CHAPTEE VII. 



COACH PROPRIETOBS. 



Reminiscences of the old roads would be very- 

 imperfect without some mention of the persons 

 whose business consisted in promoting public traffic 

 along them by providing the means of locomotion 

 from place to place. This was done by the mail 

 and coach proprietors and postmasters, a most impor- 

 tant branch of the community in those days, and 

 large contributors to the National Exchequer in the 

 shape of payment of the heavy duties imposed in 

 various ways on their business, independently of 

 similar taxes levied upon them in their capacity 

 of innkeepers, a business carried on by nearly all of 

 them in combination with coaching. 



It is rather singular, and may seem somewhat 

 contradictory, that the improvement of the roads, 

 while it greatly facilitated the coaching-work, acted 

 prejudicially to the innkeepers in some respects. 



The improvement of the roads enabled them to 

 send their coaches along at a speed that would have 



