The Sport of Our ^Ancestors 



of course, make play where she can, being strongly opposed 

 by hills lower down the country, trifling as these hills are, 

 no doubt, to what they once were. The Regulator, more- 

 over, loads well, not only with passengers, but with luggage ; 

 and the last five miles of this stage, called the Hartford 

 Bridge Flat, have the reputation of being the best five miles 

 for a coach to be found at this time in England. The ground 

 is firm, the surface undulating, and therefore favourable to 

 draught ; always dry, not a shrub being near it ; nor is 

 there a stone upon it much larger than a marble. These 

 advantages, then, are not lost to the Regulator, or made use 

 of without sore discomposure to the solitary tenant of her 

 gammon-board . 



Any one that has looked into books will very readily 

 account for the lateral motion, or rocking, as it is termed, of 

 a coach, being greatest at the greatest distance from the 

 horses (as the tail of a paper kite is in motion whilst the 

 body remains at rest) ; and more especially when laden as 

 this coach was — the greater part of the weight being forward. 

 The situation of our friend, then, was once more deplorable. 

 The Regulator takes but twenty-three minutes for these 

 celebrated five miles, which cannot be done without * spring- 

 ing the cattle ' ^ now and then ; and it was in one of the 

 very best of their gallops that day, that they were met by 

 the coachman of the Comet, who was returning with his up 

 coach. When coming out of rival yards, coachmen never 

 fail to cast an eye to the loading of their opponents on the 



1 The term on the road is * springing them ' — the word cattle understood. 

 196 



