I20 RECORDS OF OLD TIMES 



CHAPTER XII 



News of the Battle of Waterloo — Difficulty and delay in getting news 

 at the beginning of the century — The old Winslow coach — 'The 

 Dairy Maid' — Report of the great battle brought to my father — 

 Doubts of its authenticity — Ringing the church bells — Indignation 

 of the vicar — Ultimate triumph of my father — Then and now 

 contrasted — ' Our own correspondent.' 



There are many events worthy of remembrance 

 in my long life which, now in the year 1897, seem 

 almost incredible. I have heard my father describe 

 the announcement of the Battle of Waterloo with 

 its effects on him, and the recollection of it is so 

 vivid, I seem somehow to have been with him myself. 

 He said that on June 20, in that memorable year, 

 1815, he was haymaking in the meadow at the back 

 of his premises about mid-day, when he heard his 

 name shouted out, and, leaning on his hayfork, he 

 observed the driver of the pair-horse coach called 

 the ' Dairy Maid,' which ran from London, through 

 Aylesbury, to Winslow and Buckingham, which 

 came down one day and returned the next. The 

 coachman was an old friend of my family, of the 

 name of Hodgkins, and he it was who addressed 

 my father, who was then twenty-three years of age, 

 as ' Master John, I bring you great news, and no 

 one in Aylesbury shall know it before you. Bony- 



