THE POST OFFICE. 269 



men, the one at college, and of a studious turn of 

 •mind, the other quite the reverse, and very fond of 

 anything connected with horses or coaches. The 

 studious individual inquiring of his companion if he 

 knew algebra, the horsy one, not wishing to admit 

 that there was a place on the road with which 

 he was unacquainted, replied that he thought he had 

 been through it one night outside a coach, but it was 

 so dark he could not see much of it. 



Somewhat similar must have been the position of a 

 guard on a night-coach up from Birmingham, with 

 respect to the parcels in the hind-boot when some one 

 stole his lamp at Woburn. But it was by no means 

 an unusual thing for the guard of a coach to put out 

 or cover the lamp of his hind-boot when the opposi- 

 tion was known to be not far behind, so that the 

 coachman following could not tell whether he might 

 not be miles ahead, and would not put on an extra 

 spurt to catch him up. 



I have heard of a large bough being attached to the 

 back of a coach in the daytime, and trailed along the 

 ground in the dust to smother the passengers on the 

 coach following ; for the truth of the story I don't 

 Vouch, but will say in the words of Sam Weller, ' Far 

 from it, on the contrary, quite the reverse.' 



As the penny post was established in 1840, and 

 some of the railways out of London did not open any 



