not change horses at Royston, but at Arlington, at the Hardwicke
Arms, and again at Buckland at the first farm house (now Mr.
Kestell's). The coaches were horsed at Arrington by Mr. Meyer, then
the landlord of the Hardwicke Arms, who also supplied horses for the
stage from Arrington to Caxton.

As to the time occupied on the road, every age has its own standard of
enterprise and progress. Thus in 1806 a writer in an old {145}
magazine breaks out into the following eloquent strain over the
smartness of those times:--"Who would have conceived it possible fifty
years ago that a coach would regularly travel betwixt London and
Edinburgh, near 400 miles, in less than three days!" From our
standpoint one is tempted to rejoin "who would have conceived it
possible 80 years ago that an express train would travel regularly
between London and Edinburgh in 8 1/2 hours!" but perhaps the future
may laugh at such a boast! Still, that three days' journey by the old
coaches was in reality a great thing, and one to be proud of, and as
these "main line" coaches rattled through the pebbled streets of our
old town they were looked upon with pride as a part of our national
institutions.

With regard to what may be called the branch line system of the
coaching traffic, we are too apt to think of coaching as a means of
through communication by the great routes mentioned to appreciate, at
this distance of time, the vast amount of enterprise, and of horse
flesh and vehicles brought into the coaching and posting service, to
connect places lying off the main routes--places which were served,
down to very many of the villages, either by a coach under the
management of local persons, or by the system of fly-wagons and van
traffic, which brought goods and passengers from distant places at such
intervals as could be arranged and worked at a profit.

At the end of the reign of George III. the coaches passing through or
near Royston were:--"The Royston Mail," "The Cambridge Auxiliary Mail,"
"The Cambridge New Royal and Patent Mail," "Cambridge Union Coach,"
"Safety," "Tally-ho"; "Telegraph" and "Lynn Union" (both through
Barkway); "Lord Nelson" (Lynn), "Edinburgh and Newcastle Mail," "York
and Edinburgh Mail," "The Lord Wellington," "The High Flyer," "The
Fakenham Mail," "The Fakenham Patriot," and the "Stamford Coach." The
Cambridge coaches changed horses at Royston (or Barkway, according to
the route taken) and Buntingford. Mr. Ekin, of Cambri