more remarks 

 from other writers, this newspaper controversy was 

 concluded. 



Mr. V. Kesterton, who is the proprietor of 

 Messrs. Holland's coach-building establishment in 

 Oxford Street, has sent me the following answers 

 to questions I asked of him respecting coaches ; and 

 he must naturally have great experience, when one 

 considers that, as regards the building of four-horse 

 coaches, Messrs. Holland are unrivalled ; in fact, they 

 have made the buildins: of four-horse coaches their 

 speciality. 



I asked him what was the weight of a full-sized 

 four-horse stage-coach, such as would be used for 

 carrying a number of people with heavy luggage. 

 His answer was twenty-two hundredweight. 



Question : What is the weight of a full-sized pri- 

 vate coach ? 



Answer : Nineteen hundredweight. 



Question : What is the weight of the smallest coach 

 made ? 



Answer : Seventeen and a half to eighteen hun- 

 dredweight. 



