1 68 THE COACHING AGE. 



Yolumes, I suppose, might be filled if even a short 

 history of all the noted coach-proprietors were written, 

 and among them would be found the names of 

 Costar and Waddell, at Oxford ; Several, at Birming- 

 ham ; Lacey and Allen, at Manchester ; Brotherton, 

 at Liverpool ; Teather, at Newcastle ; and Piper, of 

 Edinburgh, whom I may describe as the Chaplin 

 of Scotland, as he horsed every mail out of Edinburgh, 

 six in number, besides having a large general coach- 

 ing business. 



There were two proprietors of whom I have a 

 word to say. One, a woman, carrying on business in 

 the country, but whose coaches were connected with 

 those running out of London ; the other, a man, 

 who had coaches out of London, with respect to the 

 management of which he pursued a method entirely 

 original. 



As a mark of respect to the sex I will take Maria 

 Fromont first, thus contravening the old rule we used 

 to learn in the grammar, which said : 'The masculine 

 is more worthy than the feminine, and the feminine 

 more worthy than the neuter.' 



Miss Fromont was a single woman, who kept the 

 King's Head, at Thatcham, and farmed a considerable 

 quantity of land there. 



She was also one of the middle-ground proprietors 

 of a day-coach running between London and Bristol, 



