BIPEDS AND QUADRUPEDS. 15 



would patronize the coach because " it went so fast," 

 whereas they ought in no measured terms to have 

 expressed their abhorrence of the suffering it oc- 

 casioned. Latterly, however, proprietors really 

 got spirited in a better way, for they found their 

 interest in so doing ; the pace had become great no 

 doubt, but they got horses equal to it, and very su- 

 perior men to drive them. Then, as if what was 

 right was not to last, steam put an end to it, for 

 we did not find any of the " spirited coach-proprie- 

 tors" run a coach longer than it paid, nor can any one 

 blame them for it. They are, however, gone. 



Postmasters have been another class against 

 whom, if we could conceive the spirits of horses 

 could be reanimated, they would rise in bitter array. 

 So long as it was supposed nature would last, to 

 enable a horse to drag a carriage at the required 

 pace, there were no limits to the cupidity of the 

 postmaster ; no matter what number of miles a 

 horse might have gone, if he could earn more by 

 another stage, he would be sent ; and, on such 

 occasions, I am sorry to say the public seldom 



