Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER III. IRISH MAIL AND STAGE-CARS. Irish troubles—A clever novelist—Larry Flood—A sprig of shillelagh —As safe as in church—These roads before they were made —A rustic cicerone—A wild Irishman—Irish impudence— Bianconi—Leaving home to seek a fortune—A spirit of mischief—His first car—Car-drivers—Electioneering—The Bians —Irish fisheries—Immunity from violence—Bianconi's popularity—Mayor of Clonmel. Before quitting the subject of road travelling by public conveyances, I feel compelled to mention Irish jaunting-cars. These vehicles are not to be found in common use in any other part of the civilised world. Those persons who have not visited Ireland may have been made familiar with them by seeing sketches of them in Punch. John Leech not only portrayed the Irish car, its driver, and the horse which drew it, but gave us the jokes of the Irish car-driver, and so furnished us with excellent examples of their wit, good-humour, and readiness of repartee. The Irish car is inseparably connected in our minds with Ireland and the Irish; there is an eccentricity about it that appeals to our sense of the ludicrous. Both to the theoretical and practical coach-builder it is possessed of no good quality when balanced on two wheels, as the balance is rarely, if ever, true. In the dog-cart the weight is distributed almost over the axle, but this is not the case with Irish cars. Sometimes some one, enthusiastic about all that is Irish, exports one of these vehicles, and it is seen j: I - a s o IRISH TROUBLES. 165 standing in a coach-house side by side with sober and precise English carriages, like a clown or a pantaloon amidst a gathering of Church dignitaries in full canonicals; or wending its way along our quiet English country lanes. Passenger cars took the plac...