II' 
 

 
 
OF 
 
 SPORTS AND PASTIMES 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF BEAUFORT, K.G. 
 ASSISTED BY ALFRED E. T. WATSON 
 
 DRIVING 
 
PRINTED BY 
 
 SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE 
 LONDON 
 
 
DRIVING 
 
 BY 
 HIS GRACE 
 
 THE DUKE OF BEAUFORT, K.G. 
 
 it 
 
 WITH CONTRIBUTIONS BY OTHER AUTHORITIES 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY G. D. ^GILES^ AND* JOHN STURGESS 
 
 LONDON 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
 
 1889 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
4 
 
DEDICA TION 
 
 TO 
 
 H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 BADMINTON : March, 1889. 
 
 HAVING received permission to dedicate these volumes, 
 the BADMINTON LIBRARY of SPORTS and PASTIMES, 
 to His ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE OF WALES, 
 I do so feeling that I am dedicating them to one of the 
 best and keenest sportsmen of our time. I can say, from 
 personal observation, that there is no man who can 
 extricate himself from a bustling and pushing crowd of 
 horsemen, when a fox breaks covert, more dexterously 
 and quickly than His Royal Highness ; and that when 
 hounds run hard over a big country, no man can take a 
 line of his own and live with them better. Also, when 
 the wind has been blowing hard, often have I seen 
 His Royal Highness knocking over driven grouse and 
 partridges and high-rocketing pheasants in first-rate 
 
 309S43 
 
vi DRIVING. 
 
 workmanlike style. He is held to be a good yachtsman, 
 and as Commodore of the Royal Yacht Squadron is 
 looked up to by those who love that pleasant and 
 exhilarating pastime. His encouragement of racing is 
 well known, and his attendance at the University, Public 
 School, and other important Matches testifies to his 
 being, like most English gentlemen, fond of all manly 
 sports. I consider it a great privilege to be allowed to 
 dedicate these volumes to so eminent a sportsman as 
 His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, and I do 
 so with sincere feelings of respect and esteem and loyal 
 devotion. 
 
 BEAUFORT. 
 
BADMINTON. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 A FEW LINES only are necessary to explain the object 
 with which these volumes are put forth. There is no 
 modern encyclopaedia to which the inexperienced man, 
 who seeks guidance in the practice of the various British 
 Sports and Pastimes, can turn for information. Some 
 books there are on Hunting, some on Racing, some 
 on Lawn Tennis, some on Fishing, and so on ; but one 
 Library, or succession of volumes, which treats of the 
 Sports and Pastimes indulged in by Englishmen and 
 women is wanting. The Badminton Library is offered 
 to supply the want. Of the imperfections which must 
 be found in the execution of such a design we are 
 
viii DRIVING. 
 
 conscious. Experts often differ. But this we may say, 
 that those who are seeking for knowledge on any of the 
 subjects dealt with will find the results of many years' 
 experience written by men who are in every case adepts 
 at the Sport or Pastime of which they write. It is to 
 point the way to success to those who are ignorant of 
 the sciences they aspire to master, and who have no 
 friend to help or coach them, that these volumes are 
 written. 
 
 To those who have worked hard to place simply and 
 clearly before the reader that which he will find within, 
 the best thanks of the Editor are due. That it has been 
 no slight labour to supervise all that has been written he 
 must acknowledge ; but it has been a labour of love, 
 and very much lightened by the courtesy of the Publisher, 
 by the unflinching, indefatigable assistance of the Sub- 
 Editor, and by the intelligent and able arrangement 
 of each subject by the various writers, who are so 
 thoroughly masters of the subjects of which they treat. 
 The reward we all hope to reap is that our work may 
 prove useful to this and future generations. 
 
 THE EDITOR. 
 
AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 A FEW EXPLANATORY WORDS seem advisable in issuing 
 the present volume the eleventh of the Badminton 
 Library. 
 
 The task of writing the book on Driving was origi- 
 nally undertaken by the late Major Henry Dixon, 
 whose lamented death occurred when he had only 
 written or sketched out a comparatively few pages. 
 It was not an easy matter to select another author 
 possessed of the necessary qualifications, among which 
 I deemed essential an experience of the road in the 
 old coaching days, together with a knowledge of modern 
 developments and practice ; and, finally, I decided to 
 write myself such reminiscences of former days and 
 comments on the coachmanship of to-day as seemed 
 to further the object of the book, and to ask those of 
 my friends who had special knowledge of particular 
 subjects to contribute chapters on matters which they 
 were peculiarly competent to treat. 
 
 I may anticipate a possible criticism that, in the 
 ' Hints to Beginners ' and in one or two other places, 
 
x DRIVING. 
 
 something in the nature of repetition will be found. 
 As just explained, however, the work of writing chapters 
 on the art of driving was committed to several hands. 
 If the various writers all agree in emphasising certain 
 points and rules, it will be understood that these are 
 matters upon which it seems desirable that emphasis 
 should be laid ; and it has been thought well, therefore, 
 to let the different contributors offer their advice and 
 experience in their own words. In the present volume 
 there will be found more anecdote and personal reminis- 
 cence than in the previous books, the reason being that 
 we have believed instruction and advice were thus con- 
 veyed in more interesting and agreeable fashion than if 
 a balder and more didactic style had been employed. 
 
 My thanks are due to those who have so readily 
 come forward to assist me in the composition of this 
 volume ; to my old friend Lord Algernon St. Maur, 
 whose experience of bygone days cannot fail to enter- 
 tain all who are interested in driving ; to Lady 
 Georgiana Curzon, who speaks with authority as well 
 as lucidity on the subject of Tandem-driving ; to Lord 
 Onslow, for his practical chapter ; to Sir Christopher 
 Teesdale, for his amusing and graphic reminiscences ; 
 to Colonel H. Smith-Baillie, for the instructive summary 
 of the principles of coachmanship ; to Mr. G. N. Hooper, 
 for a treatise full of information ; and to the late 
 Major Dixon. 
 
 BEAUFORT. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. INTRODUCTION i 
 
 By the Duke of Beaufort, K. G. 
 
 II. CARRIAGES ;:.,'. . . 21 
 
 By Alfred E. T. Watson. 
 
 III. THE CARRIAGE-HORSE 53 
 
 By the Earl of Onstow, G. C. M. G. 
 
 IV. THE COACH-HORSE . 77 
 
 By the Duke of Beaufort, K. G. 
 
 V. THE COACH-HOUSE, HARNESS-ROOM, AND DRIVING 
 
 APPLIANCES 83 
 
 By the late Major Henry Dixon, W. C. A. Blew, and Others. 
 
 VI. THE COST OF A CARRIAGE 105 
 
 By Alfred E. T. Watson. 
 
 VII. HINTS TO BEGINNERS. PART 1 116 
 
 By the late Major Henry Dixon. 
 
 PART II 131 
 
 By Colonel Hugh Smith- Baillie. 
 
 VIII. SINGLE HARNESS 138 
 
 By Lord Algernon St. Maur. 
 
 IX. TANDEM-DRIVING . 147 
 
 By Lady Georgiana Ctirzon. 
 
xii DRIVING. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 X. QUOUSQUE TANDEM ? 163 
 
 By Major- General Sir C. Teesdale, R.A.,V.C., K. C. M. G. 
 
 XI. OLD COACHING DAYS 171 
 
 By Lord Algernon St. Maur. 
 
 XII. 'ON THE BOX' 2l8 
 
 By the Duke of Beaufort, K. G. 
 
 XIII. THE BRIGHTON, BATH, AND DOVER ROADS . . 229 
 
 By the Duke of Beaufort, K. G. 
 
 XIV. DRIVING CLUBS, OLD AND NEW . . . . 247 
 XV. THE COACHING REVIVAL 273 
 
 Compiled by W. C. A. Blew. 
 
 XVI. POSTING IN ENGLAND . .... 306 
 
 By the Duke of Beaufort, K. G. 
 
 XVII. POSTING IN FRANCE 319 
 
 By the Duke of Beaufort, K G. 
 
 XVIII, SLEIGHING .... .... 329 
 
 By Major- General Sir C. Teesdale, R.A.,V.C.,K. C. M. G. 
 
 XIX. MODERN CARRIAGES " 345 
 
 By George N. Hooper. 
 
 THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF DRIVING 398 
 
 INDEX 405 
 
ILL USTRA TIONS. 
 
 (REPRODUCED BY E. WHYMPER AND MESSRS. WALKER & BOUTALL, 
 
 AFTER DRAWINGS BY G. D. GlLES AND J. STURGESS, AND PHOTO- 
 GRAPHS. ) 
 
 FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 THE DUKE OF BEAUFORT, K.G. 
 
 ARTIST 
 
 . G. D. Giles . . 
 
 frontispiece 
 
 OT EXACTLY A TEAM FOR 
 BEGINNER 
 
 \J. Sturgess . 
 
 To face p. 126 
 
 'Aw AY HE WENT' 
 
 . G. D. Giles . . 
 
 142 
 
 HEAVY NIGHT COACH . 
 
 . J. Sturgess . 
 
 144 
 
 LADY GEORGIANA CURZON'S TA: 
 
 DEM ..... 
 
 ( From a photograph \ 
 N j ' by Messrs. Hills [ 
 
 152 
 
 
 \ 6 Saunders } 
 
 
 <AN INEXTRICABLE TANGLE' 
 
 . G. D. Giles . 
 
 164 
 
 THE LEADERS TOOK FRIGHT' 
 
 . J. Sturgess ,. . 
 
 172 
 
 SPLINTERING THE BUCKETS . 
 
 . G. D. Giles . 
 
 176 
 
 AFTER THE ACCIDENT 
 
 . G. D. Giles . . 
 
 210 
 
 A NARROW ESCAPE . . 
 
 . J. Sturgess . . 
 . G. D. Giles . . 
 
 ,, 22O 
 32O 
 
 THE DORMEUSE 
 
 G D. Giles . 
 
 5 ? O 
 
 353 
 
xiv DRIVING. 
 
 WOODCUTS IN TEXT. 
 
 ARTIST PAGE 
 
 Vignette on Title-page G. D. Giles 
 
 BADMINTON vii 
 
 DOG-CART G. D. Giles . . i 
 
 MODERN COACHMEN G. D. Giles . . . 4 
 
 TAKE DRAUGHT OFF THEM GOING DOWNHILL J. Sturgess . . 12 
 
 ONLY CALL ON THEM FOR EXTRA ASSIS-) 
 
 TANCE GOING UPHILL. . . ] f- Sturgess . 13 
 
 SAFEST TO INCREASE THE PACE . . . J. Sturgess . .15 
 
 THE INCLINE TO THE RIGHT . . . G. D. Giles . . . 17 
 
 THE GROOM AT THE LEADERS' HEADS . G. D. Giles . .19 
 
 WHEELS G. D. Giles . . . 21 
 
 THE FIRST CARRIAGE G. D. Giles . . 22 
 
 '1889' J. Sturgess . . . 23 
 
 THE STATE CARRIAGE OF GEORGE III 36 
 
 f From a photosyaph } 
 
 LORD CALTHORPE'S CABRIOLET . . ] 43 
 
 ( by G. Mitchell j 
 
 RUSSIAN SLEDGE ..... From a photograph . 52 
 
 HORSES IN STALLS . . . . G. D. Giles . . . 53 
 
 ' BRED IN YORKSHIRE ' . . . . G. D. Giles . . 56 
 
 NEWSPAPER AND BUTCHER'S CARTS . . G. D. Giles . . . 71 
 
 THE YOUNG IDEA G. D. Giles . . 76 
 
 TATTERSALL'S G. D. Giles . . . 77 
 
 'WELL STRAPPED EVERY DAY'. . . G. D. Giles . . 8 1 
 
 DOORS OPENED EVERY DAY . . . . G. D. Giles . . . 83 
 
 HARNESS G. D. Giles . . 88 
 
 THE POLICE REGULATING STREET TRAFFIC G. D. Giles . . . 91 
 
 CHEQUE-BOOK, &c. . . . . . G. D. Giles . . 105 
 
ILLUblKAl. 
 
 lUlVS. 
 
 XV 
 
 
 ARTIST 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A MODEST TURN-OUT . 
 
 . G. D. Giles . . . 
 
 "3 
 
 WAITING FOR THE HORSES 
 
 .> G. D. Giles 
 
 116 
 
 EXCITABLE LEADERS .... 
 
 . G. D. Giles . . . 
 
 119 
 
 THE START . . 
 
 . J. Sturgess 
 
 123 
 
 BREAKING-IN . . . . 
 
 . J. Sturgess . 
 
 138 
 
 A BEGINNER ..... 
 
 . J. Sturgess 
 
 140 
 
 AN EFFECTUAL STOP .... 
 
 . J. Sturgess . . . 
 
 143 
 
 
 {Front a photograph \ 
 by Messrs. Hills I 
 
 Id.7 
 
 
 & Sounders } 
 
 X T-/ 
 
 A LEG OVER THE TRACE . 
 
 . J. Sttirgess 
 
 155 
 
 NOT KNOWING WHAT OBSTACLE MAY 
 
 BE) 
 
 [ r J. Sturgess . . . 
 
 159 
 
 'CHARMING AND SPEEDY TRAVELLING' 
 
 . J. Sturgess . . 
 
 162 
 
 SEAL OF THE TANDEM CLUB . 
 
 
 
 163 
 
 'Two MINUTES TO SPARE' . 
 
 . G. D. Giles . 
 
 171 
 
 THE SUDBURY BARROW . 
 
 . y. Sturgess . . . 
 . G. D. Giles 
 
 182 
 I 06 
 
 LEFT BEHIND 
 
 . G. D. Giles . . . 
 . G. D. Giles 
 
 iy\j 
 203 
 
 2O7 
 
 
 THE LATE JAMES SELBY . 
 
 {' From a photograph \ 
 by Messrs. Win- - . 
 doiv 6 Grove } 
 
 **\j j 
 
 213 
 
 ON THE Box 
 
 . G. D. Giles . 
 
 218 
 
 THE RED ROVER IN A GALE . 
 
 . G. D< Giles . . . 
 
 229 
 
 'RODE ACROSS THE LEADERS* 
 
 . G. D. Giles . 
 
 235 
 
 HYDE PARK CORNER 
 
 . G. D. Giles . . . 
 
 247 
 
 HATCHETT'S WHITE HORSE CELLAR . 
 
 . G. D. Giles 
 
 273 
 
 THE DEFIANCE 
 
 . J. Sturgess . . . 
 
 295 
 
DRIVING. 
 
 i IHT 
 
 i i 1 1 MK POSTBOY , . , , (/,/?. Gilts . , 306 
 
 n MI., SNOW, ANI. KAIN , G. D. Gilts. , .315 
 
 \ IT \.II.M REMON8TRANCR , , , G. J). Gilts . 
 
 MOUNTAIN Si,i',ic;ii i N<i , , , , G. J). Gilts . . , 
 
 ' AHVISKH i" imi n ON* . . . (' /'. ( t it<\v . . ;'"> 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 r.v i in i IUKI OK r.i MM .I.K i , K.C.. 
 
 \YniTil|| K we look upon iMmii:' hom the point >(' view of 
 IniMiiess or ot | >leasin e, i! is ( eil.im Hut no in. in \\lio IMS kid 
 MMirh of it hut feels his pulse(|iiieken, ;ind ;i st-nsiM)!' i-njoMiu-n! 
 |>cr\;ide him, when sitlm;; hclnnd one, l\vo, oi' loin t|iii< k .ind 
 \\ell |Hlt lo<;rlhri hoi:,es. \\'h;it is inoie deli;>ltl lul ill. ill .1 i'.ood 
 ;md pielm e:.t pie ro.id, a well htnlt ;ind well innnini 1 , < .11 1 i.ii'e, 
 h. lines', piopcil\ lilted, hoise-. Inlled ;ind pill to so thai I hey i',o 
 with ease to ihemseUt-s and do then I. HI share of work ? It is 
 lo };ive to the uninitiated a ehanee ot enjoNim; a drive under 
 the al)o\c ondilions that we oiler this volume to thepiiMie. 
 It is mm h easier tO sllOW pralh.ill\ to a young coa. hman 
 
j : ,../', ,: DRIVING. 
 
 those little 'dodges' and tricks that are so necessary to the 
 comfort of both coachman and horses than it is to convey them 
 to the tiro's mind with ink and paper : still there are many 
 things which may be learnt, and conveyed to the beginner, by 
 those who have had good instruction from past-masters in the 
 art of driving (most of them, alas ! no more on this earth), and 
 who have had long and varied experience, both on public 
 coaches and in driving privately, alike in town and country. 
 
 It is said that in this present age young gentlemen usually 
 begin by trying to drive four horses before they have learnt to 
 drive one ; and observation has shown us that this is partially 
 true. Let us hope, however, that some of those we have 
 noticed represent the exceptions and not the rule. One of 
 them, on being asked what the probable result of his attempt 
 would be, replied, ' I believe it is a very difficult thing to upset 
 a coach ' ! After the numerous attempts I have seen, I begin 
 to think the young gentleman was right. 
 
 Let us more modestly start with one horse, and begin by 
 remarking that the harness must fit perfectly ; the shafts 
 must be wide enough and not too wide ; the traces of exactly 
 the right length, so that the horse shall draw with them, 
 and not with his back band. Above all, let the coachman see, 
 before he gets on to his seat, that the loop of the back band is 
 in front of the stop on the shaft ; for on that, whether it be a 
 two-wheeled or a four-wheeled carriage, depends the safety 
 of the driver and those who accompany him. The bitting of 
 the horse the beginner must leave to some one else. If he is 
 a man of ordinary common sense, he will soon find out, or 
 some friend accustomed to driving will tell him, that his bit is 
 too sharp, or the reverse ; that his horse, having a one-sided 
 mouth, will go better at the check one side and the middle the 
 other; or that some other alteration or arrangement is desirable. 
 In short, he must find out for himself, or by the aid of som6 
 one else's experience, how to bit his horse, and must continue 
 to change the bit, or alter the reins up or down on the bit, till 
 4-he horse goes pleasantly. The width and thickness of the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 3 
 
 reins make a great difference to the comfort of the coachman, 
 and their size must depend on the length of his fingers and the 
 size of his hands. Also the fit of a man's gloves a subject 
 dealt with in its place is an important item in the comfort 
 or discomfort of driving. 
 
 And now supposing everything to be all right for a start, our 
 coachman, always with reins in hand, mounts his dogcart 
 or buggy. When he wants to start, ' Let him go ! ' or a nod 
 to the ostler or helper or groom at the horse's head, should be 
 simultaneous with drawing his reins shorter, and just feeling 
 his horse's mouth lightly, thus giving the animal ' the office ' 
 to start. Here we may remark that this is the correct mode 
 of starting all horses in harness, whether one, two, or four. 
 Our coachman, starting with the reins in his left hand and 
 his whip in his right, must bear in mind that nature gave him 
 that left hand for this particular purpose, and that the right 
 hand has no sort of business to touch the reins, except for the 
 purpose of shortening or lengthening one or both of them, or 
 of supporting the left hand, should it require assistance ; and 
 that when the right hand renders this assistance, it should do 
 so in such a manner as to be able to leave go again without 
 altering the length of either of the reins. That dreadful sight, 
 which is to be seen a hundred and more times every day 
 in the streets of London, of gentlemen and their coachmen 
 (gardeners, I ought to say) driving one or a pair with their hands 
 close up to their noses, and a rein in each hand, the two hands 
 being from six to twelve inches apart, is enough to give anyone, 
 with the least notion of how a man should drive, a fit of the 
 shivers. 
 
 Watch them ! See the man with the gold hatband, with 
 a very long crop to his whip, light-coloured with dark knots 
 all the way up, and at the end of his thong a red whipcord 
 lash (horror !) see him fetch the old brougham horse one 
 from his ear to his high goose rump. Mark the effect ! The 
 off rein being held with the whip in the right hand, there 
 comes suddenly two, feet of slack on that rein. , Our poor 
 
 B 2 
 
DRIVING. 
 
 friend the brougham horse having received this vicious cut, 
 being still held by the near rein, and not having his mouth 
 
 touched by the off one, makes 
 a dart to the near side, and 
 either knocks a lamp-post with 
 his forewheel, runs into the 
 dustcart standing by the kerb- 
 stone, or is saved from this 
 calamity by a frightful scramble 
 and exertion on the part of 
 the personage with a gravel 
 walk round his hat. See again, 
 a few yards further on, the 
 
 gentleman driving himself in a phaeton with his hands up close 
 to his nose. The omnibus in front of him pulls up short : our 
 
INTRODUCTION. 5 
 
 friend must do the same. He has reins in both hands instead 
 of only in his left hand in which latter case he would simply 
 catch hold of his reins behind his left hand with his right 
 hand, shorten them quickly and at once, and pull his horse or 
 pair of horses up with the left hand. Being, however, in the 
 same position as the coachman of the brougham we have just 
 seen, what does he do ? The only thing possible. His hands 
 go up above the top of his hat. But that does not stop his 
 horses, and he leans back and back and back still more. What 
 is the matter with the poor gentleman ? Is he in a fit ? Or 
 does he wish to shake hands with the groom sitting behind 
 him ? Or is there a balloon passing overhead that he wishes 
 to see ? Let our young friend take warning by what he may 
 observe daily in the streets, and say to himself, ' I mean to 
 become a coachman, and I see that to do so I must obey the 
 laws of nature, which have decreed that the left hand shall be 
 used for driving.' Establish a freemasonry between your hand 
 and your horse's mouth. When you want to go round a corner 
 to the right (having previously, without touching the reins with 
 your right hand, given your horse * the office ' that you are soon 
 going to turn in that direction), bend your wrist over so as to 
 bring your thumb undermost towards your left hip. Should it 
 be towards the left hand you wish to turn, bring your little finger 
 undermost and incline it towards your right hip. The driving 
 hand should be straight in the centre of your body, with the 
 knuckles of your hand to the front and your forearm exactly 
 square to the upper arm ; the elbow and back of the fingers, 
 when shut over the reins, lightly touching your coat. Avoid 
 squaring your elbows and swagger of any sort when driving. 
 Hold your whip in your right hand not at the end, but where 
 it will balance nicely either for carrying or using. You will 
 probably find that to be about where the collar is. (To the 
 uninitiated we would remark that the collar is the silver plate 
 about fourteen or sixteen inches from the thick end of the 
 stick.) Remember that your comfort depends on keeping on 
 good terms with your horse. This is to be done by being 
 
6 DRIVING. 
 
 gentle with him driving with as light a hand as you can, 
 never hitting him with the whip unnecessarily, or jobbing him 
 in the mouth with the bit. From long experience, and having 
 saved many broken knees by their use, we advocate bearing 
 reins especially in single harness put on with sense and dis- 
 cretion, so as never to be so short as to annoy a horse in any 
 way, and always when standing still for any time to be unborne. 
 
 In course of time, when the beginner has had some experi- 
 enceunder good guidance if it can possibly be obtained, but 
 otherwise after careful observation of the circumstances and 
 conditions under which the horse goes most comfortably to 
 himself and his driver he may take a step in advance and 
 essay the task of driving a pair. On that we can only say that 
 the putting the horses properly to the carriage, as regards the 
 length of their traces and pole pieces, as well as of the coupling 
 reins, is the most important factor in enabling a coachman to 
 drive with satisfaction to himself and comfort to his horses : 
 points which, it cannot be too strongly emphasised, must always 
 be considered together. One great thing, which is much prac- 
 tised nowadays and is specially to be avoided, is poling up the 
 horses so tightly that they are like animals fixed in a vice. 
 This is alike cruel to the horse and dangerous to the driver 
 and his passengers. The greatest care should be taken always 
 to leave sufficient play upon the pole pieces. By the word 
 ' play ' we mean slackness when the horses are drawing with 
 the traces and also when the animals are holding back. 
 
 In another part of this work we shall touch upon the ques- 
 tion of the application of the break for stopping the carriage ; 
 but we must here particularly impress upon the young (and 
 in not a few cases the hint may be judiciously and usefully 
 extended to the old) coachman that, as a general rule, a great 
 deal too much use is made of the break. It is a great relief 
 to a horse when he makes a slight descent to come out of his 
 collar so that the carriage travels along behind him without 
 any exertion on his part. Almost invariably, however, the 
 spectator will observe that the moment the carriage goes down 
 
INTRODUCTION. 7 
 
 ever so slight a declivity, the coachman claps on his break ; 
 and the consequence is that the horse is always pulling, the 
 practical effect of which, so far as he is concerned, is that he 
 always seems to be going uphill. It should be the object of 
 the driver to make the horse's work as easy as possible and to 
 relieve him from this unnecessary strain. If the descent be 
 severe the break should of course be applied ; but coachmen 
 must discriminate, and there can be no doubt that most of 
 them are far too apt to employ this comparatively modern 
 convenience. 
 
 With regard to the question of the proper length of the 
 coupling reins, they should be so adjusted that you can touch 
 both sides of your horse's mouth at the same moment. In 
 fitting this portion of the harness it is to be noticed that a 
 great deal depends upon the horse's neck. You may have a 
 pair of horses apparently the same length from the tip of the 
 nose to the root of the tail, and yet one horse's neck may be 
 four or five inches shorter than the other ; and it is extra- 
 ordinary what a considerable difference to the adjustment of 
 the coupling reins this makes. Without being present to point 
 out these things, it is impossible for any author to lay down a 
 hard-and-fast rule : it must be left to the common sense of 
 those who drive or put the horses to. 
 
 A coachman will often find that, for some inexplicable 
 reason, a horse will wear himself in a different form one day 
 from what he will another, and when this is found to be the 
 case, the driver, if he has time, should pull up and alter the 
 coupling reins to meet the requirements for the moment. 
 
 The rule already laid down with regard to driving with one 
 (the left) hand, so that the right may be available for shortening 
 or lengthening the reins, applies here as in the case of driving 
 one horse indeed, is more important with two or with four 
 horses than it is with one. 
 
 In former times, when there was no break for carriages, 
 it was absolutely necessary for a man to drive with one hand, 
 because when going down a steep hill with a heavy load, and 
 
8 DRIVING. 
 
 with tired and jaded horses, it was very often only possible to 
 keep in the road by the use of the whip. Horses have a 
 habit of hanging, so to speak, to one side or the other, to such 
 an extent that nothing but a smart flick over the shoulder or 
 the neck will straighten them, or prevent the vehicle from 
 running into the ditch ; and if, before the days of breaks, 
 a coachman had attempted the wretched modern practice of 
 driving with a rein in each hand, he would most assuredly have 
 upset his load. 
 
 I will now proceed to give some short directions . as to 
 the proper mode of driving four horses, and in doing that I 
 shall cover the ground which otherwise would have had to be 
 covered over a second time as regards the driving of a pair. 
 
 To start from the beginning. In former days coachmen, 
 particularly in public coaches, generally had the whip laid 
 across the wheel-horses' backs and the reins just looped up on 
 the outside terret of the off wheel-horse. This is hardly neces- 
 sary in these days for an amateur on his own coach with his 
 own servants, although he may get his whip broken by putting 
 it into the whip-bucket. The coachman, going to mount in 
 the old fashion, would proceed by taking the leading reins 
 and drawing them to him without actually touching the leaders' 
 mouths, though in order to have ready command over them 
 the touch should only be just avoided. He takes these reins 
 in his left hand and places them on either side of the middle 
 finger of his right hand. He then takes the wheel reins and 
 places them on either side of the third finger of his right 
 hand. In doing this he should have the off-side leading rein 
 and the off-side wheel rein twelve to eighteen inches longer 
 than the near side, and he will then find that when he mounts 
 his box the reins will be level in his hand. With the whip and 
 reins both in the right hand, he must catch hold of the loop 
 hanging from the box, should there be one, or of the lamp iron, 
 raise his left foot to the wheel-box, put his right foot on the 
 outside roller bolt on the splinter-bar, his left foot he will then 
 place on the step, his right foot brings him up to the foot- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 board of the box, and he should then immediately sit down 
 upon his driving seat. Some people are in the habit of stand- 
 ing up after they reach the footboard, but this is an aimless, 
 and, indeed, a dangerous proceeding, for the simple reason 
 that if the horses should make a sudden move forward the 
 driver is very likely to be jerked off the box, when the horses, 
 already in motion, will be left without government or guidance, 
 and, unless by some fortunate accident they are promptly 
 stopped, the passengers will find themselves in a very uncom- 
 fortable situation. 
 
 Before proceeding to point out what the driver should do 
 next, I will take the opportunity of making a few remarks as 
 to what the box-seat of a coach should be. Observers will 
 perceive that many of the coachbuilders turn out gentlemen's 
 coaches with a box at an angle of forty-five degrees, so that it is 
 utterly impossible for a coachman to sit upon it ; and therefore 
 his position is that of a man leaning against a wall with his legs 
 stuck out. A coachman thus placed has no firmness or security. 
 If the wheel-horses should fall, he would certainly be^plucked 
 over ; if he happened to run over a heap of stones or some 
 such obstacle, he would almost inevitably be shot over on to 
 his horses' backs. It is very essential that the box should be 
 suited to the driver: that it should be sloped according to his 
 height, and length of leg. Nothing is more absolutely neces- 
 sary to good driving than that the coachman should be placed 
 with ease and comfort to himself on his seat ; and when we 
 say ' seat ' we do not mean a structure placed behind him so 
 that he may lean against it. There must be a slight slope. 
 Speaking rather at a venture, I should be inclined to say that 
 the back of the box should be three inches, or from that to 
 four inches, higher than the front part of the cushion. This 
 is ample slope for anybody. 
 
 Having seated himself on the box, the coachman should 
 put both his feet close together. His left hand should be 
 about where the top of his trousers would come that is, 
 the forearm pretty nearly or absolutely horizontal the hand 
 
TO DRIVING. 
 
 almost, if not quite, in the centre of the body, touching 
 his body with the backs of his fingers, and his knuckles 
 straight to the front ; he will find that his wrist makes a natural 
 dumb-jockey, because the wrist will work backwards and 
 forwards like a spring, whereas if he sits with his forearm 
 straight to the front none of the hinges which nature has given 
 him in his elbow and his wrist will act on the horses' mouths. 
 
 The gentleman, being already placed, must recollect never, 
 under any circumstances, to omit calling out in a loud voice, 
 ' Sit fast ! ' Fearful accidents have happened when coachmen 
 have started without the necessary precaution of such a warn- 
 ing. It is a long way from the roof of a coach to the ground, 
 and many men have been pitched off and seriously injured 
 through the carelessness or ignorance of coachmen in setting 
 off without a caution. Having thus warned his passengers, 
 he must then give the hint to his horses to start ; and that 
 is done by very slightly drawing the reins so as to touch 
 every horse's mouth ; then, with a nod to the man at the 
 wheelers' heads, or with a cry of ' Stand away ! ' off he will find 
 all the horses go together. 
 
 An unworkmanlike trick, which the coachman cannot be 
 too careful to avoid, is that of suddenly slacking his reins and 
 pushing out his hands before him when he wants to start ; a 
 trick, however, which is much affected by many men who find 
 themselves on a driving seat which they do not adorn. The 
 result of this proceeding is that the horses, not knowing what 
 -is wanted and, being sensible animals, it is not to be expected 
 that they can know stick their heads up and stand still. 
 Some one of the team, finding himself suddenly released, 
 perhaps a wheel-horse, starts off and rams the bars under the 
 leaders' tails an occurrence which they naturally resent ; in 
 their excitement and alarm the chances are that they will at 
 once begin kicking, and a considerable amount of confusion 
 and difficulty, if not of danger, is likely to arise before things are 
 set straight again : so easily do accidents happen, and by such 
 simple precautions may they be avoided. 
 
IN TROD UCTION. \ I 
 
 As a rule, a beginner may take it pretty well for granted that 
 when once he gets under way with good horses, even though 
 he has never driven four horses before, he is pretty safe bar- 
 ring, of course, mishaps which cannot be foreseen until he 
 wishes to pull up ; and it may be said that almost all the acci- 
 dents which occur, though fortunately in coaching these are 
 rare, take place either in starting or in pulling up. 
 
 We have not alluded, either when talking of driving one 
 horse or driving two horses, to the pace at which it is advisable 
 to go. This must of course depend very much upon a variety 
 of circumstances. If anyone is going to catch a train, and has 
 only fifty minutes to do ten miles in, he must necessarily gallop 
 if his horses cannot trot fast enough ; but until the gentleman 
 has driven some years, and is quite master of the business, we 
 should recommend him to restrict himself to a trot. If he has 
 naturally fast horses, they would be not unlikely to trot at the 
 rate of ten miles an hour with greater ease to themselves than 
 at the rate of eight miles ; but a good principle to observe 
 through life is to save your cattle as much as you carr^ and if 
 you have very fine free horses, well bred, and naturally fast, 
 not to allow them to go at the top of their speed, though at 
 the same time to take them at such a pace that they will not 
 be wearied and annoyed by efforts at holding them back. 
 With the generality of horses, coachmen will find that about 
 nine miles an hour is as much as they care to do, though, 
 as we said before, the pace must necessarily be adjusted to 
 the requirements of the moment. 
 
 Many people -will be apt to say, ' How do you know at 
 what pace you are going ? ' And it must be admitted that the 
 speed of horses is very deceptive to the eye ; it will often seem 
 to the observer that a big team of sixteen-hand horses are 
 apparently going along very slowly, but with their long stride 
 they will in reality be going a good ten miles an hour when 
 they look as if they were not travelling more than eight miles. 
 The converse is often equally the case : small quick-stepping 
 horses will induce the driver to fancy that they are going at a 
 
12 
 
 DRIVING. 
 
 much greater pace than that at which they really are pro- 
 gressing. 
 
 In former days all the big roads had milestones, and there are 
 
 Take draught off them going downhill. 
 
 still many of them remaining ; and a very useful lesson with regard 
 to pace would be learnt if all coachmen, even when only out for 
 a drive of pleasure along a road where milestones still remain, 
 would take their watches out on passing one and note how 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 many minutes it takes them to reach the next. There is 
 another way by which a practised eye can tell at what rate he 
 is going, and that is by looking down at his front wheel and 
 seeing at what rate it is revolving. By this he can judge far 
 better than by looking at the horses, though the unpractised 
 eye would learn nothing till experience taught the lesson. 
 
 The way to drive a stage, and particularly a long one, is, not 
 to allow the leaders to do too much work on the flat, to be 
 sure and take the draught off them on going down a hill, and 
 only to call upon them for a little extra assistance in going 
 
 Mk 
 
 Only call on them for extra assistance going uphill. 
 
 uphill. A man who comes to a short pitch when driving fast 
 will find that, if he takes the draught off his leaders by pulling 
 his reins, say, two inches or two and a half inches back, and 
 placing them on the top finger of his left hand and pressing 
 them down with his thumb, when he comes to the bottom of 
 the hill, he will have nothing to do but just raise his thumb, 
 and there are the horses, having caught hold of their bars, 
 ready to assist in mounting the next hill. 
 
14 DRIVING. 
 
 Very often in driving, especially about the narrow streets of 
 towns, it is not a bad plan, supposing you are turning to the 
 left, to shorten the off-wheel rein in front, just under your 
 thumb, in the same way, almost at the same moment that you 
 are shortening your near rein, to turn round the corner. Be 
 very sure that the assistance given by the right hand is only 
 momentary, and that it is free to use the whip when you are 
 turning the corner. The shortening of the off- wheel rein is 
 to prevent the wheel-horses from turning too sharp round the 
 corner, and knocking the coach on the post or stone that will 
 probably be found at the edge of the pavement ; because 
 wheel-horses that have been much driven get very cunning, 
 and they feel the office given to the leaders by the rein which 
 runs alongside of their heads. Of course the same rule applies 
 when turning to the right, only then the near-wheel rein must 
 be shortened. 
 
 We have already cautioned the beginner against indulging in 
 the gallop, but it will sometimes happen unavoidably, if a coach- 
 man has gone a little fast off the top of a pitch, that when the 
 horses get near to the bottom, or are absolutely at the bottom, 
 they will break into a gallop. On such occasions, unless the 
 coachman understands how to keep his horses steady, it will very 
 often be found that the coach is set rocking, which is a danger 
 that might end in a swing over. The natural impulse of a 
 coachman who feels the vehicle thus swaying is to check his 
 horses and try to pull them all up, but to do this is only to 
 increase the danger. The safest plan of avoiding an accident 
 when such a thing occurs is rather to increase the pace, and 
 especially to give a little more rein to the leaders, who will then 
 catch hold of the pole, and, pulling the coach straight, will 
 steady it; and then is the time to get fast hold of all four 
 horses and gradually pull them into a trot. 
 
 The intending coachman, when he is in the country, should 
 walk about with a four-in-hand whip until he has made him? 
 self quite at home in the art of catching the thong. Many 
 men who can drive very fairly are hampered by a want of 
 
IN TROD UCTION. T 5 
 
 knowledge how to dispose of their whip when on the coach-box. 
 Having learned how to catch the thong, one great principle is 
 to learn to do it without looking at it, and to catch it without 
 making any noise. A man who looks at his thong, when it is 
 going up to the stick, is sure to cut at it with his stick, and 
 invariably misses the catch ; whereas, if he has been taught 
 properly, a slight turn of the wrist is all that is necessary to 
 send the thong up to the stick. 
 
 Safest to increase 
 the pace. 
 
 In these days, when such well-bred and lightly-worked 
 horses are generally driven, there is very little necessity for the 
 use of the whip. Still occasions may arise when upon a proper 
 application of the whip the safety of the coach may depend, and 
 its proper employment, therefore, is a most essential element of 
 the art of driving. One thing that a coachman should recollect, if 
 he desires to let go his thong to hit one of the leaders when there 
 are a great many passengers on the back of the coach, is the 
 
16 DRIVING. 
 
 desirability of avoiding such mishaps as flicking a gentleman 
 under the ear, or sending the dirty end of the whip round some- 
 one's face, when the object in view has simply been to touch a 
 leader. In the first place, the coachman must remember that 
 he cannot hit his leaders too quietly. He should manage to do 
 so in such a way that the wheel-horses may not be aware that 
 he is using his whip at all. Not a sound must be heard, and it 
 is specially desirable not to hit the wheel-horses on the nose 
 instead of just dropping the point of the whip on the leaders' 
 hocks. The upper cut by which we mean making the point 
 of the whip go upwards from under the bar is the correct 
 way of hitting a leader. Many a time I have seen a beginner 
 smack his leader all down the back, with the result that, much 
 to the astonishment of the owner of the whip, it flies off the 
 horse's back straight across his own face. 
 
