Being obliged to bestir myself to get back to London, as the time
drew near when the Hamburg captain, with whom I intend to return,
had fixed his departure, I determined to take a place as far as
Northampton on the outside.
But this ride from Leicester to Northampton I shall remember as long
as I live.
The coach drove from the yard through a part of the house. The
inside passengers got in in the yard, but we on the outside were
obliged to clamber up in the public street, because we should have
had no room for our heads to pass under the gateway.
My companions on the top of the coach were a farmer, a young man
very decently dressed, and a blackamoor.
The getting up alone was at the risk of one's life, and when I was
up I was obliged to sit just at the corner of the coach, with
nothing to hold by but a sort of little handle fastened on the side.
I sat nearest the wheel, and the moment that we set off I fancied
that I saw certain death await me. All I could do was to take still
safer hold of the handle, and to be more and more careful to
preserve my balance.
