five outside passengers, exclusive of the coachman; and that all Stages called long or double-bodied coaches, shall be allowed eight outside passengers only, exclusive of the coachman, but including the guard; no child under seven years to be counted one of the number; two such to be counted as one grown person, and so in proportion. No person paying as an outside passenger to sit as an inside, unless by consent of one inside passenger at least, and next to whom such outside passenger shall be placed. But where the carriage is sufficiently commodious, and is licensed for that purpose, four may ride on the front, provided the whole shall not exceed ten.

"No luggage to be carried on the roof of any carriage drawn by four or more horses shall exceed two feet, or if drawn by two or three horses eighteen inches above the roof. Penalty on the driver so offending, or, if the driver cannot be found, on the owner, £5 for every inch above the height allowed; or £10 if the driver is the owner; and, in default of payment, commitment for two months or till paid.

“Driver leaving his horses without having some one to hold the reins, or otherwise neglecting his duty, penalty 10s. to £5.

"Passengers may require the toll-collectors to count the number of passengers. Driver refusing to stop, penalty £5 and forfeit beside double the penalty already laid on extra passengers. Award half to the passenger and half to the toll collector. Toll collector refusing to count, penalty £5. Passenger evading examination by descending before he comes to a turnpike and reascending afterwards, penalty £10.

"Coachman permitting other persons to drive, penalty from £5 to £10.

"Guard wantonly firing his arms, penalty £5.

"The Magistrate may mitigate penalties, but not less than one half, with reasonable costs. Award, when not otherwise specified, half to the informer, half to the trustees of the road.

"Persons receiving money to connive at offences against this Act, penalty £50, or in default, commitment from one to three months. Prosecutions to be commenced within fourteen days of the offence."

The spirit of opposition in stage-coach proprietors was frequently carried to a great pitch. Instances occurred of proprietors reducing their prices till they actually carried passengers for nothing, and on some occasions they even treated people with a dinner and a bottle of wine, while in one case there was actually a fight for a coach. The "Royal Leeds Union," in 1812, used to put up at the White Horse Inn, in Fetter Lane; but in consequence of a dispute between the proprietors of that inn and those in the country, the latter determined to discontinue to let it run to the White Horse, and ordered it to be driven to the Angel Inn, in Angel Street, St. Martin's-le-grand. This so enraged the proprietors of the White Horse Inn, that they determined to bring the coach to their Inn by force, and for that purpose employed some prize

fighters, coachmen, guards, etc., who were sent in December, in post chaises from London to Barnet, being the last stage previous to the coach's arrival in town. The coach arrived at Barnet between one and two o'clock and found the change of horses to take it to the Angel Inn were in readiness, as well as a set of horses to take it to the White Horse Inn whereupon a general fight took place between the partizans of the two Inns, as to which horses should be put to. It lasted for a considerable time, during which several black eyes and bloody noses were given, and teeth were knocked out. Jay, a well-known prize-fighter, had a black eye given him, and a tooth knocked out. It being discovered who Jay was, and that Powers, another of his fraternity, was engaged in the affray on the part of the White Horse Inn, the coachman and guard belonging to the Angel Inn declared it in vain to continue the contest, and in consequence hostilities ceased, and the White Horse Inn party carried off the coach, but not without experiencing many difficulties, some of the passengers refusing to proceed with it. The coach was driven to the White Horse Inn. A few days later it left London from the same Inn, but when it got to Hatfield such was the spirit of opposition there that it could not procure a change of horses, and it was actually obliged to return to London. By the activity of Adkins and Pearkes, the Bow-street Officers, Jay and Powers, the prize-fighters, George Elliot and John Merchant, coachmen, Charles Turner and Robert Cook, guards, James Buckingham and Stephen Goodwin, horsekeepers of the White Horse Inn party, were taken into custody, and held to bail, for a violent assault on James Williams and John Boyle, the coachman and guard belonging to the Angel Inn.

So keen did the competition between coaches become, that in December, 1821, a paragraph appeared in the Dock Paper informing the public that "in consequence of consequence of opposition among the coach-proprietors, the fares from thence to this city and London had been reduced to a few shillings;" and as a further inducement to travellers, stated that on Sunday the Safety Coach would leave Weakly's Hotel, at any or no fare, just as the passengers chose?-that breakfast would be provided at Weakly's in the morning; lunch at Goss's, Seven Stars, Totnes, in the forenoon; and dinner and wine at Congdon's Hotel, Exeter, on the arrival of the coach, without any charge! In compliance with this notice, Mr. Congdon, provided a very handsome dinner, over which was exhibited a placard to the following effect:-"J.C. will feel obliged by the parties partaking of this. Ñ.B.—All free-shall be glad to see our friends again to-morrow."