 In hitting a wheeler, unless he is a most arrant slug and 
 warranted not to kick, the whip should be applied in front of 
 the pad. This will obviate a difficulty in which coachmen not 
 seldom get themselves placed, arising from the fact that in 
 hitting a horse behind the pad he is apt to flick his tail and get 
 a double thong tight in under it. 
 
 I once saw a gentleman in that predicament ; the result 
 being that there were two large holes in the front boot of his 
 coach, one young lady on the roof fainted, the greater part of 
 the harness was broken, and his load had to be taken on to the 
 racecourse to which he was driving by the assistance of two 
 other coaches, his own coach having to be led ignominiously 
 home. 
 
 Before leaving the subject of driving I would add, that in 
 the remarks made with regard to the driving of one horse, the 
 turn of the wrist either way is equally applicable to drivers with 
 four horses ; and it is even more important to learn to go from the 
 right to the left of the road or from the left to the right without 
 the assistance of the right hand. In making the horses incline 
 or turn to the right, the thumb disappears from view, the back 
 of the hand and knuckles show, and the little finger is upper- 
 
INTRODUCTION. 17 
 
 most. In making them incline or turn to the left it is just 
 the reverse. The little finger disappears, the thumb becomes 
 visible, the back of the hand cannot be seen, and the ends and 
 back of the fingers come into view. 
 
 The incline to the right. 
 
 A few words may here be said about the manner of put- 
 ting the horses to the carriage One great thing to be avoided 
 is frightening the horse on bringing him up to the vehicle ; 
 and another is knocking his hind legs up against the splinter- 
 bar or against the pole, as many grooms are apt to do in 
 bringing them up and turning them short round. If the 
 horses hit themselves, an accident is not an improbability. 
 The groom should not lead the horse about by the bottom of 
 the bit. If any difference of opinion occurs between the man 
 and the animal, it causes a sharp jerk to be administered to 
 the horse's mouth, whereupon he generally throws his head up 
 
 c 
 
1 8 DRIVING. 
 
 and runs back ; the proper course is to put the hand inside the 
 check-piece or the nose-band and to lead the horse along by 
 that. When the horse is in proper position alongside the pole 
 (it is perhaps hardly necessary to remark that the wheel-horse 
 should always be put to first), the man standing at the horse's 
 head should run the pole chain, or pole piece, as the case may 
 be, th: ough the ring at the bottom of the hames, and hold that 
 with one hand so as to prevent the horse from running back on 
 to the splinter-bar, while the other man places him a little back 
 to put the trace on, the outside trace being invariably put on 
 first, and the inside one afterwards. So in taking the horse off, 
 the inside trace is taken off first, and the outside one last ; 
 otherwise you may find yourself in the position of having the 
 horse fastened to the coach or carriage by the inside trace, and 
 flying round and getting his head towards the carriage a posi- 
 tion which may lead to considerable difficulty, if not accident. 
 
 Having got both traces over the roller bolt, it is then time 
 to pole the horse up. Immediately that is done, the leaders' 
 traces should be hooked on to the bars. I consider it a very 
 good plan to loop the traces that is, to pass one trace through 
 the other and bring it back on to each horse's own bar. It 
 steadies the bars and prevents them from swinging. Should 
 any gentleman wish to fasten his two small bars together (a 
 proceeding which I do not in any way advocate), let him at all 
 events refrain from doing so with a chain, a fashion which 
 I perceive is very much in vogue. The simple reason against 
 the course deprecated is that, should a leader kick and get 
 his legs between the main bar and the swing bars, it would be 
 necessary, in order to extricate him from that position, to saw 
 one of the bars in two, and he may break the pole before this 
 can be done. I prefer that there should be no fastening of 
 the bars together, or, at all events, if they are fastened, nothing 
 but a strap should be used, as there is a possibility of cutting 
 the strap. 
 
 Having got the leaders put to, the leading reins are then 
 placed through the terret on the outside of the bridle of the 
 
INTRODUCTION. 19 
 
 wheel-horse through the centre terret of the pad, and the 
 horses are ready to start. Some gentlemen have a fancy for 
 running the leading rein over the wheel-horse's head, and it 
 certainly looks better and smarter, but there are many reasons 
 why running them on the outside is preferable. In the first place, 
 if a leader pulls, there is considerable pressure on the top of 
 
 the wheel-horse's head ; and, in the second place, if the wheel- 
 horse throws his head up much, it perpetually checks the 
 leaders. With the exception that it is keeping the rein further 
 away from the wheelers' tails, I do not know that there is any 
 advantage in running the rein over their heads. Should one of 
 the leaders be in the habit of getting his tail over his rein, and 
 
20 DRIVING. 
 
 then setting to work to kick, it is not a bad plan to run his 
 rein, if he is off side, through the ring on the inside of the near 
 wheel-horse's head, and if he is near side, through the ring on 
 the inside of the off wheel-horse's head. .This keeps the rein 
 out of his way. In taking the horses off, it is often the custom, 
 directly a man pulls up, to throw the reins down on their backs : 
 I think it is better to wait before doing so. 
 
 In these luxurious days, when everybody has two grooms 
 with a team of four horses, it may scarcely seem necessary to 
 say where the place of the groom ought to be when the horses 
 are standing ; but in the event of a gentleman having only one 
 man with him, let him remember above all things that that man 
 must not go to the leaders' heads ; he should go straight to the 
 wheel-horses' heads and catch hold of both leading reins with 
 one hand whilst he is standing there, and make use of the 
 other to stop the wheel-horses should they move. Should he 
 go to the leaders' heads with no one standing at the wheel- 
 horses, the latter might jump forward, and the leaders knock 
 the man down standing in front of them, when away would go 
 the coach and horses ; whereas one man at the wheel-horses' 
 heads is perfectly competent to control the whole four. 
 
j CARRIAGES. 
 
 BY ALFRED E. T. WATSON. 
 
 THE thing which chiefly puzzled Charles Darwin in his 
 researches and speculations with regard to the development 
 of species was the evolution of the eye. He could not even 
 guess plausibly how the eye was generated ; and what perplexes 
 the inquirer into the subject of the origin of carriages is the 
 question when the wheel originally came into existence. When 
 first horses were domesticated and pressed into the service of 
 man, superseding, as there is reason to suppose, the use first of 
 oxen and then of asses, the man doubtless put what he wanted 
 to be carried on his horse's back, fastening it there as best he 
 could. But some keen observer, as we must suppose, watching 
 his horse thus burdened, hit on the idea that a more convenient 
 method might be adopted, and the horse's strength better 
 utilised. He had, in fact, evolved the earliest notion of the 
 carnage. 
 
 His mode of procedure was to take a couple of poles and 
 so fasten them round the horse's neck that they dragged on 
 
 For assistance in the compilation of the following chapter, the writer is 
 much indebted to Mr. G. N. Hooper, of the firm of Hooper & Co., carriage- 
 builders, of 113 Victoria Street. 
 
22 
 
 DRIVING. 
 
 the ground behind his heels, and on these poles he placed, and 
 in some way or other fastened so that it would not fall off, what 
 he wanted to carry. We can, of course, only imagine dimly 
 the sensation which was caused when the proud inventor first 
 exhibited his carriage for that this was the original carriage 
 seems to be proved by the circumstances that a similar con- 
 trivance is still in use among the red men of America. For 
 
 The first carriage. 
 
 the sake of contrast let us step over a few thousands of years 
 and glance from the earliest carriage to the latest. 
 
 We are apt to consider these the days of marvellous 
 inventions, but we cannot by any possibility realise the 
 magnitude and brilliance of the idea of the first wheel. There 
 is nothing to guide us even to about the century when by 
 degrees some man of active mind first began to perceive that 
 
CARRIAGES. 23 
 
 improvements in carriage-buildingsomething more con- 
 venient and serviceable than these dragging poles, that is to say 
 were within the bounds of possibility. If the poles could 
 be raised to the horizontal it would be something. Articles 
 would not fall off; a man might sit comfortably and rest 
 himself when he was tired of walking by the horse's side. 
 Then some mighty genius in a flash of vivid imagination 
 devised the wheel. His name, even his country, has been lost 
 in the mist of ages, though it should rank on a level with the 
 
 discoveries of gunpowder and 
 of the electric telegraph. We 
 can only speculate upon his 
 proceedings when the splendid 
 conception struck him, 
 but it seems very likely 
 that he cut down a tree, 
 
 1889.' 
 
 chopped two slices or circles of wood from the trunk, and 
 probably sat down overwhelmed by the evident fact that there 
 was still a vast deal to be done ; for how were his round 
 pieces of wood to be so fastened that they would turn ? If 
 the reader cares to amuse himself by following out these 
 fancies, he may speculate as to whether the early inventor 
 strove to work out the problem for himself, or whether he 
 
24 DRIVING. 
 
 called his friends into consultation in what strange and 
 forgotten language did they discuss the question of wheels and 
 how to make them turn ? showed them his round sections of 
 tree, and explained the difficulties which had to be solved. 
 Imagine a meeting of the wise men bent on the arduous task 
 of discovering the first crude suggestion of the axle-tree ! We 
 cannot ask the artists to draw the picture, for they would not 
 know whether to clothe the group in the skins of wild beasts 
 or in some species of robe, and then again the sort of tree 
 which was thus cut down would be only guesswork, as no one 
 can tell in what clime the discussion took place. 
 
 All that can be ascertained is that the wheel must have 
 been invented thousands of years before the Christian era, for 
 the reason that when the chariot first makes its appearance in 
 the Egyptian monuments it is so complete that there can be 
 no doubt as to wheeled vehicles having been long in use, 
 not perhaps by the monument-building Egyptians themselves, 
 but by their conquerors the Hyksos and the people whence 
 the Shepherd Kings came. From the first appearance of the 
 chariot we find many representations of wheeled vehicles upon 
 the monuments of Egypt, of Asia Minor, of Greece, and of 
 Rome. These early chariots were primarily used for war, 
 though it is natural to assume that considerable progress in 
 driving and familiarity with wheeled vehicles must have been 
 made before men would risk their lives in battle on anything 
 but their own legs. There is reason to suppose, however, that 
 chariots were used for journeys and for the ordinary purposes 
 for which carriages are employed, and doubtless at a very early 
 period of their existence for races. The same spirit which in 
 this year of grace draws vast crowds to Epsom and Ascot 
 doubtless moved men five thousand years and more ago, though 
 whether in the chariot races spectators backed their fancies, 
 tried to pick out the best team of two, four, or more horses, as 
 the case might be, and to judge whether the superiority of one 
 champion's driving would enable him to beat a somewhat 
 
CARRIAGES. 25 
 
 better chariot driven by a notoriously less expert warrior, lands 
 us again in the region of speculation. 
 
 The earliest wheeled vehicles chariots -of which traces 
 exist on the monuments to which reference has been made, 
 were drawn by two horses, and here, again, it is obvious that 
 there must have been a lapse of time during which events 
 happened of which there is no record ; for it seems only 
 natural to suppose that men must for a long period have driven 
 one horse before somebody hit on the notion of a pair, though 
 when once the pair was started the natural vanity of man and 
 his desire to display his wealth and consequence rather, perhaps, 
 than consideration as to the work horses were required to do, 
 length of their journeys, the weight they had to draw, would 
 suggest teams of four, six, eight, and even a greater number. 
 Another discovery, which no doubt created a stir at the time, 
 was the four-wheeled carriage in all probability the roughest 
 possible form of waggon. Bible history may here be drawn 
 upon. In the 4 ist chapter of Genesis, which is dated 1715 
 B.C., we read that ' Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and 
 put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine 
 linen, and put a gold chain about his neck. And he made him 
 to ride in the second chariot which he had.' Some eight years 
 later Pharaoh sent for Jacob. Joseph was bidden to say to his 
 brethren, ' Take you waggons out of the land of Egypt for your 
 little ones and for your wives, and bring your father and come.' 
 Joseph gave them waggons accordingly, and we can only suppose 
 that waggons were known in Canaan, for when Jacob saw them 
 he perfectly understood what they were and why they had been 
 sent. 
 
 We thus have the record of the waggon nearly 2,000 years 
 B.C. Four-wheeled waggons were used by the Greeks and by 
 the Romans, but the two-wheeled chariot was always the 
 favourite vehicle of the ancients for war or for pomp, perhaps 
 because there was more elegance about it, and it was much 
 speedier. The poets and historians of old took delight in 
 
26 DRIVING. 
 
 describing the glories of a chariot adorned with ivory, with 
 gold and silver, and with precious stones. The discomforts of 
 a journey in any of the early vehicles can, however, be imagined 
 when one remembers that carriage springs are of comparatively 
 modern invention, and that even in cities of the first consequence 
 the art of road-making was in its infancy. The Appian Way, 
 B.C. 331, may have been fairly good for vehicles ; but as a 
 rule the rate of progress must have been so slow that the 
 chariot was comparatively as far behind the modern coach as 
 the best-horsed vehicle is in speed behind the express train ; 
 accidents in the nature of a break-down were surely common, 
 and the fatigue of a journey must have been great from the 
 jolts and bumps which marked every pace. 
 
 Over these periods, however, we must not linger. Ad- 
 vancing at a bound to the middle ages a necessarily shifty 
 date, but near enough for the purpose of the present dis- 
 cussion we find that little use was made of wheeled vehicles. 
 The country was less enclosed than at present, of course, but 
 there were few roads along which heavy carriages could make 
 good way. Me Adam was not to appear for several centuries, 
 and it must have been terribly hard work for horses to pull 
 loads, as we may say, practically across country. A man could 
 get on incomparably better on horseback than in a carriage, and 
 goods were chiefly carried on pack-horses. About the thirteenth 
 century the use of carriages became somewhat common among 
 the higher nobility, though it seems to have been considered 
 effeminate for men to use them, and women usually pre- 
 ferred the saddle or the pillion. We can easily understand 
 that carriages must have been slow and uncomfortable, and 
 liable to accident, notwithstanding that the exceedingly 
 moderate pace would prevent such accidents from being of 
 a very dangerous description. That carriages were, if not 
 easy, at any rate gorgeous, is shown by the author of the 
 poem called ' The Squyr of Low Degree,' written certainly 
 before the time of Chaucer. A passage from this writer 
 runs : 
 
CARRIAGES. 27 
 
 To-morrow ye shall on hunting fare, 
 
 And ride, my daughter, in a chare. 
 
 It shall be covered with velvet red, 
 
 And cloth of fine gold all about your head ; 
 
 With damask white and azure blue, 
 
 Well diaper'd with lilies new. 
 
 A luxuriously appointed ' chare,' truly, though one would 
 suppose too delicately finished to be used for following the 
 hunt through the mire and slush of the country. The chare 
 may probably be taken as the rough and early form of the 
 vehicle which afterwards came to be known as the chariot. 
 
 With all the decorations described by the poet, who we 
 may suppose had seen something like such a carriage, and 
 did not evolve it all out of his imagination, it must be assumed 
 that the ' chare ' was not open if it were, indeed, one shudders 
 at the thought of rain ; but it seems to be noted as a curiosity 
 that the carriage in which Frederick III. entered Frankfort in 
 1474 was closed. Probably in days long before umbrellas 
 were thought of, our ancestors did not mind the wet, though, to 
 provide a shelter for a carriage, a cover or awning of some 
 kind or other cannot have been any severe tax on the inven- 
 tive powers of the early carriage- builders. 
 
 Jumping again into the seventeenth century for, interesting 
 as are many of the records of primitive carriages, we must not 
 linger too long with so extensive a subject before us we find 
 that, partly because roads had a little improved, and partly 
 because the country was growing generally richer, wheeled 
 vehicles were becoming, or indeed had become, so common 
 that a bill was introduced to restrain the excessive use of 
 carriages. If with prophetic eye some man who read the bill 
 could have imagined what Hyde Park Corner would be like 
 on a June afternoon towards the end of the nineteenth century, 
 the result would have been amazing indeed. One would be 
 glad to know what Bacon thought of the bill, and whether it 
 was discussed by Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, John Fletcher 
 Beaumont was too young to know anything of state policy in 
 
28 DRIVING. 
 
 1 60 1 and the company which was accustomed then to meet. 
 One plea in favour of the bill was, that the watermen in the 
 river lost custom when people travelled by road. The bill was, 
 however, rejected on the second reading, and if there were no 
 better argument against it than that of the watermen, this was 
 obviously just, for with equal pertinence the coach-builders 
 might have complained that their trade was injured by men 
 who plied for hire in boats. 
 
 On this head much might be added as to the mischievous 
 effects of taxing carriages in these days, for this is a tax on the 
 products of industry which greatly restrains its development, 
 reduces the number of skilled artisans who would be employed, 
 and renders precarious the employment of those actually en- 
 gaged. 
 
 The defeat of the motion inspired new vigour into the 
 little class which may be spoken of as the coaching men of the 
 early seventeenth century, and in 1610 an enterprising person 
 hit on the germ of that idea the development of which has 
 filled the streets with cabs and omnibuses, and covered the 
 world with railways. All that is known of him is that he was 
 a Pomeranian ; what he did was to establish a line of coaches 
 and waggons to run between Edinburgh and Leith, and about 
 the year named he obtained a Royal patent, allowing him the 
 sole right of the running for fifteen years. The sort of coach 
 which the Pomeranian put on the road may be judged by an 
 engraving published by Visscher at Antwerp in 1616. The 
 wheels are very broad, the tires stout, and so far as can be 
 made out there are no springs. There seems to be room inside 
 for six or eight persons. It is covered by a sort of canopy with 
 the ends hanging down over the sides of the coach the matt- 
 rial cannot be made out. A baggage rack is shown, let down 
 much after the fashion of the back of a contemporary dog-cart. 
 It must have been a terribly heavy vehicle, especially of course 
 on such roads as those which it was doomed to travel, and yet 
 it is drawn by only one horse, which moreover is ridden by the 
 driver if the term may be employed. What makes the picture 
 
CARRIAGES. 29 
 
 puzzling, is the statement in ' Fyne Morrison's Itinerary,' pub- 
 lished the year after Visscher's engraving was issued, that 
 travellers in the south and west of England, in Scotland, and- 
 elsewhere, hired post horses at stations which were established 
 some ten miles from each other, and sometimes covered a dis- 
 tance between these post-houses at the rate of ten miles an 
 hour. These post-horses must have been ridden ; the coach 
 in the engraving would surely have taken nearly thrice the 
 time mentioned. 
 
 Soon after this, about 1623, appeared the most desperate 
 onslaught on the coaches that has ever been published. John 
 Taylor, the 'Water Poet,' was the author of the attack a 
 pamphlet called ' The World runnes on Wheeles ; or, Oddes 
 betwixt Carts and Coaches' but it is to be feared that his 
 savage satire was based on the grievance which induced the 
 watermen to support the bill already mentioned, and of course 
 the Water Poet felt strongly on the subject. Carts he would 
 permit. Certain things had to be carried, no doubt, but as to 
 coaches, the reader is bidden to 'beware of a coach as you 
 would doe of a tyger, a wolfe, or a leuiathan.' There is not 
 space here even to hint at a tithe of the evils which the coach 
 was asserted to do, though the pleas on behalf of 'us poor water- 
 men' make the meaning of the assault plain enough. It is 
 odd, however, to read the catalogue of the dangers which are 
 declared to be brought about by coaches, and to compare it 
 with the sort of thing that was written about railway trains 
 when they were first introduced, to the detriment of coaches. 
 The reader is doubtless familiar with the picture there are 
 indeed more than one of the same subject which shows the 
 driver of a coach pointing to a train which has run off the line 
 and is toppling down an embankment. The coach was then 
 regarded as the safest of conveyances, but Taylor cries out 
 that ' the mischiefes that have bin done by them are not to be 
 numbred, as breaking of legges and armes, overthrowing downe 
 hilles, over bridges, running ouer children, lame and old people ; 
 as Henrie the Fourth of France (the father of the king that 
 
3 o DRIVING. 
 
 now reigneth) he and his queen were once like to have beene 
 drowned, the coach overthrowing beside a bridge, and to prove 
 that a coach owed him an vnfortunate tricke, he was some 
 few yeears after his first niche, most unhumanely and trae- 
 trously murdered in one by Rauiliache in the streets at Paris.' 
 To alight after a long journey in a springless coach, battered, 
 aching and shaken, and then to read John Taylor's pamphlet, 
 must have been a distressing day's work. 
 
 It was most probably in consequence of the absence of 
 springs that horse-litters continued in vogue so long. The 
 litter seems to have been introduced by the Normans in the 
 eleventh century, and mention is made of this style of convey- 
 ance at least as late as 1680. The 'litter' was slung on long 
 poles, and borne by two horses, the hind one occasionally 
 having his head almost touching the body of the 'carriage.' 
 One can imagine how this must have shaken. We know how 
 the action of a single horse would shake, in fact, and the 
 jolting of the pair must have been rough indeed. If then a 
 wounded man was sometimes carried in a litter rather than in 
 a coach or carriage of some kind, it can only be presumed that 
 the average carriage was an exceedingly uncomfortable con- 
 veyance. 
 
 The precise date of the invention of springs does not seem 
 to be traceable, and this is unfortunate, for their introduction was 
 of the utmost importance, and indeed revolutionised carriage- 
 building, making what had hitherto been a rough business into 
 an art. The approach to perfection if it has been already 
 reached, indeed was slow. Springs, however, were known 
 of what sort is not clear and employed in 1665 ; for Pepys, 
 in his ' Diary,' writing in that year, speaks of having ridden 
 for curiosity in the carriage thus equipped of one Colonel 
 Edward Blount. The diarist went in the newly fitted coach 
 uphill and over cart ruts, ' and found it pretty well, but not so 
 easy as he pretends.' This is very cool commendation, and 
 seems to imply that there was not so much difference between 
 springless and springed carriages. The days of the luxurious 
 
CARRIAGES. 31 
 
 C spring were not yet. It is clear, however, that men who 
 were connected with carriages that is to say, builders, owners, 
 and drivers were hard put to it to overcome certain obvious 
 discomforts and inconveniences, and of all the new devices tried, 
 perhaps the oddest spectacle is suggested by another writing in 
 the immortal 'Diary;' indeed, the word ' odd ' is actually applied 
 to it by Pepys. The idea was to let the coachman ' sit astride 
 upon a pole over the horses.' This, Pepys thought, was 'a pretty 
 odd thing,' and he seems to employ the word 'pretty ' in its most 
 accurate significance, and not as a sort of satirical 'very.' The 
 pole in question must have been a sort of bowsprit fixed on to 
 the front of the carriage, and one can only faintly imagine 
 the Four-in-Hand Club meeting at the Magazine with all the 
 members in this seamanlike attitude. The notion does not 
 seem to have lingered, but there was a period, long prior of 
 course to the days when the worthies whose careers on the box 
 are recorded in other chapters were in their prime, when a 
 conveyance from Devon to London was drawn by six horses 
 harnessed one before the other, and driven by a man who 
 walked. This was admittedly a waggon, and not a coach. 
 
 By degrees it was perceived that the best place for the 
 driver is that in which he is now usually found, and late in the 
 seventeenth century we find him on an early substitute for 
 the box with a footboard amongst other luxuries. There were 
 no windows to the vehicle, but there were curtains, and the vague 
 idea of springs had been so far improved upon that the body of 
 the carriage was suspended as if with a regard for the comfort of 
 the occupants. At that time also carriages were often lavishly 
 decorated with elaborate carvings, paintings, and gildings. 
 This was far from new ; indeed, many of almost the earliest 
 chariots of unknown dates were distinguished by efforts of 
 artists ; but for a good many years the main idea of the carriage 
 seems to have remained unaltered. The varieties of carriages 
 which are now common were not dreamed of : there appears, 
 in fact, to have been very little variety. If a man wanted a 
 carriage to ride in, it was assumed that he wanted something 
 
32 DRIVING 
 
 in the nature of a coach. If the conveyance of packages was 
 desired, there were waggons, but for all purposes of human 
 transport there was ' the coach ; ' and one coach was very much 
 like another, except that royal and distinguished personages 
 had more luxurious vehicles than those who were less wealthy 
 or less anxious about maintaining their position, for the last 
 century was marked by much display. If a great man rode in 
 his carriage there was something to show that he was a great 
 man, something about his carriage, and horse, and attendants, 
 as well as his dress ; unpretentiousness and disregard of outward 
 show were fashions of a later day and have so remained. Now 
 the Prince of Wales goes about in his brougham, and except to 
 the critical eye which may discern that it is a remarkably well- 
 turned-out equipage though this is not entirely a distinguish- 
 ing mark, as very many other gentlemen's carriages are in the 
 most perfect taste also there is nothing to suggest that a 
 royal personage is the occupant. Two-wheeled carriages were 
 not, of course, unknown after having been used for thousands 
 of years. There was, for instance, ' the sedan cart/ a sedan 
 chair with the poles extended so as to form shafts and also 
 continued at the back so as to meet an axle. There was just 
 room inside for one sitter, who must have been jolted terribly, 
 for the chair was fastened on to the pole with nothing in the 
 shape of a spring to ease the motion. The * driver ' rode the 
 single horse, his legs outside the shafts. 
 
 It may possibly have been some ingenious but suffering 
 traveller in a sedan cart who devised the gig, an illustration of 
 which in 1754 shows the germ of a whole array of two-wheeled 
 carriages. The early gig may easily have been developed from 
 the vehicle just described. Instead of the sternly straight shafts, 
 there is a curve in those fixed to the later carriage ; but what is 
 more to the point is the fact that the body of the gig is hung 
 on leather straps attached to iron braces which rise from the hind 
 extremity of the shafts. The wheels were heavy and rather low ; 
 there is a curious appearance of clumsiness about it ; still it 
 was an advance, a distinct invention, and paved the way to the 
 
CARRIAGES. 33 
 
 introduction of that long string of vehicles which had their 
 origin in the coach and gig, and now include 
 
 Coach l 
 
 Mail Phaeton 
 
 Curricle 
 
 Chariot 
 
 Fourgon 
 
 Landau 
 
 Barouche 
 
 Omnibus 
 
 Dog Cart 
 
 Park Phaeton 
 
 Waggonette 
 
 Britzska 
 
 Mail Phaeton 
 
 T Cart 
 
 Sociable 
 
 Brougham 
 
 Basket Carriage 
 
 Sociable Landau 
 
 Double Brougham 
 
 Car 
 
 Victoria 
 
 or Clarence 
 
 Sulky 
 
 Buggy 
 
 Post Chaise 
 
 Stanhope 
 
 Hansom 
 
 Cabriolet 
 
 Tilbury 
 
 Char-a-banc 
 
 Cab 
 
 
 
 not to go into the endless varieties of foreign vehicles. The 
 most useful of all carriages in ante-railroad days was certainly 
 the mail phaeton. You could travel a hundred miles far quicker 
 in one with a pair posting than you could with four in a light 
 carriage, luggage to fit it, a drop box under the front seat, a 
 light leather-covered basket under the head when it was let 
 down, a light basket, tarpaulin covered, to hook on behind, a 
 light box along the dash, or splash board, to hold watch, pistols, 
 anything. Built with a perch, it was very strong, and would 
 not look like the modern ugly but useful phaeton, but for 
 travelling first rate. 
 
 Straps similar to those upon which the gig was hung had 
 been in use for many years. The steel spring, however, was 
 now about to make its appearance, and towards the middle of 
 the century a coach which ran between Chelmsford and London 
 by way of Brentwood and Ilford, doing the journey in five hours, 
 is announced as ' a handsome Machine, with steel springs for 
 the ease of passengers and the Conveniency of the Country.' 
 It is safe to infer that at first springs were not used on public 
 coaches, and the invention may, therefore, be put down as prior 
 to the year 1754, though unless Hogarth was out in his draw- 
 ing of ' The Country Inn Yard' (1755) coaches without springs 
 lingered after the introduction of the ' handsome Machine ' that 
 went to the capital of Essex. 
 
 1 The word ' drag ' is often employed as if it represented a distinct type of 
 vehicle. A drag, however, is merely a slang name for a gentleman's coach. 
 
 D 
 
34 DRIVING. 
 
 About this period, however, there appeared a novelty in the 
 streets, which is said to have 'set all London in an agitation.' 1 
 The astonishment of London is readily comprehensible, for 
 the 'high-flier phaeton/ as the vehicle which created the sensa- 
 tion is called, is certainly a most remarkable affair. The high- 
 flier was a four-wheeled vehicle, and the fore wheels must have 
 been nearly five feet high, if we may assume that the horses 
 which drew the carriage were a little over fifteen hands but 
 the artist may not be very accurate ; for on this calculation the 
 driver, and the lady in the protruding bonnet who accompanies 
 him, would be very tall persons the hind wheels were at least 
 eight feet in diameter, and the floor or shell of the carriage 
 was considerably above this, so that the driver's feet were far 
 higher than the ears of his horses. The body of the carriage, 
 if body be the right word for what is in fact only a floor with 
 a seat, was supported on curved iron standards, or springs. 
 Access was obtained, not by a balloon as might have been 
 supposed, but by a ladder. Once enthroned, the driver was so 
 far from his work, that he can have had no control whatever over 
 the leaders. The high-flier was drawn by a team of four horses, 
 and it is quite certain that the very long whip which he is 
 represented as carrying would not have enabled him to touch 
 the leaders. If the reader can imagine an extraordinarily long- 
 bodied coach, driven by someone perched on the back seat, 
 some idea of the guidance of the high-flier will be obtained. As 
 for the comforts of the carriage, Mr. Adams, himself a coach- 
 builder, says, ' To sit on such a seat when the horses were going 
 at much speed would require as much skill as is evinced by a 
 rope-dancer at a theatre. None but an extremely robust con- 
 stitution could stand the violent jolting of such a vehicle over 
 the stones of a paved road ; ' and it must have been so. 
 
 We have described the high-flier for the reason that it 
 
 1 The account of this carriage is taken from a book called The World 
 on Wheels, by the late Mr. Ezra Stratton, of New York, to which the author 
 of this chapter desires to express acknowledgment. The original model of 
 Sir William Chambers, still in good preservation, is in possession of a coach- 
 maker at Bath. 
 
CARRIAGES. 
 
 35 
 
 illustrates a violent alteration and a new departure in carriage- 
 building, eccentrically expressed no doubt, but still noteworthy. 
 Till almost up to this time, very little in the way of springs had 
 been known. Travellers must have suffered sorely from the 
 jolts necessarily incidental to a journey, particularly in days 
 when roads were wretched, but as a rule they had put up with 
 it, not supposing that improvement was possible. Thus, indeed, 
 people do put up with things. Travellers, doubtless, supposed 
 that if any alteration for the better could be made in the 
 system of travelling, those whose business it was to find carriages 
 and horses would point and lead the way ; these gentry for their 
 part were quite contented to let things be as they were so 
 long as travellers stood it and they had no alternative but to 
 stand it, that is to say, to ride in the public or private vehicle, 
 as the case might be, with which the makers provided 
 them. 
 
 As a general rule, the fact of the high-flier apart, the Eng- 
 lish carriage was remarkable for its sturdiness and solidity 
 for what in the present day would be considered its clumsiness. 
 A state carriage, ordered by George III. in 1762, was, in 1873, 
 on view at South Kensington, and was among the most remark- 
 able examples of carriage-building ever seen. The weight of 
 the vehicle was nearly four tons, its length 24 feet (pole 12 feet 
 in addition), width 8 ft. 3 in., and height 12 feet. It was in 
 every way as elaborate as it could be made, a circumstance 
 which will be understood when it is said that of the total cost, 
 7,6527. i6s. <3\d.^ the largest item, 2,5007., went to the carver. 
 The whole bill included : 
 
 Coachmaker 
 Carver 
 Gilder 
 Painter 
 Laceman . 
 Chaser 
 Harnessmaker . 
 
 
 
 1,763 
 2,500 
 
 933 
 315 
 737 
 666 
 
 385 
 
 15 
 
 
 
 14 
 
 
 10 
 
 4 
 15 
 
 d. 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 7 
 6 
 
 
 
 Mercer 
 Bitmaker 
 Milliner 
 Saddler 
 Woollen draper 
 Cover-maker 
 
 
 
 . 202 
 
 99 
 31 
 
 10 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 s. 
 
 5 
 9 
 3 
 6 
 i 
 9 
 
 d. 
 
 io, 
 6 
 
 4 
 6 
 6 
 6 
 
 7,652 
 
 16 
 
 D 2 
 
 94 
 
DRIVING. 
 
CARRIAGES. 37 
 
 This, moreover, was the taxed bill, after between 3007. and 400/1 
 had been struck off. 
 
 A writer about this period (1765) describes the whip of 
 the coachman who drove the ' flying machines ' drawn by six 
 horses, between Dover and London, twenty-eight leagues a 
 day. ' The coach-whip,' he says, ' is nothing else but a long 
 piece of whalebone covered with hair, and with a small cord at 
 the end of it.' Such a whip could not have been effective, and 
 indeed, according to the traveller, it was not. ' It only serves 
 to make a show, as their horses scarce ever feel it,' he writes. 
 The ' flying machine,' in spite of its name, was doubtless so 
 heavy that no speed was sought. The length of the * day ' in 
 which those eighty-four miles were covered is not stated. 
 
 The next carriage we hear of is the barouche, a sturdy 
 species of box so near the ground that no step seems to have 
 been necessary ; there is a perch for a footman to stand 
 behind ; the coachman, if the picture be correct, is very far 
 forward over his horses. There are hoods, made apparently 
 much after the existing fashion. The barouche is, in fact, in 
 all essentials very much like a coach with a movable instead 
 of a fixed top. 
 
 During all this time the roads were so bad that ruts of in- 
 credible depth are described. When a waggon stuck fast, as 
 waggons had a habit of doing, it required twenty or thirty 
 horses fastened together to drag the vehicle out again unless 
 of course something ' gave.' A Me Adam was sorely wanted, 
 but was not forthcoming, and instead of seeking to improve 
 the roads, a vast deal of misplaced ingenuity was expended in 
 fashioning new wheels. There was a controversy as to whether 
 wheels should be cylindrical or conical marvellous as it now 
 seems that the latter eccentricity could ever have been seriously 
 put forward and of many strange contrivances the most ex- 
 traordinary was perhaps devised by a Mr. Robert Bealson in 
 1796. His desire was to prevent the wheels of carriages from 
 making ruts ; and this he proposed to do by fixing a broad 
 and presumably a heavy roller to the bottom of the carriage. 
 
38 DRIVING. . 
 
 This roller was to be an inch and a half from the ground, so 
 that when the going was good it would not touch the surface. 
 When, on the other hand, the wheels would otherwise have 
 sunk into ruts, the weight of the carnage would be supported 
 on the roller, so that the wheels could not sink below the 
 surface of the ground. As the inventor pointed out, 
 
 By making the protection a little higher than the lower level of the 
 wheels, it is evident that on good hard roads or streets the wheels 
 will always bear the weight of the load, nor can they make any 
 ruts, or sink into old ones, however deep they may be ; while the 
 middle of the road remains firm, for the protection [the * road pro- 
 tector ' was the name by which the inventor described his roller] 
 will always roll upon the middle, which will certainly be a much 
 easier drag out for the horses than if the wheels were in deep ruts. 
 
 To all but the ingenious Mr. Bealson it must have seemed 
 out of the question that horses should thus be obliged to 
 drag about on all occasions a huge roller weighing several 
 hundredweight. The objection was, of course, fatal to the 
 invention, and carriage-makers continued to build sound and 
 solid, but tremendously heavy, vehicles, which would resist the 
 strains to which they must have been so often subjected. The 
 difficulties in the way of easy travelling must have seemed 
 insuperable ; but, on the whole, coach-builders were very well 
 satisfied with things as they were, not perhaps recognising the 
 possibility of such roads and carriages as those with which 
 the present generation have been made familiar. 
 
 An eccentricity which may here be mentioned, though it 
 came later than Mr. Bealson's road protector in 1828, to be 
 exact was a device invented by Mr. Jean Tellier of America, 
 to prevent the upsetting of carriages. A rod, hinged to the 
 top of the vehicle, hung down on either side, the end, furnished 
 with a rowel like that of a huge spur, coming down to within 
 two or three inches of the ground, when the carriage was 
 upright. When, however, by means of any accident, the 
 coming off of a wheel for instance, the carriage was thrown 
 over sideways, the rod would either stick into the ground and 
 
CARRIAGES. 39 
 
 so save the fall, or if the rowel ran instead of sticking by 
 reason of hard ground, the fall would at least be broken. 
 These swinging rods were of course a great eyesore, and it is 
 by no means certain that, if the horse had fallen in a two- 
 wheeled vehicle, Mr. Tellier's invention would have been any 
 good. 
 
 Writing in 1794, Mr. W. Felton, the author of 'A Treatise 
 on Carriages and Harness,' declares that 'the art of coach 
 making within the last half-century has arrived to a very high 
 degree of perfection, with respect both to the beauty, strength, 
 and elegance of the machine.' Compared with the works of 
 to-day it will be seen that Mr. Felton and his readers, if they 
 agreed with him, were somewhat easily satisfied, though it 
 must be admitted that a vast improvement had been made, 
 and the town or travelling coach of the last year of the eigh- 
 teenth century was a very decent vehicle. By this time the S 
 or ' whip ' spring, from which in due course the C spring was 
 developed, had come into comparatively general use, at least 
 for the best class of carriage. Probably the coaches rocked 
 a good deal unless the roads were exceptionally good ; still, 
 regarded by the light of the past, it must be admitted that 
 Mr. Felton was justified. The author's enthusiasm for the 
 landau, which had recently come into vogue, was not without 
 warrant. It was in fact an open coach, ' an open and close 
 carriage in one,' as Mr. Felton puts it. From the landau 
 to the landaulet was a natural step. Some persons did not 
 want seats for four, and the landaulet did away with the two 
 front seats. There was indeed much variety in the carriages 
 of the period. The coach was a landau with an immovable 
 top ; as a rule it was richly decorated, though this does not 
 affect the structure of the carriage. Into technical points it is 
 not our purpose here to go, and we need only passingly mention 
 the somewhat elaborate arrangement of springs, all of course 
 tending to ease the motion, which was found in the coaches 
 of about 1796. The sulky, again, was a contracted gig made 
 to carry one only, hence its name. 
 
