6o THE COACHING AGE. 



running to Dover ; their fares, too, were considerably- 

 higher -than the steamers ; and then on the coaches 

 the passengers could not have the ' tea a;nd shrimps,' 

 which seemed to form an indispensable adjunct to the 

 trip by water. 



The Dover Eoad was never distinguished by any 

 very fast coaches on it, the short distance from 

 ■London, only seventy-one miles, rendering :a high 

 rate of speed unnecessary to accomplish the journey 

 in the day ; and the road being hilly, was against 

 coaches being timed at a very fast pace. Perhaps 

 about the fastest on that road was one of Chaplin's, 

 the 'Tally Ho,' which went from the Spread Eagle 

 in Gracechurch Street to Sittingbourne, forty miles, 

 every day, including Sundays. It reached town 

 between ten and eleven at night, was a favourite 

 conveyance, and largely patronized by the Kentish 

 farmers, who could leave their homes at five or six 

 o'clock on Sunday afternoon, get their night's rest, 

 and be on the spot for the early markets in London 

 at Smithfield or Mark Lane. Cattle and sheep were 

 then driven through the streets on Sunday night to 

 market, and away from it all day during Monday ; 

 and the notorious bull in a china shop was then not 

 unfrequently an actual fact, as many shopkeepers in 

 the streets about Smithfield could testify to their cost 

 and annoyance. 



