COACHING BUSINESS. 191 



that he was not acquainted with the localities re- 

 ferred to. 



The doctor then put the same question, in fact, 

 though dijfferently expressed, and said : 



' Do you know the Swan with two Necks, Lad 

 Lane, Wood Street, Cheapside V 



Of course the man did. 



To return, after this digression, to coaching busi- 

 ness. Quite concurring in Sir Henry Parnell's obser- 

 vation as to not trusting to anything about coaching 

 business but the actual accounts, I do not intend 

 to set up my knowledge in competition with his 

 experience, or to ask my readers to receive my 

 statements without the necessary precaution he 

 advises ; hence I shall set out some coaching accounts 

 copied from the originals, and therefore to be de- 

 pended upon. Accounts, perhaps, as a rule, arQ not 

 very interesting things to read. Of course, if they 

 happen to show a large balance in your favour, and of 

 which you are to be an early recipient, it is another 

 matter. I think, however, the accounts I am giving, 

 as they are neither long nor complicated, and relate 

 to different coaches and roads, may not be found 

 altogether unacceptable. They show also how they 

 were made up, and the money divided every twenty- 

 eight days, and in this respect differ, I think, from 

 those kept in any other trade. Although the 