40 DRIVING. 
 
 All these carriages, however, it will have been perceived, 
 had what those for whom this book was designed will regard as 
 one great drawback. The master needed a coachman. He 
 could not drive himself ; at least, it was not intended that he 
 should do so. Riding in carriages has been looked on at 
 various times as contemptibly effeminate; if a man drove his 
 own horse it was quite a different affair, and the taste for 
 driving was now beginning to spread. The phaeton had, in fact, 
 already come into vogue, though, so far as can be ascertained 
 in the early carriage of this class, there was no hind seat. The 
 body of the vehicle was placed high above, and exactly over the 
 front wheels, and they were attached to the hind wheels, which 
 were of considerable height, by a perch of wood strengthened 
 by plates of iron. There was a hood, which could be raised 
 or lowered after the existing fashion. The pony phaeton, on 
 the other hand, had the body over the hind wheels. In country 
 places, carriages very much like what was probably the earliest 
 pony phaeton may still be seen. With the body lowered and 
 seats in front, this was developed into a trap that is in very 
 general use. 
 
 A once highly popular carriage was the curricle. It is said 
 to have been of Italian origin, and found its way to England 
 early in the present century, to become extremely popular, if 
 popular be the correct term to employ in describing a vehicle 
 which was very luxurious, inasmuch as it was chiefly a show 
 carriage and, in spite of its lightness, was drawn by a pair of 
 horses. The curricle was a two-wheeled carriage with a hood, 
 and the only two-wheeled vehicle used with two horses abreast. 
 In his ' English Pleasure Carriages,' Mr. W. B. Adams expresses 
 an opinion that 
 
 The shape of the body is extremely unsightly, the hinder curve and 
 the sword-case are positively ugly, the elbow and head are ungrace- 
 fully formal, and the crooked front line and dashing iron in the 
 worst possible taste. . . . The mode of attaching the horse is pre- 
 cisely that of the chariot car, only more elegant. A pole is fixed to 
 the square frame and is suspended from a bright steel bar, resting in 
 
CARRIAGES. 41 
 
 a fork on each horse's back. In spite of the ungraceful form of the 
 vehicle, the effect of the whole was very good. The carriage 
 fatigues the horses much less than one with four wheels, on account 
 of its superior lightness ; but it has been wholly disused of late 
 years, probably on account of the risk attached to it if the horses 
 become restive. 
 
 Mr. Adams' book was published in 1837, and he was 
 scarcely correct in his assertion as to the complete disuse of the 
 curricle, for it is on record that as late as 1846 one was driven 
 by the Duke of Wellington. l His strictures on the 'unsightly' 
 and even the * positively ugly ' appearance of the curricle do 
 not agree with the fact that it was driven by the most fastidious 
 people; indeed Mr. Adams admits that 'it is not essentially 
 necessary that the vehicle should be ugly in its form, for it 
 affords facilities for constructing the most elegant of all vehicles.' 
 He goes on to say, ' a curricle of another form was built many 
 years back for the well-known Mr. Coates. 2 The shape of the 
 body was that of a classic sea-god's car, and it was constructed 
 in copper. The vehicle was very beautiful in its outline, though 
 disfigured by the absurdity of its ornamental work.' 
 
 It will be understood that all these types of vehicles were 
 made with varied details, but not much need be said of the 
 'whisky,' the 'caned whisky,' and the 'grasshopper chaise 
 whisky,' which had their origin in the curricle. When used for 
 travelling, the curricle proper had conveniences for affixing a 
 
 1 Up to the time of his death, April 1854, Field-Marshal the ist Marquis 
 of Anglesey constantly drove his curricle. The well-known and much-liked and 
 fashionable physician and wit, Dr. Quin, drove one many years later, and 
 to this date, 1888, Lord Tollemache still drives his. It is a light, elegant, com- 
 fortable vehicle. The only difficulty is to get horses good enough, for they 
 must be exactly the same height and shape, and must step high and work 
 together. 
 
 2 This was the amateur actor who made ridiculous attempts on the stage 
 and gained the satirical name of Romeo Coates. In the late Mr. Dutton 
 Cook's ' On the Stage ' he is described as ' the occupant of a shell-shaped 
 chariot' Mr. Cook was not an expert in carriages, and doubtless should have 
 said curricle 'drawn by white horses, the panels and harness plentifully 
 blazoned with his crest a cock with the motto "While I live I'll crow!" a 
 mob following him yelling " Cock-a-doodle-do ! " ' 
 
42 . DRIVING. 
 
 trunk behind or, as Mr. Adams calls it, and doubtless cor- 
 rectly, for he was an expert the sword-case. The 'caned 
 whisky ' had cane-work sides, and the ' grasshopper ' was made 
 as light as was, or as seemed, compatible with safety. 
 
 The curricle was to a great extent ousted by the cabriolet, 
 a two-wheeled carriage imported from France early in the 
 present century. Mr. Adams does not give the precise date ; 
 in fact, the omission of dates somewhat destroys the value of his 
 book as a work of reference, but this may probably be fixed 
 as on the conclusion of the peace of 1815. The description 
 of the cabriolet may be borrowed. It is, in reality, he says, 
 
 A regeneration of the old one-horse chaise in a newer and more 
 elegant form, which has been borrowed, together with the name, 
 from the French ; and, as is common in most such cases, it has been 
 improved on. The principal reason why the carriage is so much 
 liked is its great convenience. It carries two persons comfortably 
 seated, sheltered from sun and rain there is a movable hood, 
 it should here be added yet with abundant fresh air, and with 
 nearly as much privacy as a close carriage if the curtains be drawn 
 in front. It can go in and out of places where a two-horse carriage 
 with four wheels cannot turn ; and a boy is carried behind, cut off 
 from communication with the riders, save when they wish to alight 
 and give the vehicle into his charge. 
 
 Though the cabriolet is not very often seen now-a-days, 
 having in its turn been supplanted for the most part by some 
 varieties of dog-cart, some readers are doubtless familiar with 
 the vehicle. Between the high C springs is a small padded 
 board on which the groom stands, holding on by straps 
 fastened to the back of the carriage. The motion, consequent 
 on the method of hanging the body, is admitted by Mr. Adams 
 to be a disadvantage. 
 
 As regards make and shape, ' the peculiar feature of the 
 cabriolet is the graceful form of its body, which resembles that 
 of a nautilus shell, and with which the shape of the head 
 harmonises well.' The knee-flap is stretched tightly across a 
 frame. 'The shaft forms a graceful curve, and the spring 
 
CARRIAGES. 
 
 43 
 
 behind falls well in with it. The spring beneath the shaft is 
 also well adapted to the line.' Mr. Adams, who has a some- 
 what stern eye, declares the step to be unsightly, but this is a 
 matter of opinion; there would certainly seem to be something 
 wanting without the step. The shafts are curved so that the 
 point may be at the level of the horse's shoulder, while the 
 hinder part does not prevent easy access to the vehicle. A well- 
 appointed cabriolet, such as was driven by Count d'Orsay and 
 the Earl of Chesterfield about 1840, was an equipage worth 
 
 Lord Calthorpe's cabriolet. 
 
 looking at. It necessitated a handsome and expensive horse, 
 a good and neat driver, and above all a well-bred 'tiger,' for 
 such was the name of the lad who stood behind while his 
 master held the reins, and who waited at the horse's head in 
 stately watchfulness when he alighted. The species seems now 
 extinct unless the present race of jockeys claim them as 
 ancestors for they were miniature men of good figure, smail 
 and muscular, full of courage, and mostly well up to their 
 duties. 
 
 Contemporary with the cabriolet were the Stanhope and 
 
44 DRIVING. 
 
 Tilbury, both named after their designers, the former having 
 been built about 1815 for the Hon. Fitzroy Stanhope. The 
 other, with seven springs instead of four, was lighter looking, 
 though in reality heavier. The Tilbury was driven with a 
 horse of different breed from that which was employed for a 
 cabriolet. He was smaller, had a less showy action, the groom 
 invariably sat on the left side of his master, and always with 
 his arms crossed on his breast waiting orders. The technical 
 reasons why the Tilbury, in spite of its appearance, was, in 
 reality, heavier than the Stanhope need not be given here, but 
 as a matter of fact it was, with the exception of the cabriolet, 
 the heaviest two-wheeled pleasure carriage constructed. The 
 Dennett, said to have been named ' after the then Miss Dennett 
 whose elegant stage dancing was so much in vogue about the 
 time the vehicle was first used,' is another similar carriage, and 
 so is the gig, described by Mr. Adams as 'the lightest one- 
 horse vehicle used in England.' It is simply an open-railed 
 chair fixed on the shafts and supported on two side springs, the 
 hinder ends of which were connected to the loop iron by 
 leather traces to give more freedom to the motion. Hence 
 comes the early form of dog-cart. Gigs, we are informed, 
 were occasionally 'used for shooting, when the lockers were 
 made with Venetian blinds to carry the dogs, and then it 
 became a dog-cart.' The type has altered in several respects, 
 and dog-carts are now of various kinds which are too familiar 
 to need classification. 
 
 While on the subject of two-wheeled carriages, it may be 
 well to include the popular hansom. The inventor was a 
 Mr. Joseph Hansom, a Leicestershire architect. In 1834 he 
 obtained a patent for his new and very original form of 
 cabriolet. 1 Omitting technicalities, the points of the invention 
 were that the body of the hansom was much nearer the ground 
 than had hitherto been conveniently practicable in any carriage, 
 
 1 Fifty years ago the cab was a sort of cabriolet, with a fixed hard head, 
 and the driver sat outside on the off side on a little perch. There were no four- 
 wheel cabs, the only other vehicle ' on the rank ' being the pair-horse hackney 
 coach. 
 
CARRIAGES. 45 
 
 that the carriage was easy of entrance and exit, and excep- 
 tionally safe, as the title 'Hansom's Patent Safety Cab' implies. 
 Since Mr. Hansom designed his cab various improvements 
 have been made in nearly every particular. The expertness 
 of a really first-class driver, who seems, at least so the timid 
 passenger sometimes thinks, to squeeze his way through gaps 
 only about half wide enough to admit his passage, is some- 
 times wonderful to behold. 1 The latest development of the 
 hansom comes near to such perfection as a carriage of this 
 kind can reach. In the earlier hansoms the ease of entrance 
 and exit was only comparative, in later examples not only has 
 this been modified, but the two other drawbacks, the windows 
 in the first place, and the difficulty of communication with 
 the driver, have been obviated. The window was under the 
 control of the driver ; when let down the breathing space 
 was unpleasantly limited, and the driver could only be spoken 
 to by opening a somewhat awkwardly placed little trap in 
 the roof, though he might be directed by means of a stick 
 or umbrella poked out in front. Of late years the first diffi- 
 culty has been solved by making a circular window which the 
 passenger can raise or lower, and when down it greatly increases 
 the breathing space. The driver can also be guided by means 
 of two little contrivances like fixed bell-pulls, so devised that 
 when the right or left is pulled, as the case may be, a metal 
 hand springs out upon the top of the cab pointing either right 
 or left, and it is understood that pulling both together is an 
 order to stop. A speaking-tube is also sometimes fixed, and 
 hansoms run easily if well horsed and hung. The proper 
 running of a ' hansom ' depends much on the horse's harness 
 and manner of harnessing. The horse should be a short, 
 
 1 The hansom is, however, the easiest carriage to drive through a crowd or 
 narrow space, always excepting four horses in a coach, and for much the same 
 reason. The driver of the hansom, from where he sits, sees the box and cap of 
 each of his wheels, and is behind them, and therefore sees if there is room or 
 not. In driving a carriage or coach with four horses, where your bars can go 
 your coach can go, for they are one inch wider from end to end than the two 
 caps or boxes of your wheels are from one outside line to the other. B. 
 
46 DRIVING. 
 
 quick-stepping animal that answers the bit instantly. He 
 should have plenty of room in the shafts ; the back band 
 should be adjusted loosely to enable the shafts to play freely. 
 Much depends upon whether the horse fits the carriage. The 
 expense has hitherto rendered it impossible to put these new 
 hansoms on the streets for public hire. 
 
 Reverting to four-wheeled carriages, the firm popularity of 
 the phaeton must be noted. About the year 1830 we find the 
 extremely servicable mail phaeton, the name arising from the 
 fact that the under gear was made with a wood perch on springs, 
 like those used for the mail coaches. The carriage of 1830 
 would now seem a curiously heavy vehicle ; otherwise it had 
 much to recommend it. Amongst other things, it was easy to 
 reverse the seats, moving the hooded front seat to the back 
 if the passenger did not wish to drive and desired to make 
 himself more comfortable : it will be understood that the 
 groom's seat was then placed in front and he drove. Whether 
 the phaeton was the safest of carriages depended a good 
 deal upon the driving ; it was not at all a difficult process 
 to turn it over in going too sharply round a corner, and 
 some acrobatic dexterity was necessary for gaining the hind 
 seat. Mr. Adams considered a phaeton ' not very grace- 
 ful,' but this is a matter of opinion. Most persons will pro- 
 bably consider it a handsome and ' workmanlike ' carriage, 
 certainly preferable in appearance to the britzska, a German 
 invention, introduced about 1815, after the peace, when Europe 
 was reopened to travellers, of which Mr. Adams highly ap- 
 proves. In his book he states that ' it has become the most 
 common of all carriages.' They are now made higher and 
 hung on four elliptic springs. 
 
 In the year 1837 a vehicle was introduced which certainly 
 has become the commonest of closed carriages the brougham. 
 The current story goes that Lord Brougham's chariot and pair 
 not being ready one day when he wanted to go out, he brought 
 his practical mind to bear on the subject, reflected that it did not 
 really require two horses to draw a man about, that a footman 
 
CARRIAGES. 47 
 
 was not necessary on all occasions, and that thereupon he went to 
 his coachmaker, Mr. Robinson, of Mount Street, and explained 
 his idea ; the result being the manufacture of this most com- 
 fortable and convenient carriage. This, however, is not accu- 
 rate history. Lord Brougham did not invent the carriage, 
 which long before 1837 was a common vehicle in the streets 
 of Paris or to be hired as a voiture de place, an equivalent 
 expression to what was called in London in those days a glass 
 coach : i.e. a carriage and horses you could hire for the day or 
 week. Lord Brougham had the good sense to import one from 
 Paris, and to have one built by an English coach-builder, who, 
 whilst sticking nearly to the lines of the original, made it more 
 elegant, lighter, and stronger. The form is simple and sensible 
 in the extreme, and as we have seen of late years is capable 
 of all sorts of modifications. Double broughams and single 
 broughams are now equally common, as are broughams drawn 
 by one horse and by a pair. With the roof made strong and 
 fitted with a basket, a good deal of luggage can be carried. 
 There is room on the box with the coachman for a servant or 
 other passenger, and according to the construction of the front 
 seat the brougham will hold three or four inside with more or 
 less ease. The tendency of the day is to have broughams for 
 London use as light as possible, without adopting eccentricities 
 of lightness, as Englishmen consider them, such as distinguish 
 certain American carriages. The interior appointments may be 
 as tasteful and luxurious as the owner pleases or cares to pay 
 for. A speaking-tube is an occasional fitting (though unless 
 care is used it becomes crushed and renders the voice inaudible 
 a little bell is a better means of communicating with the 
 driver), as is a reading-lamp fastened to the back of the vehicle ; 
 a mirror is general now even in hansom cabs ; card-pockets and 
 little cigar trays of various sizes may be put here and there, and 
 in a single brougham a little basket is often arranged in front. 
 Of course, the doors open on the inside, with self-acting spring 
 locks. Well-hung on easy springs, it is difficult to imagine a 
 more thoroughly useful carriage. 
 
48 DRIVING. 
 
 About 1842 or 1843, Mr. Lovell, coach-builder of Amers- 
 ham, Bucks, built what is now so generally known as a 
 waggonette for Lord Curzon, and Mr. Holmes, of Derby, built 
 one for the Earl of Chesterfield, and in the year 1845 one was 
 made under the superintendence of the late Prince Consort 
 for the use of Her Majesty and the Royal family, by the late 
 Mr. George Hooper, of London. The new vehicle proved a 
 rival to the phaeton, though there are many persons who 
 object to riding sideways, and in the waggonette proper the 
 passengers in the body of the carriage have their backs to the 
 wheels. Fitted with a movable hood the waggonette becomes 
 a closed carriage, and though lacking the style of the phaeton, 
 there is much to be said in favour of waggonettes for country 
 use. 
 
 A few years afterwards, in the summer of 1850, another 
 royal carriage, which has since attained great popularity, was 
 first introduced into England, though the vehicle was not quite 
 a novelty to those who were familiar with the summer street 
 cabs of Paris. This was the Victoria, not precisely it may be 
 the vehicle which the reader will first picture to himself, for 
 the Victoria with a seat in front for the driver came after- 
 wards. The earliest example, now in question, was a pony 
 phaeton to hold two, one of whom drove. The builder was 
 Mr. Andrews, then Mayor of Southampton. When taken to 
 Osborne the vehicle was warmly approved, and it is on record 
 that ' the Queen and Prince expressed to the Mayor their entire 
 satisfaction with the style, elegance, and extraordinary lightness, 
 and construction of the carriage, which scarcely weighed three 
 hundredweight.' The fore wheels were 18 inches in height, the 
 hind 30 inches, the body was of cane a fashion which is not 
 universally approved. Very similar park phaetons were, how- 
 ever, in use in the royal establishments at Windsor in the time of 
 King William IV. consequently before 1837. King George IV. 
 used to drive one. Except for the absence of a movable hood 
 and the canework body, this Victoria was much like the low 
 park phaeton of to-day. In course of time this developed into 
 
CARRIAGES. 49 
 
 the Victoria with a seat for the coachman, the vehicle which is 
 at present as popular among open carriages as the brougham is 
 among closed. 
 
 The latest development of the barouche, a carriage with a 
 movable hood, a seat, suspended on C springs, and a driver's 
 seat much like that of a landau, need not be described. Nor is 
 it necessary to say much about the sociable landau, the square 
 head of which can be lowered so as to make it an open 
 carriage, or raised and fastened by catches at the point of 
 juncture, so making a carriage much resembling the coach of 
 former days, but far lighter ; for after the vast improvement made 
 in the roads by the adoption of McAdam's system vehicles were 
 improved correspondingly. Adams considered the barouche 
 a very different affair, as will readily be understood, from the 
 carriage of the same name in use nearly a century before the 
 principal of all open carriages, and an equal authority declares 
 the landau to be the handsomest of all C spring carriages, and 
 the beau-ideal of vehicular luxury. The barouche is certainly 
 the more finished and handsome of the two, for the top of the 
 landau, when the carriage is open, lies back in somewhat clumsy 
 fashion ; but then the comfort of the closed carriage is often 
 great. Happily we have not to decide which of the two the 
 man in search of the best obtainable carriage would do best 
 to buy. 
 
 The coach is regarded by many as par excellence the first 
 of English vehicles. The measurements of an ordinary road 
 coach, although they differ considerably from those of some of 
 the coaches seen about the parks, &c., nowadays, are no doubt 
 best adapted for speed, strength, and safety combined. The 
 following figures are taken from one of the best running road 
 coaches, made by most scientific builders, but they need not, 
 therefore, be put down as figures to be invariably adopted ; 
 they constitute rather a fair average guide. The length of the 
 pole may be put as 10 ft. 8 in., and strange to say the entire 
 length of the coach comes to within an inch of the same, viz. 
 
 E 
 
50 DRIVING. 
 
 10 ft. 9 in. ; the body being 4ft ioin., the hind boot 2 ft. 9 in., 
 and the front 3 ft. 2 in. The splinter bar measures 6 feet, the 
 main bar 3 ft. 9 in., and the leading bars 3ft. i in. each ; the 
 front wheels are 3 ft. 2 in. in height, the hind wheels 4 feet ; dis- 
 tance between front and hind wheels, 2 ft. 6 in. The height of 
 coach, measuring to roof just over door, is 6 ft. 1 1 in., and the 
 bottom of the coach is 2 ft. 9 in. from the ground ; the carriage 
 or side springs are 2 ft. 4^ in., and the body or cross springs, 
 which connect the above, 3ft. 1 1 in. The front boot is 3 ft. 2 in. 
 wide, and the hind boot 3 ft. i in. ; the space between decks, 
 from the bottom to the top of the coach inside, is 4 feet, 
 and the distance between the wheels 5 ft. 8 in., the depth 
 of foot-board 2 ft. i in., breadth 3 ft. 10 in. ; the height from 
 ground at heel 5 feet, the slope upwards to the front being 
 made to suit the size of the horses as well as in some cases the 
 length of the coachman's legs. A coach built on these lines 
 will follow well without rolling, and be, if not quite, nearly 
 perfect. 
 
 About foreign carriages we do not propose to say much. 
 The examples of American vehicles engraved in the work already 
 named, ' The World on Wheels,' strike us as remarkable for 
 absolute inelegance. These include the Rockaway ; the Jenny 
 Lind a gig body with a broad straight bottom and a hooded 
 top on four high wheels, of almost the same height as the 
 Concord waggon a driving seat placed about the middle of a 
 raft on four wheels ; the New Rochelle waggon two ill-made 
 gig seats, one behind the other fastened on to a large flat box ; 
 the gentleman's road buggy, otherwise by reason of the shape 
 of the body known as the coal-box, the four-wheeled cabriolet, 
 and others. There seems happily to be little danger of the 
 introduction into England of any of these curiously ungraceful 
 vehicles. 
 
 The Volante, the delight of the Cubans, is said to be so 
 comfortable a carriage, and is so novel in construction, that a 
 word may be said concerning it. A capital description is given 
 by Mr. George Augustus Sala, in one of his books called * Under 
 
CARRIAGES. 51 
 
 the Sun.' He describes how, sitting one morning at breakfast in 
 Havana, a black man rode by on a horse, whose tail was tied 
 to the back of a high demi-peaked saddle with Moorish stirrups. 
 For a time, as the writer humorously declares, nothing hap- 
 pened. Then, ' slowly there came bobbing along a very small 
 gig-body hung on very large C springs, and surmounted by an 
 enormous hood. Stretched between the apron and the top 
 of the hood, at an angle of forty-five degrees, was a kind of 
 awning or tent of some silk material.' A pair of wheels large 
 enough to run a proper coach, and a pair of long timber shafts 
 supported the body ; but the chief peculiarity of the volante 
 Mr. Sala does not mention, and that is the fact that the high 
 wheels are placed at the very end the butt end of the shafts, 
 which project some distance behind the hood and seat. If the 
 motion of these carriages is as smooth and easy as those who 
 have ridden in them protest, it is never certain that some such 
 vehicle may not acquire European popularity, though scarcely 
 in England, where eccentric foreign importations in the shape 
 of carriages are not approved. 
 
 The Norwegian cariole has some relationship to the volante, 
 though there is no awning or hood ; the body rides on springs, 
 and the principal distinction is that the wheels are not (neces- 
 sary springs being employed) at the extremity of the shafts. 
 The springs, however, are a comparatively modern addition, 
 for carioles have been used for certainly more than two 
 centuries, and formerly they more closely resembled an open 
 volante. 
 
 The Russian droschki is a curiosity for the reason that 
 the passenger sits astride a cushioned seat, and the horse is 
 harnessed with a bow-shaped contrivance, sometimes three or 
 four feet high, over his neck. The object of this is to keep 
 the shafts wide apart, support the reins, and do duty also to 
 some extent in the manner of a bearing-rein. 
 
 The custom of harnessing a pair of horses, one between 
 the shafts and the other outside, is common in the Neapolitan 
 
 E 2 
 
52 DRIVING. 
 
 calesso, but this is merely the roughest and crudest way of 
 going to work, and, as a rule, Italian driving and drivers need 
 only be noted as examples of what to avoid. l 
 
 1 Always excepting their postboys in the old days. Four horses and two 
 boys used to take you ten miles an hour up and down most severe hills, or in the 
 sandy plains of the Quadrilateral, or about Turin, and drove to perfection. B. 
 
CHAPTER III, 
 
 THE CARRIAGE-HORSE. 
 
 BY THE EARL OF ONSLOW. 
 
 WITH regard 
 to horses, as 
 to most other 
 things, tastes 
 differ greatly. Many 
 men have fancies of 
 their own as to 
 
 colour, shape, size, and so forth ; but our book would be in- 
 complete if we did not include a chapter on the carriage-horse, 
 in the hope that it may be found useful to a certain class of 
 readers ; as, for instance, to those who may be meditating the 
 establishment, for the first time, of a stable of their own. The 
 difficulties and chicaneries of horse-dealing are notorious, but 
 apart from this it is well that men should possess some know- 
 ledge of the animals that they own. The inexperienced buyer 
 
54 DRIVING. 
 
 will desire to know what the horse which he proposes to pur- 
 chase should look like ; secondly, what price ought to be paid 
 for it, and, lastly, how he should treat it, and what work he 
 may expect it to do. 
 
 Many of the points and qualifications of a hunter are equally 
 desirable in the carriage-horse ; but, inasmuch as the latter is not 
 called upon to take any weight upon his back, it obviously is 
 not necessary that his bones should be as big and as strong as 
 an animal which is expected to carry fourteen or fifteen stone 
 across country. Many a horse with straight shoulders and weak 
 points which would lead to its rejection as a hunter might prove 
 a serviceable, and even pass as a good-looking, harness horse. 
 The value of a carriage-horse, therefore, is considerably less 
 than that of a hunter. Perfection is scarcely attainable, and 
 any approach to it is, of course, enormously expensive ; as a 
 general rule, it may be said that the purchaser should seek rather 
 for a horse with as few bad points as possible than for one with 
 a great number of good points. Everything about a horse 
 should be in proportion ; for instance, an animal with a big 
 frame on light legs is likely soon to wear out the means 
 which nature has given him to carry himself. The head should 
 be small, broad across the forehead, and well-cut, the nose not 
 projecting or ' Roman.' The eyes should be prominent, so as to 
 give a wide range of sight, and should not show too much of the 
 white, which is supposed to denote a tendency to vice ; the neck 
 should be light, not too long, and the head so set on that the 
 horse can carry it slightly bent, but neither pointing his nose 
 straight out in front of him nor up in the air. The shoulder is of 
 less importance for a harness than for a riding horse, but both 
 bones should be placed at their proper angle, and the point 
 of the shoulder should be nearly in a line with the point of the 
 toe. The chest should be both deep and broad, giving full 
 room for the vital parts of the animal. The upper bone of the 
 leg should be large and thick, and longer in proportion than 
 the lower bone ; muscular development should also be sought. 
 The lower bone of the leg should be perfectly straight between 
 
THE CARRIAGE-HORSE. 55 
 
 the knee and the fetlock. The feet should be neither large 
 nor small for the size of the animal ; the fore hoofs should 
 form an angle of about fifty degrees with the ground, the hind 
 feet being slightly more upright. If the feet are too straight 
 it may be found that they are contracted. The back should 
 be straight and short, the loins large and muscular, the quarters 
 long and well let down, not short, round, and drooping ; the 
 hock clean, well defined, and so placed as to come into the 
 direct line through which the weight of the quarter is thrown. 
 The hocks should be quite straight, neither turning outwards 
 nor towards each other ; the hind legs below the hock as 
 straight as the fore-leg. The middle of the side of the fore-arm 
 should be in a line with the back of the heel ; and it should be 
 possible to draw a line from the middle of the front of the fore- 
 arm down the middle of the knee to the middle of the hoof. 
 
 Very few gentlemen now drive a cabriolet, and of those who 
 do fewer still have a really perfect ' cab ' horse, an animal which 
 was once eagerly sought for. In shape he was supposed to 
 be nearly faultless, to stand not less than sixteen hands high, 
 and to have action which could hardly be too extravagant. 
 It was a purely ornamental possession, usefulness being left 
 out of the quesiion. A man who desired such a luxury did 
 not care much what price he paid. It is the most expensive 
 of single-harness horses. 
 
 The chariot-horse often stands sixteen and a half or seven- 
 teen hands high, and for colour bay or brown is usually pre- 
 ferred. The purchaser may expect to be told that they have 
 been bred in Yorkshire, but a great number of them come 
 from abroad. The London dealers obtain many of them from 
 Mecklenburg, North Germany, Antwerp and its neighbourhood. 
 These horses have much improved during the last few years, 
 and it is now difficult to tell them from home-bred ones. In- 
 formation as to them is very difficult to obtain ; for it is, of 
 course, to the dealers' interests to keep their history as dark as 
 possible - but they do not possess the stamina that distinguishes 
 the English-bred horse. 
 
56 DRIVING. 
 
 A dealer would expect to realise from two hundred to three 
 hundred guineas each for a pair of such horses. They may 
 perhaps come out a few times in the season, and owing to their 
 size, the necessity of their being of good shape and having 
 
 Bred in Yorkshire. ' 
 
 high action, realise as high a price as a cabriolet horse ; if 
 not too heavy and too big, however, a pair of these horses 
 can be used not only on state occasions, but to draw a large 
 barouche. Matched pairs likely to command high prices are 
 rarely put up at Tattersall's. When they do find their way there 
 
THE CARRIAGE-HORSE. 57 
 
 they would, in the first instance, be offered in pairs, and if not 
 so sold be subsequently offered separately. 
 
 About eighty per cent, of those used at drawing-rooms, state 
 balls, &c., are jobbed from the leading jobmasters in London, 
 who buy them at different fairs when two or three years old, 
 and after having kept and broken them in at their country 
 farms, let them out on job at from 90 to 130 guineas per 
 pair per annum. The ordinary terms for jobbing horses may 
 be taken to be 100 guineas per annum, the horses being kept 
 and shod at the hirer's stables. If less than a year, during the 
 months of April, May, June, and July, 24 guineas for four 
 weeks; during the rest of the year 16 guineas for four weeks. 
 If kept and shod at the expense of the jobmaster an increase 
 of 80 guineas per annum ; of 8 guineas per month during the 
 season, and of 6 guineas per month out of the season would 
 be the usual charge. 
 
 The practice of jobbing hordes is a very old one, but in 
 order to show the difference between prices at the commence- 
 ment of last century and now, it may be interesting to quote 
 an agreement between a jobmaster m St. Martin's-in-the- 
 Fields and a gentleman in 1718.' 
 
 The jobmaster, Charles Hodges, agrees to keep his coach and 
 charriot and harness neat and clean, and in all manner of repair, 
 at his own charge, and including wheels ; and in case the coach- 
 man shall break the glasses of either, the said Charles Hodges 
 shall be answerable for, and make good the same ; To serve 
 him with a pair of good, strong, handsome, well-matched horses, 
 to be valued between fifty and sixty pounds to his good liking 
 and approbation, and also a good, honest, sober, creditable coach- 
 man, who with the horses shall attend as often as he or his 
 lady shall think fit, either into the city of London, the liberties of 
 
 Westminster, or places adjacent. And if the said John B , or 
 
 his family, shall have occasion to go into the countrey, the same 
 Charles Hodges obliges himself by these presents to find him or 
 them one or more pair of horses after the same rate per diem with 
 the others, the said J. B allowing the said Charles Hodges 
 
 1 Notes and Queries, 1869, ii. 558. 
 
58 DRIVING. 
 
 half-a-crown a day more extraordinary expenses, every day he 
 shall travel on the road and set up at an inn, the said C. Hodges 
 finding the horses on such journey at his own charges ; And in 
 case the coachman runs away with his livery, or loses his cloak, 
 hammerclothes, seat covers, the seats in the coach, or toppings of 
 the same, the said C. Hodges shall and will be answerable for and 
 make good the same ; all the which premisses being performed 
 
 on the part and behalf of the said C. Hodges, the said J. B 
 
 does promise and agree to pay the said Hodges the sum of one 
 hundred pounds of lawful British money, c. &c. 
 
 After the state-coach horse in order of value comes the 
 more usual pair of high-stepping carriage-horses, of which any 
 number may be seen between Hyde Park Corner and Grosvenor 
 Gate on a fine afternoon in the season. They need not be 
 more than 15.3, should have good, though not extravagant, 
 action, and match well both in colour, shape, and size. If 
 required to horse a phaeton they should of course be lighter, 
 and show more breeding ; instead of the high up and down 
 action of the carriage-horse, they should rather have forward 
 action, step and go well together, carrying their heads in the 
 same way, and the owner should not be afraid to show as 
 much of his animals as possible, by having his harness light 
 and but little of it. 
 
 The most useful of harness horses is that which is commonly 
 described as 'a good trapper,' standing from 15 to 15.3 high, 
 free and fast, suitable for a light phaeton, gig, or one of the 
 many two-wheeled carriages described under different fancy 
 names by the makers, and will fetch from sixty to eighty guineas 
 at auction. 
 
 We have more than once referred to bigb action, such as is 
 often seen in the West End of London, and the presence of 
 which in a horse induces the dealer to ask a high price for it. 
 It is quite a mistake to suppose that there is any advantage in 
 high action ; for appearance it is so far desirable that it is to 
 a certain extent fashionable, but for real work it is a distinct 
 drawback. In the first place, the horse loses time in lifting his 
 feet up into the air, and consequently gets over less ground ; 
 
THE CARRIAGE-HORSE. 59 
 
 secondly, the concussion which his feet suffer every time he 
 brings them down on the road cannot fail to prove detrimental 
 to their soundness. Free forward action is not open to these 
 objections. A horse which steps moderately without ' kicking 
 over a sixpence ' on the one hand, nor jarring his feet on 
 the other, is likely to prove the most useful, and last the 
 longest. There are plenty of good sound horses such as 
 this to be picked up for from 4o/. to 6o/., both in town and 
 country. 
 
 Though scarcely pertinent to the present inquiry, in dealing 
 with the carriage-horse we should not allow it to be forgotten 
 that even among harness horses there is a racehorse, and, 
 although little known in this country, trotting and pacing 
 matches in America are more popular and more patronised by 
 the wealthy men in the States than flat-racing or steeplechasing. 
 The trotting races are usually run in mile heats, the best three 
 out of five, in harness ; the horses are driven in a light two- 
 wheeled vehicle with large wheels, the driver sitting close to the 
 horse, with his legs on each side of the flanks. The driver 
 with the rug that he sits on has to scale 150 Ibs. The tracks 
 are oval in shape, and at a distance of three feet from the inner 
 side of the track measure an exact mile. The matches are 
 always carefully timed, and penalties are imposed on horses 
 that break from a trot into a run during the race. The records 
 of each horse are carefully kept, and the great ambition of an 
 owner of trotters is to beat the record. The best time ever 
 made for a mile was the 2 min. 8} sec. in which Maud S. 
 covered the distance, but there is a pacing record of 2 min. 
 6 sec. In addition to those kept in training for races in the 
 States, a very great number are used by gentlemen for their 
 private driving along the roads. Trotters are so little used as to 
 be practically unknown in England ; a few have been introduced 
 from America, but they have seldom repaid their importers for 
 their trouble. American harness horses used to come over and 
 be sold in England, realising good prices. Dealers have ex- 
 pressed a desire to get them now, but the owners of such animals 
 
60 DRIVING. 
 
 in the States say that they can make more money for good 
 harness horses in New York. 
 
 Those who are attracted by glowing advertisements of horses 
 for sale, of which the following, taken from a sporting paper, 
 and which may be true in every particular, but which on the 
 other hand may not, is a fair specimen : 
 
 SPLENDID MATCH PAIR of BAY GELDINGS for 
 SALE, 1 5. i high, ages 5 anc l 6 off, on short legs, 
 and a perfect model of a cart-horse in growth, with much 
 quality combined ; very fast, with good knee action, small 
 head, good neck, and broad chest and thighs ; are pure 
 Welsh breed, and worthy of the notice of gentlemen and 
 others wanting horses for riding and driving ; both warranted 
 good hunters, up to heavy weight, quiet in any kind of 
 harness, valuable to a timid person, no vice or blemish, and 
 of a kind, good temper ; suitable for brougham or victoria or 
 a light landau ; no day too long, no distance too far. For 
 trial. 
 
 might do worse than study a humorous but instructive work, 
 which, although published in 1841, is true of the present 
 day, * The Adventures of a Gentleman in Search of a Horse,' 
 by Sir George Stephen. In a series of assumed personal ex- 
 periences, the author sets forth some of the most artful devices 
 resorted to by horse ' copers ' to practise on the credulity of the 
 unwary. He relates how he purchased a horse which was 
 warranted sound, but could not be induced to feed ; the pur- 
 chaser, of course, being unable to get any satisfaction out of 
 the seller, who only warranted him sound, but not to eat. Upon 
 another occasion, having bought his horse with a warranty and 
 found out his deficiencies, he returned only to find the vendor 
 flown, leaving no address, and numerous other tricks and 
 rogueries are described. The moral which Sir George draws 
 from all this is : 
 
 Whenever you see a horse advertised for sale, avoid him as 
 you would a pestilence. If he is ' a sweet goer,' depend upon it 
 you will be gently dropped into the sweetest kennel in St. Giles's ; 
 if he is * well suited for a charger,' he is sure to charge a haystack 
 and a park of artillery with equal determination; if he 'never shies 
 
THE CARRIAGE-HORSE. 61 
 
 or stumbles,' the chances are three to one that he is stone-blind or 
 cannot quit a walk ; ' the best horse in England' is to a certainty 
 the worst in London; when 'parted with for no fault/ it means that 
 he is sold for a hundred ; if ' the reason will be satisfactorily ex- 
 plained,' it maybe taken for granted that the master has absconded 
 either for stealing him or robbing his creditors ; when 'built like a 
 castle/ he will move like a church steeple ; if ' equal to fifteen stone 
 up to the fleetest hounds in England/ depend upon it he never saw 
 the tail of a hound in his life ; if he is a ' beautiful stepper/ you will 
 find that he has the action of a peacock ; if a liberal trial 'is allowed/ 
 be most especially careful ; a deposit of half the price, but three 
 times his value, will assuredly be required as security for your return ; 
 and finally, whenever you see that he is the ' property of a trades- 
 man who wants to exchange for a horse of less value for his business/ 
 of a ' gentleman who has given up riding from ill-health/ or because 
 ' he is going abroad/ of ' a professional man whose avocations call 
 him from town/ of 'a person of respectability who can be referred 
 to/ or of ' the executors of a gentleman lately deceased/ you may 
 safely swear that he belongs to a systematic chaunter, who will 
 swindle you both out of horse and money and involve you in all the 
 trouble, cost, and vexation of an Old Bailey prosecution to boot. 
 
