4o6 THE COACHING AGE. 



the pedestrians, of whom there were always a goodly 

 number. 



The nearer you approached to London, the number 

 of coaches, and naturally other conveyances as well, 

 increased, as from Birmingham, Gloucester, and 

 Bristol there were more than from the other large 

 towns I have named ; while approaching nearer still to 

 town, as Southampton, Portsmouth, Brighton, Oxford 

 and Northampton, there were not only the direct 

 coaches running between those places, but the long 

 coaches from a greater distance, passing through some 

 of them. 



For the comparatively insignificant number of road- 

 travellers that there used to be, ample accommoda- 

 tion was always provided, as even the small number 

 of coaches running were not always full ; and directly 

 it was found that those on the road were loading 

 fully almost daily, and doing exceedingly well, op- 

 position or additional coaches would be put on by 

 some one or other: so that a good coach was not 

 very often left to remain in a state of unwonted 

 prosperity, without any rival to share in the profits, 

 and thus perhaps convert one well-paying coach 

 into two, neither of which would do much good 

 for the proprietors. So strong, however, was the 

 spirit of rivalry among coach-proprietors, that they 

 would keep on running against each other long after 



