136 THE COACHING AGE. 



down-coach at the ' Halfway House,' or Newbury, and 

 sometimes on Sunday as far as Thatcham, when he 

 changed on to the down-coach, and drove back to 

 Bath, making about 105 miles a day, not excepting 

 Sundays. 



By way of further expedition this coachman carried 

 a young fellow as guard up and down with him at his 

 own expense, and to do the skidding and unskidding 

 on the lower hilly ground. 



The stages were short, necessarily, as the pace they 

 went was about eleven miles an hour, and they were : 



From Bath to Box, 5 miles 

 „ Chippenham 7 „ 

 „ Calne 5 „ 



„ Beckhampton 6 „ 



From Marlborough, 7 miles 



„ Foxfield 7 „ 



„ Halfway House, 7 „ 



„ Thatcham, 7 „ 



The new coachman found that by some curious 

 arrangement all the horses working in one of the 

 coaches which was considerably heavier than the 

 other (and must, I expect, have been one of Sher- 

 man's own), were slighter than those in the lighter 

 coach, and generally that the stock was in very bad 

 condition ; he therefore got all the horses changed, 

 and by care and management got them into good 

 order. 



The coach from the White Lion in the market- 

 place at Bath became quite an object of interest, 

 and a number of persons would stop to see it, as 



