THE COACHING AGE. 



bating the draught and diminishing.it as far as possible 

 for the benefit of their horses, ;and at the same time 

 of their pockets. They were probably satisfied, so far 

 as the mails were concerned, that the Postmaster- 

 General, whose object it was to get the mails conveyed 

 through the country as expeditiously as possible, 

 should take all . the trouble and responsibility of 

 deciding upon the carriage to be adopted. Although 

 the opinions and advice of the coach-masters as 

 practical men no doubt would have been welcome 

 and would have received due attention, yet after 

 all the final decision rested with the Postmaster- 

 General, and the coach-masters had no alternative 

 but to put their horses to the coaches furnished to 

 them. 



There was one exception to the apparent indiffer- 

 ence manifested by the coach-masters as to any 

 improvements made either in the mails or stage- 

 coaches ; William Chaplin, the largest coach -pro- 

 prietor in London, had a coach built with the fore- 

 wheels . of the same height as the hind-wheels. He 

 took out a patent for it, and expended between four 

 and five hundred pounds upon it ; but, as he said, 

 somehow or other he could not surmount the pre- 

 judice against it. It ran beautifully on level ground. 

 How the turning was managed , I could not under- 

 stand. But I only saw it when at rest in the yard, and 



