124 THE COACHING AGE. 



I don't think it often happened that there was a 

 strange coachman and a strange guard on one of the 

 mails out of London, neither of whom knew the 

 road; but this once occurred with Chaplin, as from 

 some cause with which I am unacquainted the regular 

 coachman of the Halifax mail, which Chaplin horsed, 

 was not on the coach, and it devolved upon Chaplin 

 to take the reins. When he came near the place 

 where he supposed there was a change, he asked the 

 guard, who had only just been put on this mail, where 

 the change was, but that functionary possessed no 

 more knowledge on the subject than Chaplin him- 

 self ; however, they managed, I believe, to get the 

 mail through the country without any mishap or 

 great loss of time. They would probably ask the 

 horse-keeper at one stage where the next changing- 

 place was; in addition to which the horses them- 

 selves would very likely pull up at the right spot, 

 and by the instrumentality of the guard's horn the 

 fresh horses would be found standing out in the 

 road. 



Of the eight mails that went out of Piccadilly 

 nightly Chaplin horsed all but two, the Gloucester 

 and Exeter ; so that he had to send six mail-carts up 

 there, each carrying a guard, with his letter-bags and 

 post-office equipments, and for the performance of 

 this service he charged in the accounts with his 



