The Sport of Our Ancestors 



length found out— though they were a long time before 

 they did discover it — that the hay- and corn-market is not 

 so expensive as the horse-market. They have, therefore, 

 one horse in four always at rest ; or, in other words, each 

 horse lies still on the fourth day, thus having the advantage 

 of man. For example, if ever we turn coach-proprietors, 

 or * get into harness,' as the proper term is — which, as we 

 have become fox-hunters, is by no means impossible — we 

 shall keep ten horses for every ten miles' stage we engage 

 to cover. In this case, eight horses only will be at work, 

 four up and four down. If the stage be less than eight 

 miles, nine horses may do the work. But no -horse in a 

 fast coach can continue to run every day, the excitement of 

 high keep and profuse sweating producing disease. In prac- 

 tice, perhaps, no animal toiling for man, solely jor his profit, 

 leads so easy and so comfortable a life as the English coach- 

 horse. He is sumptuously fed, kindly treated ; and if he 



and fifty. Perhaps for the length of ground it travels over, this is the most 

 punctual coach at all its stages on the journey at this time in England. It 

 leaves Shrewsbury at a quarter before six, A.M., and arrives at the Bull and Mouth, 

 London, at a quarter past nine, p.m., and as this was the first coach that attempted 

 to become a day-coach over so great an extent of ground, we are induced to 

 notice one particular team on it, said to be the most superb of their kind, 

 and for the purpose for which they are used, at this time in Great Britain. 

 They are chestnuts, the property of Mr. Evans, of Wolverhampton ; and 

 their ground is from that town to Wednesbury, a distance of six miles. The 

 coachmen of the Wonder also deserve notice for their uniformly good conduct 

 and skill. Their names are Wood (who drives out of London), Lyley Wilcox, 

 and Hayward. 



There is likewise a very fast and well-conducted coach which passes through 

 Shrewsbury, viz., the Hirondelle, from Cheltenham to Liverpool, a hundred 

 and thirty-three miles, in twelve hours and a half ! Both these coaches load 

 uncommonly well. 



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