At times robberies of a serious nature took place in connection with coaches. In February, 1821, the Bath Mail-coach drew up to the Gloucester Coffee-house, in Piccadilly, as was customary, when the man employed at the coach office, known by the name of the runner," set about set about packing the parcels, belonging to the passengers and others, when finding that he could not pack a large band box, there not being room for it, he took it into the office, but

on his way was intercepted by a stranger, and asked some questions, no doubt asked for the purpose of delay. When he returned to the coach, and opened the door, he found the other door had been opened and left so, and immediately missed a parcel, which proved to be of very considerable value, as it contained Bank notes to the amount of £14,000, belonging to the Devizes Bank, and strange to tell, one of the Proprietors was going with it to take care of it. The robber escaped undiscovered, no doubt with the man in league with him who stopped the porter or "runner" to ask him a trifling question to delay time.

Perhaps the most curious circumstance connected with the annals of coaching is the true story of a man's life being saved owing to a coach passing over him. A labouring man returning home near Berkhamstead from a frolic during the severest night's frost of the winter, in 1830, fell on the turnpike road and remained insensible, without power to move, till half-past eleven at night, when he was effectually roused by a "friendly hint " from the hind wheel of the Birmingham mail, which grazed his head, and passed obliquely over his body. The man was severely injured, and was taken inside the mail to Berkhamstead, but no bones were broken, and he was soon as well as ever, having escaped from inevitable death by frost, in consequence of being run over by the mail.

Another singular circumstance in connection with the road occurred in July, 1804, when a certain driver of one of the northern mail coaches, who used, as he rode along, to exert his athletic strength by breaking large branches off trees, noticed a huge oak, a branch of which, of an uncommon thickness, projected over part of the road. Proud of his former achievements, and thinking himself possessed of more than Herculean strength, he laid hold of the branch with his brawny hands; when lo! the sturdy oak, not yielding as he expected, the coach drove on, and left the astonished guard dangling in the air! who, quitting his hold, fell to the ground, and unfortunately broke his arm.

Some of the old coachmen must have travelled enormous distances during their lives. Such a one was old Dan Sellers, who drove the Oxford and Bath mail for 35 years from Oxford to Cirencester every morning, and returned to Oxford every evening, a daily journey of 74 miles. He altogether travelled more than 942,760 miles, the yearly journey exceeding the circumference of the globe.

Though the competition between coach proprietors was, as has been said, very great, misfortune not infrequently overtook this sort of business. An advertisement appeared in a Bath paper of 1826, put in by some of the unlucky shareholders in an unlucky concern known as "The Stage Coach Company." At the head of the advertisement in question was a print of a coach and four reversed, or, in the language of the road, overturned.

With the coming of the railroad several prints made their appearance, contrasting the dangers of travelling by rail behind an engine with the pleasures of a journey behind a spanking team.

Of this sort is the print, by Cooper Henderson, which shows the passengers on a coach very unconcernedly viewing an accident to a train which has fallen over an embankment.

In 1828 some enterprising English coach-masters endeavoured to establish a coach between Calais and Paris, to perform the journey in 24 hours, which would be at the rate of seven miles an hour; but the absurd restrictions imposed by the French Government as to the breadth of wheels, weight of carriage, etc., prevented the prosecution of the undertaking. With a view to ensure safety, the French Government required that public carriages should be of a weight, and have their wheels of a breadth, such as to put rapidity of travelling quite out of the question. The desired safety, however, was not always attained by these regulations, for the overturn of French diligences was frequently reported, for the most part attended with destruction of life or serious injury.

The first experiment of stage coaches travelling upon railways was made with great success between Darlington and Stockton. The railway from Witton to Stockton, a distance of 25 miles, was formed for the conveyance of coals; and so great was the advantage of this kind of road in lowering the expense of carriage, that coals which formerly sold at 18s. per ton in Stockton, were sold there for 8s. 6d. The railway passed through Darlington, which is at a distance of twelve miles from Stockton, and two coaches travelled the road daily, conveying a very great number of passengers at the rate of a penny per mile each. These vehicles were the bodies of old six-inside coaches, placed upon new and lower wheels fitted for the railway; they were drawn by a single horse, which often drew from 20 to 30 passengers at the rate of ten miles an hour, with quite as much ease as a horse moving in a gig, the traces being generally loose the animal's principal effort being to maintain his speed.

A great engraver of sporting scenes was John Scott, who was born in 1774. Like James Pollard's father, John Scott was born at Newcastle-on-Tyne from which city he came to London, entering the business of Robert Pollard, afterwards attracting the attention of Mr. John Wheble who secured his services for the Sporting Magazine.

John Scott is of course best known by his engravings, having indeed been the founder of a school which made a particular feature of reproductions of sporting incidents and animal life. In addition to this, however, it must not be forgotten that, possessing artistic qualities of the highest possible character, he was the designer of many charming compositions; so great indeed was his talent that certain of the engravings executed by him are improvements upon the pictures from which they were taken. adept in conveying the peculiar texture to be found in the coats of animals and the animation seen in the eyes of dogs, his plates are invariably distinguished by a boldness which clearly displays the sure confidence of the hand which wielded the graver. So much attention and care did he devote to his work that the

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