74 THE DOVER ROAD 



The sole inhabitants of Dover (says our traveller) 

 were sailors, ships' captains, and innkeepers. The 

 height of the triumphal arches, on which the vast 

 signboards of the inns spanned the narrow streets, 

 and the ridiculous magnificence of the ornaments that 

 headed them, were wonderful as compared with the 

 little post-boys, children of twelve and thirteen years 

 of age, who were starting every minute in sole charge 

 of post-chaises. The great multitude of travellers 

 with which Dover was crowded afforded a reason 

 for dispensing with a police regulation which forbade 

 public conveyances to travel on Sundays, and on that 

 day he set out with seven other passengers in two 

 carriages called (" called," you notice, like that street 

 in Jerusalem that was " called " straight) " flying 

 machines." There were six horses to a machine, and 

 they covered the distance to London in one day for 

 one guinea each person ; passengers' servants carried 

 outside at half-price. The coachmen, who were most 

 kindly disposed towards their horses, carried whips, 

 certainly, but they were no more in their hands than 

 the fan is in winter in the hand of a lady ; they only 

 served to make a show with, for their horses scarcely 

 ever felt them, so great was the tenderness of the 

 English coachman with his cattle. 



But see the peculiar advantages of travelling on 

 Sunday. There were no excisemen anywhere on duty, 

 and even the highwaymen had ceased their labours 

 during the night. The only knights of the road our 

 travellers encountered were dangling from gibbets by 

 the wayside in all the glories of periwigs and full-skirted 

 coats. Unfortunately, the pace was marred by the 

 frequent stoppages made to unload the brandy-kegs 

 at the roadside inns from the boots of the coaches, 

 where they had been stowed away in the absence of 

 the gangers. 



Upon their way to Canterbury, the travellers, and 

 our foreigner in particular, had for some time perceived 

 that they were no longer in France, and when at length 



