of the then currency; it did the voyage in
from four to five hours, and besides had to wait for the tide to
float it up and down the river. When Bianconi's car was put on,
it did the distance daily and regularly in two hours, at a fare
of two shillings.
The people soon got accustomed to the convenience of the cars.
They also learned from them the uses of punctuality and the value
of time. They liked the open-air travelling and the sidelong
motion. The new cars were also safe and well-appointed. They
were drawn by good horses and driven by good coachmen.
Jaunting-car travelling had before been rather unsafe. The
country cars were of a ramshackle order, and the drivers were
often reckless. "Will I pay the pike, or drive at it, plaise
your honour?" said a driver to his passenger on approaching a
turnpike-gate. Sam Lover used to tell a story of a car-driver,
who, after driving his passenger up-hill and down-hill, along a
very bad road, asked him for something extra at the end of his
journey.
"Faith," said the driver, "its not putting me off with this ye'd
be, if ye knew but all." The gentleman gave him another
shilling. "And now what do you mean by saying, 'if ye knew but
all?'" "That I druv yer honor the last three miles widout a
linch-pin!"
Bianconi, to make sure of the soundness and safety of his cars,
set up a workshop to build them for himself.
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