WELLER ON CAMBERWELL
SIR,-7-Mr. H. J. Bridges need no longer feel distressed at Mr. Weller's apparent disparage- ment of Camberwell men. Mr. Weller senior was the driver of a long-distance stage coach; the coachman whom he described as ' only a Camberwell man' drove one of the short- stage coaches which ran from London to Camberwell, and in the mind of Mr. Weller was not a proper coachman at all.
Can's Ness, Itinerary (9th Edition, 1821) gives the times of over 50 journeys a day made by coaches on the London to Camber- well route. The coaches used on these services would presumably be stabled at Camberwel as it would he cheaper to obtain stabling there than in the City, and as the first journey in the day would be from Camberwell to London rather than from London to Camber- well. We may therefore suppose that the coachman in question actually lived in Camberwell, but wherever he may have lived, Mr. Weller would still have spoken of him as ' only a Camberwell man.'—Yours faith- fully,
The Bungalow, Venn Way, Hartley, l'Iymouth
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