228 ON THE TRACK OF THE MAIL-COACH 



swift mail went, as was natural, the shorter way. 

 This coach, the pride of the Scots Eoad (if I except 

 the Aberdeen Defiance), ran at lOj miles per hom% 

 which meant, according to an old contractor's expe- 

 rience, eleven miles an hour over most of the ground. 



It left Carlisle so quickly after the arrival of the 

 mail-coaches from the South, that the marvel is how 

 the tired passengers could muster strength enough to 

 face another hundred miles over a country parts of 

 which lie very high, and are bleak and exposed at all 

 times. ' Caledonia stern and wild ' shows a good 

 deal of her disposition between the English Border 

 and Beattock Summit. 



The Bush and the Crown, in the winter season 

 certainly, offered temptations which the hungry, 

 numbed, drowsy and unrefreshed coach-top rider 

 would have been more than mortal to resist. A halt 

 appealed to all. 



It was naturally not unusual for passengers — 

 whether by mail or other coach — to break their 

 journey at the hundred-mile stages. The innkeepers 

 viewed kindly so laudable a practice. 'Passengers/ 

 says a Leicester notice, ' being fatigued on the road 

 from Manchester to London, and London to Man- 

 chester, may have the privilege of stopping a day or 

 two at Leicester.' Passengers from the Potteries to 

 London by the Eegulator were notified that they 

 had ' the privilege of staying in Birmingham all 

 night by booking through by this coach.' 



It is a speculation, not without interest, what was 



