ACCIDENTS. 361 



about double that pace. Just before the coaches got 

 to the turn they met ; his leaders flew out of the road 

 in an instant, and over a small ditch on to a bank by 

 a lodge with a white gate leading to a house then 

 occupied by the Duke of Leeds. The carriage-road 

 extended from the lodge into the turnpike road, and 

 was marked by two white posts. Inside the first his 

 horses passed, but the sudden jerk in crossing the 

 ditch threw him off. He lay on his back in the 

 road, and for a moment saw the coach falling on him ; 

 but the body of the coach having struck the post, 

 and the hind wheel having spanned the ditch, it 

 righted, and with the force from the rate they were 

 going at broke down the other post, regained the 

 road in safety, and the horses were stopped just as 

 they reached the bridge over the Wash — a most 

 miraculous escape, as he said, for him. 



The passengers who sat still were unhurt ; but one 

 gentleman in jumping off the hind part of the coach 

 sprained his ankle, and, suffering from pain and fright, 

 insisted upon being conveyed to London in a post- 

 chaise. One or two others accompanied him, at 

 which the coachman said he could not help observing 

 that there was generally one troublesome customer 

 among the passengers when anything occurred, and 

 he was always sure to be a member of the legal 

 profession. Altogether, he thought himself well off 



