had so far accomplished without even a complaint of any kind, the Post Boy could not resist an attempt at extortion. It was nine o'clock in the Evening before I reached Town, and considering the late hour, I gave the Boy a Shilling over my usual payment of three-pence per mile. I was surprised to find him complain, and not in very civil terms. I was so simple as to add to the gratuity, when he immediately set up a further claim for the amount of the last Toll Bar on the road which he should have to pass through after twelve o'clock. TRAVELLING IN STAGE COACHES. "Let's sing of Stage Coaches, Old Ballad. SECURE a Place a Day or two before you set off; in which case, if you are at the Inn at the Time appointed, and the Coachman is gone before, you may take a Post Chaise and go after him, and the Proprietors must pay the Expense of your Ride. It is necessary to be at the place in due Time; for, as the saying is, "Time and Tide," and it may be added, "Stage Coaches, stay for no Man."-As Clocks vary, you will do wisely to be there full Five minutes before what you believe to be the true Time. If the Coach sets off very early, order the Watchman to call at your house half-an-hour before you wish to have your Breakfast:-if you wish to ride to the Inn the evening before, give the Waterman at the Coach Stand next your House a Shilling for his trouble, and desire him to provide you a Hackney Coach, which order to come half-an-hour before the time you wish to start, that in case of a Coach not coming, you may have time to walk there. On your arrival at the Coach Office, give your Trunks, &c. in charge to the Coachman, and see them placed safely where they may not be rubbed, &c.—In long Journeys, the Horses are not only changed, but the Coach also, when the wary traveller will see his Luggage taken out of the one, and safely stowed in the other Coach. Persons have their choice of Places in the order that they get into the Coach first, a Place so taken remaining with the Possessor the whole of the Journey. People are generally anxious to secure Front places, either because they cannot, or fancy they cannot ride backwards; but if they travel at Night, the Wind and Rain, while sitting in front, will beat into their faces, the only remedy for which is to draw up the Glasses (a privilege vested by travelling etiquette in the occupiers of those places), and thus must they sit the remainder of the Night in an Atmosphere too impure for any Gentleman who has not previously served an apprenticeship in the exhausted receiver of an Air Pump. Nothing occasions more severe Colds, &c. than the sudden exposure to the Cold Air immediately after coming out of one of these Vapour Baths. Should a person, in Travelling for any considerable distance, and sitting backwards, meet with Companions who close the Windows, and pertinaciously persist in prohibiting any importation of Oxygen ;-if all arguments on the necessity of Ventilation are unavailing, and your Lungs feel oppressed from the lack of Fresh Air-you may let your Stick or your Umbrella fall (accidentally) against one of the Windows; i. e. if you are of opinion that it is more advisable to give a Glazier 3s. to replace a pane of Glass, than it is to pay double that sum for Physic to remove a Pain in your Head, which you will otherwise get by breathing Foul Air. If you travel in France by the Diligence, secure a place in the Cabriolet: it is by far the best place. When persons travel in a Stage Coach, Time is often idly wasted; and just when the Passengers are set down to enjoy a com |