THE COACHING AGE. 



■with the Postmaster-General to cover the ground, he 

 was obliged to find a sub-contractor to do it at a 

 rate varying from twopence farthing to threepence 

 a mile. After the first eighty miles he found no 

 difficulty in getting . persons to join in working 

 them, things being so much cheaper; the principal 

 pressure upon him was in finding partners to keep 

 the mails moving with credit to himself and the 

 office, at a distance from twenty to sixty miles from 

 London. 



The small parcel trade was one inducement to 

 labour with the mails. There being no time allowed 

 for refreshments within a short distance from town, 

 there was not the breakfast or supper to be provided ; 

 and then coming at one or two in the morning, the 

 innkeeper would not care to horse the mail. It being 

 night- work both up and down, there was nothingbesides 

 the bare earnings to ofi'er him as an encouragement, 

 and private individuals did not much care to have 

 their establishments disturbed in the night, although 

 they probably would not object to horsing day 

 coaches. Many persons besides innkeepers used to 

 horse both mails and coaches. 



Chaplin had about sixty-eight different concerns or 

 coaching-lines, requiring for their service about two 

 hundred coaches. 



The opinion of a man so extensively engaged in 



