336 THE COACHING AGE. 



in addition to Benson, which was his proper name. 

 His language, by all accounts, seems to have been 

 something horrible, as (without giving me any spe- 

 cimens, which I had no desire to hear) my informant 

 in the course of conversation said, ' Well, we are all 

 sinners, but this man's language was not fit for any 

 decent company.' 



Not being satisfied with his position at the Eagle, 

 he seems to have taken to ' starring it in the pro- 

 vinces,' giving entertainments on his own account, at 

 which he sang, conjured, and gave instances of his 

 ventriloquial abilities ; and among other places he 

 visited Saxmundham, a town on the London and 

 Yarmouth road. This was before the days when he 

 became connected with coaching ; but he was very 

 glad to avail himself of the assistance of the guard 

 of a coach, without whom his ' entertainment on one 

 occasion would probably have been a failure. 



Benson had had some large bills circulated about 

 the town, announcing that Chang Laura, the cele- 

 brated Eastern conjurer (being, in fact, no other than 

 himself), would perform ; also that there would be 

 singing and ventriloquism. The whole perform- 

 ance, set forth in very glowing terms, was to be 

 carried out entirely by himself, except as regarded the 

 music — and here was his difficulty. 



He searched all over the town, but was unable to 



