twelve o'clock on Tuesday, the fifteenth July 17
It was early on a fine summer 's day , near the end of the eighteenth century , when a young man , of genteel appearance , journeying towards the north-east of Scotland , provided himself with a ticket in one of those public carriages which travel between Edinburgh and the Queensferry , at which place , as the name implies , and as is well known to all my northern readers , there is a passage-boat for crossing the Firth of Forth . The coach was calculated to carry six regular passengers , besides such interlopers as the coachman could pick up by the way , and intrude upon those who were legally in possession . The tickets , which conferred right to a seat in this vehicle , of little ease , were dispensed by a sharp-looking old dame , with a pair of spectacles on a very thin nose , who inhabited a `` laigh shop , '' anglice , a cellar , opening to the High Street by a straight and steep stair , at the bottom of which she sold tape , thread , needles , skeins of worsted , coarse linen cloth , and such feminine gear , to those who had the courage and skill to descend to the profundity of her dwelling , without falling headlong themselves , or throwing down any of the numerous articles which , piled on each side of the descent , indicated the profession of the trader below . The written hand-bill , which , pasted on a projecting board , announced that the Queensferry Diligence , or Hawes Fly , departed precisely at twelve o'clock on Tuesday , the fifteenth July 17 -- , in order to secure for travellers the opportunity of passing the Firth with the flood-tide , lied on the present occasion like a bulletin ; for although that hour was pealed from Saint Giles 's steeple , and repeated by the Tron , no coach appeared upon the appointed stand . It is true , only two tickets had been taken out , and possibly the lady of the subterranean mansion might have an understanding with her Automedon , that , in such cases , a little space was to be allowed for the chance of filling up the vacant places -- or the said Automedon might have been attending a funeral , and be delayed by the necessity of stripping his vehicle of its lugubrious trappings -- or he might have staid to take a half-mutchkin extraordinary with his crony the hostler -- or -- in short , he did not make his appearance . The young gentleman , who began to grow somewhat impatient , was now joined by a companion in this petty misery of human life -- the person who had taken out the other place . He who is bent upon a journey is usually easily to be distinguished from his fellow-citizens .