he hope
that some justification would be offered by these serious persons for
the seeming injustice of their conduct. To my surprise, not a syllable
was dropped on the subject. They sat as mute as at a meeting. At length
the eldest of them broke silence by inquiring of his next neighbour,
'Hast thee heard how indigos go at the India House?' and the question
operated as a soporific on my moral feelings as far as Exeter."

A Frenchman was once a traveller by mail-coach, who, although he knew
the English language fairly well, was not familiar with the finer shades
of meaning attached to set expressions when applied in particular
situations. An Englishman, who was his companion inside the coach, had
occasion to direct his attention to some object in the passing
landscape, and requested him to "look out." This the Frenchman promptly
did, putting his head and shoulders out of the window, and the view
obtained proved highly pleasing to the stranger. A stage further on in
the journey, when the coach was approaching a narrow part of the road
bordered and overhung by dense foliage, the driver, as was his custom,
called out to the company, "Look out!" to which the Frenchman again
quickly responded by thrusting head and shoulders out of the window;
but this time with the result that his hat was brushed off, and his face
badly scratched from contact with the neighbouring branches. This
curious contradiction in the use of the very same words enraged the
Frenchman, who said hard things of our language; for he had discovered
that when told to "look out" he was to look out, and that again when
told to "look out" he was to be careful not to look out.

Mackenzie graphically describes the part mail-coaches took in the
distribution of news over the country in the early years of the century.
Referring to the news of the battle of Waterloo, he says: "By day and
night these coaches rolled along at their pace of seven or eight miles
an hour. At all cross roads messengers were waiting to get a newspaper
or a word of tidings from the guard. In every little town, as the hour
approached for the arrival of the mail, the citizens hovered about their
streets waiting restlessly for the expected news. In due time the coach
rattled into the market-place, hung with branches, the now familiar
token that a great battle had been fought and a victory won. Eager
groups gathered. The guard, as he handed out his mail-bags, told of the
decisive victory which had