140 THE COACHING AGE. 



that a man had good luck in his stables being free 

 from disease or death. 



Considering the number of horses that were kept 

 in some of the underground stables of the London 

 coach-proprietors for want' of better accommodation, I 

 should say they were singularly free from disease and 

 loss. There is this, though, to be borne in mind, that 

 even the horses which worked in the day-coaches, 

 and consequently on arriving in London had to 

 sleep underground, would go out the next morning, 

 so that they spent every other day and night in the 

 country, together with their rest-days ; while the night- 

 coach horses were better off still, as coming into town 

 in the morning, they were out again in the afternoon, 

 never spending a night in town at all. Those 

 unfortunate horses arriving in town on Saturday 

 night, if the coach did not run on Sunday, would 

 have to remain there till Monday morning. Sunday 

 in London is not the most lively time under any 

 circumstances ; but I suppose if you were bound, like 

 the horses, to spend it underground, it would be 

 much the same as any other day in the week. 



The London and Birmingham Eailway was the first 

 long line to open out of London, and Sherman's 

 business being principally on the North road, it was a 

 more important matter to him than to any of the 

 London proprietors. 



