THE COACHES 



II 



If we had wished, in the first year of the reign 'of 

 Queen Victoria, to proceed to Dover with the utmost 

 expedition and despatch consistent with coach- 

 travelUng, we should have booked seats in Mr. Benjamin 

 Worthy Home's " Foreign Mail," which left the 

 General Post-Office in Saint Martin's-le-Grand every 

 Tuesday and Frida}^ nights, calling a few minutes 

 later at the " Cross Keys," Wood Street, and finally 

 arriving at Dover in time for the packets at 8.15 the 

 following morning ; thus beating by half an hour the 

 time of any other coach then running on this road. 



If, on the other hand, we objected to night travel, 

 we should hs,ve had to sacrifice that half-hour, and 

 go by either the " Express," which, starting from the 

 " Golden Cross," Charing Cross, at 10 a.m. every 

 morning, did the journey in nine hours ; or else by the 

 " Union " coach, which, travelling at an equal speed, 

 left the " White Bear," Piccadilly, at 9 a.m. Not that 

 these were the only choice. Coaches in plenty left 

 town for Dover ; the " Eagle," the " Phoenix," 

 Worthington's Safety Coaches, the " Telegraph," 

 the " Defiance," the " Royal Mail," and the " Union 

 Night Coach," starting from all parts of London. 

 The famous " Tally-ho Coach," too, between London 

 and Canterbury, left town every afternoon, and did 

 the fifty-four miles in the twinkling of an eye — that is 

 to say (with greater particularity and less vague 

 figure of speech) in five hours and a half ; while 

 Stanbury and Rutley's fly-vans and wagons conveyed 

 goods and i^assengers who could not afford the fares 

 of the swifter coaches between the " George," 

 Aldermanbury, and Dover at the rate of six miles 

 an hour. 



Besides these methods of conveyance, numerous 

 coaches, vans, omnibuses and carriers '-carts plied 

 between the Borough and Chatham, Rochester and 