 Apart from the purchase from a friend, which is at all times 
 equally to be deprecated, inasmuch as it is a true saying that 'a 
 man will swindle his brother in horseflesh,' and you are very 
 likely to lose not only your money but your friend into the 
 bargain ; there remains purchase at auction or of a dealer. If 
 a man has some knowledge of horseflesh and can find out some- 
 thing of the previous history of the animal offered for sale, 
 he is very likely to pick up a bargain cheap at Tattersall's, 
 Aldridge's, or elsewhere. But even under such circumstances 
 a guinea is well expended in having the animal examined in the 
 yard by a competent and trustworthy veterinary surgeon. The 
 facilities there offered for a thorough investigation are, of course, 
 limited, and it is possible that a veterinary surgeon may be 
 unable to detect unsoundness, while under more favourable 
 circumstances he would at once be able to pronounce a true 
 opinion. 
 
 I know of a horse which was sent to Tattersall's, described 
 
62 DRIVING. 
 
 as a good hunter, i.e. sound in wind and eyes. The horse had 
 taken several hunters' prizes and had been frequently examined 
 and passed sound, and to the best of the seller's belief was so. 
 A friend of the seller wishing to purchase him, had him 
 examined by a veterinary surgeon in Tattersall's yard, who 
 declared that he was not sound in his eyes, and consequently 
 declined to bid. The horse was subsequently bought by a 
 dealer, and as he was never returned for a wrong description, it 
 may be assumed that the examination to which he was subjected 
 afterwards did not confirm the opinion of the examination con- 
 ducted in the yard. On the other hand, a gentleman of my 
 acquaintance, wishing to buy a pony and not satisfied with his 
 own judgment, took the advice both of his London coachman 
 and of the coachman he employed in the country, and to 
 make quite certain submitted the animal to a veterinary surgeon, 
 who passed him as sound. The pony was sent down to the 
 country by rail, and on the return of the owner he was dis- 
 gusted to hear from the stable boy that the pony was quite 
 blind, which turned out to be the case. History does not say 
 whether that veterinary surgeon's bill has ever been paid. 
 
 Many purchasers are led away from the sum which they had 
 determined to give by the excitement of competition at an 
 auction, and think that, after all, for a horse that has taken 
 their fancy, five, ten, and so on up to fifty guineas, more than 
 they intended to give, will not hurt them. This is a most 
 mistaken course to pursue, for the price which a purchaser 
 ultimately gives he might probably have all the advantages of 
 a trial and more complete veterinary examination of a dealer's 
 horse, while his fancied competitor, whom he thinks must, from 
 his evident determination to have the animal, know that he is 
 going to get good value for his money, will probably turn out 
 to be a friend of the owner, and is only bidding as a means of 
 placing a high reserved price upon the animal. To buy at auc- 
 tion requires time and patience ; and to buy cheap a man needs 
 strength of mind when he sees horses he has taken a fancy to 
 going for prices higher than he has previously decided to pay. 
 
THE CARRIAGE-HORSE. 63 
 
 Formerly it was the general practice for dealers and private 
 persons to be asked to sell a horse with a warranty, a custom 
 which led to innumerable disputes between the parties, much 
 litigation, and yet left many loopholes by which a dishonest 
 dealer could cheat the purchaser. It is usual now to sell a 
 horse subject to examination by the buyer's veterinary surgeon. 
 Perhaps one of the cheapest investments for an owner of horses 
 who lives in London, or buys principally of London dealers, is 
 to become a member of the Royal Veterinary College in Camden 
 Town. For a life payment of twenty guineas, or an annual pay- 
 ment of two guineas, subscribers to the College have the right 
 to send their horses, when ill or whenever it is found necessary 
 to perform any operation, to the institution, upon payment of 
 the cost of medicine, and 35-. 6d. a day for the expense of keep, 
 to have post-mortem examinations and analyses of food stuffs 
 made for a small fee, and have the further privilege of sending 
 any horses (not exceeding five in each year), which they may 
 intend to purchase, to be examined as to soundness by the 
 professors of the College. Such examinations have the addi- 
 tional advantage over that by some veterinary surgeons of 
 being perfectly free from the suspicion of any partiality in 
 favour of the dealers. A purchaser should be on his guard the 
 moment a dealer says to him, ' I never send my horses to 
 the College, they knock them about so there.' It may be 
 taken to mean that there is a screw loose somewhere. Some 
 dealers, and most jobmasters, will allow a customer to hire the 
 horse that he selects for a week or longer, with the option of 
 purchasing at a stated price at the end of the time agreed 
 upon. Here are the terms of one of the leading dealers for 
 the purchase of a horse upon this principle : 
 
 The price of a selected horse or horses shall be fixed previous to 
 the beginning of the hire, but no horse can be let for a less period 
 than three months, the hirer having the privilege of paying for 
 it by instalments and having it examined should he see fit. Should 
 the hirer desire a change, the purchase money to be altered either 
 higher or lower according to the quality of the animal. The term 
 
64 DRIVING. 
 
 of three months is proposed because it would be impossible to 
 let valuable horses for any less period. But the hirer may pur- 
 chase after a week's trial if he so desires, when only one week's 
 hire in addition to the agreed price will be charged. 
 
 The hire of horses taken in this way is, for a pair of horses, 
 April, May, June, and July, twenty-four guineas per lunar 
 month, other months sixteen guineas. Single horses, half 
 the above rates. The best dealers will have only, as - a rule, 
 young, sound, unblemished horses ; but there are different 
 dealers for different classes of horses ; and a gentleman, setting 
 up a stable, must decide whether he intends to pay the highest 
 price for the best stamp of horse of a fashionable West- End 
 dealer, or whether, if he wants a serviceable slave, it will not 
 suit alike his purse and his requirements to seek for him as far 
 east even as Whitechapel. The words of the late Major Whyte- 
 Melville are applicable to most of the well-known London 
 dealers. He says, comparing the modern dealer with the old- 
 fashioned coper, ' We have now to deal with a man who is a 
 gentleman, if not by birth, at least in manners and action ; and 
 notwithstanding the proverbially sharp practice of those con- 
 nected with the sale of horses, I will venture to say that in no 
 other trade will a customer meet with more fairness and liber- 
 ality than will be shown him by the great dealers of London 
 and the shires.' If, however, a buyer of horses were to decline 
 any animal which a veterinary surgeon would not pass as 
 * perfectly sound,' it is probable that he would be a long time in 
 effecting his purchase, and might pass over many horses which 
 would do the work he required of them thoroughly well, and 
 that, too, for many years. It is necessary, therefore, to have 
 some idea of what is and what is not material unsoundness 
 and here the element of price is an important factor. There 
 are some forms of unsoundness which would make a horse not 
 worth his keep, and consequently dear at a gift. For instance, 
 an animal that suffers from ossification of the joint above the 
 hoof, or the cartilages on each side of the foot, that has defec- 
 tive sight in one eye, or is badly affected in the wind, should 
 
THE CARRIAGE-HORSE. 65 
 
 be rejected without hesitation, nor is it safe to use a horse that 
 has been unnerved, any more than you would a coach with an 
 unsound axletree. Of course an absolutely broken-winded 
 horse, with that peculiar action of the flanks incidental to this 
 condition arid necessary to expel the compressed wind from his 
 lungs, should never under any circumstances be admitted into 
 the stable. His life must be one of constant suffering, and his 
 only place is the knacker's yard. Horses for harness, touched 
 in the wind, commonly called 'grunters,' 'roarers,' or 'whistlers,' 
 are much less objectionable than as hunters. It is not likely 
 that a horse unsound in wind can travel at any great pace 
 without some discomfort and distress to himself, and yet such 
 an one might answer all the purposes required of him in the 
 streets of London, or for easy work in the country. There 
 are horses which are known to have something against them, 
 but still do not appear to be useless ; and if an animal of this 
 sort can be hired from the dealer for a month, it is easy to try 
 him for the work he may be required for, and if it is found that 
 he is not distressed thereby, he may be worth purchasing at a 
 price. 
 
 A string-halt is an affection which, beyond its unsightliness, 
 may be no great detriment, and indeed may not constitute un- 
 soundness at all ladies have been known to declare that the 
 most comfortable hack in the world is one which has a string- 
 halt in both hind legs. Few horses who have done a certain 
 amount of work will fail to show wind-galls, or enlarged bursce, 
 but these are rarely a sign of anything further than work, 
 unless they should become so distended by the fluid they 
 contain as to set up inflammation and thence lameness. 
 
 Splints are, next to wind-galls, the most common cause of 
 unsoundness. Lameness arising from splints is caused by the 
 pressure of a growing formation upon the covering of the 
 shank bone, and can usually be reduced so as to cause little 
 inconvenience, though if one should form between the large 
 and two smaller bones of the leg, it may lead to permanent 
 
 F 
 
66 DRIVING. 
 
 ossification between them, when it will be found difficult to 
 apply a treatment which will be satisfactory. 
 
 Bone-spavin, where the fluid which ought to lubricate the 
 joints of the hock ceases to be generated, may produce an in- 
 curable lameness ; but where it proceeds from a bony deposit, 
 forming a junction of the small bones, blistering or firing before 
 stiffness of the hock takes place may render the horse suffi- 
 ciently sound for harness-work. Neither bload nor bog-spavin 
 nor thorough-pin will necessarily cause lameness, but if it should 
 do so, it is usually susceptible of cure. 
 
 ' Big legs ' is the term usually used for the strain of any of 
 the sinews or ligaments of the leg. Such injuries are of so 
 varied a character that it is almost impossible to say whether a 
 horse should be rejected on this account, but horses affected in 
 the sinews can rarely be trusted to last long in work. 
 
 ' Curbs,' if not of long standing, are usually curable, and 
 are not of such importance in a harness horse as in a hunter, 
 but the longer a curb has lasted the less probability is there of 
 effecting its cure. Curbs in young horses can be easily and 
 quite permanently cured. Foment till the heat is out, and then 
 apply a strong blister to raise a scurf ; keep the animal on in 
 work, and repeat the treatment. It may probably come home 
 lame, but in two or three months the trouble will have been 
 removed. 
 
 1 Corns ' and 'thrush' are diseases of the feet which, when 
 pointed out to the farrier and groom respectively, should be 
 cured by careful shoeing or attention to stable management. 
 
 The vices of a horse cannot be discovered by a veterinary 
 examination, but a horse that is affected in one of its eyes is 
 pretty sure to see the objects which come in its path either 
 distorted or with a suddenness which would not be the case 
 had he his perfect sight, and such an affection almost invariably 
 leads to a tendency on the part of the animal to shy. A totally 
 blind horse is less likely to put the trap and its occupants into 
 the ditch than one that is only partially so. But it is seldom 
 that a horse's vices are not discoverable in the course of a 
 
THE CARRIAGE-HORSE. 67 
 
 month's trial, and a few words may here be said as to the best 
 method of dealing with them. 
 
 A determined kicker will be likely to do considerable damage 
 to the vehicle behind him. If the horse sets to work with an 
 evident intention of kicking, it will be well for the groom to 
 jump down at once and lift up one of the fore-legs. This will 
 render it out of the animal's power to continue kicking, and it" 
 is better to tie it up with a handkerchief until he can be un- 
 harnessed, rather than run the risk of having the trap kicked to 
 pieces. If a horse bolts with you, recollect that, like the captain 
 of the ship, the driver should be the last to leave. Far more 
 accidents have happened to people from jumping out of a 
 runaway carriage than to those who sat still on the box and 
 endeavoured to obtain mastery over the animal. Keep his 
 head as straight as you can, and if you can face him up a hill, 
 your advantage is naturally all the greater. 
 
 If a horse is an inveterate jibber, it will be found difficult 
 to cure him of the propensity, though it may be done by putting 
 him in double harness with a horse bigger and stronger than 
 himself, who will fairly drag the refractory animal along. 
 Cures are said to have been effected by tying a horse up at a 
 spot where he began to jib, and depriving him of food until he 
 will advance in the desired direction to obtain it ; but such a 
 cure is by no means always practicable. If you are in a crowded 
 thoroughfare when a horse jibs or backs, it is better at once to 
 admit that he has got the best of you, and to turn his head in 
 the direction that he wishes his tail to go. If a horse jibs in 
 single harness in the country, back him in the direction you 
 want to go, even for as far as a mile. He will get so disgusted 
 with being backed, that when you turn him round he will be 
 glad to go the way you wish to drive him. 
 
 A not uncommon sight in the streets of London is the 
 spectacle of an inhuman wretch kicking in the ribs an unfortu- 
 nate horse which has fallen on the pavement, and urging it with 
 every sort of violence to get on its legs again, though oppressed 
 by a heavy weight on the shafts and with no better foothold 
 
 F 2 
 
68 DRIVING. 
 
 than slippery asphalte or wood pavement. If a horse falls under 
 such circumstances, the groom should at once be directed to run 
 to his head, and, keeping his knee gently pressed against the 
 neck so as to prevent his rising, undo the buckles of the harness, 
 taking care when the weight of the shafts can be taken off him 
 to throw a rug or coat on the place where his forefeet will be 
 *put in the endeavour to rise, so that he may have something 
 which will afford a more secure foothold than the ground which 
 by its slipperiness has caused his fall 
 
 Inasmuch as harness horses should last much longer than 
 hunters, the purchase of a very young horse is never to be re- 
 commended. You will get nearly as many years' work out of a 
 sound seven-year-old as out of a four-year-old, with the advan- 
 tage that the former has got over what may be termed his 
 infantile complaints. Young horses are constantly throwing out 
 splints, being laid up and causing anxiety to their owners, 
 whereas a sound and seasoned six- or seven year-old horse 
 should give his owner but little trouble. 
 
 The age of a horse is principally determined by the teeth. 
 The incisors are six in number when the mouth is complete, 
 and in horses there is in addition a peculiar tooth on each side 
 of the jaw called a ' tusk,' which does not appear till the animal 
 is about four years old, and is not fully developed until the last 
 permanent incisor is up. At the age of four the jaw contains 
 four permanent teeth and one milk tooth on each side ; at five 
 the six permanent incisors are present, though the inner wall 
 of the corner teeth is absent. At six this inner wall has grown 
 up to the level of the outer, and the mouth is complete. In 
 addition to these changes, what is termed the * mark ' serves 
 as a criterion of age. The ' mark ' is a hollow in the centre of 
 the tooth, extending at first about half an inch into the incisor. 
 The whole tooth is covered with a wall of pearly enamel, which 
 penetrates into and lines the ' mark.' At four the mark is plain 
 in all the permanent incisors. At six the mark is wearing out 
 of the two centre teeth, but is plainly visible in the two next, 
 and perfectly fresh in the two corner teeth. At seven the mark 
 
THE CARRIAGE-HORSE. 69 
 
 has disappeared from the centre teeth, is but faintly visible in 
 the two next, and only distinct in the corner teeth, and at nine the 
 marks are not to be depended upon at all. It should be borne 
 in mind that crib-biters will wear their teeth down at an earlier 
 age than others, while horses which feed on grass and soft food 
 will often retain the marks twelve months longer than corn-fed 
 horses. After the age of nine a purchaser must judge by the 
 increasing length of the teeth and the increasing angle which 
 they form with the jaw. Formerly, the practice of making 
 artificial marks, or 'bishoping,' was not uncommon amongst 
 dealers, but it is now becoming less prevalent. When such a 
 one is brought into the yard of the Veterinary College, it is re- 
 garded as quite an event by the students. The process is 
 performed by filing the edges of the incisors to the required 
 length, rasping the surface to whiten and cleanse them, and 
 then rubbing them down with sandpaper to render them 
 smooth ; after which the concave holes in the incisors are made 
 with a sharp engraving tool, and carefully burnt with a hot 
 iron so as to leave no stains round the edges. But no process 
 has yet been discovered which can restore the lining of enamel 
 with which the tooth in all its sinuosities ought to be, and is, 
 covered by nature. Other tricks have been resorted to to 
 disguise the age, such as puffing out with wind the deep holes 
 that come over the eyes of old horses, thoroughly washing and 
 neatly painting any grey hairs with indian ink in a dark-coloured 
 horse. With these precautions, and by suddenly bringing a 
 horse from a dark stall into a bright light, an appearance of 
 youth, fire, and vigour may be given by which the unwary 
 may be deceived. 
 
 Horses for quiet harness -work will often last up to twenty- 
 years of age, and even more ; but when they cease to be useful for 
 the most moderate work, it is no true kindness to allow them to 
 live on, with mouths unfit to perform the work of mastication, 
 suffering perhaps from lameness or affection of the wind ; it is 
 more merciful to put such an animal to a humane death. 
 
 Horses are now seldom used for travelling, except in the 
 
70 DRIVING. 
 
 pleasure coaches which run between London and the suburbs, 
 and in Scotland, Devonshire, and Wales, where in the tourist 
 season a considerable amount of posting is still done in those 
 mountainous districts inaccessible to the railway. In these 
 districts a pair of posters will go thirty to forty miles a day, 
 when the pressure of business requires. Before the advent of 
 railways fifty miles in a day was not considered too much for 
 a pair of horses to do, and that in a lumbering travelling 
 carriage. The rules laid down for such a journey were to 
 go ten miles and bait for fifteen minutes, giving each horse an 
 opportunity to wash out his mouth and a wisp of hay. Then 
 to travel another six miles and stop half an hour, taking off the 
 harness, rubbing the horses well down, and giving to each half 
 a peck of corn. After travelling a further ten miles, hay and 
 water were given as at first, when another six miles might be 
 traversed, and then a bait of at least two hours was considered 
 necessary, and the horses were given hay and a feed of corn. 
 After journeying another ten miles, hay and water as before was 
 administered, and the rest of the journey might be accomplished 
 without a further stop, when the horses were provided with a 
 mash before their night meal, and if the weather were cold and 
 wet, some beans thrown in. This calculates a pace averaging 
 six or seven miles an hour. 
 
 A very important question is, how much work can a horse 
 or horses do ? 
 
 Some people will say that horses can hardly be used too 
 much, others that an hour or so a day is enough. A fair criterion 
 may be obtained by taking the work which large jobmasters 
 and contractors, who naturally get the most they can out of 
 their horses, expect them to do. For slow work, such as that 
 of a commercial traveller in London, when the distances are 
 short, the pace slow, and stoppages long and many, a horse is 
 expected to, and does, spend a day of eight hours in the shafts, 
 and except Sunday does not often get a rest ; van-horses and 
 others of that class also work, as a rule, all day ; but, although 
 the hours are long, it will be found that no very great number 
 
THE CARRIAGE-HORSE. 
 
 of miles has been travelled 
 at the end of the week, 
 and the pace is so slow 
 that it will be no guide to 
 the average horse-master. 
 For quicker work the 
 hardy cobs which are 
 used in the newspaper or 
 butchers' carts do good 
 service; some of them ave- 
 rage over twenty miles a 
 day, quick work but with 
 constant stoppages. It is 
 the rule of well-conducted 
 offices to keep spare horses, 
 so that each of the animals 
 gets two days' rest a week. 
 
 111 LIL - JL They only last, however, 
 
 two to three years, one that has been working five years being 
 
72 DRIVING. 
 
 quite an exception. For quick harness-work it is the opinion 
 of a large contractor and jobmaster, that it requires a very 
 good horse to do regularly fourteen miles a day. 
 
 Coach-horses, which at the present time are better looked 
 after than in old days, and which generally command good 
 prices at the end of a season which lasts for less than six 
 months, travel on the average fourteen miles a day for five 
 days a week, the work being done in two stages, and the 
 pace about ten miles an hour. These horses are sometimes 
 supplied by contractors, but more usually bought by gentlemen 
 who manage the coach. 
 
 I think, then, we may fairly say fourteen to fifteen miles 
 a day for a single horse or pair of horses, if continued five 
 days in the week, is very fair work, and only sound and good- 
 constitutioned horses will go on doing it regularly that is, 
 supposing the pace to be eight or nine miles an hour. Cobs 
 will, as a rule, do more work than horses ; but even those I 
 have mentioned in hard contract work do not do much more 
 than one hundred miles a week. 
 
 These job-horses, it may be mentioned, are entirely manger- 
 fed, their hay being given in the form of chaff, and they 
 have as much as they can eat. 
 
 For long journeys, perfectly level roads are more tiring than 
 those which are slightly undulating. It is always possible by 
 accelerating the pace towards the end of a hill greatly to lighten 
 the labour as well as to make a start in ascending the other 
 side of the dip. In driving long distances a great speed should 
 not be attempted, nor should horses be hurried at the start, 
 until they are warmed to their work. Before the end of the 
 journey it is desirable to slacken the pace in order that the 
 horses may be brought in as cool as possible. The maxims 
 given by old Markham in * The Way to Wealth,' published in 
 1731, are worth repeating. * When the days are extremely hot, 
 labour you horses morning and evening, and forbear high 
 noone. Take not a saddle off suddenly, but at leisure, and 
 laying on the cloth set on the saddle again, till he be cold. 
 
THE CARRIAGE-HORSE. 73 
 
 Litter you horse deepe, and in the days of harvest let it also 
 
 lye under him. Dress your horse twice a day.' 
 
 Taylor, the Water-Poet, who was a contemporary and friend 
 
 of Shakespeare, describes a journey which he made in 1647, in 
 
 the following words : 
 
 We took our coach, two coachmen, and four horses, 
 
 And merrily from London made our courses. 
 
 We wheel'd the top of the heavy hill call'd Holborn 
 
 (Up which hath been full many a sinful soul borne), 
 
 And so along we jolted past St. Giles's, 
 
 Which place from Brentford six, or near seven miles is. 
 
 To Staines that night at five o'clock we coasted, 
 
 Where, at the Bush, we had bak'd, boil'd, and roasted. 
 
 Bright Sol's illustrious rays the day adorning, 
 
 We past Bagshot and Bawwaw Friday morning. 
 
 That night we lodg'd at the White Hart at Alton, 
 
 And had good meat a table with a salt on. 
 
 Next morn we rose with blushing-cheek'd Aurora ; 
 
 The ways were fair, but not so fair as Flora, 
 
 For Flora was a goddess and a woman, 
 
 And, like the highways, to all men was common. 
 
 Our horses, with the coach which we went into, 
 
 Did hurry us amain, through thick and thin too ; 
 
 With fiery speed, the foaming bits they champ'd on 
 
 And brought us to the Dolphin at Southampton. 
 
 Horses that come fresh from a dealer's have usually been 
 fed on soft food. When first brought into a stable they will 
 require a dose of physic, gentle exercise, beginning with 
 walking and gradually increasing in amount and pace, and a 
 diet of hard corn for a week or a fortnight before they will be 
 fit to do hard work. When a horse has once got into good 
 condition he should have, as far as possible, regular work 
 that is to say, he should have nearly as much exercise on idle 
 days as he would be likely to have work when used by his 
 master. 
 
 For horses in ordinary condition and used for moderate 
 driving, two hours a day should be ample, though, as a matter 
 of fact, it is probable that few horses get more than one. Horses 
 
74 DRIVING. 
 
 are generally taken out to exercise as soon as they are fed, and 
 the stalls cleaned out, and before the men's breakfast. The 
 time available for the work, especially in winter, is therefore 
 necessarily curtailed. 1 
 
 A harness horse in regular work ought to be fed four times 
 a day, at six, eleven, four, and seven ; and should be given in 
 that time 1 2 Ibs. of good old oats. The allowance for race- 
 horses in training at Newmarket is from 14 Ibs. to 16 Ibs. per 
 diem. Before being fed they should invariably be watered, 
 unless the plan is adopted, which is at once more natural and 
 attended with no evil effects, of allowing a horse always to have 
 water in his trough, provided that at each feed the water in the 
 trough is changed. Water should never be given to a horse 
 just before undertaking hard work or immediately on coming 
 in if very hot and tired. In the latter case a little warm gruel 
 should take the place of it. 
 
 See that your oats are of full weight, at least 40 Ibs. to the 
 bushel; that they are quite without smell, dry, neither too 
 fresh nor musty, and that they are of about the same size. 
 Hay should be old and good, sweet-smelling upland hay. It 
 should be clean, firm, and bright, and, if possible, from one to 
 two years old. New hay should never be given until after the 
 November of the year in which it was made. The bedding, 
 which should not be stinted, ought to consist of the best wheat 
 straw; it should always be kept thoroughly clean, and no dung 
 be allowed to remain amongst it. It should be turned over and 
 thoroughly exposed to dry every day. Barley straw is prickly, 
 irritating to the skin, and should never be used. Oat straw, 
 being much shorter than wheat, requires to be used in larger 
 quantities, and has the objection that horses are tempted to 
 eat it. The use of peat-moss involves much extra trouble in 
 grooming, but is very useful for sick horses or others not in 
 
 1 The horses in the hack cars in the streets of Dublin are usually 18 hours 
 5 or 6 days running in the shafts. They get 28 Ibs. of oats a day, and think 
 nothing of running you down to Newbridge, over 20 Irish miles (about twenty- 
 five miles English measure). ED. 
 
THE CARRIAGE-HORSE. 75 
 
 regular work; care should be taken to lay down a fresh covering 
 to the bed frequently, or the horse's feet will suffer. Green 
 forage is very cooling in hot weather, but should always be 
 given quite fresh. Beans and peas may be mixed with the 
 corn where horses are doing hard work, especially after they 
 come in from a long day. 
 
 A pair of horses will not only draw a heavier carriage, but 
 will also, by mutual assistance, do a longer day's work, than a 
 single horse. In fact, two horses are always better than one for 
 anything like real work, though here of course a man's means 
 have to be considered. If a master wishes to use his horses both 
 for riding and driving, there is no reason why he should not 
 do so, especially if he has light hands and can persuade his 
 groom, when driving them, not to ' hang on to their heads.' 
 
 The question may perhaps be asked, what sort of establish- 
 ment of horses is to be recommended for a married man of 
 ample means, who does not care to have in his stables animals 
 which he would only take out a few times a year ? Such a man 
 might be advised to provide himself with six teamers namely, 
 three wheelers and three leaders. Of these the leaders should 
 always be animals that can be driven in a phaeton or victoria, 
 and the wheelers suitable to go in a brougham or landau when 
 required. In addition, a pair of carriage horses for a lady's 
 regular use might be kept. Two hacks, of which one can be 
 ridden by the groom, should be enough, especially if there is 
 a hunting stable in addition to draw upon. One, or at most two, 
 ' slaves ' for night work in London and station work in the 
 country will complete a stable which most people will find take 
 up all their time to keep in sufficient work. Ponies, which are 
 of use for little else than the pony carriage, will be required 
 only by those who have a special fancy for such. 
 
 The carriages for them to horse might consist of an omnibus 
 a most useful carriage for station work, especially with a large 
 family, and also for taking a shooting party and their loaders 
 to the coverts ; it should be provided with bars so that a team 
 can be driven in it if necessary a coach, an exercising break, a 
 
76 DRIVING. 
 
 phaeton or stanhope, a coupe brougham (or if there are young 
 ladies, a double brougham), and either a victoria or a landau. 
 This will be as much as a London stable is likely to hold, 
 though a hansom cab with india-rubber tires is a serviceable 
 vehicle ; it is not conspicuous, travels fast, and is very useful 
 both for messages and light station work. Such other carriages 
 as a Perth dog-cart or an Irish car might be kept in the country. 
 
 ' The young idea.' 
 
Tattersall's. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE COACH-HORSE. 
 BY THE DUKE OF BEAUFORT, K.G. 
 
 So much difference of opinion is there as to what is the best 
 and pleasantest style of coach-horse to drive, that we are not 
 likely to find ourselves in agreement with all our readers upon 
 this subject. The old stage-coachmen used to say that they 
 liked the big heavy horse for a hilly team, and the small, com- 
 pact, quick-stepping, fast-galloping little horse for a flat stage. 
 We must remember that in those days, when the coach was the 
 only conveyance of the country, the loads were very heavy, and 
 no doubt the big, heavy plodding horse put his shoulder well 
 to it, and got the coach up the hill with less trouble to him- 
 self and his coachman, than the smaller and lighter team of 
 horses would have done. In these days, when the road coaches 
 
7 8 DRIVING. 
 
 only carry passengers and no luggage to speak of, even if there 
 is any at all, we should prefer for all sorts of roads short- 
 stepping and small, though thick, horses. They are infinitely 
 pleasanter to drive. Anybody who has had the experience 
 of taking off a big, lolloping team of rather under-bred horses 
 who are very tired, and have been hanging on the coachman's 
 hands for the last two or three miles of the stage, will under- 
 stand what a pleasure and a relief it is to feel the quick, sharp 
 trot of a little team of fresh horses. 
 
 We think, from our experience of the modern road coaches, 
 and from what we see of the gentlemen's teams driving about 
 London and the country, that so far we shall be in agreement 
 with most of our readers. Difference of opinion exists as to 
 the respective heights of wheelers and leading horses. Some 
 like them exactly the same size, others prefer a big wheel-horse 
 and a little leader ; others again like a thick, low wheel-horse, 
 and rather a taller and slighter leader. In our opinion, this 
 latter is the perfection of a team. It looks better when they 
 are coming to you, as well as when you are sitting on the 
 coach. We do not think, however, it really signifies either one 
 way or the other. We have driven teams of horses of all sorts, 
 and shapes, and sizes, and we have found them to go equally 
 well, whether the leaders were the same size, or larger, or 
 smaller than the other horses. It is a matter of 'taking the 
 eye,' and for appearance we prefer the small, thick wheeler, 
 and the tall, light leader. 
 
 The gentleman who wants to set up a team, having got his 
 coach, and his harness, his coach-house, his harness-room, and 
 his stable beautifully done up, looking as smart as French 
 polish and bright brass can make it look, has now to proceed 
 to buy himself a team of horses. We must take for granted 
 that gentlemen who want to set up a coach and horses, even if 
 they are beginners, will have some knowledge of the animal 
 horse, and therefore will not find it necessary to wade through 
 these pages to learn where to find one. But there are gentle- 
 men who, having had too much to occupy them in their youth, 
 
THE COACH-HORSE. 79 
 
 and having more leisure as they get further on in life, might 
 wish to start a team, and might refer to these volumes for 
 advice how to do so. To them we would say, get your wheel- 
 horses as strong as is consistent with activity. If you have the 
 choice between the good-actioned horse that is not quite so 
 strong and a stronger horse that is not quite of such good 
 action, the judicious course will be to buy the good-actioned 
 horse. 
 
 Also we should recommend a coachman to teach his horses 
 to go both at wheel and before the bars, as he will find their 
 readiness to work in either place a great convenience. Of 
 course the least troublesome, though it may prove to be the 
 most expensive, way of finding a team will be to go to a well- 
 known dealer. But the lover of coaching will find more 
 amusement, and interest, and fun, in picking up horses for 
 himself, and for this purpose visits to TattersalFs, Aldridge's, 
 or Mr. Rymill's at the Barbican, &c., afford a very large choice 
 of animals, of all sizes, and shapes and colours. Then, again, 
 if a gentleman has leisure and time to devote to it, he can 
 look round some of the great country emporiums, such as 
 Reading, Rugby, Leicester, Swindon, and other country towns, 
 which should provide him with something that suits his fancy. 
 If the beginner is content to get nice fresh but raw horses, not 
 at all a bad plan is to buy from the farmers. This entails a 
 little horse-breaking, which is not bad practice for a beginner. 
 It may cost a little in paint from the vagaries which young 
 horses indulge in, but it is perhaps more pleasant and more 
 satisfactory to sit behind and drive a team of your own breaking, 
 than it is to be furnished with everything to your hand by the 
 dealers. 
 
 As regards the stamp of horses for a long and hard day's 
 work, there is nothing can beat a thoroughbred one. The 
 more blood you have in horses you drive, the better you will 
 be able to do long and trying journeys. Still such animals are 
 scarcely what we should designate by the word coach-horses. 
 If you have not very long stages to go, you can indulge your 
 
8o DRIVING. 
 
 fancy by studying from the old pictures the stamp of horse 
 that was used formerly, before the railways ran the coaches 
 clean off the roads. It is not at all disagreeable amusement 
 going about and trying to find horses of the same stamp that 
 were used in those days. Of course, the very short tails 
 which the coach-horses and posters had in those days very 
 much alter the appearance of the stamp of horse, and render 
 it more difficult to procure the exact variety that was formerly 
 used, because if they exist they are so changed. An inex- 
 perienced man cannot realise the extent to which a horse's 
 appearance can be altered by putting him on a long or a short 
 tail. It is only to the well-practised eye of a man very conver- 
 sant with horses that the exact shape and make can be detected 
 under the altered circumstances of a long or a short tail. 
 
 The gentleman, having provided himself with the horses 
 that please him, has now got to put them into his stable. And 
 here we would impress upon him that hot stables are to be 
 avoided ; the cooler and better ventilated they are, and the 
 more the windows are kept open either by day or by night, 
 the healthier he will find his horses to be. We have, however, 
 already gone so thoroughly into the question of stables, 1 that 
 we need not enter into detail here. 
 
 A great difficulty with regard to horses in a gentleman's 
 establishment, so different from public coach-horses who run 
 their ten or twelve miles every day, is the want of uniformity 
 in the amount of work that the horse gets. From some cause 
 or other he may not . go out for three or four days, the next 
 three or four days he may be out every day upon journeys of 
 varying length. Therefore either the master himself or his 
 groom must try and exercise what sense has been given each, 
 in apportioning the amount of exercise that the horse should 
 take ; in one case it may be necessary for the animal to make 
 up for the want of work, in the other he will require merely 
 sufficient to stretch his legs for healthy purposes after he has 
 been on a long journey. One great difficulty the groom has 
 
 1 Hunting, p. 89. 
 
THE COACH-HORSE. 
 
 Si 
 
 to contend with is, that if his master is at home he dare not 
 give the horses too many hours' exercise in the morning for 
 fear he should be ordered out in the afternoon and have a long 
 journey before him. Very often the master may say that he 
 does not think he will want the horses to-morrow, and the 
 groom accordingly gives them their exercise ; but at the last 
 moment there comes some invitation, some necessity to go to 
 a distant railway station, or some cause which brings the horses 
 out when it has been understood that they will not be needed 
 
 It is a 
 remarkable 
 fact how 
 wonderfully 
 regular exer- 
 cise agrees 
 with a horse. 
 We have 
 seen horses 
 low in condi- 
 tion, others 
 too fat, some 
 as lean as 
 herrings, put 
 on to a stage 
 coach, and 
 you may al- 
 most say be- 
 fore a month, certainly before two months, after they have been 
 doing their allotted work every day, barring perhaps one day in 
 four as rest, they will look as round as dray-horses, and yet be 
 in the hardest possible condition. This is why those horses 
 generally look better than the gentlemen's horses whose work 
 is so irregular. 
 
 For gentlemen who have first-class coachmen living with 
 them, or whose coach-horses are under a good hunting groom, it 
 is unnecessary to dilate upon the question of grooming. But there 
 
 G 
 
 Well strapped every day. 
 
82 DRIVING. 
 
 are not a few owners who like to be their own stud grooms, and 
 to these we should say elbow grease is the best receipt we can 
 give for having horses in good condition. Nothing is so healthy 
 for a horse, nothing makes him look so well and feel so well, as 
 being thoroughly well strapped every day ; and if a gentleman 
 can get men to do that conscientiously and take pride in it, he 
 will seldom find it necessary to send for a veterinary surgeon. 
 
 We are very great advocates for allowing all horses, of every 
 sort and description, to have water standing in their stable or box. 
 After over forty years' experience, we can say that we have found 
 the benefit to the horse's health and to his wind to be some- 
 thing extraordinary. Horses very seldom go roarers when they 
 can put their noses into their trough and take a couple of mouth- 
 fuls when they like, and thus they often moisten their corn in 
 the manger. It stands to reason, and as a matter of fact we 
 have absolutely proved, that a horse when left to his own instinct 
 drinks about five gallons of water a day ; and if he takes it in 
 very small sips, rarely or never drinking more than a small tea- 
 cupful at a time, it is much less likely to make him a bad roarer 
 than if he fills his stomach twice a day, drinking off, as may be 
 said at one swig, four gallons each time. We have practically 
 proved the difference between the quantity of liquid consumed 
 by a horse which is watered twice a day and one which has water 
 constantly with him ; the former drinks eight gallons and the 
 latter only five. We consider the continuous supply quite as im- 
 portant for coach-horses as it is for hunters and hacks. In our 
 own experience of a large establishment, the increase in venti- 
 lation and decrease in the amount of water consumed by the 
 horses have vastly reduced the number of roarers. Forty years 
 ago, in a stable where there were always eighty to one hundred 
 horses in hard work, half of them, and sometimes more, were 
 roarers ; in the same establishment now, with about the same 
 number of horses, there have not been for many years more 
 than two or three roarers at a time, and we attribute the change 
 entirely to the method of watering, and the greater amount of 
 fresh air in the stables. 
 
' Doors opened every day.' 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE COACH-HOUSE, HARNESS-ROOM, AND DRIVING APPLIANCES. 
 BY MAJOR DIXON AND OTHERS. 
 
 WHETHER the coach-house be a tiny apartment affording shelter 
 to a modest pony-cart only, or whether it be a lofty many- 
 doored building accommodating a dozen valuable carriages, it 
 should be a subject of considerable care. In order that com- 
 plete justice be done, one cart or carriage requires just as 
 much care as if it were but one-tenth of the owner's vehicles ; 
 and the same remark holds good in the case of harness. 
 When properly looked after carriages and harness last a long 
 time, and preserve their good appearance to the end ; but if 
 neglected, then, like clothes, they become prematurely shabby. 
 It is easy to lay down rules for the building of coach-houses 
 and harness-rooms, but the ideal can exist only where the 
 owner has plenty of space, and the means to indulge his 
 
 G 2 
 
84 DRIVING. 
 
 fancy ; less favoured individuals must take things as they find 
 them, and make the best of the means at their disposal ; but 
 even then there is no excuse for disregarding certain well- 
 defined rules and commonly accepted precautions. 
 
