Produced by Chris Curnow, Charlie Howard, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) Transcriber’s Note: Italic text is shown within _underscores_; boldface text is shown within =equals signs=. Other notes will be found at the end of the text. STAGE-COACH AND MAIL IN DAYS OF YORE WORKS BY THE SAME AUTHOR =The Brighton Road=: Old Times and New on a Classic Highway. =The Portsmouth Road=, and its Tributaries: To-day and in Days of Old. =The Dover Road=: Annals of an Ancient Turnpike. =The Bath Road=: History, Fashion, and Frivolity on an Old Highway. =The Exeter Road=: The Story of the West of England Highway. =The Great North Road=: The Old Mail Road to Scotland. Two Vols. =The Norwich Road=: An East Anglian Highway. =The Holyhead Road=: The Mail-Coach Road to Dublin. Two Vols. =The Cambridge, Ely, and King’s Lynn Road=: The Great Fenland Highway. =Cycle Rides Round London.= =The Oxford, Gloucester, and Milford Haven Road=: Two Vols. [_In the Press._ [Illustration: MAIL-COACH PASSING ST. GEORGE’S CIRCUS, SOUTHWARK, 1797. _After Dalgety_ ] STAGE-COACH AND MAIL IN DAYS OF YORE _A PICTURESQUE HISTORY OF THE COACHING AGE_ VOL. II BY CHARLES G. HARPER [Illustration] _Illustrated from Old-Time Prints and Pictures_ LONDON: CHAPMAN & HALL, LIMITED 1903 _All rights reserved_ PRINTED BY HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD., LONDON AND AYLESBURY. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. THE LATER MAILS 1 II. DOWN THE ROAD IN DAYS OF YORE. I.--A Journey from Newcastle-on-Tyne to London in 1772 48 III. DOWN THE ROAD IN DAYS OF YORE. II.--From London to Newcastle-on-Tyne in 1830 66 IV. ACCIDENTS 96 V. A GREAT CARRYING FIRM: THE STORY OF PICKFORD AND CO. 123 VI. ROBBERY AND ADVENTURE 144 VII. SNOW AND FLOODS 159 VIII. THE GOLDEN AGE, 1824–1848 173 IX. COACH-PROPRIETORS 194 X. COACH-PROPRIETORS (_continued_) 226 XI. THE AMATEURS 239 XII. END OF THE COACHING AGE 260 XIII. WHAT BECAME OF THE COACHMEN 292 XIV. THE OLD ENGLAND OF COACHING DAYS 322 [Illustration: LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS] SEPARATE PLATES