ver rode back to Edinburgh with a view, it was understood, to get
fresh horses. The passengers, four in number, entreated him to use all
diligence, and meanwhile were compelled to wait in the coach, which had
stuck at a very solitary part of the road. There they remained through a
dark and stormy night, with a broken pane of glass, through which the
wind blew bitterly cold. It was nine o'clock next morning when the
driver came, bringing with him another man and a pair of horses. Having
taken away some articles, he jestingly asked the passengers what they
meant to do, and was leaving them to shift for themselves, but was
persuaded at length to aid one who was faint, and unable to struggle
through the snow. He was allowed to mount behind one of the riders; the
other passengers were left to extricate themselves as best they could."

[Illustration: THE MAIL, 1824. (_From a contemporary print._)]

Many instances might be given of the stoppage of the coaches on account
of snow, and of the efforts made by the guards to push on the mails. In
1836 a memorable snow-storm took place which disorganised the service,
and the occasion is one on which the guards and coachmen distinguished
themselves. The strain thrown upon the horses in a like situation is
well described by Cowper, if we change one word in his lines, which are
as follows:--

"The _coach_ goes heavily, impeded sore
By congregated loads adhering close
To the clogg'd wheels; and in its sluggish pace
Noiseless appears a moving hill of snow.

The toiling steeds expand the nostril wide,
While every breath, by respiration strong
Forced downward, is consolidated soon
Upon their jutting chests."

A melancholy result followed upon a worthy endeavour to carry the mails
through the snow on the 1st February 1831. The Dumfries coach had
reached Moffat, where it became snowed up. The driver and guard procured
saddle-horses, and proceeded; but they had not gone far when they found
the roads impracticable for horses, and these were sent back to Moffat.
The two men then continued on foot; but they did not get beyond a few
miles on the road when they succumbed, and some days afterwards their
dead bodies were found on the high ground near the "Deil's Beef-Tub,"
the bags being found attached to a post at the roadside, and not far
from where the men fell. They perished in a noble attempt to perform
their humble duties. The incident recalls t