Intimately associated with the life and habits of the
townspeople were the coaches travelling between London, Royston and
Cambridge, the persons in charge of which, and many of the passengers
using them, being known to the townspeople, whilst the names and merits
of the rival coaches were known to the smallest boy in the parish.

[Illustration: A CAMBRIDGE ELECTION PARTY.]

It seems strange in these days that there should have been so much
interest centred in these flying channels of civilization. I have
mentioned the "Safety" and "Tally-ho," two coaches driven through
Royston from Cambridge to London and back. These were well-known as
rival coaches--rivals in time, for each went up in the morning and back
in the evening, and, what is more interesting, they were also rivals
in, and between them there was a keen competition for, popular favour;
so much so that one might almost describe them as the aristocratic and
democratic coaches. There is sufficient reason for making this
distinction between them in the fact that the Royston people of those
days (1820-25) did, in the absence of anything more exciting to divide
their thoughts and preferences in the quiet daily round of their lives,
manage to set up a sort of party-distinction, not {148} exactly on the
lines of Whig and Tory, but, strange as it may seem, by the names of
"Tally-ho," and "Safety." From the smallest boy to the oldest man in
Royston and the district, the inhabitants showed sufficient leanings
one way or the other to be classed as "Tally-ho" men or "Safety" men.
By these rival coaches men swore, pledged themselves, and regulated
their watches--those who had any. But the "Tally-ho" and "Safety"
party-cries came out more especially amongst the boys, for when
"Tally-ho" and "Safety" boys met, it was a case of "when Greek meets
Greek," with frequent fights! The two rival coaches thus became the
means of sharply dividing popular sentiment, with many who had never
enjoyed a seat on either of the champion coaches!

About 1825 the rivalry between "Tally-ho" and "Safety" was at its
merriest, and ten years later other coaches had appeared upon the
scene. Thus in 1839 the following were the coaches, and their places
of call, passing through Royston:--The "Star," from Cambridge, daily,
calling at the Red Lion, Royston, and destined for Belle Sauvage,
London; the Cambridge "Beehive," up and down alternate days, the Bull,
Royston, and the Catherine Wheel, Bishop