Damsels in Distress

ladysmag250Sept. 7: Yesterday as Miss Mellon and her friend, Miss Stevenson, were driving in her chariot along Little Russell Street, Covent Garden, a coal wagon, heavily laden, came in contact with it and forced it against the paling which enclosed the ruins of Drury Lane Theatre. The situation of the ladies became very alarming, as the horses took fright, and the doors of the carriage could not be opened, nor any access be had to them at the moment. At length, one of the spectators, more ingenious than the rest, devised a mode. By his advice, a great number of chairs were brought out of the neighboring houses, and arranged so as to make a complete causeway or bridge, from the flagway across the coal wagon to the window of the chariot. The two ladies were thus brought out in safety, with little more personal inconvenience than an extraordinary display of their fine shapes.”

The Lady’s Magazine, September 1809

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