184 ON THE TRACK OF THE MAIL-COACH 



ran 30-J miles to Preston. A post to Preston, via 

 Ormskirk, had been established in 1757, but of course 

 it was not until mail-coaches had become general that 

 this one, which in after-years became the swiftest in 

 the country, was put on the road. 



The fame of the Preston mail still survives in 

 Ormskirk, although it merely stopped at the old 

 George and Dragon Inn, on the Market Cross, now 

 the site of the post-of&ce, to pick up mails and pas- 

 sengers. The time allowed for the run from Ormskirk 

 to Liverpool is said to have been ' about an hour.' As 

 the distance is 13:^ miles, the pace was evidently 

 smart. 



Its fame survives also in so remote a town as 

 Bournemouth ; for I met there lately a resident 

 whose first mail-coach ride was in 1836, by this 

 renowned vehicle, from Clayton Square, in Liverpool, 

 to Preston. Scott drove the coach, and four bright 

 chestnut horses sped its course. 



A story has been told of a gentleman who, in spite 

 of warnings from the superintendent, would play 

 tricks with a bear or other savage creature in the 

 Zoological Gardens in London. One day some human 

 fingers were found outside its cage. At the Liverpool 

 post-office, in the forties, the letter-boxes for the out- 

 going mails were swiftly closed at the appointed 

 moment by means of a powerful lever. One day a 

 forefinger was found in the letter-box. Neither of the 

 maimed persons made any complaint. 



In 1831 the only trace of this port being a packet- 



