COACH PROPRIETORS. 177 



Thus the coaches were heavily laden every night with 

 passengers and their goods, in addition to which 

 they used to carry samples of wool from London to 

 Melksham, where they were taken off for Bradford ; 

 but these, of which there might be forty or fifty 

 hung on to the net, were paid for at about eighteen- 

 pence each, not being passengers' luggage. 



So heavy were the loads those night-coaches used 

 to carry, that they were built with an extra leaf 

 in the springs, in order to prevent the coach from 

 settling down on the axle. Some idea may be 

 formed of the weights the horses had to draw in 

 these night-coaches, as, on putting one on the 

 weighing-table at Beckhampton gate one night, it 

 was found to be four tons and a half, no trifle 

 for each horse, especially as they were timed at a 

 pretty good pace, being only allowed six hours to do 

 the fifty-three miles between London and Thatcham, 

 and the same pace on the lower ground, some parts 

 of which were very hilly, taking Marlborough Hill for 

 instance, up which many of the coaches always had 

 six horses. 



Although Cooper's coaches were popular and loaded 

 well, the wear and tear of his stock was very great, 

 from the loads they used to carry, added, perhaps, to 

 the want of personal supervision over such a long 

 distance ; so there was generally at Thatcham a 



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