 THE COACH-HOUSE. 
 
 Beginning with the coach-house, it is of supreme impor- 
 tance that it be dry. If damp, woodwork, ironwork, linings, 
 and cushions (though on the slightest suspicion of moisture the 
 latter should be removed within range of a stove) will all surfer. 
 It is preferable that the coach-house should be moderately 
 warm ; but dryness is the first consideration ; and plenty of 
 fresh air, and a few gallons of white water oil for use in o'ne or 
 other of the mineral-oil stoves, procurable everywhere, will 
 work wonders. Gas,, when laid on, may be used as a substi- 
 tute, but it has a tendency to tarnish metalwork, and, therefore 
 to increase labour. Air is of as much importance as warmth, 
 so the doors of the coach-house should be flung open every 
 day ; while linings and cushions should be carefully brushed ; 
 but the brush should not be too hard, lest it injure the fabric. 
 A small painter's brush should always be kept to get dust out 
 of corners and interstices into which the ordinary pattern can- 
 not penetrate. Of late years the seats of both open and closed 
 carriages have been made without the quilting and button pro- 
 cess, and the new departure is an improvement, as the inden- 
 tations where the buttons are sewn on harbour a great deal of 
 dust, whether the material be leather or cloth. The doors and 
 windows of closed carriages should be opened daily ; and in 
 the event of a vehicle not being required for use for some time 
 the cushions should be taken away, placed in holland wrap- 
 pings together with a handful of Russian leather shavings ; while 
 a few more should be placed on the carriage itself to preserve 
 the lining from the ravages of moth. 
 
 A single-horse vehicle will not have the shafts removed ; but 
 
THE COACH-HOUSE, HARNESS-ROOM, ETC. 85 
 
 in every coach-house due provision should be made for the recep- 
 tion of the poles of two-horse carriages. The common practice 
 of propping them against the wall is not to be commended, 
 unless there be on the wall some contrivance for holding the 
 heads, and a stop on the floor to prevent the downward ends 
 from slipping ; but a projection on the ground often interferes, 
 in limited establishments, with the utilisation of all the room 
 for standing purposes. Unless some means are taken to keep 
 a pole secure it may crack after being thrown down, and break 
 when in use moreover, in damp weather a pole may warp 
 through being stood against a wall. A better plan is to have- 
 wooden supports fitted to the wall of the coach-house, on 
 which the pole may rest. The wood should be covered with 
 some soft substance to prevent scratching, and the supports 
 should be about five feet apart, an arrangement which will nofe 
 throw undue strain upon any part of the pole. Those who 
 believe in the importance of small things will see the advisa- 
 bility of having the pole supports about three feet^six inches 
 from the ground, so as to prevent unthinking people from 
 seating themselves on the pole. 
 
 A carriage fresh from the coach-builders, either as a new 
 one or after the ' doing up ' process, has had such pains expen- 
 ded upon the painting and varnishing of its panels and wheels i 
 that it is clearly the duty of the owner to insist upon the clean- 
 ing being properly and carefully performed. The apparently 
 simple feat of washing a carriage is, nevertheless, not so easy 
 as it looks, and takes some time to learn. A well-meaning 
 but inexperienced lad may not begin to clean a vehicle until 
 the mud has been dry on it for some hours ; then he sets to 
 work with a stiff brush, scratching the varnish all over ; turns 
 on a deluge of water ; remembers that his dinner or tea time 
 has arrived ; gives the carriage a hasty wipe over, and rolls it 
 back into the coach-house with many beads of water still cling- 
 ing to it. People, therefore, who have good carriages will find 
 it the best economy to engage a competent servant, even though 
 he may require a higher wage. But as the services of a 
 
86 . DRIVING. 
 
 second-rate man may have to suffice in some establishments, 
 the owner must remember that the mud should be removed 
 before it dries on the carriage. While it is soft it comes off 
 without difficulty ; does not need scrubbing, or picking off with 
 the finger-nails (an operation which is sure to scratch the 
 panel) ; and does not leave a stain behind it. Then, when 
 the mud has "been removed, and water has been thrown over 
 the carriage, the latter should be carefully dried, as the drops 
 of water, if allowed to dry on, spoil the panels. 
 
 The writer w r ould here suggest that the inexperienced horse- 
 owner would do well, at the outset of his career, to look on 
 while his carriage, horses, and harness are being cleaned after 
 use on a muddy day. His presence may, in the first place, 
 lead to the work being done thoroughly, and as it should be 
 done ; while, secondly, and more important still, the owner 
 will discover, if he did not know it before, that the cleaning 
 of an equipage is a lengthy process. As neither horses, car- 
 riage, nor harness should ever be sent out dirty, the master will 
 realise the fact that to constantly have his carriage in and out 
 for short journeys is unfair both to his servants and his 
 property. If, however, he insists upon being driven to the 
 station in the morning, hands over the carriage to his wife for 
 afternoon purposes, and requires to be taken to theatre or 
 dinner in the evening, he must man his establishment accord- 
 ingly, if he would have justice done to himself and his chattels. 
 We would protest in the strongest manner against things being 
 half done. A carriage which is merely rubbed over on half a 
 dozen occasions for every one that it is thoroughly washed ; 
 bits that are burnished one day and just wiped the next, will 
 never look well, and never do credit to the stable servants. If 
 you are so situated or inclined as to need a conveyance at short 
 intervals throughout the day, for what may approximate to 
 business purposes, get a cheap cart, a rough pony, and inexpen- 
 sive harness, and do not pretend to keep any of them up to the 
 mark. The turn-out will then look what it is, merely a conveni- 
 ence ; but do not get good horses, carriages, and let us hope 
 
THE COACH-HOUSE, HARNESS-ROOM, ETC. 87 
 
 good servants, and then spoil the one and demoralise the other 
 by unfair usage. As regards two-wheeled carts, a varnished one 
 that is to say, one varnished but not painted is rather less 
 trouble to clean than one which is both painted and varnished. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to remark that the coachman should 
 make frequent examination of the carriages committed to his 
 care. A sudden jolt may have caused something to go amiss 
 with a spring ; a nut or a bolt on the under-carriage may 
 have worked loose ; the pole or splinter-bar may have become 
 sprung ; the wheels may need oiling, or the washers may 
 require to be renewed. In all these little matters the stitch 
 in time may save not only nine, but the life of some 'one 
 as well. The axles in particular should be carefully examined, 
 as they are probably the most important of all the com- 
 ponent parts of a coach or any other carriage ; and since 
 the ill-fated accident that befell the ' Box Hill ' when Captain 
 Cooper was driving it and the pole broke, we do not re- 
 collect a single mishap to any of the road-coaches which was 
 not caused by a defective axle. In 1882, the axle of Major 
 Lawes's drag broke while he was driving along Queen's Gate, 
 the passengers were thrown off, and Mrs. Willis had the mis- 
 fortune to severely injure her leg. Collinge's boxes are mostly 
 in use for private carriages, and the old mail box for both 
 public and private coaches ; they are both good in their way, 
 but when once a flaw appears in the steel, all the screws and 
 bolts in the world cannot prevent the wheel coming off. 
 
 Accidents must happen sometimes to the best built, most 
 perfectly appointed and carefully driven, coaches and carriages 
 of every description. Horses may take fright at any unusual 
 noise or object, and run away ; they may kick, shy, or be up 
 to many and various sorts of tricks ; a pole or a spring may 
 break, a wheel may come off, or a thousand and one other 
 things may happen. In each and every one of such cases, 
 there is only one rule, a golden one : Stick to the ship as long 
 as you can ; there is always some chince of assistance being at 
 hand. There is none if you throw yourself, or jump, off. 
 
83 
 
 DRIVING. 
 
 THE HARNESS-ROOM. 
 
 As with the coach-house so with the harness-room its 
 situation, size, and internal arrangements cannot always be 
 selected by the individual who happens to be its temporary 
 owner. In large country establishments, where there is plenty 
 of space, the stable offices are often satisfactory enough ; 
 but in a London mews, or in ' cribbed, cabined, and confined ' 
 
 places, arrangements of obvious 
 advantage, not to say importance, 
 must frequently be sacrificed to 
 the exigencies of space. If, how- 
 ever, it can by any possibility be 
 avoided, the harness-room should 
 never communicate with the stable, 
 as the ammonia from the latter dulls and tarnishes all metal- 
 work which may come under influence of its fumes. Where 
 the two are found opening one into the other, it is worth while? 
 if the stable have a second entrance, to stop up the door 
 between the two ; plug up all the holes and crevices, and put 
 the coachman to the additional trouble of carrying the ' tack ' 
 round ; even if it be exposed to the rain on the way, it is the 
 lesser of two evils. 
 
 Internally the fittings should be complete, though not 
 
THE COACH-HOUSE, HARNESS-ROOM, ETC. 89 
 
 necessarily expensive. To hang a saddle upon a tenpenny 
 nail to force a crupper over a great wooden arm, merely 
 because it happens to be there ; or to hang bits and stirrup- 
 irons over a gas bracket, because no proper convenience 
 is at hand, is false economy. Such makeshifts are never seen 
 in well-regulated establishments. The harness-room should 
 be provided with a fireplace or stove of some kind, and bits, 
 stirrup-irons, &c., should be kept in a wooden case, lined 
 with green baize, and placed in a dry part of the room over 
 the mantelshelf is as good as anywhere. Several firms now 
 make the fitting up of harness-rooms a speciality, and no 
 difficulty need be experienced in procuring suitable brackets, 
 pegs, &c., at a moderate cost, if economy be an object. The 
 manner in which bits are turned out is, to a great extent, an 
 index of the pains bestowed upon the equipage at large ; they 
 should be kept scrupulously clean, free from the slightest speck 
 of rust, and should be carefully burnished, for which a burnisher 
 is required. 
 
 Bits are, to a great extent, matters of fancy, and are also 
 very often the most difficult things to get suited with, as it is 
 not only the horse's mouth, but the coachman's hands, which 
 have to be considered. There are one or two persons well known 
 in the Park who, on the strength of possessing fairly good 
 hands, drive with bits of the greatest severity. A bit that exactly 
 does for one horse may drive another mad, which sometimes 
 makes it awkward when you have to drive a pair, and all the 
 more so when you have to put a team together. The Liverpool 
 bits are very fashionable ; neat and useful for single harness, or 
 tandem-driving, but in double harness, or with a team, they 
 are apt to hurt the sides of the horses' mouths, for which there 
 is no prevention except to use a circular cheek-leather, which 
 fits on either or both sides of the bit, but which is far from 
 being ornamental. The old-fashioned elbow-bits are probably 
 the best for heavy coach-work ; though some men prefer the 
 ' Buxton ' pattern, with a bar at the bottom, to prevent the bit 
 from becoming entangled in the pole-chain's, or coupling-rein 
 
90 DRIVING. 
 
 when no bearing-reins are used ; but there are now so many 
 different sorts, sizes, and patterns made, that with a little trouble 
 all can be accommodated. l 
 
 Bearing-reins have been, and will always continue to be, a 
 bone of contention between coachmen of different classes, the 
 Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and others 
 who periodically write a considerable amount of rubbish on 
 the subject when the newspapers are not filling well, and the 
 gigantic gooseberry season comes in. It may safely be said 
 that were not bearing reins still in use among the ordinary 
 traffic of Piccadilly, Bond Street, Regent Street, &c., the 
 number of accidents, as well as the amounts of the coach- 
 builder's bills, would be largely increased. There is no reason 
 in the world why they cannot be put on to be of use when 
 required, without causing torture, though no doubt in many 
 cases they are improperly employed. As, however, there are 
 some people it is doubtful whether they are practical coach- 
 men who decline to see in bearing-reins anything but horrible 
 barbarity, it may not be out of place to state briefly in what 
 cases they may be of some use. Except for the purpose of 
 show, they might be dispensed with for horses in single harness 
 in ninety-nine instances out of a hundred. The hundredth' 
 horse might be some heavy-headed boring brute requiring 
 more room in which to be pulled up than is always available 
 in the streets of London. With such a horse a bearing-rein, 
 not tighter than is absolutely necessary, is surely permissible, if 
 only to save the coachman's arms. It may be granted that 
 bad bitting and worse driving may have originally conduced to 
 the horse's mouthless state ; it may also be true that the man 
 called upon to drive him may not possess the skill of a Sir 
 
 1 The bit must be suited to the horse, and the possessor and driver of many 
 horses must, if he wishes to enjoy life, have many bits, some with ports, 
 some without. Nine horses out of ten will go pleasantly in a shifting bit, 
 which has a smooth side and a rough side to the bar, which also shifts up and 
 down for about an inch, and the cheek of which turns so that the smooth or 
 rough side can be used. B. 
 
THE COACH-HOUSE, HARNESS-ROOM, ETC. 91 
 
 St. Vincent Cotton ; but we hold 
 that a proper use of any mechani- 
 cal appliance is allowable when 
 other means fail. The well-mean- 
 ing faddists who inveigh so 
 bitterly against bearing-reins 
 are not above using curb- 
 
92 DRIVING. 
 
 bits ; and on the whole, horses perhaps suffer much less from 
 bearing-reins than from heavy hands and curb-bits. In double 
 harness, however, the employment of loose bearing-reins has 
 saved many an accident. If a pair of horses, or four, are 
 driven straight away for, say, ten miles, baited, and driven 
 home again, bearing-reins are often, it may be admitted, not 
 wanted ; but it is different with horses driven in the Park, and 
 those which have to stand outside shops or private houses, 
 while the occupants of the carriage are shopping or visiting. 
 Horses soon get warm under the bridle, and when they are 
 pulled up it is to the moist spot that the flies are attracted. 
 They cause a certain amount of irritation, and the horse natu- 
 rally enough scratches himself, or at least he would do had 
 he a hand for the purpose. He drops his head to the pole ; 
 and possibly gets the bit fast. Out comes the proprietor of 
 the carriage, or perhaps the policeman on duty appears with a 
 moving-on mission. The entanglement is not perceived till too 
 late ; the horse does not answer to the reins ; a collision occurs, 
 or perhaps the horse starts kicking and then falls down. When 
 the evening papers appear, the ubiquitous reporter will be 
 found to have sent in a paragraph detailing ' A singular carriage 
 accident at the West End.' This is no fancy sketch ; and a 
 bearing-rein which is short enough to prevent such a catas- 
 trophe is, at the same time, long enough to allow the horse un- 
 restrained freedom of the head. It is the abuse of bearing-reins 
 (which takes the form of the gag shortened to a cruel extent), 
 and not the use of them, which merits universal condemnation. 
 Breech-bands, or breechings as they are more commonly 
 called, are very useful in broughams, T-carts, and other 
 vehicles when a single horse has to stop a load, but they are 
 very little wanted in buggies, gigs, or dogcarts, except in very 
 hilly countries, where they are also still sometimes considered 
 an essential part of four-horse and pair-horse harness ; but 
 with the present improvements in breaks, they are seldom 
 required, are very unsightly, make more weight for the horses 
 to carry, and add to the cost of the harness. 
 
THE COACH-HOUSE, HARNESS-ROOM, ETC. 93 
 
 Collars require the greatest attention and nicety in fitting, 
 for they must not only fit well, but exactly if too long, they 
 are as bad as if they were too short, too wide, or too narrow ; 
 in each case sore shoulders are certainties. It follows, there- 
 fore, that, where more horses than one are kept, each should 
 have its own collar, which should be plainly marked inside, 
 so as to preclude the possibility of mistake. For private car- 
 riages they can be made as light and elegant as is compatible 
 with strength and safety ; but for long journeys or coach-work 
 they can scarcely have what the collar-makers call too much 
 stuff in them. 
 
 Before putting the collar on, the man who is about to do so 
 should put his knee into it and widen it a little ; few people 
 know what agony some horses suffer from having a narrow 
 collar brutally shoved over their eyes and ears, and the man 
 who invents a collar which could be opened at the 'top, and 
 closed again neatly when under the names strap, would be the 
 greatest benefactor to horses whose mission is harness. The 
 great difficulty about such a collar, and one which has never 
 been surmounted yet, is that it is impossible to make it keep 
 its shape, and it is more liable than all others to give sore 
 shoulders. A collar when on should lie flat on each side of 
 the horse's neck, with just room enough at the bottom for a 
 man's moderate-sized hand to go through. When taken off, the 
 collar should be well washed with soap and warm water and 
 thoroughly dried, ^ near a hot fire, before being again used. > 
 
 False collars, a flat piece of leather made to fit under the 
 actual collar, may be useful to protect a horse's shoulders for 
 the first time or two he is put into harness, and some horses 
 always require to wear one. Harness-makers have a formula 
 they sometimes make use of when measuring a horse for a 
 collar, and Messrs. Spence & Storrars, of Letham, Ladybank, 
 Fife, invented, about the year 1885, a horse-collar measurer, 
 which, in its arrangement of framework and movable pegs, 
 bears some resemblance to the configurator used by some 
 hatters to measure their customers for a hat. We know 
 
94 DRIVING. 
 
 nothing of the merits of this contrivance, but it is a self- 
 obvious fact that it is advisable, whenever practicable, for the 
 harness-maker to see the horse he is required to fit with a 
 collar. The straightness or obliquity of the animal's shoulders, 
 the width of chest, leanness or fleshiness of neck, and the con- 
 dition he is in at the time of measurement, are one and all matters 
 which to a greater or lesser degree demand particular attention. 
 
 The foregoing remarks apply almost exclusively to the 
 ordinary horse-collar, i.e. the stuffed one which is put on over 
 the horse's head ; but as we desire to impart as much informa- 
 tion as possible upon the subject of harness, we here make 
 mention of several inventions which have from time to time 
 been submitted to the horse-owning public. First of all comes 
 the zinc collar-pad of Mr. Dexter Curtis, 59 Tenby Street 
 North, Birmingham. 1 This contrivance 'for the prevention and 
 cure of horses' sore necks ' we quote the inventor's description 
 may be described as a sort of false collar of zinc. Mr. Curtis's 
 theory is, we believe, that when the horse gets warm, the moisture 
 acting upon the metal creates a sort of extempore zinc ointment, 
 the cooling and healing properties of which are well known. 
 
 The article manufactured by the Alpha Air Horse-Collar 
 Company, 9 Eagle Place, Piccadilly Circus, London, differs 
 from the collar in ordinary use in being filled with air instead 
 of stuffing. The prospectus claims for this invention the 
 following advantages among others : ' The pad being pliable 
 enables the horse to fit himself immediately to his collar in 
 draught ; it resists perspiration and is cool to the shoulders ; 
 it is lighter, and more durable than the ordinary collar ; it is 
 not more costly than the ordinary kind ; and it prevents sore 
 shoulders.' It is inflated through a small screw opening, some- 
 thing like that attached to a common air seat ; but there is 
 this peculiarity about it viz. : that when the screw is turned 
 so as to allow the air to escape, the collar partly refills itself 
 again. Several testimonials in favour of this collar are printed 
 on the prospectus, two of them being from Mr. Sangster, the 
 
 1 I strongly recommend these zinc collar-pads. ED. 
 
THE COACH-HOUSE, HARNESS-ROOM, ETC. 95 
 
 veterinary surgeon, and Messrs. Pickford, the well-known 
 carriers respectively. 
 
 Lastly, we come to the patent of the Elastic Horse- Collar 
 Company, 72 Summer Row, Birmingham. The prospectus 
 gives the following description of the new collar, which, we 
 may mention, is made of thin steel : 
 
 The collar may be described as a hollow pair of hames enlarged 
 to the size of an ordinary collar, and fitting the horse's shoulder 
 like an ordinary collar, but in an improved manner. It is composed 
 of two similar halves, with their necessary- connections, formed of 
 thin steel plates forged into U shape, and is provided with rigid 
 fastenings at top and bottom, thus enabling the collar to be opened 
 on pressing a spring catch at the throat, and then easily put on or 
 taken off a horse's neck, avoiding the necessity of forcing the collar 
 over the horse's head, and greatly facilitating the disengagement of 
 the collar when a horse falls. 
 
 The draught-hooks (which may be replaced by rings or any 
 other appliance to suit existing harness) are attached to the outer 
 and front flanges of the sides of the collar, which are strengthened 
 with internal springs of U shape, and have a considerable degree 
 of elasticity, rendering the collar remarkably easy to the animal's 
 shoulders, and greatly relieving the shock incident to sudden and 
 heavy draught. The elastic steel collars may be readily adjusted 
 to the horse's shoulders, and once fitted never alter their shape ; 
 and presenting a smooth surface galvanised with zinc, they prac- 
 tically extend the advantages of the zinc pad, which has been in 
 use for some years with such good results, all over the collar. The 
 pull is distributed over a large surface of the shoulders, and does 
 not come wholly on the outer edge, as is often the case with the 
 ordinary leather collar. They are always dry, and comfortable, 
 and fit for immediate use. They are invaluable for horses with 
 tender skin, enabling them to work with comfort where, with ordi- 
 nary collars, they would be continually under treatment for galls. 
 The collars are lighter, stronger, cheaper, cleaner, and more com ; - 
 fortable than leather collars. All parts are interchangeable, and, 
 in the event of any part being damaged or worn out, it can be at 
 once replaced at a nominal cost. The hames of ordinary collars 
 are occasionally pulled out of their places, but as hames are not 
 used with the elastic steel collars, that dangerous occurrence cannot 
 happen. The collars are in use by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, 
 
96 DRIVING. 
 
 Tramway, Omnibus and Railway Companies, brewers, maltsters, 
 S:c. They are approved by the Society for the Prevention of 
 .Cruelty to Animals and by eminent veterinary surgeons, and in no 
 single instance where the collars have been used have they failed 
 to gain approval, and to establish their superiority over those 
 hitherto in use. 
 
 In connection with the above, and a few other new inven- 
 tions which will be noticed in the course of this chapter, it 
 must be understood that we do not claim to have tried them 
 (unless otherwise specified), or to have formed any opinion 
 concerning their merits or demerits. We have let the inventors 
 tell their own story for the benefit of those who may see fit to 
 try them ; and notice of the various patents has been made 
 simply and solely with the view of making this portion of the 
 book as complete as possible, and of bringing it down to date ; 
 though at the same time we do not pretend to include every- 
 thing which ingenious and sometimes unpractical man has 
 invented. 
 
 Kicking-straps are most useful in all kinds of single-harness 
 work ; but the attempts which have from time to time been 
 made to apply them to double harness have generally resulted 
 in failure. A horse that requires a cradle or kicking- strap in 
 double harness is not fit to be put to a gentleman's carriage, but 
 should be relegated to omnibus, van, or coach work, where, with 
 a good thick elm-board behind him, he may let fly to his heart's 
 content without doing much damage except to his own hocks. 
 In single harness a kicking-strap is useful in more ways than one : 
 it need not be heavy-looking, and must not be put on tight ; if 
 so it is worse than useless, and will make a horse kick, instead 
 of preventing him from doing so. If properly fixed it will at 
 once stop almost any horse who jumps up from play or from 
 vice, when the sharp application of the whip over his ears a 
 few times will quickly bring him to his senses again. Should 
 a horse slip up, either in a two- or four-wheeled vehicle, the 
 strap will help to keep him from getting his hind legs over the 
 shaft. They are also ornamental as well as useful, for they im- 
 
THE COACH-HOUSE, HARNESS-ROOM, ETC. 97 
 
 prove the appearance of the horse by removing the unfurnished 
 look about his quarters ; and, as they can be made at the same 
 time very light and very strong, it is always the safest plan 
 to use them ; for, as the phrase goes, ' It is better to be 
 sure than sorry.' Some gentlemen boast that they carry the 
 kicking-strap in the horse's mouth. This may be the profi- 
 ciency of a few, but such exquisite hands are not vouchsafed to 
 all men. Good hands are no doubt a great prevention against 
 kicking, as may be often seen ; horses that invariably kick both 
 in saddle and harness with men very seldom misbehave them- 
 selves when ridden or driven by women. Kicking-straps, then, 
 especially in London, should be looked upon as articles of 
 necessity. Some breechings are made to fit so well that they 
 act almost as efficiently, and with the addition of a short strap 
 do so perfectly, and have the additional advantage in a four- 
 wheel carriage that they help the horse considerably when going 
 downhill, or pulling up sharply. 
 
 Blinkers are objected to by some people on various grounds, 
 but in London and all large towns, like bearing-reins and kick- 
 ing-straps, the advantages they present are considerable and 
 numerous ; if properly fitted, they do not prevent a horse from 
 seeing what is meeting him, which is really all he requires to 
 see, but they do obstruct from his view many things that might 
 alarm him that are going on behind, such as whips, sticks, 
 umbrellas being flourished about, another horse being hit, &c. 
 
 Harness adapted to all tastes and purposes, and to all 
 pockets, can be obtained almost anywhere now in London or 
 the provinces ; and a good harness-maker will, as a rule, supply 
 what he thinks best suited to his customers, their carriages, and 
 horses. The multiplicity of crests, badges, bosses, &c., which 
 well-nigh hide all the leather used to make State harness, can 
 only be known to those who belong to the trade; if plenty of show 
 be required, the matter had best be left in professional hands. 
 It is in connection with pair-horse harness for a T-cart, a victoria, 
 or other light carriage, especially if for a lady to drive, that 
 the mistakes often begin. In harness of this description all that 
 
98 DRIVING. 
 
 is required is sufficient strength, combined with perfect plain- 
 ness, simplicity, and neatness ; there should, therefore, be no 
 trace-bearers or ' lion-straps,' as they are sometimes called ; no 
 drops with crests on the forehead, no cloths under the pads ; 
 while caps with crests on the top of the collars look clumsy on 
 light harness. The reins should be of good tan colour, no 
 black coupling ends or white hand-pieces, but the ordinary tan 
 rein from end to end ; the coupling reins should be long, the 
 buckles coming to within eighteen inches of the hands when 
 the horses are going. They should be flat round reins are 
 not safe and all buckles should be oblong, not rounded off at 
 the end which the tongue lies on ; for if they are they will soon 
 wear out the traces, reins, or whatever else they are used with. 
 The blinkers should be nearly square, with just the corners 
 slightly rounded off; the pads should be light, narrow, and 
 flat not pitched upon high stuffing and must be made to fit 
 the backs accurately ; when put on they must be buckled firmly 
 (not tightly), so as not to sway about ; their sitting closely will 
 add to their good appearance and prevent sore backs. The 
 necessity for perfectly well-fitting collars has been already 
 pointed out. 
 
 Whips to a four in-hand coachman are what a good fly-rod 
 is to a fisherman ; they should be perfectly balanced, made of 
 well- seasoned holly, yew, or blackthorn (the latter being the 
 most difficult to get), the stick as nearly five feet long as 
 possible, and the thong ten feet. 1 The stick should be pliable, 
 not stiff, yet strong enough to use in a gale of wind, and the 
 thong made of the best horse-hide to match the weight and 
 strength of the stick. Many of the whips sold in the shops are 
 too long in the stick, and will be found to exceed the measure- 
 ment here suggested as the best. Until the novice has acquired 
 a certain amount of proficiency in ' catching ' his whip and in 
 using it, there is no harm in his having his thong slightly heavy 
 
 1 If the stick is five feet long, nine feet six inches is ample length for the 
 thong. Indeed, ten feet I consider better. Double the length of the stick and 
 no whipcord point B. 
 
THE COACH-HOUSE, HARNESS-ROOM, ETC. 99 
 
 in proportion to the stick ; while, if the latter has a convenient 
 knot just below the quill, his maiden attempts at catching his 
 whip will be facilitated. A very little soft soap rubbed on the 
 thong will make it rather more pliable and easy to manage ; but 
 when some progress has been made, these aids to beginners 
 should be promptly dispensed with. A few leather points should 
 always be carried, which can easily be plaited on ; nothing 
 is so bad, especially in wet weather, as whipcord. A jointed 
 whip, strapped on a board, should also be kept in every coach. 
 Single and pair-horse whips are sometimes made of other 
 materials, but the holly, yew, and blackthorns are best. They 
 are made in all sorts and sizes, suitable to every purpose. 
 
 DRIVING APPLIANCES : POLES, POLE-CHAINS, POLE- 
 HEADS, POLE-PIECES, RELEASING-GEAR, AND TRACE- 
 BOLTS. 
 
 Poles must, of course, be made of the very best well- 
 seasoned ash, not the slightest flaw being allowed, or else some 
 fearful accident sooner or later is sure to occur. In most 
 private pair-horse carriages they are made much too long, and 
 this only impairs their strength. It is not, however, of so 
 much importance as in a coach, where a long pole necessitates 
 the leaders being put to too far from their work, which not 
 only decreases their motive power, but also gives them a better 
 chance of snapping the pole should any accident occur. The 
 average length of a coach-pole should be from ten feet eight 
 inches to ten feet ten inches. 
 
 The best pole-chains are those one end of which is fastened 
 to a langet frequently called a bridle which slips over the 
 end of the pole-hook, and fits into its place at the end of the 
 polehead, the other end of the pole-chain having a long hook. 
 This langet being continually on the move, keeps the horses' 
 shoulders fresh ; whereas the fixed langet, to which the pole- 
 chains are fastened by rivets and nuts, gives no play at all, and 
 is also dangerous, insomuch that nuts and rivets must wear 
 in time. When a nut gets loose the pole-chain drops off, and 
 
 H 2 
 
ioo DRIVING. 
 
 then where are you ? Pole-pieces are in most frequent use in 
 pair-horse carriages, except mail-phaetons, of all descriptions. 
 They should be made of the best tanned, soundest leather, and 
 be kept perfectly clean, soft and dry, otherwise they will soon 
 become rotten and dangerous. 
 
 The same reason which induced us to make mention of 
 some new collars, leads, at this stage, to a notice of some in- 
 ventions in connection with poles, pole-chains, and shafts. 
 The sight of a fallen horse is, unfortunately, by no means 
 uncommon in London and other large towns ; nor will the 
 spectator forget how great is the difficulty in releasing the horse 
 from the carriage. To render this an operation of greater ease 
 several contrivances have been invented. One of the earliest, 
 we believe, is the Reliance Slip Link, patented by Messrs. 
 Bezer & Thomas, and now manufactured and sold by the 
 Phoenix Metal Die Co., Princes Street, Stamford Street, E.G. 
 This is used at the end of the pole-chain, instead of the ordi- 
 nary hook. When a horse falls, the pole-chain or pole-piece 
 is often drawn so tight that neither hook nor buckle can be 
 unfastened ; but if the slip link be used, pressure on a spring 
 releases the catch, the chain comes away at once, and the horse 
 can be then detached from the vehicle. Another candidate 
 for public patronage is Mr. F. Lacey (4 Price's Folly, Cooper's 
 Arms Lane, Putney, London, S.W.), who, in order to facilitate 
 the release of fallen horses, invented a ' pole-head slip,' which 
 is fashioned on this wise. At the pole-head, in lieu of the 
 ordinary link or loop for the reception of pole-chain or pole- 
 piece respectively, are two brass or gun-metal branches at right 
 angles to the pole ; and at the extremity of the latter is a screw 
 something like the breech-piece of a punt gun. To release a 
 horse, unscrew the head ; the branches come away, and the 
 hor-je is free. 
 
 An invention especially applicable to pole-pieces is that of 
 Mr. Craddock (370 Gray's Inn Road, King's Cross). Instead 
 of a buckle, this pole-piece has a tongue passing beneath a 
 loop, and a small peg passing through the pole-piece fits into 
 
THE COACH-HOUSE, 
 
 a hole in the tongue, which it holds fast To disengage a 
 fallen horse, it is merely necessary to withdraw the peg. The 
 same inventor has an extraordinary appliance for single 
 harness. The pad is, in this case, the seat of the apparatus. 
 The back-band is divided, and the crupper-strap, instead of 
 being attached to the pad in the ordinary way, is provided, as are 
 both ends of the back-band, with leather tongues and brass 
 loops. The pad, strengthened with metal, is perforated at each 
 side and at the back to receive these three ends, which, when 
 in place, are all pierced by a single bolt which fits into the pad 
 behind the bearing-rein hook. When the horse falls, the with- 
 drawal of the bolt on the pad releases the back -band and crupper. 
 Woolnough's (2 Elizabeth Street, Eaton Square, London, S.W.) 
 Liberator Roller and Trace- Bolt seeks to compass the same end 
 by the head of the bolt being movable, and screwing into a socket 
 formed in the shank, so that, by unscrewing the head, the trace 
 can be slipped off in case of accident. In addition to the 
 foregoing, Mr. J. S. Waller, of Whitchurch, Salop, has patented 
 a new Trace-Bolt, which can be used in double or single 
 harness. In the latter case, the eye of the trace, instead of 
 being longitudinal in form, is merely a round hole, through 
 which a brass peg goes, fitting into a slot ; on pulling a spring 
 the peg is withdrawn, and the trace falls out ; the principle is 
 the same in the double-harness arrangement ; but the absence 
 of shafts necessitates the bolt being fitted to the splinter-bar. 
 In referring to these contrivances, we repeat that we do so 
 without any knowledge save in the case of Waller's trace-bolts 
 of their working. To one and all of these appliances 
 objection may be taken. One may be too complicated ; 
 another, though excellent in theory, may prove unworkable in 
 practice ; some may be thought unsightly ; in others defective 
 mechanism may be the weak point ; while the coachman of 
 olden days may disapprove the whole collection through a 
 hatred to ' newfangled notions.' The inventions noted in the 
 preceding pages, however, are but samples of the innumerable 
 patents taken out in connection with harness and stable 
 
tta: : DRIVING. 
 
 appliances. Bits to stop pullers are almost countless. A few 
 years ago a sailor invented what he called a ' horse subjugator,' 
 for the speedy and effectual checking of runaways. This was 
 simply a modified garotte. In lieu of rings for bearing-reins 
 were a couple of blocks through which was rove a line which 
 came to the hand of the driver. Should the horse happen to 
 bolt, the coachman had simply to take up his cord rein, give it 
 a lusty jerk, and hang on with all his might until the horse was 
 sufficiently near strangulation to stop. Then there was the 
 electric anti-crib-biting manger, which gave a galvanic shock to 
 the horse on his attempting to seize the manger with his teeth. 
 In short, an interesting book might be written concerning inven- 
 tions in relation to horses and stables, and the failures which 
 have waited upon a vast expenditure of time and money. 
 
 BREAKS. 
 
 Breaks are looked upon by the old school of coachmen as 
 innovations, not always of the very best kind ; they (the old 
 coachmen) were accustomed to keep time with heavy loads, 
 through all weathers, having only the assistance of a good 
 skid or slipper and an active guard, and they rather scorn 
 this extraneous assistance. There is no doubt, however, that 
 the patent breaks are very frequently of immense use ; they 
 have prevented scores of accidents by helping to stop horses 
 when they meant going, or when they began any other of 
 their little games ; they have saved many a poor wheeler's 
 legs going down hills, and have oftentimes been of untold 
 service to a coachman whose 'arms were beginning to go.' 
 Yet some at least of the 'old school' decline to recognise the 
 merits of the comparatively new invention. For example, Mr. 
 Birch Reynardson, the author of ' Down the Road,' writes, ' I 
 have seen a coachman pull up his horses at the famed White 
 Horse Cellar with his reins in two hands, and then put on his 
 " patent break," I suppose to stop his coach, lest his horses 
 should move on, which in olden days they were not much 
 
THE COACH-HOUSE, HARNESS-ROOM, ETC. 103 
 
 inclined to do, after they had done their ten miles an hour, 
 with " twelve out and four in " and luggage in proportion.' Why 
 the invention of the patent break should not have been received 
 with a shout of universal approval, it is difficult to tell, unless 
 indeed it was that English coachmen would not take kindly to 
 a French invention. The oldest of the old school would not 
 object to using well-fitting harness and easy bits in order that 
 the horses might go with comfort to themselves ; nor would 
 they, when going uphill, add needlessly to the draught by 
 picking out all the soft, broken, or stony parts of the road. 
 That being so, why on earth should they affect to deride a 
 mechanical contrivance which lessens the strain on a horse's 
 limbs when descending a hill ? 
 
 It has been said, and truly, that in inexperienced hands they 
 are made a great deal too much use of, and generally at the 
 wrong time ; for nothing looks so bad, or uncoachmanlike, as 
 to put on the break at every little decline on the road, or when 
 pulling up at the end of the stage, which performance may be 
 too often seen at Hatchett's. This, however, is scarcely a fair 
 argument against the break. That it can be abused is unques- 
 tionable, and it is equally a fact that the continual abuse of it 
 has manufactured more bad coachmen, and more wheelers that 
 won't even try to stop a coach, than can possibly be believed. 
 But whips and curb-bits are also open to abuse ; yet no one 
 has advised that all coachmen should drive their horses in 
 snaffles, or, like a famous tandem-driver who could never 
 master the use of a whip, leave that implement behind, and 
 employ a pea-shooter instead 1 Moreover, a break may come 
 in useful in the event of a pole breaking, or on some unlooked- 
 for emergency. 
 
 So far as can be ascertained, the earliest form of skid was 
 that which required some one to alight to put it on and take it 
 off ; the next step was the skid which, by means of a line and 
 crank, the coachman could himself put on and take off ; and 
 some got so clever at taking it off that they would drive over 
 any little unevenness and jerk the skid off when the coach 
 
104 DRIVING. 
 
 jumped. With respect to the invention of this line and crank 
 break there is, or was a few years ago, in the bar of the Black 
 Horse Inn, Exeter, a great earthenware jug capacious enough to 
 hold nearly a dozen of champagne, and on this Brobdingnagian 
 vessel is an inscription to the effect that it was presented to a 
 certain Paul Collings, by coachmen and others, as a sort of 
 thankoffering for having devised this particular form of break. 
 This Paul Collings was a little eight- stone man who once used 
 to drive a coach between Exeter and Plymouth, and was at 
 work about fifty or sixty years ago. The writer of this chapter 
 has seen the jug, and heard the story from the old coachman's 
 son, the landlord of the inn in question but in other quarters 
 the invention has been ascribed to different people. Paul 
 Collings, senior, once created no small sensation on the road 
 by crawling into the front boot during a heavy shower of rain. 
 He had no passengers at the time, and no coachman being 
 visible, it was thought that the horses had started off by them- 
 selves. A horseman gave chase, and after a long ride was not 
 very well pleased at seeing the little man's head appear out of 
 the boot ! 
 
