THE NORTH MAIL.
TFIE good people benorth the Tweed are naturally anxious to shorten their communication with London, and various plans have been pro- pounded for that purpose. We shall not touch upon their discussions of rival lines of road, and double mails, which form part of the plans of the Edinburgh and the Glasgow Committees. Neither can we enter so feelingly into the hopes and wishes of the "Ca' the shuttle bodies" of the latter city, as we do into those of the " godly writers" of the former. The Glasgow people urge acceleration chiefly because of the advantage which the speedier arrival of letters would confer on those who traffic in the produce of the New World. The arguments of the men of Edinburgh are more general in their character ; and, though it is not specifically adverted to, we well know that one great object of their application is to have "the SPECTATOR" on their tables an hour or two earlier than they enjoy that luxury under the present system. Now it strikes us to be a strange neglect of their present means, that the witty people of Athens have not hit on the very simple method which we are about to mention, of gaining one hour, perhaps an hour and a half, (and they only ask two,) without expense and without diffi- culty. At present the North Mail leaves London at eight o'clock in the evening, and arrives at Edinburgh at thirty-eight minutes past three in the afternoon of the second day, completing the journey in forty-three hours and a half, or thereabouts. Of these forty-three hours and a half, there is taken up in changing horses, say
66 stages, at I. min. h. 1 221 m. Breakfast, first day 30 --- Dinner, ditto -10 — Breakfast, second day o —.
h.1 40 From which deduct, as the places of dining and breakfasting are also stages
where the horses are changed . . . . 0 31 1 36 Total amount of stoppages 11. 9 581
Now, in the first place, we are credibly informed, that by what are
termed slip-poles, the changes which now occupy aminute and a quarter, may be effected in one minute at most,, which gives us a saving of sixteen minutes and a half; and in the second place, we pro- pose to allow only thirty minutes for breakfasts and dinner, instead of one hundred minutes. If any Cockney friend exclaim against such barbarity as asking an accountable creature to swallow his rolls and coffee in ten minutes, or to bolt his mutton and potatoes in the same space of time, we answer that we intend no such atrocity. All we mean is, that he shall eat his breakfast and dinner in the coach instead of eating them in the inn parlour. This method will perhaps reduce the dinner to sandwiches—it will not alter the breakfasts : but he who cannot contrive to make one dinner on sandwiches, is altogether unfit for travelling four hundred miles in a stage-coach. And let no one ridicule our proposal of sipping coffee or tea and eating muffins while travelling at the rate of ten miles an hour ; we have performed tasks that require much more steadiness of hand and eyes when going at that rate. For a consideration, we shall present to the innkeepers on the North road a model of a tray on which every thing necessary for a highland breakfast may be arrayed, not only without inconvenience to the four insides, but infinitely more to their enjoyment than the same materials can be served up underthe present system. We allow the ten minutes for the purpose of stretching the passengers limbs ; which is five minutes more than they at present find it convenient to take, lest they should thereby cut short their fair allowance of the brief and unsatisfactory meals which the halts allow. All that is necessary to our plan is to provide the trays aforesaid, and to charge the "entertain- ment" along with the fare : it would be a mighty improvement if the guards and coachmen were also included. The saving of time will stand thus : Present hour of arrival, h. 3 3S m.
Gained in changing h. 0 161 m.
Gained in meals . . h I 10 in.
1 26's
Proposed hour of arrival h. 2 11
The steam of hot water, it may be said, will render the coach dis- agreeably warm. The breaths of four passengers render it disagreeably warm at present. But for this too we have a remedy: all that is neces- sary- is a rain-tight ventilator in the roof, to be opened or shut, as the temperature of the vehicle requires.
It is to be kept in mind, that this gain of time maybe effected with- out prejudice to any acceleration sought to be obtained by alterations of roads, which may be opposed and must be expensive. Perhaps we ought to apologize for saying so much on a matter of mere local interest ; but we really sympathize with our Edinburgh friends in their very natural desire to enjoy the benefit of our counsel as early as possible.
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