1 64 THE COACHING AGE. 



time for breakfast, as the Devonport gave twenty- 

 five minutes, and the Holyhead thirty-five ; while 

 the London and Edinburgh and Glasgow mails, 

 whether in consequence of postal arrangements or not 

 I don't know, made a stoppage of forty minutes about 

 breakfast-time at Grantham. 



For all Mrs. Nelson's customers, travelling to and 

 from the Eastern Counties, considerable accommoda- 

 tion at a good inn was in brisk demand ; and thus 

 we find that, independently of her coaching-depart- 

 ment, she had the business of the Bull Inn. I 

 adhere to the good old name of ' inn,' as it is that 

 used by herself on the time-bills and other documents, 

 and her house was universally known as the 'Bull 

 Inn, Aldgate,' to distinguish it from the numerous 

 Bulls in other places, it being so common as a sign. 

 Nobody ever heard of the ' Bull Hotel, in Aldgate ;' and 

 if you had used such an expression, I expect you 

 would have been pulled up directly with ' Oh, I sup- 

 pose you mean the Bull Inn, Aldgate !' 



Up between five and six, and sometimes earlier, in the 

 morning, dressed in a cap of a peculiar fashion, which 

 I cannot pretend to describe, Mrs. Nelson was quite a 

 character, active, and bustling about. She made up 

 considerably over a hundred beds in her house — in 

 fact, I have been told that it was nearer two ; and she 

 lodged and boarded about three dozen of her coach- 



