i8o THE COACHING AGE. 



losing a large sum of money by posting and coach- 

 ing- — no less, it was said, than £20,000 — Cooper 

 found a difficulty in providing money for purchasing 

 horses so frequently, and paying all his other ex- 

 penses ; so that, in order to secure themselves, men at 

 each end took all the money as it was earned by the 

 coaches, Cooper's horses were very badly kept, and he 

 became bankrupt at the end of the year 1832, when 

 the coaches were taken over by Chaplin, moved from 

 the George Inn, Aldermanbury, to the Swan with two 

 Necks, Lad Lane, and horsed by him down to 

 Thatcham, and from thence to Bristol by Niblett, of 

 the White Lion there, and Lane, of Bath. The 

 coaches then were very well done, and still stopped at 

 the Cottage for meals as before. Cooper continuing 

 to reside there, and acting, I take it, as manager to 

 the proprietors by some arrangement. 



When the coaches were driven off the road Chaplin 

 got Cooper the appointment of stationmaster at Eich- 

 mond, where he died, after having filled the office 

 a good many years, and, I rather think, retired on a 

 pension. 



The frequent payments travellers were called upon 

 to make at hotels for waiters, chambermaids, boots 

 and porters, led to the adoption of the system of 

 making a fixed inclusive charge for servants in hotel 

 bills, which I believe is almost universally approved 



