384 THE COACHING AGE. 



against the wall, whilst their riders were prudently 

 refreshing themselves in the hotel preparatory to their 

 return to Edinburgh, along perhaps the best bit 

 of road that coach ever rattled over. I then crossed 

 over to North Queensferry, and found a similar change 

 of scene — a railway station instead of the smart coach, 

 and the old stables and coach-houses falling to 

 ruin. 



'Few who remember those times, excepting as 

 children, are now to the fore, and of those fewer 

 still who know or care anything about the locomotion 

 of the period.' 



To revert to English roads, there were two notable 

 country coaches — that is to say, coaches that did 

 not run out of London — which were said to be almost 

 as fast as the Manchester ' Telegraph.' There is 

 no doubt, I believe, that they were the fastest country 

 coaches in the kingdom, and there was a very strong 

 opposition between them. They were the 'Hiron- 

 delle ' and the ' Hibernia,' and ran from Cheltenham 

 to Liverpool, the former from the Plough, and the 

 latter from the Eo3^al Hotel, starting at seven in the 

 morning for the journey of 134 miles ; and the time in 

 which they did it was said to be twelve hours and 

 a half, but I believe in fact was fourteen, which was 

 by no means bad work, as out of this time they must 



