ACCIDENTS. 369 



were by the front wheel of the ' Hero,' when the driver 

 pulled his horses right across the old coachman's 

 leaders' heads, driving them up a steep bank in which 

 the off fore-wheel of his coach stuck ; fortunately for 

 him, no strap, trace or buckle was broken ; but the 

 delay prevented his getting beyond the hind-boot of 

 the ' Hero,' when it stopped at Petersfield. Accord- 

 ing to the watch of a gentleman on the box, the 

 distance of eight miles had been done in a few 

 seconds over twenty minutes. 



The correctness of this, however, I take the liberty 

 of doubting, inasmuch as it far surpasses any of the 

 times of coaches on the first of May, when they 

 performed some extraordinary feats in order to see 

 the shortest time in which they could accomplish their 

 journeys ; but none of them got up even to twenty 

 miles an hour, while the pace of the ' Hero ' and its 

 opponent is said to have been twenty-four. Three of 

 the horses in the ' Hero ' never came out of the 

 stable again. 



The only result, however, of this race between the 

 two coaches was a complaint by the proprietors to 

 the coachmen. The occurrence, like many others 

 of a similar kind, was remembered only as an extra- 

 ordinary feat, and . things went on pretty well till 

 the middle or latter end of January, when there was 

 a rime frost, accompanied by a thick fog, which 



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