 We believe that about twenty-five years ago a break was 
 invented which acted automatically directly the holding back 
 of the horses put pressure upon the pole ; but the plan did 
 not answer. Then there was a further tribute to science when 
 Mr. E. Onslow-Secker, who drove his coach, 'The Quicksilver,' 
 from Folkestone to Canterbury, invented a break, which ap- 
 peared to answer every purpose, for it can be applied or taken 
 off either by hand or foot, and is powerful enough almost to 
 skid the wheels. 
 
IDS 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE COST OF A CARRIAGE. 
 
 BY ALFRED E. T. WATSON. 
 
 is the object of this chapter to give, 
 so far as is possible, some practical 
 information as to the cost of keeping 
 a carriage. Everything depends, it 
 
 need hardly be said, upon the sort of carriages that it is pro- 
 posed to keep, and also upon the manner in which they are 
 kept ; and over this expenditure the judicious master will 
 exercise much control if he cares to give a little attention to 
 the subject. Many men order their carriages to the door, 
 hasten out when they are ready to start, jump in, and are 
 driven off at once ; and unless it chances that masters such 
 as these have those treasures of servants which are not very 
 common, it is probable that their coachmaker's bills will be 
 high. Too often the servants, knowing what little attention 
 
106 DRIVING. 
 
 their master pays to his carnage, are careless and neglectful ; 
 the carriage is either not washed at all, or it is only half done. 
 The under part and corners are scamped. Dirt means wear, 
 and it is thus expensive to keep dirty carriages. 
 
 The sensible master, on the other hand, when his carriage 
 is announced, makes time to walk round and examine the vehicle 
 and harness, and the consequence is that the coachman, know- 
 ing that shortcomings will be noticed and mentioned, does his 
 own work and takes care to see that the men under him do 
 theirs. The master has his reward when the bill comes in, 
 and finds that the few minutes he has bestowed upon his be- 
 longings have been highly remunerative. 
 
 Most persons who keep one carriage choose a waggonette 
 if for country use, or a brougham for town. The former, as 
 remarked in a previous chapter, is a comparatively modern 
 invention that is to say, it has only been in use some forty years. 
 Of late years it has extensively taken the place of the phaeton, 
 and is in many respects a more convenient carriage for general 
 use perhaps the most convenient that could be desired, though 
 it is never wise to suggest that finality has been reached. The 
 waggonette may be of any size, for one horse or two ; access to 
 the body of the vehicle is easy, for the steps behind can be 
 arranged in any way that is suitable, the seats can be made to 
 fold down so that the carriage may be used for the conveyance 
 of large quantities of luggage and a great advantage a hood 
 can be constructed for use when needed, the addition being 
 kept in the coach-house slung on pulleys so as to be readily 
 lowered and fitted or raised. Thus fitted, the waggonette 
 becomes a sort of miniature omnibus. With carriages, as with 
 so many other things, it pays best in the long run to get a 
 thoroughly well made vehicle from a good maker. With luck 
 it is often possible to pick up a sound and serviceable article 
 second hand, and if this be overhauled and approved by an 
 expert, money can doubtless be saved ; but such chances, if 
 they come, are outside the range of our present enquiry. A 
 waggonette of first-class manufacture, well, but not expensively, 
 
THE COST OF A CARRIAGE. 107 
 
 fitted, will cost about 80 guineas for a single horse or 1 20 guineas 
 for a pair ; let us strike an average and say zoo/. To estimate 
 the cost of a horse we are now endeavouring to show how a 
 carriage can be most economically kept, and so imagine that 
 a single horse only is in question is a difficult business to 
 approach with anything like precision, because horses vary so 
 much in price, and it may be added the most costly, unless 
 bought with judgment, are often worth least. It may be said, 
 however, that a man ought to be able to get a sound and 
 sufficiently good-looking beast to draw his waggonette for 4o/., 
 perhaps less. Single-horse harness may be put down at 8/. 
 to io/., and the requisites for a stable at i2/. ; we are imagin- 
 ing that an empty coach-house and stable have to be stocked 
 and put into going order. 
 
 Into this question, however, we may go a little more closely, 
 as the present chapter is intended to be thoroughly practical. 
 What are the requisites, it may be asked is there anything 
 besides a pail, a few brushes, and a curry-comb ? A gentleman 
 who was inexperienced in horse-keeping would probably be 
 surprised at the number of things for which the coachman 
 asked him, when directed to furnish the stable, and we give a 
 detailed list of the articles which the master of a single horse 
 may reasonably be requested to provide if his carriage is to 
 be turned out properly. The prices are appended. In some 
 cases a few shillings might be temporarily saved, but in this, as 
 in so many other matters, the best articles are the cheapest 
 in the long run. Thus, a cheap brush is thrown down, 
 and the back comes off at once ; it is used, and the bristles 
 come out ; but the well-made brush stands wear. Our list 
 includes : 
 
 One set of shoebrushes, los. 6d. ; three leathers, js. 6d. ; two 
 sponges, io.y. ; one body brush, 6s. 6d. ; one curry-comb, is. ; one 
 spoke brush, 5^. 6d. ; two water brushes, <)s. ; one dandy brush, 2s. ; 
 one crest brush, 4^. ; one set of boot-top brushes, Js. 6d. ; one inside 
 carriage brush, 6^. 6d. ; one hoof brush, 2s. 6d. ; one gate scrubber, 
 6^. 6d. ; one scraper, 2s. gd. ; one mane comb, 2s. 6d. ; one trimming 
 comb, is. ; one pair of scissors, 5-$-. 6d. ; one picker, is. 6d. ; two oil 
 
loS DRIVING. 
 
 tins, 3J. ; one stable broom, 3^. ; one cane basket (large), 4-y. ; one 
 fork, 3^. 6d. ; one corn sieve, 2s. 6d. ; one measure, is. ; one shovel, 
 3-r. ; one hair broom, 43. 6d. ; half bushel of sand, is. 6d. ; one keg of 
 olive oil soap, y. 6d. ; one flask of oil, is. ; one steel burnisher, 4^. 6d. ; 
 one brand for brushes, 5.$-. 6d. ; one stall brush, $s. ; one box boot-top 
 powder, 8d. ; six white rubbers, gs. ; six dusters, 4^. 6d. ; one bronze 
 brass staff, is. ; one pair of clogs, ns.6d. ; two bottles of blacking, 
 2s. ; Total, 87. 4^. $d. Horse clothing makes up about the I2/. 
 named. 
 
 A suitable and competent groom will be well paid with 
 5<D/. a year, and the livery may be estimated at io/. ; horse's 
 keep, supposing that its owner has to buy all he wants, and 
 procures it under ordinary circumstances, may be put down 
 at i6s. a week, or 40!. a year, though it will be understood 
 that the price of forage varies. Every contingency cannot be 
 considered. Veterinary surgeons' bills may or may not be an 
 item, but the blacksmith will have to be paid for shoeing the 
 horse. The carriage will need attention, concerning which 
 there is a good deal to be said. 
 
 The cost of repairs is affected by many considerations 
 apart from the question of accidents. Much depends upon 
 the owners and those who use the -carriage, much on the 
 coachman, and a great deal on the coach-house and stabling, 
 their arrangements and condition and the conveniences pro- 
 vided ; the state of the roads, the climate, and the effect of sea 
 breezes have also to be considered ; and, again, if the coach- 
 house be subject to the shade and drop of overhanging trees, 
 the carriage is influenced. Another question is the frequency 
 with which the vehicle is used. Some owners want a carriage 
 to go out two or three times or oftener every day, others two 
 or three times a week, and in the former case it may happen 
 that during the whole dirty and muddy six months of an 
 English winter the carriage is never really dry and clean. It 
 need scarcely be said that excessive use means wear and ex- 
 pense for repairs. Visits to balls and operas in the London 
 season are detrimental to carriages, for on returning at a very 
 
THE COST OF A CARRIAGE. 109 
 
 late hour of the night, it is scarcely reasonable to expect the 
 coachman to look after his carriage thoroughly, so that it is 
 likely to remain for hours sodden with a poultice of mud, and 
 London mud is so composed as to severely injure highly var- 
 nished surfaces. 
 
 Assuming that a carriage a brougham, landau, or victoria 
 is reasonably used and properly cared for, the cost of repairs 
 during the first twelve months should be limited to the trivial 
 expenses of oiling the wheels, &c., once every three months, 
 together with a small outlay for blacking the treads of steps. 
 Considerably less than 5/. would handsomely pay for all this. 
 The second year the amount would be doubled, or even 
 trebled ; the third or fourth year the carriage would probably 
 require new painting, and this, with other incidental repairs, 
 might amount to 4o/. or 507. A new lining would be required 
 some two years later, and the expenses of this, with new leather 
 work, would amount to rather more than the cost of new paint- 
 ing. These figures are, of course, purely approximate. Really 
 well-built carriages often run for years without needing any 
 further attention than casual repairs to wheels ; on the other 
 hand, excessive work, rough usage and exposure will ruin a 
 carriage very quickly. 
 
 London, it should be remarked, is both the best and the 
 worst place to buy carriages. The great London builders 
 turn out their productions with a finish which is rarely ap- 
 proached by country makers ; indeed, the best firms frequently 
 build carriages which are really works of art in their grace of 
 form and harmony of proportion. On the other hand, makers 
 of small or of no reputation will sometimes, by the aid of 
 paint and varnish, make the wreck of a carriage look exceed- 
 ing smart and so beguile the unwary. They never expect pro- 
 bably under the circumstances never want to see their customer 
 again ; whereas the builder who supplies a carriage to some 
 one who lives in his neighbourhood knows that it will be an 
 object of criticism for a number of years, and if anything proves 
 to be radically wrong his reputation will be injured. 
 
I io DRIVING. 
 
 Thus, putting down 2o/. a year as an approximate sum for 
 shoeing, veterinary attendance, repairs, and making good gene- 
 rally, it may be roughly but approximately stated that with an 
 original outlay of i6o/. and at an annual charge of i2o/. a 
 man may set up and completely keep a waggonette and one 
 horse. 
 
 A word of caution must here be said with reference to 
 waggonettes, and indeed to other carriages which are indifferently 
 made for one horse or for two. It not seldom happens that 
 carriages which are fitted with shafts and pole are not in reality 
 broad enough for two horses. The result is likely to be 
 dangerous if a pair be driven ; for when the animals trot, and 
 more so when they gallop, their hind feet in consequence 
 of the narrowness of the carriage will very probably strike 
 against the wheel ; moreover, when the roads are wet and 
 dirty, a continual shower of mud is thrown up on to the hind 
 quarters of the horses, just beneath their tails. If one of these 
 things does not alarm the horses, it is probable that the other 
 will, and with both combined the chances of the animals either 
 starting off kicking or else bolting are very great. If they 
 kick, damage will be done either to the horse or carriage, or 
 both ; if they bolt, the hind feet hit the trap at the gallop 
 harder than they did at the trot, the mud is thrown with in- 
 creased violence, and the cost of a carriage is likely to be 
 supplemented by the purchase of a new pair of horses and the 
 payment of a doctor's bill. 
 
 In London the single carriage will probably be a brougham 
 possibly a victoria ; but if it is a choice between the two 
 there is little reason to be influenced by pecuniary considera- 
 tion. The cost of keep is, as a rule, greater for a London 
 than for a country carriage. In the country it is most likely 
 that to a residence the owner of which is likely to find a 
 carriage essential a coach-house is attached. Highly rented 
 London houses are very frequently without this adjunct, and 
 so stable room, standing in a coach-house, and groom's apart- 
 ment have to be hired in some convenient mews. A horse 
 
THE COST OF A CARRIAGE. in 
 
 thus standing at livery will cost more than the country animal. 
 Indeed, all round the expenses are higher, especially as a 
 more showy animal will probably be required for town work. 
 A brougham, as we have seen in a previous chapter, may be 
 anything, from a light specimen of the single variety drawn 
 by one horse to a sort of small chariot fitted with shafts for 
 a single horse or pole for a pair, as the case may be. Having 
 regard to economy, we will take the one-horse brougham, a 
 well-built specimen of which, to hold four at a pinch by 
 raising the small hinged seat in front, will cost about 150 
 guineas. The price of the harness will, of course, depend 
 upon its nature, whether silver, brass, leather-covered buckles, 
 or what not. What is regarded as London style is not neces- 
 sarily more expensive than country utility ; but perhaps we shall 
 do well to put down the harness at 12 guineas. It may be 
 that a 4<D/. horse will fulfil its owner's modest ambition and 
 answer all practical requirements ; we shall do wisely, how- 
 ever, in setting aside 80 guineas for the preliminary outlay, 
 amounting altogether for brougham, horse, and harness to 
 about 250 guineas. The wages of the London coachman, 
 who has to provide for himself out of his master's house, may 
 be put at ioo/. with livery a year, and the livery-stable-keeper's 
 bill for horse and carriage at 55/. ; the necessary charges for 
 repairs, shoeing, &c., may be averaged at 20 guineas. It there- 
 fore appears that the cost of a London equipage, neither ex- 
 travagantly nor parsimoniously bought and managed, amounts 
 to 250 guineas in the first instance, and to about 180 guineas 
 annually. Broughams of course vary in price according to 
 their nature. We have spoken of a serviceable ' family ' carriage, 
 but a miniature brougham may be had for from 90 guineas 
 to 1 60 guineas ; a segmental carriage for one horse to carry 
 three inside, from ioo guineas to 170 guineas; a double 
 brougham, still for one horse, to carry four, from 105 guineas to 
 190 guineas; and a pair-horse brougham on iron perch, with 
 C and under springs and leather braces, from 135 guineas to 
 240 guineas. 
 
ii2 DRIVING. 
 
 It may not be out of place here to remark that many per- 
 sons prefer jobbing to keeping their own carriages, and the 
 former is not without advantages. A brougham can be thus 
 obtained for about 40!. a year, and if the contract be made for 
 five years, the carriage at the end of the time becomes the 
 property of the hirer. For a suitable horse about 5o/. a year 
 will be asked, but this does not include coachman nor keep. 
 A jobmaster will supply a well-turned-out brougham, painted 
 as the hirer wishes, a servant in livery, forage, shoeing, and, in 
 short, every necessity, for about 220 guineas a year. The man 
 is not the hirer's own servant, and that may be inconvenient ; 
 it is, on the contrary, an important part of the bargain that, if 
 the horse chosen falls ill, another will be supplied ; whereas, if a 
 horse which is one's own property is laid up, there is nothing 
 for it but to wait until he is well again or get another. For 
 any accident for which the hirer is not directly and obviously 
 responsible he is not held liable. 
 
 A brougham, a victoria, or a waggonette, may be put down 
 as the cheapest form of carriage procurable for general pur- 
 poses. If the purchaser desires something more choice, he 
 must pay accordingly. Thus for a phaeton he will probably 
 want a horse with a good deal more style than the animal that 
 does quite well enough for the waggonette or for unpreten- 
 tious work in a brougham that is made for use and not for 
 show. Fancies as to action, colour, match, or other pecu- 
 liarities, must be paid for at fancy prices ; and so it is difficult 
 to say what the sort of horse required by a fastidious master 
 will cost. A thoroughly well-made phaeton, however, on 
 elliptic springs, with shifting seats, and in all respects well 
 furnished and fitted, will cost 130 guineas ; if on perch and 
 mail springs, about 140 guineas. 
 
 A single-horse landau to carry four may be estimated at 
 150 guineas ; it may be had for two-thirds of the price, and 
 turned out in first-rate style will amount to 200 guineas ; 
 landaus for two horses range in price from 150 guineas to 
 250 guineas. A barouche on C and under springs cannot be 
 
THE COST OF A CARRIAGE. 
 
 obtained from a first-class London maker under 200 guineas, 
 and may be much more expensive according to style ; the 
 carriage must not only be well horsed, but is necessarily accom- 
 panied by a footman, whose wages and maintenance scarcely 
 come within the scope of the present inquiry. In considering 
 the expenses of landaus and barouches (the light coach is a 
 few guineas cheaper than a pair-horsed landau), it may be 
 comprehensively said that neither can be handsomely started 
 under 500 guineas, even if one pair only be kept, and such 
 
 A modest turn-out. 
 
 equipages may cost as much more as their owners like to spend 
 on them. 
 
 Though we began with considering the expenses of a 
 waggonette, there are of course far cheaper ' traps ' of various 
 descriptions. A neat little pony-cart may be bought for as 
 little as 1 8 guineas (ranging to 45 guineas), a pony may be 
 picked up for about as much. The groom-gardener often 
 looks after a little conveyance of this sort as a part of his daily, 
 work ; and so for 507. to begin with, and less than this a year, 
 a very useful little vehicle may be provided and kept. Pony- 
 
114 DRIVING. 
 
 gigs are rather more expensive, their price being from 25 
 guineas to double that sum. Polo gigs are somewhat more 
 finished, and may be estimated at from 30 guineas to 60 
 guineas. Dogcarts, for horses from 15 hands i inch to 16 
 hands, cost from 25 guineas to 60 guineas, tandem-carts from 
 40 guineas to 70 guineas, and gigs proper, stanhopes, tilburies, 
 and those varieties with lancewood or ash shafts, are from 
 50 guineas to 70 guineas. All these are two-wheeled. 
 
 Four-wheeled pony-carriages of the simplest kind without 
 heads may be bought from a good maker for as little as 
 28 guineas, ascending to 80 guineas ; with heads, for one pony 
 or a pair, from 60 guineas to 140 guineas. A light road phaeton 
 for one horse will cost from 40 guineas to twice that sum, and 
 T-carts for the same. Victorias, or as they are more properly 
 called Victoria phaetons, vary considerably according to manu- 
 facture. The cheapest kind begins at about 80 guineas ; if 
 fitted with C springs and other luxuries, they may come to as 
 much as 220 guineas. 
 
 We have now to speak of the coach, and we propose to go 
 into this question in detail, because some of the figures will 
 be generally serviceable as regards other vehicles and their 
 appointments. It is assumed that the master desires every- 
 thing to be turned out in a thoroughly efficient manner, with 
 no mistaken effort at economy, but on the other hand with no 
 unnecessary expenditure, and it may be remarked that the 
 figures here given are taken from an actual average, calculated 
 over a period of several years, of the cost of a coach belonging 
 to a member of the Four-in-Hand and Coaching Clubs. The 
 probability is that a coach will be wanted in London for the 
 four months of the season and will be used in the country 
 during the remaining eight months of the year. The original 
 cost of coach may be set down as 22o/., but it is impossible 
 to say what the team may cost, so much depending upon cir- 
 cumstances, and we shall, therefore, not speculate on this head. 
 As regards maintenance the figures follow. It will be seen that 
 six horses are included, for a spare leader and spare wheeler are 
 
THE COST OF A CARRIAGE. 115 
 
 almost essentials, and with the assistance of one other helper, 
 a couple more carriages, say a brougham and a phaeton, 
 which the coach-horses would work, might be kept without 
 additional expense. 
 
 * d. 
 
 Head coachman's wages . . . . 40 o o 
 
 Second coachman's wages . . . . 26 o o 
 
 Board wages for two coachmen . . . 80 o o 
 
 Helper 44 o o 
 
 Livery for two men . . . . . 34 o o 
 
 Six horses : eight months in country . . 136 o o 
 
 Six horses : four months in London . . 72 o o 
 
 Rent of six-stall stable in London . . 120 o o 
 Coals, stable tools, cleaning helpers' rooms, 
 
 and sundries 68 o o 
 
 Farrier's account for year . . . . 35 o o 
 
 Veterinary surgeon . . . . . 1 1 o o 
 
 Subscription to Veterinary College . . 220 
 
 Repairs to coach . . . . . . 20 o o 
 
 Repairs to harness . . . . . 10 o o 
 
 Clothing for six horses 40 o~~~O 
 
 738 2 o 
 Additional helper . . . . . 44 o o 
 
 782 2 o 
 
 The clothing appears a heavy item. It is doubtful whether 
 less than twelve rugs, twelve head-collars and shanks, and 
 eighteen sets of bandages would meet the requirements of 
 such a stable. The 4o/. quoted is the first cost of these things; 
 renewals would amount to rather less than half the sum. A 
 coach should last for twenty-five years, and a set of harness 
 allowing for repairs, new collars, &c. for about ten years. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 PART I. , 
 
 BY THE LATE MAJOR HENRY DlXON. 
 
 THIS chapter is designed to give a few hints, which long experi- 
 ence has suggested, to a young coachman who is anxious to 
 learn to drive. 
 
 Having ordered or bought your coach and harness both 
 very difficult proceedings, and in the selection of which I 
 should most strongly advise the very best advice that can be 
 procured the next thing is to get your team together, and to 
 do. the thing comfortably and well you should have half-a- 
 dozen horses, colour and size, of course, according to taste ; but 
 it would be well to have two good wheelers and two good 
 leaders, the spare two to be used as occasion requires in any 
 place in the coach. The sizing of the team will ever be a 
 vexed question, some preferring the wheelers to be higher than 
 the leaders, some that they should be all of the same height, 
 while others say the leaders should be the tallest. There can 
 be no great advantage or importance in any of these arrange- 
 
HINTS TO BEGINNERS. 117 
 
 ments ; but in putting a team together there is one sine qua non 
 which must never be lost sight of : you must put your strongest 
 horse near-wheel, because and this is my first reason the 
 near wheeler has the hardest place in the coach ; for as you 
 go along a road you are certain to meet more vehicles than you 
 overtake, for you must meet them all, but you can only over- 
 take those that are going slower than you are. Therefore, from 
 the usual conformation of roads, which are always higher in the 
 centre than the sides, every time you meet anything your coach 
 runs down to the near side, and the near-wheeler has to pull it 
 out again ; for the same reason the formation of the road 
 if there be any difference, the near-side horses, both leader and 
 wheeler, should be the tallest. 1 
 
 The length of the pole having been made to match the team, 
 or the team chosen to match the coach, the next thing is to 
 put them together ; and it must be always remembered that a 
 team well put together at first is half made at once. Altera- 
 tions will no doubt be necessary in the coupling reins, bitting, 
 &c., but if the traces and pole-chains are properly fittecT as re- 
 gards length at first, very slight changes need ever be made in 
 them afterwards. In nearly every road-coach, and in almost 
 all private drags of the present day, the horses, both leaders 
 and wheelers, are put very much too far from their work, in 
 most cases several inches, in many, without exaggeration, some 
 feet. The wheelers should be poled up so that they do not 
 come far enough back to touch the footboard when stopping 
 the coach or holding it back going downhill, but to place them 
 more than a foot beyond clear entails waste of power. The 
 leaders, when standing up to their collars, should be so far 
 in front of their bars that their tails, if long enough, should just 
 clear them when in action. Leaders' traces may be of equal 
 length, because the swinging of the bars rectifies any undue 
 strain, but the wheelers' inside traces should be what is called half 
 a hole shorter than the outside, because a wheeler naturally bends 
 
 1 In posting it is better to have the riding horse, who is near side, less tall 
 than the hand horse. B. 
 
Ii8 DRIVING. 
 
 a little towards the pole, and this brings greater pressure on the 
 outside trace. Great difficulty is often experienced, in even the 
 best-regulated establishments, in ensuring the shortest trace 
 being always put on the inside ; but by the use of French eyes 
 at the end of the wheel-traces, instead of the usual running 
 loop, the difficulty is at once overcome, the unsightliness of the 
 hanging end used to loosen the loop to take it off the roller- 
 bolt done away with, and the matter reduced to a certainty, 
 simply by having the French eye of the inside traces made too 
 small to go over the outside roller-bolt, which being in all 
 coaches, both public and private, and nearly all large carriages 
 of every description, made oblong in shape, is consequently 
 much larger than the perfectly round inside one, and it is there- 
 fore simply impossible to have the traces wrongly put on. 
 
 Most young coachmen having got together a good team, 
 bought a new coach and set of harness, having also mastered 
 the rudiments of driving four horses, catching the thong, &c., 
 consider that they have now nothing more to do than to jump 
 on the box and drive away ; but this is a great mistake. A 
 coachman, before he can be a good coachman, either amateur 
 or professional, should be able, not only to put his team 
 together, but to put the harness, although it had all been com- 
 pletely taken to pieces, properly together again. The latter 
 task is long and difficult for a beginner, who will be materially 
 assisted in the ultimate successful performance of it if he will 
 take notice of every strap and buckle, as he is driving along by 
 the side of his mentor in his preparatory lessons. To be able 
 to put the team in after the harness has been properly put on 
 the horses will be found a far less arduous business, although 
 it is an equally necessary accomplishment. 
 
 The first thing to do is to put the wheelers alongside the 
 pole. Their heads being close up to the pole-hook, fasten the 
 hook of the pole-chain into the ring of the kidney-link 1 to 
 
 1 I prefer running the pole-chain through the ring on the kidney-link, the 
 man at the horses' heads holding the pole-hook in his hand, the other hand 
 being at liberty to pull forward the horse that runs back. B. 
 
HINTS TO BEGINNERS. 119 
 
 prevent them running back, then back the horse until you can 
 put the outside trace, which must always be done first, on to 
 the roller-bolt ; next take the inside trace off his back, where it 
 has been laid, and reaching over behind his quarters slip 
 it on as quickly as you can; then pole up to the desired 
 length of chain, the hook of which must be pointed down- 
 wards, into the proper link. For town or park driving, horses 
 may be poled up mode- 
 rately short, but for fast 
 work, long journeys, or 
 road-coaches, the pole- 
 chains must have plenty 
 of play in them, or else 
 sore withers and nume- 
 rous other ailments will 
 ensue. The wheelers 
 
 Excitable Leaders. 
 
 must now be coupled. Next back your leaders into their places; 
 they had better be already coupled, and it is quite as safe, if 
 not safer, to run their reins through the wheelers' tenets before 
 their traces are put on. With excitable leaders this is some- 
 times absolutely indispensable. Some people lap their leaders' 
 traces, which means that one leader's inside trace laps round 
 the other leader's, and then returns to the cockeye of his 
 own bar ; others cross their traces, which is a modification 
 of the last plan, and means that the inside traces merely cross 
 each other and are then fastened to their companion's bar ; 
 others connect the leading bars with two or three short links of 
 
123 DRIVING. 
 
 chain, 1 but the greater number of the coachmen of the present 
 day are content to let each leader do his own work from his own 
 bar. The length of the reins must, of course, be regulated by 
 the size of the team and the coach they have to draw. Nothing 
 is more dangerous than to have them too short behind your 
 hands, as one of them might easily be dropped, while nc thing 
 looks so clumsy as to have a few feet dangling about your legs. 
 It may generally be taken as a safe length for the leaders' 
 coupling reins if the buckle comes back as nearly as possible 
 to within about six inches in front of tops of their tails, which 
 gives plenty of room to let them out or take them up, quite 
 as much as can ever be needed ; if they come farther back, 
 should a horse get his tail over, then the buckle will keep it 
 there, and the bars, and the wheeler's teeth behind him, will 
 be in danger ; if the couplings are shorter the buckles are con- 
 tinually liable to run through the terrets should a horse hang 
 back or plunge forward, one of the most dangerous positions 
 a coachman, however experienced, can possibly find himself in, 
 the command of his leaders being entirely lost. There is only 
 one remedy for this that I know of viz. running a short piece 
 of wood or metal through the buckles ; but it is very unsightly, 
 and if the couplings are measured as above described an acci- 
 dent of this description is almost impossible. The buckles of 
 the wheelers' reins should come up, when the horses are in 
 work, to about eight or ten inches from the left hand ; this 
 will give room enough to shorten them going downhill or in 
 case of sudden emergency, and they will not be too far away 
 to reach if the couplings require alteration. 2 
 
 The leaders' reins are generally passed through terrets on 
 
 1 This is a most foolish practice. It does no good, and if a leader kicks and 
 gets his leg through between the bars, one of them must be sawn through, and 
 the pole may be broken before that is accomplished. A strap is better because 
 it can be quickly cut, but there being no useful object in it the bars are better 
 left free. B. 
 
 2 It is essential to have the spare length of the crupper strap short enough 
 to go only just through the end loop, otherwise it will constantly happen that 
 the reins get under it, and one leader hanging back will bring the coach to 
 grief. B. 
 
HINTS TO BEGINNERS. 121 
 
 the sides of the wheelers' blinkers or throat-lash, the head 
 terrets being very seldom used nowadays (except for parade 
 purposes, or if a leader is in the habit of getting his tail over 
 his rein), which is a most decided improvement, as far as com- 
 fort goes, to both man and horse, though it may not be so im- 
 posing a fashion ; for, unless a wheeler is tightly borne up, every 
 time he throws his head up or down he gives a very disagree- 
 able check to the leaders' mouths and to the coachman's hands. 
 
 A very useful plan to prevent leaders' tails getting over the 
 reins (of course seldom, if ever, used in private coaches, 
 because it is not a pretty one, but one that it is always well to 
 be acquainted with, should flies or other annoyances make 
 them swing them a bit too gaily) is, just about half-way 
 between the couplings of the leader's draught rein and the head 
 terret of the wheeler on same side, to stitch on a plain ring, 
 pass the other leader's rein through this ring, and then, instead 
 of running the leaders' reins outside the wheelers' heads, run 
 them through the terrets on the inside, then through the top or 
 guiding terret on the wheelers' pads. The reins will then come 
 up to the hand as usual, but the ring on the leaders' reins will 
 keep them away from (because they will be inside of) their 
 tails, and prevent them getting their tails over. By putting the 
 ring nearer to the leaders' coupling buckle, suppose it to be 
 the near-side rein, it pulls the off-leader's, should he be the 
 delinquent, quite away from his quarters altogether and ensures 
 a certain amount of safety. Having, however, so to say, an 
 extra lever to pull at, it makes it harder work driving, but is a 
 good and simple method to prevent frequent stoppages and 
 possibly an occasional accident. 
 
 The breadth 1 of the reins is also a matter of much importance 
 and a good deal of controversy. Some coachmen, especially 
 those of the old school, maintain that an inch wide, tolerably 
 thick, is the proper measurement, while more go in for reins 
 
 1 The breadth of the reins for comfort in driving must depend on the length 
 of the coachman's fingers ; that which is comfortable to a long-fingered man is. 
 positive agony to one with short fingers. B. 
 
122 DRIVING. 
 
 an inch and an eighth, an inch and a quarter, and even more. 
 Medio tutissimus ibis is here the best motto. About half-way 
 between extremes will be found the best, say about an inch 
 and a quarter, of moderate thickness ; if too thick they will 
 be clumsy, and too much of a handful ; if too thin they 
 will quickly get so soft, especially in wet weather, that it will 
 be found impossible to push them back, and they become 
 a perfect nuisance. The hand-pieces of both leaders' and 
 wheelers' reins must, of course, be of identically the same 
 breadth and strength. Side reins, which may be buckled 
 either outside a leader or wheeler to his own trace buckle, or 
 inside to his partner's, are all very well in their way with 
 incorrigible brutes, but are seldom, if ever, seen in a private 
 team. 
 
 And now we have got the team put to we must get on the 
 road. Some coachmen, before mounting the box, have their 
 whip put across their wheelers' backs, but this is quite unneces- 
 sary. The whip is much safer in its socket ; it is far easier for 
 the driver to get up without it in his hand, and the careless 
 carrying of it there has been the cause of a great number of 
 mishaps. The simplest, quickest, and easiest way of getting 
 on to the box is to place the reins in your left hand in the 
 same order as when driving, taking them up from your wheelers' 
 backs, where they have been placed ready, tucked in just in 
 front of the buckle of the off-wheeler's pad that is to say, the 
 wheelers' reins should be separated by the middle finger, the 
 leaders' by the forefinger ; thus the near-leader's rein will be 
 on the top of all, the near-wheeler's and off-leader's together 
 between the top and middle fingers, and the off-wheeler's 
 bottom of all, between the middle and third finger. Standing, 
 of course, by the side of your off- wheeler, draw all your reins 
 quietly till you just feel your horses' mouths, then with your 
 right hand pull the two off-reins out of your left, a foot or 
 perhaps a little more to the front, and with the reins thus 
 apparently looking uneven, pass them into your right hand, 
 keeping the position of the reins the same, and with the 
 
HINTS TO BEGINNERS. 
 
 123 
 
 assistance of your left get up on your box as quietly yet as 
 quickly as you can. When there, at once pass the reins back 
 into your left hand, and you will find the once apparent un- 
 evenness in the length of them has vanished, that they are 
 perfectly level, and only want taking up or letting slip out an 
 inch or two at the most to be ready to go. Then take your 
 whip out of its socket, and make it an invariable practice never 
 to start without having it in your hand. 
 
 There are no rules without exceptions, and the rules laid 
 down and accepted about driving in general, and four-horse 
 driving in particular, must necessarily have more exceptions 
 than any other code, because circumstances are continually 
 changing, and even the best-broken team will very seldom go 
 together two days exactly the same. 
 
 Having got your reins and your whip all right (the difficulty 
 about the manipulation of the latter article we will for the time 
 suppose to have been surmounted), a start must be made, and 
 
124 DRIVING. 
 
 here all recognised rules and laws at once break down. The 
 chief particulars, however, to be attended to are, that you have 
 got your horses ready, no rugs to be whipped off when you are 
 gone, and, above all things, no officious individual holding on 
 to any of their heads. A rug being snatched off has often 
 caught a leader's rein and pulled it back, and that and the 
 above-mentioned officious individual are the causes of making 
 many bad starts, and of many honest horses becoming jibbers. 
 Be as quiet as you can, and do not attempt to make a move 
 until you know for certain that it is ' all right.' Nothing annoys 
 a high-couraged horse, and nothing makes a bad-tempered one 
 worse, than starting, stopping, and having to start again. 
 
 If you have begun with your reins exactly as you mounted 
 the box with- them, the near-wheeler's rein being, for choice, a 
 trifle shorter than the off-wheeler's, you will find that there will 
 be little alteration required that cannot be done in a moment. 
 Should the leaders be not going quite straight, say hanging a 
 little to the near side, by shortening the off-leader's rein, or 
 quicker still, by pushing back the off-leader's and near-wheeler's 
 (they are both together between first and middle fingers, and 
 therefore very easy to manage), you have them straight at once. 
 In shortening your reins never pull any single rein from the 
 back with your right hand through your left, always //tf/! /"/ back 
 from the front. Only to avoid an accident, such as some one 
 running into you, or all the horses making up their minds to 
 go at once, is it allowable to pull ah the four reins together 
 back in a bunch from behind ; then and only then. The reasons 
 for this are obvious. The practice of lifting up, pulling back, 
 and changing reins causes more to be dropped than any other 
 bad habit. Looping the reins must be learned from a professor 
 who is well able to instruct. Experiments made by an amateur 
 from what he may read in a book would most probably prove 
 disastrous. 1 
 
 1 It is, however, often advisable to shorten your wheel reins from behind 
 your hand. For instance, if you find they are too long, and your wheel-horses 
 are more free or impetuous than your leaders. B. 
 
HINTS TO BEGINNERS. 125 
 
 ' Looping a rein ' simply means taking a few inches of it up 
 in the form of a loop and holding it in that shape under the 
 thumb until the desired turn is made or obstacle passed, when 
 the loop is allowed to run free again. 
 
 ' Pointing the leaders ' means, in plain English, giving them 
 the hint that you are intending to go round a corner to the 
 right or left as required ; if sharp to the left, you should loop 
 your near-leader's rein (it is the easiest rein to loop) by taking 
 it up, <?7'<?r-handed of course, with your right hand the length 
 you require, and placing it back under the thumb of your left 
 hand ; when it is secure there your leaders will begin to bear 
 round gradually to the left ; at the same time you should, put 
 your right hand upon your off-reins, both of them together, and 
 thereby prevent the turn being made too abruptly ; l by doing 
 this you can regulate the change of front to a nicety. When 
 you are safe round the corner, take your whip-hand away, raise 
 up the thumb of your left hand, .the loop will run out, and 
 your team will be straight. Making a turn to the right is the 
 exact opposite, but will require more practice, as^the off- 
 leader's rein is more difficult to loop ; and in the same way 
 a complete circle to right or left must be made, and if the 
 figure 8 is to be cut (as they say in skating), the looping, &c., 
 must be transversed every time you complete one circle and 
 come to the centre of the figure. With a well-broken team on 
 a good road the less horses' heads are interfered with the better, 
 and nothing looks so bad as to see a coachman continually 
 changing and fingering his reins, and trying experiments with 
 his whip. j 
 
 . If the horses are going well, and you come to a slight 
 descent, there is no necessity for you to shorten your leaders' 
 reins more than your wheelers' ; sometimes they do not want 
 pulling back so much ; it will be quite enough if you take the 
 whole lot in your right hand, open out the fingers of your left a 
 
 1 This is better done by drawing your left hand to the left, which shortens 
 the off- reins and leaves the right hand free to use the whip to keep the near 
 wheel-horse off the post or corner. B. 
 
126 DRIVING. 
 
 little, and then push them back with your right the required 
 distance. Always steady your horses going over the crown of a 
 hill ; you can drop your hand to them as you please afterwards, 
 but if you begin a hill too quickly you will, and so will your 
 horses, be uncomfortable until you are some distance beyond 
 the bottom. When absolutely requisite, use your break, but 
 always put it on gently ; a break suddenly applied irritates a 
 nervous horse, strains the coach, and shakes the passengers. 
 Always put it on and take it off yourself "; do not let anyone 
 sitting behind touch it except under any exceptional circum- 
 stances, and then only when asked to do so ; and never put it 
 on to stop the coach when pulling up ; let your horses do that. 
 The misapplication of breaks has manufactured more bad 
 coachmen and more useless wheelers that will not even try 
 to stop a coach than can possibly be believed. 
 
