Notwithstanding all this pace, it must not be supposed that a journey by one of those fast coaches on the northern road was a hurried, uncomfortable day's work, with no time to eat a comfortable meal. On the contrary, though only twenty-five minutes were allowed for dinner, so much assistance was generally given in waiters to carve and wait upon the passengers, that a by no means bad dinner could be made in the allotted time; and to show that the food was not otherwise than palatable, I may instance the case of a medical gentleman residing at Brickhill (I think), but, at any rate, in the town where the up "Wonder" dined, who, whenever possible, went in with the passengers and made his dinner with them. I will now venture on a few circumstances and anecdotes connected with the Brighton road, which may help to portray the differences I have been describing in the two roads; but, before doing so, I should like to remark that anyone writing at this time on the subject is liable to make mistakes, as those coaches in some cases changed hands, as, for instance, at one time the "Age" was the property of and driven by Mr. Stevenson, and at a later period was in the possession of Sir St. Vincent Cotton. Of this coach it has been written by Nimrod that "Mr. Stevenson had arrived at perfection in his art and had introduced the phenomenon of refinement into a stage coach." I never happened to see this coach in his time, but can well remember Sir St. Vincent Cotton on the box of his neat brown coach, with bright pole chains. A friend of mine says, "Well I remember Harry Stevenson, with his beautiful team, starting from the 'White Horse Cellars,' and calling for his box passenger at the United Service Club, and from thence to the 'Elephant and Castle,' the final stop before departure for Brighton, and his guard, George Carrington, who was the essence of neatness and politeness to his passengers." This coach was for a short time driven by Sackville Gwynne, who ran through all his property, and died in Liverpool, where he was driving a cab.