Il6 ON THE TRACK OF THE MAIL-COACH 



Cove, even there, picturesque as the cove is itself, the 

 sands of this splendid, health-giving, rock-bound 

 coast are not much to speak of. 



I recollect the late Eector of Llandewednack 

 running breathless into Penmenner, where I was 

 staying, to say that the beach near the lighthouse was 

 being carried bodily away. A neighbouring farmer 

 had moved off with a single cartload of sand. 



Lizard Town viewed with lordly indifference the 

 goings and comings, at Falmouth, of mail-coaches, 

 which never dreamt of approaching the Lizard ; and, 

 so that she got letters now and then, it mattered 

 little to her how she got them. The workers in 

 serpentine were not much concerned in corre- 

 spondence. Besides, they had the life-boat, which 

 lies under the lee of the lighthouse, to look after. 

 Enough for the day were the cares thereof. 



Not so, however, at Falmouth, Penzance, Truro and 

 the like. To them, a swift post was of the greatest 

 consequence. Falmouth especially looked on the 

 quick running of the mail-coach through Cornwall as 

 the best guarantee of the success of the great docks 

 then in view. Truro took thought for its tin. 



So, hardly had Lord Lichfield, as Postmaster- 

 General, taken up the reins at St. Martin's-le-Grand, 

 when the southern towns of Cornwall, by the united 

 voices of the High Sheriff, two mayors, ten magis- 

 trates, the clergy, the gentry, bankers, solicitors, and 

 others, made a powerful appeal. They deprecated 

 the circuitous and hilly route of Salisbury and Yeovil 