 To hark back a bit. In starting a coach, do so, if possible, 
 with the wheelers ; a leader jumping away may break a bar, or 
 pull the coach on to the wheelers, when one of them may go 
 down, or a kicking match ensue ; but all this, as everything 
 else in coaching, must be regulated by what is going on at the 
 moment. A wheeler may not be ready to begin, and he must 
 be waited for, or else he will be spoiled ; a leader may be a 
 little too eager and jump up, and if held too tight will rear, and 
 perhaps fall back ; so it comes to pass that very often the team 
 must be allowed to start themselves, and the reins put right as 
 they go. But this is not exactly a team for a beginner. 
 
 One of the most important, and at the same time the most 
 difficult, things to do is to use a whip properly. It is all very 
 well to say that bad workmen complain of their tools, but it is 
 quite certain that no one, however good he may be, can get 
 along comfortably with a badly-made whip. The best way to 
 learn is to get a first-rate tutor who will provide you with a good 
 article, make up your mind not to lose your temper or patience, 
 sit on the box of a coach without any horses in it, and practise 
 as long as you can. After several hours of abject failures and 
 days of irritating disappointments, all at once you will find your 
 
128 DRIVING. 
 
 thong flies into its proper place as though by magic. You 
 begin to abuse yourself for being so stupid as to have been so 
 long over the job, which now seems so easy, and ever after you 
 will find it the easiest thing to do. No rules can be followed, 
 but it will come all the quicker if you will never try to catch 
 your thong with your stick. Throw the latter right away to 
 your right front, the thong will follow after it and will soon 
 catch it itself. It is a bad habit to catch your thong over 
 your head, because, although it may be extremely pretty in 
 Piccadilly and in some parts of the Park, yet there are places 
 wherein by doing so thoughtlessly you might get fast in the 
 bough of a tree, in which dilemma it is always best to let your 
 whip go and send back for it, otherwise you may break your 
 thong and also greatly interfere with the head decorations of 
 your passengers. l 
 
 When you have caught your thong, take the lower part of it 
 from the loop which it makes a little more than half-way up the 
 stick, and place it down in your right hand; or else, if you leave 
 it as originally caught, the first time you hit a wheeler the whole 
 thong will come undone. Always hit a wheeler in front of his 
 pad on the point of the shoulder (inside or out) for choice, 
 but never hit one over the head or ears, unless you think he is 
 going to kick, or has already begun to do so, when nothing is 
 half so effective as a few sharp cuts with the double thong over 
 the ears. 
 
 If your thong gets fast in the buckles of the belly-band, 
 false belly-band, tug, or elsewhere, do not try to pull it back ; 
 drop your hand and try to push it forward, it will soon come 
 loose. Always hit your leaders under the bars, because it will 
 prevent your getting caught, also your leaving a mark of dirt 
 from the point of your thong on their flanks. If a near- wheeler 
 does not like the whip going round him to the leader in front 
 
 1 I disagree with this. No one would try so to catch his whip under trees, 
 but it is the least noisy way of catching a whip, and with nervous wheel-horses 
 on the alert for the slightest sound it is most useful ; but there are not many 
 men who can do it. B. 
 
HINTS TO BEGINNERS. 129 
 
 of him, you can hit the leader in question under the bars by 
 throwing your thong at full length straight out to the right, and 
 bringing it back, with a sharpish jerk, under the off-leader's bar, 
 just in front of the end of the pole. The near- wheeler will 
 know nothing of the evolution you have performed, neither 
 will the two off-side horses, nor probably any of your pas- 
 sengers. For example, the writer was driving, a couple of years 
 ago, 'The Old Times' coach. It was on the galloping stage 
 from Chertsey to Virginia Water. The box-seat had been 
 relating all down the road several feats he had performed, and 
 presenting himself as an experienced coachman. His anec- 
 dotes were almost credited until, after it had been necessary, 
 for reasons above explained, to hit the near-leader under 
 the bars several times, occasion to wake up the off-leader 
 arose, when the learned box-seat exclaimed : ' By Jove ! you 
 have hit the right horse at last.' 
 
 When your whip is not in use, which with a well-broken 
 team it very seldom will be, always carry it in your hand about 
 the top ferrule, your thumb pointing slightly upwards, at the 
 same time holding secure the point of the thong, which should 
 lap round the stick three or four times, not more, about a 
 couple of inches below the top of it, and should be held, your 
 right hand just above your left, at an angle of about forty-five 
 degrees, pointing out a little to the front. This position will 
 keep the thong from dropping down and irritating the near- 
 wheeler, and at the same time not interfere with the nose of 
 your box-seat passenger. 
 
 If a leader gets his tail over the rein, don't pull at him on 
 any account. Let his rein run out a foot or more, touch him 
 up lightly (under the bar of course); he will swish his tail, the 
 rein will be free, and you are safe. Many horses will go on 
 without kicking for miles with the rein under their tails, and in 
 a road-coach, where horses know their way and time must be 
 kept, it does not much matter ; but if you come to any obstacle 
 you may not be able to steer them, while in a -private team 
 anyivhere it would be dangerous. The release of the rein must 
 
ijo DRIVING. 
 
 therefore be accomplished as soon as possible ; if it cannot be 
 done by the plan above mentioned, which, however, rarely fails, 
 the coach must be stopped, care being taken not to pull at the 
 captive rein. 1 
 
 Gloves really comfortable to drive in are very difficult 
 things to get. They should be quite two or three sizes larger 
 than worn in ordinary dress, stout and strong without being too 
 thick. They should be worn in walking about for some time 
 before using them for driving. I read in a recently published 
 book on coaching that they should never have any resin put on 
 them, and that the fingers should be short ; but my last advice 
 to any beginners who have taken the trouble to wade through 
 my remarks is, when your gloves are new, put a little, not too 
 much, glove paste, not resin, on them, and when you buy them 
 get them with the fingers pretty nearly an inch too long. They 
 will come back to your hand, and fit easily, whereas if you buy 
 your gloves with short fingers your hands will always be cramped, 
 and the ends of your fingers will soon make holes through them 
 and be always cold. 
 
 The best way to keep your hands warm is, not to swing your 
 arms about and beat your chest ; but take your left first, which 
 is generally the coldest, loosen the reins a little, holding them 
 safe in front with your right, and * twiddle ' the fingers of 
 the left hand on the reins. Circulation will at once return. 
 If, however, you take your hand off your reins to beat it. always 
 beat it on your thigh or downwards, never up to your shoulder. 
 Scotch worsted gloves are the best for wet weather, better than 
 all thread manufacture ; for everyday work a good dogskin is 
 preferable to all others. 
 
 Shoes of more than moderate thickness are the best to drive 
 in. A thin shoe or boot will make your feet ache, as it does not 
 give sufficient protection against the pressure which must always 
 to a certain extent be going on against the footboard. A good 
 
 1 When a man gets down to take the rein from under the leader's tail he 
 should take hold of the horse's tail and lift it off the rein, and should not try to 
 pull the rein from under the tail. B. 
 
HINTS TO BEGINNERS. 131 
 
 strong shoe with neat spatts, thin for summer, thick for winter, 
 is the most comfortable wear for a coachman. Aprons and 
 coats are mere matters of taste, but for real bad weather there 
 is nothing like a very wide waterproof apron to buckle round 
 the waist, with a coat of unusual dimensions to fit over it. 
 Arrayed in this costume it is impossible to get even damp. 
 
 PART II. 
 BY COL. HUGH SMITH BAILLIE. 
 
 The rule of the road is a paradox quite : 
 When you meet those who travel along, 
 
 If you go to the left, you are sure to go right, 
 If you go to the right, you go wrong. ' 
 
 I TRUST my readers will understand that I am addressing 
 beginners, and I hope they will not think my style of writing 
 abrupt or dictatorial ; for it can only be like my experience in 
 coaching, rough and ready : but that experience I gained on 
 slow and fast coaches before railways were made, and during 
 the last few years before railway travelling became general, and 
 I may be able to offer some practical hints which will be of 
 service to young coachmen. 
 
 A beginner should commence by learning to drive one 
 horse. First learn to hold the reins properly, and to sit firmly 
 and in a good position on the driving-seat. The position of 
 the left hand should be easy and natural, the wrist and hand 
 straight, the thumb and first finger uppermost, and the little 
 finger down ; the left hand must not be turned across the body 
 nor back to the left, because both these positions weaken the 
 wrist and arm, which will soon ache and tire. Elbows should 
 
 1 The late Harry Villebois of Marham, Norfolk, father-in-law of the writer 
 of the following pages, is responsible for this quatrain. B. 
 
132 DRIVING. 
 
 be rather close to the body ; squaring the elbows causes loss of 
 power, and has a very bad appearance. Do not hold the whip 
 at the end, as is frequently done by drivers in London, but 
 hold it so that it will balance well in the hand. Beginners are 
 often inclined to keep a hard dead pull on the reins, which 
 not only wearies the hand and wrist of the driver, but spoils 
 the horse's mouth. They can only learn by practice and 
 instruction how to humour a horse's mouth, which is done by 
 what is commonly called * give and take,' thereby moving the 
 bit in the horse's mouth. Shortening the reins properly can 
 only be learnt under an instructor. The same may be said of 
 pulling up, a very important part of the knowledge necessary 
 to good driving. Some drivers or rather I should say, men 
 called drivers try to pull up with one or both hands as high 
 as their heads. Nothing can be worse than this, because if 
 they have not come to a standstill when their hands are raised 
 to their full extent, they are powerless and cannot do more; 
 the driver should be capable of pulling up with the left hand, 
 the right hand of course being ready to assist if necessary. 
 Pull up gradually, having the horses well up to their bridles 
 to the last step. 
 
 Do not imagine that you can learn to drive really well in 
 a short time. If you wish to excel, learn from a good coach- 
 man, and pay attention to what he says , watch him carefully 
 when he drives. Drive as much as you can, for you cannot 
 expect to become proficient until you have served a sort of 
 apprenticeship, and have driven all sorts of horses, and have 
 had experience. 'Experientia docet'is very true as regards 
 driving. If you live to be eighty years old and then are able 
 to drive, you may still find you can learn something. As almost 
 all coaches are now furnished with a break, the beginner is 
 often inclined to use it whenever he wants to pull up and when 
 going down slight inclines. The break should be kept chiefly 
 for steep hills and for emergencies ; its perpetual use is likely 
 to spoil a man's driving. 
 
 Learn the names of every strap and all parts of the harness; 
 
HINTS TO BEGINNERS. 133 
 
 without this you cannot explain to your groom what to alter 
 when alteration is necessary, as is frequently the case if you 
 are driving different horses in one set of harness. Study the 
 position of the bit in a horse's mouth, and the use and abuse 
 of the curb-chain. Before mounting the driving-seat see that 
 the harness is properly put on, and that the bit is neither too 
 high nor too low in the horse's mouth ; one inch above the 
 tusk in a horse and two inches above the corner teeth of a 
 mare, is about the correct place ; but these positions want vary- 
 ing in some cases. See also that the curb-chain is neither too 
 tight nor too loose; a very tight curb-chain will often make a 
 horse sore under the jaw, and so cause him to be irritable and 
 unpleasant to drive ; and a very slack curb-chain will not keep 
 the bit in a proper position in a horse's mouth, as it will allow 
 the bottom of the bit to point towards the driver instead of 
 towards the ground, and then the bit has no power. Observe 
 also that the traces are the proper length, that the horses are 
 not too near nor too far from the splinter-bar, and that the 
 pole-pieces or chains are the proper length ; also, when putting 
 to or taking horses out of a carriage, see that the pole-chain is 
 kept in the ring on the kidney links of the hames to prevent the 
 horse going back on the splinter-bar. Pole-chains should not 
 be too tight ; horses go much more comfortably to themselves 
 and to the coachman if they have a little liberty. If you take 
 off the traces yourself, remember to take off the inside trace 
 first, unless you wish to have your toes trodden on. When 
 driving pay particular attention to the traces, to see that 
 neither horse works more on one trace than the other. Some 
 horses do this, and require one trace a hole longer than the 
 other. Do not attempt to drive four horses until you can 
 drive a pair well. I do not by that mean a pair of well-put- 
 together and well-bitted free horses, but all sorts of pairs a 
 free horse with a lazy one, a pair of sluggish horses, a pair 
 of free horses ; and do not attempt to drive four horses until 
 you have learnt to alter the coupling-reins so as to get the free 
 and the lazy horse to do an equal share of work. 
 
i 3 4 DRIVING. 
 
 Beginners must learn patience, particularly with young 
 horses. No animal is so easily alarmed and so easily spoilt as 
 a young horse, if the man who first drives him is hasty. Horses 
 have to gain confidence in the men who are about them, and 
 they have also to learn that moving objects are generally harm- 
 less ; a piece of paper flying about on the road or some similar 
 trifle will sometimes create a scare with young horses. 
 
 Never strike a horse for shying, but if possible let him look 
 well at the thing that has alarmed him. The horse that is hit for 
 shying will in all probability get into the habit of making a 
 bolt away from the whip, and it may get a man into great diffi- 
 culties if a horse shies at the top of a hill and then makes a 
 bolt expecting the whip. Before attempting to drive four 
 horses learn how to catch the thong and use a four-horse whip, 
 otherwise you will be bothered by the whip when you ought to 
 be thinking of your reins. Under a good instructor the be- 
 ginner may speedily acquire a knowledge of the use of the whip. 
 Some learn this quicker than others, but those who do not learn 
 quickly must persevere ; for it is impossible to become a good 
 coachman until the whip has ceased to be an embarrassment. 
 
 Never feel the horses' mouths when passengers are getting 
 in or out of a coach, for horses are almost certain to move when 
 their mouths are felt. Vast numbers of hats are spoilt every 
 year by the horses moving when people are getting into a cab or 
 carriage, and it is nine times out of ten the fault of the driver. 
 
 When you intend to start, pull the reins well into your hcnd 
 and speak to the horses so as to make them all start together. 
 
 Drive as much as possible with one hand, having the right 
 hand always ready ; nothing looks so bad as keeping the whip 
 hand continually on the reins. 
 
 Never touch a horse with the whip when the whip hand is 
 on the reins, as it looks very unworkmanlike. 
 
 Do not stand, but always sit, on your box-seat, and keep 
 your feet close together. The coachman who sits well on his 
 box is much stronger than the coachman who is in a half-stand- 
 ing position. 
 
HINTS TO BEGINNERS. 135 
 
 Sit by the side of a good coachman when you can, and take 
 advice when you can get it ; much knowledge of driving can 
 be gained by seeing a good coachman drive. 
 
 Never drive with your reins too long. It is much better to 
 hold the reins three inches too short than three inches too 
 long. If a horse stumbles when you have much 'slack out,' 
 it is long odds against saving him from a fall ; and if a horse 
 shies, your team may get into confusion, for if your reins are 
 too long you cannot so quickly gain the command over the 
 horses that you ought to have. 
 
 Take the draught off the leaders' traces before turning a 
 corner ; if you do not do this, your leaders may pull you on to 
 the post if they turn quicker than you expect. 
 
 Before turning a corner, give the leaders a gentle hint, by 
 slightly feeling the rein, of the direction you intend to take. 
 
 Never go fast off the top of a hill ; you may get safely 
 down almost any hill if you go slowly off the top. 
 
 Be careful about shortening your reins when going down 
 hill, for if you get a rein twisted in your hand it ma)rget you 
 into trouble. 
 
 It is rather a common fault with beginners to allow the 
 leaders to do too much work. It is a melancholy sight to see 
 the leaders with tight traces pulling steadily at the bars, and 
 the wheelers with slack traces and a tight hold of the pole- 
 chains, yet you may sometimes observe this in London, the 
 man on the box holding the reins meantime apparently quite 
 contented. 
 
 The first thing to learn in driving is to drive the horses 
 with a light hand, but at the same time to drive them, well up 
 to their bits, and make them share the work equally. With a 
 good coachman a coach will rattle along as if it were light ; 
 with a bad coachman it will appear as heavy as a loaded waggon. 
 
 In the old coaching days the coachmen generally kept good 
 time, but the horses driven by all the coachmen were not 
 equally fresh at the end of the week ; on the same road some 
 men's horses were much more jaded and worn than those 
 
136 DRIVING. 
 
 driven by others. The horses that fed well and were in good 
 condition were those that had their coupling-reins nicely ad- 
 justed and were driven by a light hand, but still were kept well 
 together and shared the work equally. The horses that did 
 not do well were those that were hauled about by heavy hands 
 and did not equally share the work. The well-doing of coach- 
 horses also depends very much on the coachman's knowledge 
 of ground, and on his judgment in knowing where to make 
 play and where to steady his horses and reduce the pace. 
 
 The beginner who wishes to excel should learn everything 
 connected with the carriage and the harness. He should learn 
 how to harness his horses and alter the harness to fit each horse ; 
 and if he has a carriage or coach of his own, he should give 
 very strict orders to his groom or coachman to take great care 
 of the pole, and to see that when it is taken out of the coach 
 it is placed carefully in such a position that it cannot fall. 
 
 An accident caused by the breaking of a pole may be, 
 and, in fact, often has been, attended with serious results. I 
 remember one night when driving a team steadily through 
 Hammersmith the end of the pole came off without any ap- 
 parent reason ; as the pace was not great, and I had a skid, 
 and the horses were quiet, I pulled up without any damage 
 being done. On examining the pole, the ironwork was found 
 to have been split nearly all round the end, and the coach- 
 maker who investigated the matter said that in all probability 
 it had been put up carelessly and had had a fall. 
 
 Bearing-reins some men write fiercely against. It is the 
 opinion of many of the best coachmen in England that a bridle 
 is not complete without a bearing-rein. In my opinion it is 
 wrong to lay down hard-and-fast rules about bearing-reins. I 
 think the gag bearing-rein as screwed up by some London 
 drivers is very bad and injurious to the horse ; but with kickers 
 the bearing-rein is not only most useful, but almost indis- 
 pensable. I should very much like to see some of the men 
 who write so much against bearing-reins drive kickers without 
 them ; I think they would soon either alter their opinions or 
 give up driving anything but quiet horses. 
 
HINTS TO BEGINNERS. 137 
 
 I once had the driving for a season of a grey mare, a deter- 
 mined kicker. She was put into my hands leader in a team with- 
 out bearing-reins ; soon after starting she put her head down 
 and kicked in a very determined manner, and I had a great 
 difficulty in getting her head up. I took her out and went to the 
 stable with a pair, then put a bearing-rein on her and put her 
 in again. I could then manage her, and drove her for three 
 months, and a right good one she was ; she kicked occasion- 
 ally, but I could manage her, which I could not have done 
 without a bearing-rein. 
 
 The question of what is the best bit to put on a pulling 
 horse can only be decided by experience and by trying different 
 bits ; some horses' necks are so shaped that they look as if they 
 were intended to be pullers ; but horses' mouths are often 
 spoilt by those who first handle and break them. Some horses 
 that pull hard in curb bridles will not pull in ring snaffles ; 
 some will not pull against an upright port, and some will not 
 pull against a port hanging down ; other horses will be irritated 
 by either of these bits. As a rule, easy and simple T)its are 
 the best ; but hard-and-fast rules cannot be followed, because 
 horses differ so much in shape and make. The horse with a 
 weak neck, that carries his head high, is not a puller as a rule ; 
 but I have seen horses with arched necks that could put 
 their chins against their chests, and so deprive the driver of all 
 power over them. In such a case the bearing-rein is indis- 
 pensable, as it prevents the horse from putting his head where 
 he likes. 
 
 The beginner should also learn the use of side reins. It is 
 not often that they are required, but I have known them to be 
 most useful. I remember a brown mare, belonging to the 
 Duke of Beaufort, that generally went off-side leader ; the right 
 side of her mouth had apparently no sense of feeling, and she 
 hung on the rein in a way most uncomfortable and tiring to 
 the coachman's arm ; the side rein made her one of the best 
 leaders I ever saw. Of course side reins must be adjusted to a 
 nicety, but when so adjusted I have known several instances 
 where they have acted admirably. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 SINGLE HARNESS. 
 
 LORD ALGERNON ST. MAUR. 
 
 THE best plan for breaking 
 a horse for single harness, 
 if he has never been in 
 harness, is, first of all, if 
 it be possible, to put him 
 a few times in- 
 to double har- 
 ness on both 
 
SINGLE HARNESS. 139 
 
 sides of the pole ; but in dcing this plenty of help is the first 
 requisite, and of course t his is not always forthcoming. 
 
 Many years since when in want of a harness horse for myself 
 or friends, I used to go to Osborn's, in Gray's Inn Lane. If you 
 asked to see a horse in single harness, in five minutes he came 
 from the stable, four men with him ; he was put to instantly, 
 two men jumped into a gig, the other two ran, one on either 
 side of the horse. If at home, always have two or three men 
 ready to assist if necessary, as a good first start is everything, 
 as in ordinary life ; in fact, some old coachmen used to say that 
 four horses well put together were half over their first stage. If 
 you find the pupil shy at starting, or slow at drawing off, put him 
 at off- wheel in a break or coach with three good ones, for he 
 is bound to go then. But in the country, if the breaker is 
 without much assistance, and has not other horses at com- 
 mand, a good plan is to put the animal into a strong, light 
 cart, such as a butcher's, with a halter on, in addition to his 
 bridle, letting an active man run by his side for a short dis- 
 tance, when, if all goes well, he can jump into the trap from 
 the back without stopping. Drive a short distance, and on 
 reaching home take the horse away very carefully ; put him in 
 and feed him, leaving the harness on, especially the collar, or 
 his shoulders may suffer. In an hour or so, put him in again 
 for a short time, and when driving, stop occasionally, so that 
 he may learn to draw off and start properly ; but take a man 
 with you in case anything should go wrong. In taking the horse 
 out of harness, be careful that the reins or traces are not al- 
 lowed to bang against his hocks or heels, or he may be alarmed 
 and kick. 
 
 About the year 1835, a dealer, George Carrington, who 
 lived near Tyburn Gate (where the last execution took place 
 in 1812), was invaluable, as he could generally find you a 
 first-rate gig or buggy horse in twenty-four hours, usual price 
 twenty-five pounds; and Bill Bean, the steeplechaser, was 
 equally good at a cheap hunter, if, as he said, you did not 
 mind his being a little used. Bean and Shirley, who kept the 
 
140 
 
 DRIVING. 
 
 inn at Bedfont Gate, and broke horses, were most amusing, 
 and full of anecdotes and quaint sayings. One morning I 
 called upon an old General living near Windsor, who said to 
 me, ' I have just had half an hour with Shirley in my stable- 
 yard, and,' he added, 'half an hour with Shirley is always worth 
 half a sovereign ;' this speaks volumes for Shirley, as the General 
 was not usually wasteful. Poor Shirley had a sad accident, and 
 rather an unusual one, which I mention as a proof of the fact 
 
 A Beginner. 
 
 that caution is always necessary in dealing with horses, and 
 that even the most experienced horsemen and drivers may 
 suddenly find accidents imminent. To what extent disaster 
 may be avoided depends upon the skill and presence of mind 
 of the man who holds the reins, good or ill luck no doubt in 
 a certain degree influencing the result. Shirley was driving a 
 young horse in a gig, in or near Windsor Park, when a cock 
 
SINGLE HARNESS. 141 
 
 pheasant, which was lying on its back dusting itself in the 
 middle of the road, suddenly flew up, in a cloud of dust 
 almost in the horse's face. The animal took fright, upset the 
 gig, and Shirley, who was a very tall, heavy man, was much 
 injured; he lived for some time, but never quite recovered, 
 the circumstance that he was no longer young doubtless operat- 
 ing against him. Young Dutch Sam, the prizefighter, used to 
 lodge at Shirley's, and train there ; but he was so mischievous, 
 and played such tricks, that he had notice to quit When it 
 grew dark, and the mails and night coaches stopped there, 
 either to refresh or to change horses, Sam would slip out, and, 
 if possible, uncouple some of the horses, or unbuckle the reins 
 and fasten them on to some other part of the harness; of 
 course these pranks, if not detected, might have led to most 
 serious accidents. Sam, it may be added since the name of a 
 once famous representative of an extinct phase of sport has 
 been mentioned died young, having broken several blood- 
 vessels. He was a model of manly strength and agility and 
 fitness when engaged in his calling, but his habits^were not 
 conducive to longevity when he left off fighting ; for he kept the 
 ' Coach and Horses,' a public-house in Castle Street, Leicester 
 Square. His pretty young widow lived and flourished for some 
 years after his death. 
 
 I once put into single harness a very violent horse who had 
 given much trouble out hunting, as he was a most uncertain 
 horse at his fences. On some days it was quite a pleasure to 
 ride him ; the next time you got on his back he would sloven 
 all his fences, or try to swerve at the last moment. He was a 
 very powerful horse, well up to fourteen stone, with a pecu- 
 liar mouth. However, I put him into a strong dogcart and 
 drove him with a ring-snaffle in the country for a year, without 
 any accident ; but the horse hated restraint of any sort. One 
 night I drove him seven miles out, to dinner, and on leaving, 
 there was a string of carriages before him. When we reached 
 the lodge gate I was obliged to pull up and wait, and all at 
 once he went down on his knees. My groom was about to jump 
 
142 DRIVING. 
 
 out, but I said, ' Sit still and don't speak : he will soon tire of 
 kneeling ; ' in two or three minutes, when all the other carriages 
 were gone, he got up and trotted home as usual. I then took 
 him to London, where I drove him for another year ; I never 
 once struck him, as he never required it, and would no doubt have 
 resented it. I once bought a horse very pleasant with hounds, 
 excepting when the huntsman was drawing a covert and cheer- 
 ing them ; he hated the human voice, and the moment the 
 huntsman began to cheer, he began to rear. Once he reared so 
 high that I thought he must have fallen backwards ; however, 
 both stirrup leathers became detached from the saddle, and the 
 rider slipped over his tail, after which, the horse righted. I sold 
 him, and he made a most perfect leader in a team for seven 
 years, after which he ended his days in a little low four wheeled 
 carriage, driven by a lady who doated on him. 
 
 Driving with a friend in a gig one night from London to 
 Windsor, we changed horses at Hounslow, having sent one on 
 in the morning when we came up. Of course, I ought to have 
 looked to see that all was right a precaution nobody should 
 neglect but I failed to do so, being so accustomed to the horse, 
 the road, and the ostler. It so happened that when just outside 
 the town, the animal, being very fresh indeed, as a rule, horses 
 are gay at night unfortunately broke into a canter. The ostler 
 had put him too near the carriage, the back-band behind all 
 the stops, instead of between the stops on the shafts (a fact 
 which should convey a hint to amateur drivers, and not to them 
 only); the gig ran against him and frightened him, and away he 
 went for four miles. The Bath waggons which were coming up 
 loomed large, but it was a fine moonlight night, and the good 
 animal never once kicked, although next morning his hocks and 
 hind legs were quite raw, and he required a fortnight's rest. Once 
 during the gallop I asked my placid friend sitting beside me to 
 take a pull at the reins and try to help me stop the horse ; his 
 reply was, 'Help you stop the horse! not I, my dear fellow, the 
 faster he gallops the sooner we shall be at home, and I want to 
 get to bed.' I think it right to add that my kind friend was one 
 
SINGLE HARNESS. 143 
 
 of those men who during his whole life was never in time for 
 anything, nor did he care how much too late he was ; he took 
 all things easily. 
 
 A friend once invited me to get into his gig with him, as he 
 had just put his steeplechase mare in harness, and he wished 
 to have a companion with him to note developments. I 
 
 An Effectual Stop. 
 
 confess that I thought it risky, but he declared her to be very 
 quiet, so in I got. Before we had gone a mile she began 
 gambolling, putting her head down and jumping, and the next 
 minute she was off. He turned to me and said, ' She's away ! 
 I cannot stop her ; what had I better do ? ' I replied, ' You 
 had much better run her up the bank and turn us over, before 
 she gets into Lea Bridge ; for we are nearing the town, and if 
 
144 DRIVING. 
 
 we race up the High Street we might do something to be talked 
 about.' No sooner said than done ; he ran her up the bank, 
 we both fell on our backs into the road, not in the least hurting 
 ourselves, but getting rather dirty. The strange thing was that 
 the mare came down again off the bank, the gig righted itself, 
 she galloped into the town, and was stopped by some men who 
 spread across the road, checked her, and led her back, no 
 damage being done. 
 
 I have generally found that well-bred horses, if kindly treated, 
 are less likely to kick, and give less trouble in harness, than 
 under-bred ones. A friend of mine who lived in a very hilly 
 part of Wales received a letter one morning, informing him that 
 a horse which he had long wished to buy was for sale ; but that 
 he must come at once, or it would be gone. The distance was 
 forty miles ; the only horse that he then had was a thoroughbred 
 four-year-old, who had never been in harness ; but he wished 
 to drive, instead of riding, as he would otherwise have done, 
 so that he might take a lad with him to bring his purchase 
 home. He put the four-year-old into his gig, and drove 
 him twenty-five miles without stopping, in a plain snaffle. He 
 then stopped at the door of an inn for ten minutes, but did 
 not take the horse out of the gig ; and after that finished the 
 journey. Now I consider this to have been a marvellous per- 
 formance, especially in a hilly country, as horses newly put into 
 harness are generally very shy and awkward when first going 
 down steep hills, and have no notion of holding back. I bought 
 this horse later, but never harnessed him ; he was a charming 
 hunter, with a sweet temper, mouth and manners. 
 
 If you put a violent horse into single harness without much 
 help, I would advise the use of two sets of reins. You could 
 then drive him at the check at starting ; but if he pulled hard, 
 or seemed likely to break away, you could seize hold of the 
 safety reins, which should be fixed to the middle or lower bar, 
 and the horse should be stopped at once. 
 
 Even in single harness, in all my long forty-mile drives, I 
 always used a bearing-rein, as I found that it steadied a horse ; 
 
I 4 6 DRIVING. 
 
 he looks about him much less, and is not nearly so likely to 
 rub off his bridle. Those who dislike a bearing-rein should 
 buckle the throat-lash two or three holes tighter than usual. 
 Some horses, the moment that you stop, put down their heads 
 between their forelegs and try to rub off their bridles a most 
 dangerous proceeding. All horses look better in a bearing- 
 rein when standing still, as the moment you stop down go 
 their heads, and then a four-hundred-guinea horse looks like a 
 forty-pounder. In old coaching days I often heard it said that 
 those coachmen who were the first to take off the bearing- 
 reins were the first to put them on again. In heavy night 
 coaches, such as the ' Paul Pry,' which ran from London, 
 through Beaconsfield, to Oxford, weighed about four tons, 
 including passengers and luggage, and stopped often, running 
 long stages with under-bred horses with hard mouths, bearing- 
 reins were a great safety-guard and assistance both to the 
 horses and the coachmen. One of my leaders once rubbed 
 his bridle off, when stopping at a shop in a to\Vn. Ned Poulter, 
 who, at one time, drove the ' Light Salisbury ' from Andover to 
 Basingstoke, in going down a hill near Whitchurch, upset his 
 coach and broke his leg, one of the wheel-horses having caught 
 the cross-bar at the bottom of his bit in the little hook at the 
 end of the pole-chain, which was turned up, instead of down- 
 wards, as it ought to have been ; the horse became frightened 
 and restive, thus causing this sad accident. Of course, with 
 nice light-mouthed horses, when just taking a drive for an hour 
 or two, all bearing-reins can be dispensed with. Bits are now 
 made without the cross-bar at the bottom, and they are much 
 the safest. 
 
CHAPTER IX, 
 
 TANDEM-DRIVING. 
 
 BY LADY GEORGINA CURZON. 
 
 WE are often told that a tandem is the most dangerous mode 
 of conveyance ever invented by the human mind. People say 
 that the driver has no possible command over the leader, and 
 that a tandem-cart can therefore be overturned with the greatest 
 ease ; another frequent objection is that the leader is of no use, 
 that he never does any work, and I have generally heard the 
 deficiencies and delinquencies of the unfortunate conveyance 
 summed up with, ' If you want to break your neck, go in a 
 tandem.' I quite admit that a great many of these criticisms 
 have a certain amount of truth about them, and that those 
 who speak thus, in such a slighting way of the tandem, have 
 
 L 2 
 
148 DRIVING. 
 
 certainly some cause for their searching remarks, especially if 
 they are afflicted with that unfortunate complaint, ' want of nerve.' 
 But to those I would reply, if they will have patience to read a 
 few remarks, which are the result of long experience, that the 
 dangers of tandem-driving can always I may say invariably 
 be traced to one of three things : either badly-broken horses, 
 improper harnessing, or, last, but by no means least, inefficiency 
 on the part of many drivers. If these three items are thoroughly 
 attended to, I can confidently assert that the dangers of the 
 tandem are so minimised that they are m7, and this charming 
 and speedy mode of driving is rendered as safe as any other 
 form of conveyance. But without these precautions I confess 
 the strongest nerve will be shaken. Strange as it may appear, 
 although so many can see and delight to enlarge upon the 
 dangers of a tandem, these all-important matters are often entirely 
 disregarded. 
 
 Frequently I have heard venturesome people say, ' I have 
 got two ponies ' or horses, whichever it may be * why not 
 start a tandem ? It would be rather fun.' These are, indeed, 
 people with iron nerves, and no wonder they terrify those who 
 are minus that quality. These daring individuals would not, in 
 all probability, suggest ' starting a team of four horses,' in this 
 sort of way, without knowing how to train the horses, nor how 
 to harness them, probably even how to hold the reins. And 
 yet these people will, with the greatest confidence, ' rush in 
 where angels fear to tread/ and endeavour to make two un- 
 trained animals do a thing which no experienced driver would 
 attempt without great care ; for tandem-driving is just as diffi- 
 cult to accomplish with safety as driving four horses. The two 
 arts are in reality but one ; the principles are the same, as I 
 hope to show, only with a tandem the driver requires the greatest 
 quickness and a very light hand. Of course, sooner or later a 
 shocking accident is sure to be the result of inexperienced 
 handling, and the tandem is then condemned. 
 
 I will now point out the way danger is to be avoided, explain 
 the best manner of harnessing a tandem, and the different little 
 
TANDEM-DRIVING. 149 
 
 items connected therewith, and will, in fact, describe what I 
 may call a well-appointed turn-out, and well-broken team. 
 
 It is of no consequence whether ponies or horses be used ; 
 for my own part, I prefer the former, as they are quicker, and I 
 think they are more suited for tandem-work ; horses, being so 
 much longer in the body, are apt to give the tandem a somewhat 
 long, straggling, and narrow appearance. The length of the two 
 horses is too much in comparison with, or in proportion to, the 
 length and size the tandem cart could possibly be. How- 
 ever, this is merely a matter of taste, and of course the same 
 rules will apply to both. Still, as I personally prefer the ap- 
 pearance of a ponies-tandem, I intend to mention them in the 
 few lines I write. 
 
 In the first place, it is a great mistake to have too light a 
 cart, for sufficient weight is required to balance the ponies ; six 
 hundredweight is the weight of the cart I have always found 
 them go best in. The proper height is also very important; for 
 ponies of fourteen hands, wheels four feet ten inches in diameter 
 is not too much. This will bring the driving seat about five 
 feet four from the ground. Some people prefer a very slanting 
 driving-box, but I like one with only a moderate slant. Of 
 course, this is a matter of opinion, and I think the driver should 
 always decide which he finds most comfortable. Whether driv- 
 ing one, two, or four horses, it is of the first importance to sit 
 firmly on the box-seat; standing up or leaning against an acutely 
 sloped cushion, the coachman is liable, if a horse pecks, to be 
 plucked right off the vehicle, and deposited on his head in the 
 road. The slant of my own driving-box and cushion together 
 is four and a half inches in front and nine and a half at the 
 back. I have always found a wide cart far pleasanter to drive 
 than a narrow one, as it runs much smoother, and is also much 
 more comfortable ; for constantly in a tandem cart one wishes 
 to take four people, and it is a great mistake to have to sit too 
 close ; for the driver it is especially inconvenient. Then, again, 
 long distances are often covered, and one requires to take a 
 good many things, for a tandem-cart should never be without 
 
ISO DRIVING. 
 
 rugs, nose-bags, and halters for the ponies ; and very likely at 
 times a luncheon-box ; therefore, for many reasons I would re- 
 commend a wide cart. My own measures six feet. 
 
 One of the greatest difficulties in a two-wheeled carriage is 
 the proper balance. Nothing is so important, both for the 
 comfort of those driving and also for the ease of the shaft 
 animal. What can look and feel more dreadful than for a cart 
 to be tilted up at such an angle that the luckless occupants of 
 the back seat have the greatest difficulty in remaining there ? 
 Should the horse give the smallest start, the muddy road would 
 most likely be their fate. But, if the appearance of a cart 
 balanced in this manner is bad, what word should be applied 
 to the balance of one which is tilted in the opposite extreme, 
 with all the weight falling on the shoulders of the wheeler ? 
 The latter is soon fatigued and goes with a laboured gait, and 
 the carriage is shaken in every spring and bolt, while the occu- 
 pants are jolted in the most uncomfortable manner. What a 
 difference it makes to all concerned when the happy medium is 
 arrived at, and the cart swings perfectly, with the shafts quite 
 straight, and yet with the tugs on the pad working easily all the 
 time, showing that the weight is offthe horse, and at the same time 
 that the cart has no inclination to slant backwards ! There are 
 several ways of obtaining this correct state of things; first, by shift- 
 ing the two seats backwards or forwards as the case may be, ac- 
 cording to the number of people in the cart and the height of the 
 shaft horse, and, secondly, by lowering or raising the shafts on 
 the pad. Few people think of the latter method, and yet I do 
 not know one more effective. I myself think the best rule to 
 go byjs that the driver should always see that the shafts are 
 perfectly level ; if the cart is a well-built one, this rule should 
 make the weight correct. The balance is much simplified, and 
 all shifting of seats dispensed with, if the cart is fitted with a 
 lever near the driver's right hand, which, when moved back- 
 wards and forwards, moves the whole body of the cart on the 
 shafts. I can strongly recommend this arrangement ; for, not 
 only can the driver save time by balancing the weight as he 
 
TANDEM-DRIVING. 151 
 
 goes along, but he can do it much more correctly when on the 
 move than when standing still. Another great advantage is 
 the power of shifting the weight going up and down hill, so 
 that whether the cart is travelling on the flat or not the driver 
 can always prevent any weight falling on the shaft-horse. I 
 have always found it very necessary to have a cross-spring at 
 the back of the cart, and also a draw-bar instead of fixed hooks 
 for the traces ; the latter prevents sore shoulders, as the bar 
 moves with the action of the horse. There should be plenty of 
 space allowed between the shafts, so that the horse may move 
 freely. For a cart to convey four people the shafts should be 
 fairly straight, and I do not think six feet three inches would be 
 found too long. 
 
