Our great wars with France and Spain gave coaches a plentiful crop of titles, taking a higher note than merely that of party. The victory of Trafalgar and the death of Nelson, in 1805, produced innumerable “Nelsons,” “Lord Nelsons,” and “Trafalgars,” only rivalled in popularity by the “Wellingtons” and “Waterloos” ten years later. Even Blucher was honoured, in a coach named after him. Coach-proprietors, in fact, were keen to seize the popular incident of the hour, the hero of the day, or the name of the local magnate, to reflect a certain glory upon, or bespeak affection for, their enterprises. Even the “Union” coaches, which were christened in honour of that great political event, the Union of Great Britain and Ireland, and were from that date to be found on almost every great road, and in incredible numbers on the bye-roads, paled their lustre before those named after the naval and military heroes, or the glorious victories of the hour. But when the glamour of the great achievements won on land and sea by generals and admirals and by our soldiers and sailors had waned, as it speedily did when peace came and the nation was called upon to pay the bill, it is to be feared that the “Wellingtons” and “Nelsons” did not run so frequently with a full way-bill as they had done, and that opportunist coach-proprietors in many cases renamed them in styles that more exactly fitted the humours of the time. When the comets of 1811 and 1818 appeared, flaming in the heavens, to excite the wonderment of the learned and to terrify the ignorant, the coach-proprietors were early in the field to take advantage of the event, and “Comet” coaches, intended to strike the public fancy with an idea of swift travelling, appeared on the main routes with amazing unanimity.