We set out accordingly over the moors, by the way of Whitby, and
began our journey betimes, in hopes of reaching Stockton that
night; but in this hope we were disappointed -- In the afternoon,
crossing a deep gutter, made by a torrent, the coach was so hard
strained, that one of the irons, which connect the frame, snapt,
and the leather sling on the same side, cracked in the middle. The
shock was so great, that my sister Liddy struck her head against
Mrs Tabitha's nose with such violence that the blood flowed; and
Win. Jenkins was darted through a small window in that part of
the carriage next the horses, where she stuck like a bawd in the
pillory, till she was released by the hand of Mr Bramble. We were
eight miles distant from any place where we could be supplied
with chaises, and it was impossible to proceed with the coach,
until the damage should be repaired -- in this dilemma, we
discovered a blacksmith's forge on the edge of a small common,
about half a mile from the scene of our disaster, and thither the
postilions made shift to draw the carriage, slowly, while the
company walked a-foot; but we found the black-smith had been dead
some days; and his wife, who had been lately delivered, was
deprived of her senses, under the care of a nurse, hired by the
parish.
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