From the limbo of half-forgotten things we drag occasional references to coaches towards the close of the seventeenth century. In April 1694 a London and Warwick stage was announced to go every Monday, to make the journey in two days, “performed (if God permit) by Nicholas Rothwell”; and in 1696 the “Confatharrat” coach was already spoken of as a familiar object on the London and Norwich road. All we know of the “Confatharrat” is that it came to the “Four Swans,” in Bishopsgate Street Within. Its curious name is probably the seventeenth-century spelling of the word “confederate,” and the coach itself was, no doubt, run by an association, or “confederacy,” of owners and innkeepers, in succession to some unlucky person who singly had attempted it and failed. On some roads enterprise slackened. Thus, in 1700, the “Fly” coach to Exeter slept the _fifth_ night from London at Axminster, where the next morning a woman “shaved the coach,” and on the afternoon of the sixth day it crawled into Exeter. Forty-three years earlier it had taken only four days. [Illustration: BIRMINGHAM STAGE-COACH, In Two _Days_ and a half; begins _May_ the 24th, 1731. SETS out from the _Swan-Inn_ in _Birmingham_, every _Monday_ at six a Clock in the Morning, through _Warwick_, _Banbury_ and _Alesbury_, to the _Red Lion Inn_ in _Aldersgate street, London_, every _Wednesday_ Morning: And returns from the said _Red Lion Inn_ every _Thursday_ Morning at five a Clock the same Way to the _Swan-Inn_ in _Birmingham_ every _Saturday_, at 21 Shillings each Passenger, and 18 Shillings from _Warwick_, who has liberty to carry 14 Pounds in Weight, and all above to _pay One Penny a Pound_. Perform d (if God permit) By Nicholas Rothwell. The Weekly Waggon _sets out every Tuesday from the Nagg’s-Head in_ Birmingham, _to the_ Red Lion Inn _aforesaid, every Saturday, and returns from the said Inn every Monday, to the Nagg’s-Head in Birmingham every Thursday_. Note, _By the said_ Nicholas Rothwell _at_ Warwick, _all Persons may be furnished with a ‘By-Coach,’ Chariot, Chaise or Hearse, with a Mourning Coach and able Horses, to any Part of Great Britain, at reasonable Rates: And also Saddle Horses to be had_ OLD BIRMINGHAM COACHING BILL.]