io8 THE COACHING AGE. 



ever since the year 1792. The Swan with Two 

 Necks, though, is of much older date, as in an 

 interesting book on sign-boards it is said, ' The 

 Swan with Two Necks is a corruption from 

 Nicks. In 1556 the Swane with ij Nekes at Mylke 

 Street End.' In imitation, I suppose, of the mail- 

 coach halfpenny, Waterhouse had a medal struck 

 of about the size of a halfpenny with a swan with 

 two necks stamped on it, and this inscription, ' Pay- 

 able, at the mail-coach office, Lad Lane, London. 

 W. W.' I have at various' times travelled and 

 conversed with many of Mr. Chaplin's coachmen and 

 guards, but have not heard any one of them speak 

 unfavourably of him, and as a proof of his not for- 

 getting those who had been in his service, he sub- 

 sequently availed himself of the opportunities he had 

 of putting them into situations as guards or station- 

 masters on the railway. His countenance certainly 

 was expressive of kindness, but he had, I have under- 

 stood, although I never heard him exercise it, the 

 power of giving utterance to language more forcible 

 than eloquent when he considered it necessary. His 

 character is thus sketched by a man who was once 

 in his employment as a coachman : 



' Downright industry and a systematic application 

 to business, in which the female members of the 

 family were called to assist, formed the foundation of 



