[By 1814] Jane was now considered by her brothers to be worldly-wise enough to travel to London by stagecoach alone rather than having to wait about until a male relative was ready to accompany her. 'I have explained my views,' she wrote, when her escort was in doubt, 'I can take care of myself'.
In 1814, she went up in Collyer's Flying Machine, with four people alongside her in the vehicle, and a further fifteen clinging onto the roof. One crossed one's fingers for small, quiet co-passengers, and this time Jane was lucky: 'I had a very good Journey, not crouded', because two of her companions were 'Children, and the others of a reasonable size; & they were all very quiet and civil'. She was luckier than the traveller who once found his personal space invaded by an 'overgrown female', 'puffing and panting as if she had not half an hour to live'. He and his companion 'screw'd ourselves up in each corner and allowed her to take the middle when she sat or rather fell down with the grunt of a rhinoceros and remained a fixture for the whole journey'.
The coaches from Hampshire disgorged their passengers in Ludgate Hill, while those serving the west of England terminated at the White Horse Cellar in Piccadilly. Such coaching yards were full of whooping as vehicles arrived or moved off, 'the coachy's "all right - ya-hip!" and the sounding of the bugle by the guard ... the journey to most minds commences with pleasure and delight'. Upon arrival came the challenge of rooting out your own luggage 'from all the other Trunks & Baskets in the World', while the bouncing of the coach - a 'long Jumble' - left you extremely tired.
It really was more comfortable to travel in a private carriage, if you could, and sometimes [Jane's brother] Henry gave Jane a lift. In 1813, he carried her from Chawton to his home in Sloane Street, Knightsbridge, a distance of about fifty miles. It took all day, much longer than the stagecoach. As they weren't swapping horses every few miles, they had to allow Henry's hard-working animals to take rests. 'A 12 hours Business', Jane wrote. 'I was very tired too, & very glad to get to bed early'.
- Lucy Worsley, Jane Austen at Home, 2017, p.278
See also:
History: Mail coaches - London departure points, 24 September 2015
Blog: De Quincey's phobia of public conveyances, 10 September 2015
History: Nelly Weeton at the Windermere foot-race, 27 August 2015
Books: This great ebbing surging traffic of London, 12 August 2015
History: I cannot say much for this monarch's sense, 6 March 2014
History: Coach travel from London in 1658 & 1739, 4 October 2013
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