The earliest coaches made no pretence of taking the traveller to Holyhead. Chester was the ultima thule of wheeled conveyance when Sir William Dugdale and Pennant kept diaries, or when Swift wrote. We have already seen that the Chester stage took six days, and therefore the horrors of the journey described by Swift about the year 1700, were protracted as well as acute. Whether or not he ever really made the journey by coach is uncertain, but if so, he certainly for ever after rode horseback. But here is his picture of such an experience:—
Resolv’d to visit a far-distant-friend,
A Porter to the Bull and Gate I send,
And bid the man, at all events, engage
Some place or other in the Chester stage.
The man returns—“’Tis done as soon as said;
Your Honour’s sure when once the money’s paid.
My brother whip, impatient of delay,
Puts to at three and swears he cannot stay.”
(Four dismal hours before the break of day.)