ACCIDENTS. 365 



thing to drink. He then fancied that a man named 

 ' Humpy,' either from the name of the coach he 

 drove (the ' Umpire '), or from a hump on his back, 

 had already had some glasses too many, as he was 

 very noisy. 



The journey being resumed again, the two Man- 

 chester coaches started first, followed by the ' Umpire,' 

 Humpy shouting and hallooing at the top of his 

 voice, as, indeed, he had been doing almost all the 

 way from St. Albans. So suspecting something 

 would happen, the old coachman kept behind ; and 

 on going up the hill out of the bottom, he could 

 just see one of the three coaches close to the fence 

 opposite a public-house called the Bald-faced Stag. 

 On reaching the spot he saw a coach lying on its 

 side, the luggage scattered all about the road, the 

 fore-part of the coach broken, and a perfect wreck, 

 but the horses standing quietly. He pulled up, and 

 proceeded a few yards on foot with some of the 

 people from the public-house. He then found that 

 the coach was the Liverpool ' Umpire.' Some of the 

 passengers were bewailing their bruises, and others 

 swearing and condemning the conduct of Humpy, 

 who lay on his back in the road, perfectly helpless, 

 like a large black beetle, moaning and groaning most 

 hideously, and certainly more injured than anyone 

 else. Being unable to stand, they carried him into 



