42 ON THE TRACK OF THE MAIL-COACH 



furlong and thirteen yards from the Standard in 

 Cornhill, and four furlongs and two hundred and 

 five yards from Holborn Bars. 



The latter were formerly to be found across Holborn, 

 east of the top of Gray's Inn Lane and Middle Eow. 

 If I may trust to Bayly's map of 1765 for one fact 

 and my own recollection for another, the Bars must 

 have crossed the road exactly in front of a barber's 

 shop — Gillingwater's, I think — outside which, in the 

 late forties or early fifties, I surely saw one of 

 the last of a series of remarkable placards. When 

 bear's grease was supposed to be the finest possible 

 restorative for hair growing thin, hairdressers or 

 perfumers would occasionally electrify London by 

 announcing in the largest possible type, ' Another 

 Tremendous Bear just Slaughtered !' Thus too did 

 the barber, no doubt to amuse the public eye. 



Before Holborn was paved, the roadway in wet 

 weather was knee-deep in mud, and one of the earliest 

 road- tolls levied in England was for its repair. It 

 does not seem improbable that the Bars were erected 

 partly for the purpose of enforcing and collecting the 

 toll from travellers to the City, and partly for marking 

 the City boundary, as in the case of Temple Bar. 



So, along the highroads, carefully measured from 

 one or other of the seven points, bowled such of her 

 Majesty's British mail-coaches as I propose to touch 

 on — to Hull ; to Yarmouth ; to towns on the Dover 

 road ; to the New Forest ; to the West of England 

 and Cornwall ; through South Wales ; to Liverpool 



