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CHAPTEK XIV. 



A JOUENEY DUE NOETH. 



Feom Wetlierby in early clays, and from York in the 

 last period, the London Eoyal Mail coach found its 

 way to Newcastle-on-Tyne. Despatched from the 

 General Post-Office at eight o'clock at night, it was 

 due at Newcastle, in its prime, at a little before two 

 o'clock on the morning of the third day of its journey 

 due North. 



When I first became acquainted with Newcastle, a 

 relic of the old mail-coaching days still spanned the 

 Tyne. The low-level stone bridge, with its nine 

 elliptical arches, blocked the waterway indeed, but 

 carried the great east-coast road from York to Berwick- 

 on- Tweed out of Durham into Northumberland. 



Surely there must yet be those who can recall some 

 stages of this arduous mail-coach journey. How, 

 going North, the bridge landed the coach at Side and 

 Sandhill, and how, at ten minutes to two o'clock in 

 the morning, the ^Yeary horses drew the not less weary 

 passengers and the mail up the steep grade of one in 

 twelve of Dean Street. 



