420 THE COACHING AGE. 



said there is only one level mile between Shooter's 

 Hill, eight miles from London, and a short distance 

 out of Dover, which is seventy-one. 



There was a noted coach on this road called the 

 ' Tally Ho,' which in 1841 had a very narrow 

 escape of an accident The road was a mass of ice, 

 and the coach was going down a terribly sharp incline 

 on the Dartford side of Shooter's Hill, with the drag 

 on, the coach being on some rough ground near the 

 footpath, when the chain snapped, and the coach ran 

 on to the wheelers. It was a case of full gallop or 

 nothing, and the face of Clements, the coachman, was 

 a sight to behold. The coach bounded • about like 

 a pea on a drum, but fortunately got safely to the 

 bottom. 



Another alarm on the same road, but without 

 any accident, arose from an old hunter being in the 

 team, near Faversham, when the hounds crossed the 

 road in full cry a hundred yards ahead. When the 

 old horse heard them he went nearly mad, piit 

 his ears back and kicked and squealed vigorously. 

 Some persons on the coach quickly jumped down and 

 set things to rights ; but it was touch-and-go. He 

 was taken out of the coach, and gave vent to his 

 feelings by kicking one of the wheelers violently in 

 the body ; fortunately not with the full force of both 

 feet, or it would apparently have driven his side in. 