 A stick-basket and horn are indispensable accompani- 
 ments, the former on the right side and the latter on the left, at 
 the back of the cart. The horn should be an exact model of 
 the coach-horn, only a little shorter, as the full-sized ones are 
 somewhat too long and would be in the way. Two good lamps 
 are extremely necessary, and I think a leader lamp on the dash- 
 board is a great addition, also a clock on one side of it and. a 
 rein-holder on the other. A neat little leather box along the 
 top of the dash-board would complete these trifles, which add 
 much to one's comfort and to the perfecting of the tandem cart. 
 This should contain a pick and hammer, a leather-punch, a 
 good pocket-knife, and, above all things, matches ; for nothing 
 is more annoying in a long drive than to be overtaken by dark- 
 ness, with no means of lighting the lamps, having, therefore, to 
 slowly grope one's way at imminent danger of being run into or 
 colliding against another vehicle ; not to mention the dangers 
 of blind ditches on either side of the road, or other obstacles 
 and impediments equally annoying. 
 
 Having procured a very complete cart, I would urge the 
 driver to take even more care and spend even more time on the 
 selection and choice of ponies or horses, whichever it may be. 
 This is a most important matter. If the choice falls on ponies 
 about fourteen hands, perfection is more difficult to find in them 
 
152 DRIVING. 
 
 than horses. I think the wheeler should be a long low animal, 
 with short legs, and yet very compact, with plenty of bone, 
 strong hind quarters, and good girth. Nothing is worse than a 
 narrow-chested horse going close in front. In the choice of a 
 wheeler, it should always be borne in mind that he is required 
 for single harness, and therefore it is indispensable that he 
 should be even-gaited, a straight goer, and a big-strided 
 animal, sooner than one with short, quick action. The latter 
 is slow, and takes far too much out of himself to be able 
 to go any distance. On the other hand, the leader can be 
 of lighter build than the wheeler, he should ; to my mind, be 
 the same height on no account taller ; if any difference exists 
 between them in this respect, let him be a trifle the smaller. 
 He should carry himself well, and be a good mover all round, 
 and very free. Of course the stamp of leader varies according 
 to the particular work that is expected of him. If the country 
 is very hilly, with heavy roads, a stronger class of animal is re- 
 quired, with fair but not high action ; a showy mover would be 
 knocked to pieces in no time in this particular country, and 
 would wear himself out. Therefore, it is well that a tandem - 
 driver should have two leaders, one for hard work and hilly 
 work, and the other for a flat country and shorter journeys. 
 The latter animal can be as showy as possible, with high free 
 action, but plenty of pace. 
 
 Great care should be taken in breaking in, or rather train- 
 ing, the horses or ponies to tandem-work. Let us assume both 
 horses are broken to single harness : it is merely tandem- work 
 they know nothing about. The wheeler will, therefore, fall in 
 quietly to what is required of him, but the leader needs some 
 training. Nine times out of ten I have found the best course 
 to pursue is to put the bridle and long reins on the leader and 
 drive him in this manner, walking behind him. This will 
 gently accustom him to the fact that occasionally he will only 
 feel reins, and have no weight behind to steady him. It is 
 astonishing how strange this seems to tandem leaders at first ; 
 of course with four horses the two leaders balance each other, 
 
TANDEM-DRIVING. 153 
 
 but a tandem leader has nothing but the reins to balance him 
 when the traces are slack. The method I have described will 
 soon give him confidence, however, and it will also get him 
 used to the reins touching his quarters. He should be backed 
 and turned round, and in this manner taught immediately to 
 answer to the bridle. After this has been carefully done for a 
 few days the horses can be put to with safety. It will then be 
 a certainty that both will go perfectly straight ahead without 
 any difficulty ; they will not be frightened and alarmed, nor have 
 their tempers upset at the commencement of their training for 
 tandem-work, and I consider this of more importance than any- 
 thing. However, there are exceptions to every rule, and there- 
 fore it is impossible to lay down any special one as the means 
 of teaching a leader what is expected of him. At the present 
 moment I have a leader who never improved in the least by 
 this method, and therefore it was of no use continuing it, as it 
 seemed only to irritate him. Horses have different tempera- 
 ments, as men and women have ; it stands to reason that the 
 same treatment will not apply to all, therefore a great deal must 
 be left to the intelligence of those who are handling them, 
 With the leader I am speaking of, the only way was to get a 
 steady wheeler and put the leader to at once. It so happened 
 that this suited him, as he soon fell into his work, and he is 
 improving every day. To my mind, at all times, it is far more 
 important to have a very trustworthy wheeler than a trustworthy 
 leader. Provided the latter is not an inveterate kicker or jibber, 
 I don't think it much matters what he does. The two vices I 
 have named are extremely awkward in both animals ; but, 
 although bad in a leader, they are absolutely fatal in a wheeler. 
 If a wheeler shows temper, it is merely a question of time before 
 he demoralises the leader, and then the team will be a most 
 dangerous one ; whereas, if a steady animal is in the shafts, and 
 the leader is the one to show temper, in all probability he will 
 not demoralise the wheeler. It is difficult to say why, but I 
 think the solution can be found in the fact that when a horse 
 can see what his companion is doing it is of no consequence to 
 
154 DRIVING. 
 
 him, but if he cannot he is frightened ; for this reason I would 
 advise that the most trustworthy horse of the two should occupy 
 the shafts. 
 
 The harness and harnessing of a tandem are the next things 
 to engross the attention of the driver. I think there should 
 be as little harness as possible ; by this I mean that no extra 
 unnecessary or ornamental straps should be allowed. I feel 
 sure that all will agree with me that these are most objectionable, 
 where everything should be neat and businesslike, and every 
 buckle or strap should be for some purpose. The wheeler's 
 harness should be an ordinary set of single harness, but not too 
 heavy, and with a small rolling bar horizontally across the 
 terrets on the pad to divide the reins. In a country with very 
 steep hills breeching is a very requisite addition, but I would 
 only use it in this case, as it has a somewhat unsightly appear- 
 ance. The bridle of the wheeler differs in only one respect 
 from that of the leader, and this is the necessity for terrets 
 above the blinkers to carry the reins of the leader. The leader's 
 harness matches exactly, only the pad should be of a very light 
 narrow description, as it has only to carry the traces. Some 
 people prefer these to be very long, fastening with swivel-hooks 
 to two rings on the tugs of the wheeler's harness ; but this 
 mode of harnessing the leader to his work I think most objec- 
 tionable, not to say dangerous. In the first place nothing looks 
 more ugly than long, straggling traces, and in the second place 
 in turning round long traces are very inconvenient ; for, if the 
 space for turning is narrow, the traces will almost touch the 
 ground, and the leader in all probability will get his hind legs 
 over them. Or, again, if the wheeler should be a hot impatient 
 animal, he may entwine his forelegs in them. Experience has 
 long taught me to avoid long traces. It was once my fate to 
 have a very nervous, impetuous leader, and one day in turning 
 in a narrow road, the accident I have described happened to 
 me. The leader got one of his hind legs over the trace, and, 
 of course, began to kick ; this proved a most serious matter, 
 for nothing could persuade him to desist until he had freed 
 
TANDEM-DRIVING. 
 
 155 
 
 himself of almost all his harness. Shortly afterwards I found a 
 new method had been invented, but was hitherto almost un- 
 tried ; I can only say it has proved a most complete success. 
 This method involves the use of two bars, the first 29^ inches 
 long, and the second 23 inches long ; the first one has at each 
 end 22 inches of trace, which hook on to the tugs of the wheeler's 
 traces ; in the centre of this bar is a small chain 10^ inches 
 
 long, which fastens on to the wheeler's collar by the ordinary 
 kidney link and ring as for a pole-chain. This is to prevent 
 the bars touching the wheeler when standing still. In front of 
 the main bar is a large hook, on to which is affixed the second 
 bar, the space between the two being 4^ inches. To the second 
 bar are hooked the leader's traces. By means of this excellent 
 invention, which I would strongly urge all tandem-drivers to 
 
156 DRIVING. 
 
 adopt, the leader's traces are no longer than the wheeler's, and 
 they can never touch the ground. The result is that a tandem 
 can be turned round in the narrowest space without any danger. 
 The leader also, in drawing from a bar, derives the same 
 advantage as the wheeler, who pulls from a draw-bar, and sore 
 shoulders are avoided. Many people lay down rules as to the 
 exact and correct distance that should separate the two horses 
 or ponies ; some say the proper space is two feet six to three 
 feet, but to my mind this should be left to the discretion of the 
 driver, for I think it should vary according to the shape of the 
 animals, and according to their action. One thing I would 
 impress on all drivers, and this is to keep the leader as near 
 his work as possible. Let the whole turn-out look very com- 
 pact and be very compact. No advantage is gained by the 
 distance being very great ; on the contrary, much power over the 
 leader is lost, and the appearance is very ugly. Therefore keep 
 your horses close together, only providing that they have space 
 for free movement. 
 
 And now comes the pith of the whole matter the driving. 
 Let the cart be perfection, let the animals be faultless, let 
 them be perfectly broken in and trained, let the harness and 
 harnessing be without a flaw it is all of no avail and as good 
 as useless unless the driver is efficient, and handles the ribbons 
 with skill. Horses are invariably admitted to be most intelligent, 
 and it is a certain fact that they find out instantly if an inefficient 
 and timid driver is striving to obtain, and retain, the mastery 
 over them. Of course it is only ' practice that makes perfect,' 
 but there are certain principles to be learnt, and faults to be 
 avoided, that should be the preliminary course commenced 
 and studied by all drivers. For nothing is so easy as to acquire 
 bad habits, and nothing so difficult as to correct them. 
 
 We will suppose that the horses are harnessed, and being 
 put to. Let this be done as quietly as possible, and as soon 
 as they are ready, I would advise the driver to look all round 
 first and see that the harness and harnessing are quite correct, 
 that the horses are properly bitted, and, in fact, that everything 
 
TANDEM-DRIVING. 157 
 
 is right according to his ideas. He should then take the reins 
 in his left hand, standing on the off side of the cart. The 
 wheeler's reins should be put on the second finger, and the 
 leader's on the first finger. He must then hold them in his 
 right hand while he gets into the cart, changing them again to 
 the left as soon as he is on his box. The whip must then be 
 in the right hand, with the thong neatly caught on to the stick. 
 The driver must just feel the mouths of both horses, and draw 
 the leader back slightly, so that the traces of the latter are 
 slack. He can then start the animals both together if any- 
 thing, the wheeler should move first. On no account should 
 the leader do so. Having then moved a few paces, the leader's 
 reins should be slackened, and he should be allowed to go 
 more into his collar. Not till both animals are fairly started 
 and beginning to settle down to their work should the leader 
 absolutely assist in drawing the cart ; the reason is, that this 
 would probably make the leading horse pull, and the shaft horse 
 hang back as soon as he felt the weight behind dragged on to 
 his quarters. Many drivers make the mistake of letting the 
 leader do too much work ; this is the source of many difficulties, 
 and may drag the wheeler on to his nose. When both horses 
 have been going for a short time, then both should be made to 
 do their fair share of work. One of the difficulties experienced 
 at first by all who drive tandem is to keep both horses straight 
 that is, following each other in a direct line. This is done by 
 altering the position of the reins, either letting out one, or 
 drawing in another, but always by lifting them with the right 
 hand, never drawing them in from behind the left hand. The 
 simplest manner of straightening a team is by shortening or 
 lengthening the two reins lying between the first and second 
 fingers, for the upper rein of these two is the off-side leader's 
 rein, and the lower one the near-side wheeler's rein. Therefore, 
 by slackening or tightening these two reins it stands to reason 
 the two animals are pulled reverse ways. 
 
 We will now follow the driver, who has mounted his cart 
 and is fairly started, and let us hope has found sufficient 
 
158 DRIVING. 
 
 assistance from what he has read to enable him to make safe 
 and easy progress along a straight road. But there is an old 
 saying, * It is a long road that has no turning,' and this may be 
 taken figuratively and literally. In the former case the difficulties 
 in his hitherto unchecked success will come and must be met 
 with quickness and skill, and in the latter case we may be 
 quite certain there will be many turns in the road, sharp corners 
 and hills, not to mention the chance of perhaps taking the 
 wrong road, and our driver may then have to turn, possibly in 
 a narrow, awkward place, and retrace his course. We will 
 suppose that he first comes to a sharp curve in the road ; horses 
 w r ill always try to cling to the inside of the curve, and, therefore, 
 he must be careful to keep them to the outside this applies 
 indeed to every form of driving, only that if the curve is 
 miscalculated in a tandem it is more serious. Owing to the 
 leader being farther from his w r ork, it is less easy to correct the 
 error and pull the team off before it is too late ; therefore always 
 keep well on the outside of a curve. Now a sharp corner leading 
 into another road along w r hich we have to go comes in view. 
 The first thing to be done is to materially shorten the leader's 
 reins. This is a principle of the greatest importance, and must 
 never be omitted. I may say that it is one of the first rules to 
 be learnt. The reason is that the wheeler cannot turn the cart 
 if the leader is drawing it ; again, owing to his distance from 
 the vehicle, the leader will drag wheeler and cart on to the 
 corner, and there is no knowing what obstacle may not be there ; 
 or else he will turn the cart so much too quick for the wheeler 
 that there is every probability of the latter crossing his legs and 
 falling. Therefore, to sum it up shortly, I would say this that 
 no driver can guide his team and cart round a corner in safety 
 with the leader going into his collar. Having drawn the leader 
 back and, I need hardly say, slackened speed, as soon as the 
 driver sees his wheels are in line with the corner, he should 
 point the leader ; that is to say, supposing the corner is to 
 right, the driver should catch up with the right hand on to the 
 first finger of the left hand about four inches of the leading 
 
TA NDEM-DRIVING. 
 
 159 
 
 horse's off rein, and hold this loop with the thumb of the same 
 hand. This will turn the leader in advance of the wheeler, and 
 then care only must be taken that the horses do not turn too 
 sharply. This is to be prevented by turning the left-hand 
 wrist slightly upwards and moving the hand from the centre of 
 the body towards the right hip, which tightens the wheel-horse's 
 near rein and prevents his following the leader. In turning to 
 the left, turn the left-hand thumb down and draw your elbow a 
 
 Not knowing v/hat obstacle may be there. 
 
 little up and outwards, which will bring your hand towards your 
 left hip and will tighten the off-wheel rein. Should the corner 
 be to the left, the same course is followed, only the loop is made 
 with the near-side leader's rein. 
 
 Having turned the corner, the loop is loosed, and the team 
 is straight again ; and the leader can then be allowed to do his 
 work. On descending a moderate or steep hill, there are but 
 two cautions to be mentioned. First, draw back the leader, 
 
160 DRIVING. 
 
 and then slacken speed. Check all impetus before the hill is 
 reached, otherwise the wheeler has hard work to keep the cart 
 back. The pace can be increased as the end is reached. 
 
 In the event of the driver having to turn round, he must 
 again shorten the leader's reins till the traces are quite slack. 
 He will then point the leader to whichever side he wishes to 
 turn, in the same manner as turning a corner. Provided he is 
 driving with bars instead of long traces, he can then bring his 
 team round in a space which seems astonishingly narrow for 
 such a manoeuvre. 
 
 A driver must always feel that both horses are well in hand, 
 and both going well up to their bits, so that a touch of the hand 
 or turn of the wrist will be felt and answered instantly. This 
 applies to both animals, but more especially to a leader ; nothing 
 is more objectionable than a leader who is inclined to hang 
 back, preferring a slack rein. Many require more training in 
 this respect than others. Some horses or ponies will be natu- 
 rally free and always go well into their bits, whereas some 
 require a great deal of handling, and then the clever and skilful 
 use of the whip shows to great advantage. The leader must 
 be hit exactly where you mean to touch him without noise to 
 startle the wheeler. If the leader is always kept well up to the 
 mark, and never allowed to go carelessly with a slack rein, he 
 will soon get out of the habit of doing so, and will do his work 
 freely, and answer immediately to the bit. I may here remark 
 that the term 'a good whip,' meaning a 'good driver,' is derived 
 from this very thing the power of making each animal do its 
 work by the skilful use of the thong of the whip. I think 
 five feet is a good length for the stick, and eight feet for the 
 thong. This should always be neatly caught up on the stick, 
 but ready for use at any moment, so that it can be used with 
 the greatest rapidity. In case of a leader turning round, the 
 whip will frequently, if used at the proper moment, make him 
 go straight again. Of course, one of the greatest difficulties in 
 tandem-driving is the risk of this happening, and unquestion- 
 ably it does happen sometimes. The risk is minimised, how- 
 
TANDEM-DRIVING. 1 6 1 
 
 ever, by having a bold, free leader, and constantly it is the fault 
 of the driver if the leader turns round either one rein is pulled 
 too hard, or the other not hard enough ; for the most delicate, 
 quick handling is required, and exact knowledge where each 
 rein lies. Supposing a leader is mischievous and will turn 
 round, of course after a certain angle the reins fail to affect 
 him ; then the whip is the only resort, and it must be ready to 
 hit the leader across the face. In all probability this will have 
 the effect of making him obey the bridle \ if not, quickly turn 
 the wheeler round. Here, again, all will admit the value of 
 bars ; for, if the leader does turn, he can do so with impunity, 
 so close that he may touch the shafts, without the slightest 
 danger or entanglement of the harness. On no account must 
 the leader be allowed to have his own way, but the driver must 
 turn his team again, and with the whip force the leader into his 
 bit, and thereby prevent his turning. 
 
 I must now draw my remarks to a close, hoping that all will 
 agree that I have been perfectly fair in taking into consider- 
 ation whatever dangers may be attached to tandem-driving. 
 These I have endeavoured to face, and to show their cause, and 
 how I consider they can be avoided. I sincerely trust I have 
 'proved my case,' and that those who are most critical of 
 tandems will admit that in reality there are not mere dangers 
 to be encountered in a tandem than in any other carnage, if 
 proper care and precautions are taken. All the remarks I have 
 made here have proved themselves correct by events and expe- 
 rience. One thing I am quite convinced of, and that is, if 
 people will study the matter for themselves, they will admit that 
 my views are sound, and that the course I have written is the 
 best to follow in tandem-driving. Of course, to my mind it is 
 the only one ; for I frankly confess I have not the nerve to reck- 
 lessly drive an unbroken team with the confidence of those 
 I have alluded to who will put two animals into any vehicle 
 without any training, without proper harness, and without even 
 the slightest knowledge how to drive. I cannot conceive any- 
 
 M 
 
1 62 
 
 DRIVING. 
 
 thing more trying to the nerve of those who have the misfor- 
 tune to entrust their lives to such reckless drivers. 
 
 On the other hand, I know nothing is more delightful than 
 to sit behind two perfectly broken horses or ponies, going well 
 together, and well in hand, passing rapidly through the air. 
 Complete harmony exists between them and the driver, they 
 know his hand and voice, and he understands the character of 
 each animal. At the same time, in the hands of a skilful, ex- 
 perienced driver, two horses only partially trained, and in many 
 respects somewhat raw, will also go well and with safety. 
 Therefore, study the driving, both for your own happiness and 
 for the pleasure you wish to give those who accompany you. 
 Accidents will sometimes happen, and perhaps the description 
 of one or two would tend to enliven these few pages ; but I must 
 confess, if I am to describe exciting catastrophes and hair- 
 breadth escapes, I must invent them. Without wishing to be 
 guilty of conceit, I can only say that such events have never 
 happened to me during the many years it has been my good 
 fortune to drive a tandem. 
 
Old Seal of the Tandem Club. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 QUOUSQUE TANDEM? 
 
 BY MAJOR-GENERAL SIR C. TEESDALE, R.A., V.C., K.C.M.G. 
 
 SOME thirty years ago, soon after all the troops had returned 
 from the Crimea, there was a large garrison at Woolwich, 
 composed not only of gunners, but of the militia regiments 
 which had been doing duty in the Mediterranean. The world 
 went very well then, and a number of officers, for the most part 
 young, were extremely anxious to amuse themselves now that 
 the hard times through which so many had passed were over. 
 In those days communication with London was not so easy 
 and money not plenty as it now seems to be. Consequently 
 amusement had to be found near home. Those were the days 
 when Tom Hills was still the huntsman of the Old Surrey 
 Hounds, and on almost every hunting morning sundry ardent 
 youths were seen jogging off at an early hour to a meet which 
 might have been hard on twenty miles away, to enjoy them- 
 selves amongst the hills and flints of a very peculiar country. 
 Their hunting costumes were not precisely what the golden 
 
 M 2 
 
j 64 DRIVING. 
 
 youth of to-day would consider faultless, nor would their horses 
 all have fetched 3oo/. at the hammer ; but still, if after a hard 
 day's work liny managed to get home in time for mess, and 
 especially if, by some error of its own, a fox li.ul been killed, the 
 stories told of the chase and of individual deeds of daring horse- 
 manship would probably run those of the faultlessly divssrd and 
 mounted sabrcurs of to-day pretty close. Well, for the sake of 
 argument, let us say that for the sum above mentioned hard on 
 ten young sportsmen might possibly have gone a-hunting in 
 those merry days, and then we shall arrive at the useful class of 
 animal that was then prevalent in barracks and had far too 
 much to do and was generally too well ridden to indulge 
 in many eccentricities. There was, perhaps, a good deal of 
 analogy in the positions of the horses and their proprietors, 
 except that the masters were probably a great deal keener to 
 be always doing something than their mounts. That may 
 explain why it seemed so natural that if the master was not 
 riding his horse he should be driving him. It was not every- 
 one who was the lucky proprietor of a vehicle of any kind. If 
 he was, it was generally of the two-wheeled order in some 
 cases, an expert might have said a wheel and a half. But then 
 all were not experts, and unlimited confidence was as good as 
 half a wheel. 
 
 Thirty years ago the journey from Woolwich to the west- 
 end of London was a tiresome and tedious affair, so that if 
 pleasure or business called one there, it was much simpler and 
 far more pleasant, in the absence of tramways, to drive at once 
 from point to point, and the Old Kent Road was worn by 
 the constant va-et-vient of the military einspanner. Now one 
 day it came into the head of a festive aide-de-camp who owned 
 two perfectly dissimilar quadrupeds, that, although he could not 
 ride them both at once, it was quite possible to utilise their time 
 by driving them together. The difficulty was, that the only 
 vehicle he possessed was a dogcart, and that to purchase any- 
 thing with four wheels and a pole was quite out of the question, 
 for several simple reasons. This preyed upon his mind, until 
 
AN I 
 
QUOUSQUE TANDEM? 165 
 
 the sight of a passing tandem produced the idea that should 
 have developed itself spontaneously if everyone were imagina- 
 tive and original. The next step was to confide the acquired 
 idea to a celebrated horse-dealer, whose opinion on the subject 
 was given much in these terms : ' I always look upon a man 
 as drives a tandem as a fool ; he makes two hosses do the work 
 of one and most likely breaks his silly neck.' Nothing could 
 be more satisfactory to ambitious youth than that, and so no 
 one will wonder that in about a fortnight after the delivery of the 
 oracle two horses might have been seen in the middle of a road 
 about half a mile from their stable standing, or rather struggling, 
 side by side, but head and tail in an inextricable tangle of 
 harness, reins and long whip, somehow attached to a tall dog- 
 cart on the top of which sat an utterly helpless and perplexed 
 would-be charioteer ! 
 
 This little difficulty probably originated the Tandem Club. 
 There were only two important spectators of it, standing at safe 
 distances on opposite sides of the road. One was for the moment 
 a very anxious parent, and the other a past master in all the 
 arts of riding, driving, racquets, cricket, and other manly sports. 
 When the horses had been put straight and had acquired a con- 
 fidence that their driver neither possessed in himself nor in 
 them collectively or individually, they careered away without any 
 more notable trouble until, with true military instinct, they 
 returned quietly to their barracks and food. Said the anxious 
 parent to his friend across the road, ' Will you for Heaven's sake 
 try and prevent my boy from breaking his neck ? for / can't.' 
 The answer was, ' I will. I will teach him to drive a tandem.' . . . 
 Now it may be doubted whether that promise was exhaustively 
 satisfactory to a fond father, but at all events it was carried out, 
 so that not very long afterwards Mentor and Telemachus, or for 
 short M. and T., would often sit together in the same vehicle 
 with a relative sense of security and a positive one of pleasure 
 in driving over every road for miles around, and interchanging 
 jocosities with the envious. As chaff did not drive the one 
 tandem off the road, and as it is human to err and to be 
 
1 66 DRIVING. 
 
 imitative, it became evident that there would soon he more 
 tandems about, and the notion of a Tandem Club germed in 
 the fruitful brain of the Mentor. The first fruit of that germ 
 was that the Mentor started a tandem of his own. Nobody 
 knows, probably no one ever knew, what animal he drove at 
 the wheel, but everyone from the oldest to the youngest 
 inhabitant knew the leader ' Kitty.' l That horse was probably 
 coeval with the Royal Regiment of Artillery, and must have 
 taught many generations of subalterns their drill on Woolwich 
 Common, besides having run numberless garrison flat races, 
 hurdle races, and steeplechases, and jumped every fence 
 marked on the ordnance map, and many others within twenty 
 miles of his own manger. At the time we are speaking, 
 however, no living soul could ride, drive, or manage the 
 Kitten but his own master ; and nothing could be more 
 instructive to the anxious student than to watch the various 
 methods by which the master invariably overcame the eccen- 
 tricities of the wayward steed. If he refused to start, a quite 
 inimitable holloa would set him going ; if he ran away, a little 
 playful badinage as to his age and unfitness for such exertion 
 would stop him ; and if he came round to see if his nose-bag 
 was under the driving seat, a few kindly kicks on the nose sent 
 the docile animal nearly into its place again. Of course, at the 
 time, these magistral touches in the art of driving seemed to be 
 easy of imitation, though after the lapse of many years one is 
 forced to see that only the genuine artist can hope to attain to 
 such proficiency. 
 
 Howbeit, tandems of one sort or another appeared, and 
 a conclave of their owners was called. The subject to be 
 discussed was the formation of a club. M. voted himself Chair- 
 man : carried nem. con. M. constituted himself President : great 
 applause. M. nominated T. Secretary : murmurs, but carried 
 in deference to the Chairman. All present elected themselves 
 
 1 The Kitten, brown gelding, by Willoughby out of an Irish mare, was 
 bred at Ruperra Castle, Glamorganshire, and was used for many years as 
 second charger by an officer of the Royal Horse Artillery. 
 
QUO USQUE TANDEM? 167 
 
 members unanimously. Magnum Bonum, the Hebrew accom- 
 modator, and a Polish nobleman of distinction were elected 
 Honorary Members, without the formality of their being con- 
 sulted ; and the club having been thus regularly constituted, 
 the rules were then drawn up. Finance : The entrance fee to 
 the club is to be nil, 1 and the annual subscription is on no 
 account to exceed the entrance fee. 
 
 Any member falling in arrears is to cease, ipso facto, to be 
 a member of the club. 
 
 Discipline. The President is at liberty to issue such orders 
 as he may think fit for the guidance of the club. 
 
 The members are at liberty to obey such orders if they 
 please. 
 
 Other regulations of a similarly stringent nature were en- 
 acted, and the Chairman, having passed a vote of thanks to the 
 meeting, adjourned to the ante-room. 
 
 Everything now went on swimmingly, but the want was 
 felt of some great and indisputable authority on all matters 
 connected with driving. Very luckily for the Club such an 
 authority was at hand. Colonel Fane, commanding the 
 Oxford Militia, was one of the most celebrated whips of the 
 day, and after some coaxing, he consented to be installed critic- 
 in-chief to the Tandem Club, with plenary powers. The usual 
 order of proceeding was as follows. A day, hour and place 
 were announced for the meeting of the tandems, the usual 
 spot chosen for the meet being in front of the Map Establish- 
 ment, as the broad expanse of parade ground in front afforded 
 scope for any erratic movements of members, whose wishes as 
 to position were not always quite in harmony with the views 
 taken by their teams. Colonel Fane would sit calmly on the 
 box of his drag, which served as a citadel and place of security 
 to the ladies, scanning with a judicial and unerring eye the 
 conduct of each individual driver. When order had been 
 more or less established, the signal was given to start, and the 
 
 1 This was cribbed from I. Z. rules. No apology to J. Loraine Baldwin, 
 originator of the Zingari. ' Imitation is the sincerest flattery.' 
 
1 68 DRIVING. 
 
 procession moved off to whatever point had been agreed upon. 
 It might be to Gravesend, Richmond, Dulwich, the Crystal 
 Palace, even to the wilds of Kensington ; but perhaps the most 
 favoured spot was Greenwich. Stabling and dinners were 
 alike good there, and the road home so familiar, that be the 
 night never so dark, the horses could always find their own 
 way back, which was sometimes an advantage. 
 
 When dinner was over, the President placed his white hat 
 on the table as a badge of office, and called on the Secretary to 
 explain to the meeting the position, financial and otherwise, of 
 the Club. This having been done, the President would then 
 deferentially request Colonel Fane to make some remarks upon 
 the performances of the day, reminding members that it was 
 strictly forbidden to answer or discuss any criticism. The 
 great whip would then rise with an extra twinkle in his merry 
 eye, and solemnly begin. ' Mr. Secretary, I noticed that when 
 you passed my coach this afternoon to show the ladies how you 
 could drive ' (' No ! ' Silence !) ' your leader was all over the road, 
 and your wheels a great deal too close to mine.' (' Well, how 
 
 could I help my leader shying at your old Order, order, 
 
 order.) ' Besides, when you wanted to rouse your leader, you 
 very nearly hit my young 'un. Now if ever you want to pass me 
 again, and I choose to let you, set your horses going before you 
 come up to me, then lay hold of them both and steady them ; 
 when your wheels are quite clear of mine, drop your hands 
 and let them shoot, and instead of flourishing your whip about 
 as if you were fishing with a dry fly, keep it still, and try and 
 look as if you could drive.' (Great applause, during which the 
 Secretary hides his confusion in the bowl.) Then one after 
 the other had to suffer, until the conversation became very 
 general, and the ladies thought it nearly time to be going 
 home. 
 
 We have now seen something of the method by which the 
 theories of driving were inculcated into the heads of the 
 would-be Jehus. Their practical education was conducted in 
 another way. .When the President, armed with all the arbitrary 
 
QUO USQUE TANDEM? 169 
 
 powers conferred upon him by the rules of the club, could 
 gather six tandems together, he would take them to the drill 
 ground on the Common and draw them up after the manner of 
 a troop of horse artillery, and then put them through every 
 evolution that a troop was ever capable of performing. This 
 was the more easy, as the command consisted almost entirely 
 of gunners, if they were not all drivers. Certain it is that these 
 drills made horses and men so handy, that road-work soon 
 came to be looked upon as mere child's play, and the distant 
 expeditions were conducted with great confidence. Mercifully 
 no accident of any importance to man or material occurred, 
 and whether or not tandem-driving be of any practical value, 
 an immense deal of very harmless fun and amusement was got 
 out of it. How long the Tandem Club lasted is not recorded : 
 certainly the vehicles could not have held together much 
 longer ; and the original members were soon scattered all over 
 the globe, as they never had been over the neighbourhood of 
 Woolwich. Many are not (for the lapse of thirty years pro- 
 duces many gaps in the ranks of old comrades), and of those 
 that remain, perhaps not one could be dragged back to his box 
 by wilder horses than he ever drove in his youth. 
 
 There is no reason, however, why a tandem should be a 
 particularly dangerous or useless mode of conveyance. Let any- 
 one while he is young and has strong and steady nerves, a 
 quick eye and patience to learn his business thoroughly, try it, 
 and perhaps he will not repent. Let him begin by learning 
 the uses, places and combination of the harness to the last 
 buckle. Then, if he can find a good professor, let him sit 
 beside him, watch, listen and learn. When he feels confident 
 that he can set up on his own account, let him possess himself 
 of a stout dogcart, a steady well-bitted wheeler, and a free 
 leader in a ring snafHe, and, above all, an active and sober 
 groom. Then he may go far and certainly might fare worse. 
 Nothing could well be more pleasant than for two great friends 
 who did not quarrel more than three times a day to make 
 a tour through a hilly district where (pace the horse-dealer) 
 
1 70 DRIVING. 
 
 there is plenty of work for both horses to do, and all the ele- 
 ments of open-air enjoyment. If there be a small degree of 
 danger connected with the pastime, and a man must needs be 
 a fool for liking it, long may there be many such fools in 
 England to keep up all its sports and exercises as well as 
 tandem-driving. 
 
Two minutes to spare. ' 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 OLD COACHING DAYS^ 
 
 BY LORD ALGERNON ST. MAUR 
 
 AMATEUR REMINISCENCES. 
 
 THE number of old coaching men of those, that is to say, who 
 were accustomed to drive when coaching was the speediest 
 and most familiar form of locomotion is gradually becoming 
 fewer and fewer. It is because I had the advantage of being 
 or the misfortune to be? an enthusiastic coachman in days 
 of yore that the Editor has applied to me for a contribution, 
 and I hasten to fulfil the request without further apology or 
 preface. 
 
 My active experiences go back half a century. In 1830 
 
1 72 DRIVING. 
 
 Mr. Stevenson was driving the ' Brighton Age ; ' and I begin 
 with him because he was the great reformer who set a good 
 example to coachmen generally, as regards punctuality, neat- 
 ness and sobriety. Before his day many were very slovenly. 
 They drove without gloves or aprons ; the old night coachmen 
 frequently wore glazed hats such as sailors wear, and had bands 
 of hay or straw twisted round their legs ; they were uncouth and 
 careless in appearance rough in manner and language ; much 
 given to drink ; and, if admitted as representatives of the pro- 
 fession, were likely to get the coachman a bad name which he 
 did not deserve. The ' Age ' left Brighton as the clock struck 
 twelve, and a vast crowd assembled every day to see it start ; 
 it was well horsed and well driven. This has always been the 
 most fashionable road for driving, and later on the late Duke 
 of Beaufort, Lord Chesterfield, and several other gentlemen 
 drove on that road. The professional drivers afterwards were 
 Charles Jones, Sir St. Vincent Cotton, Dick Brackenbury, Jack 
 Willan, Charles Ward, and Frank Jerningham. Willan had 
 what was called a ' double load,' the ' Times,' which he drove 
 from London to Brighton and back ; it was said to be worth 
 7oo/. a year ; but a man who drives one hundred miles every 
 day, in all weathers, deserves to be well paid. 
 
 If I go back to my very earliest recollections of coaching, I 
 must begin before the date I have mentioned. 
 
 In the year 1820, being then six years old, I was put into 
 the old Frome coach, which carried six inside, to be taken to 
 London. We left Frome at 6 P.M., and reached our destina- 
 tion at 12 next day eighteen hours doing one hundred miles ; 
 but I have never yet forgotten that every time we changed 
 horses the same question was always put to the guard, which 
 was, * Well, George, how is your brother Robert ? ' It turned 
 out that shortly before, at some inn, the horses had been left to 
 themselves, while the coachman and guard went in to drink ; 
 the horses started off, the guard rushed out, just in time to 
 jump on to the coach, but as they were making for a pond he 
 jumped off and broke his leg. Such instances of neglect were not 
 
OLD COACHING DAYS. 173 
 
 uncommon, and I remember an old coachman telling me that 
 he once met two coaches in one night without any coachman, 
 and that he managed to stop them both without any accident. 
 From the age of six till twelve I was at school on Wimbledon 
 Common, and went home three times a year in Mr. Dawnay's 
 four-horse coach. This was a strange conveyance. It carried 
 four inside; then, behind the body of the coach, there was a 
 circular sort of basket which carried six passengers. A very few 
 years previously, although the coaches were on springs, the box 
 seat was not so designed, so that the coachmen were terribly 
 shaken. State coaches were then built in the same manner. 
 I was always very fond of horses, and when at this school I 
 much envied our dancing-master, who came once a week in 
 a tandem. 
 
 In those days Lord Spencer lived in Wimbledon Park, which 
 abounded in game of all sorts. Wild ducks were by no means 
 rare visitors, woodcocks were not seldom found, and there was 
 also a heronry. Sir Francis Burdett lived upon the Common, 
 also Tooke, Lord Melville, Count St. Antonio, and many more. 
 At twelve years of age I went to Eton for four years ; this was 
 in 1826. Goodall was provost, Keate headmaster; Staniforth, 
 captain of the boats. Here I first began to drive, having a gig 
 occasionally or a phaeton from Bob Davis, who kept the inn 
 next to Windsor Bridge. My next coaching experiences were 
 from London to Peterborough and back three times a year, 
 either by the Louth mail, which ran through Cambridge, or by 
 the Stamford < Regent.' 
 
 Ringrose drove the mail from Cambridge to Huntingdon 
 and back. One fine summer morning, just at dawn, a donkey 
 stood in the middle of the road, but as the mail drew near, he 
 lay down and rolled, causing such a dust that the leaders took 
 fright and upset the mail. Such an accident might, of course, 
 have happened to anybody, but poor Ringrose was so chaffed, 
 and was asked so frequently whether he had met the donkey 
 that morning, that he was nearly driven off the road. There 
 were some good inns in those days, the Cock Inn at Eaton. 
 
174 DRIVING. 
 
 the Wheatsheaf at Atconbury Hill, the Haycock at Wansford, 
 and the George at Grantham. Although I had no driving, I 
 passed three very pleasant years in Peterborough, with five 
 other pupils, at a tutor's. We read six or eight hours on most 
 days ; in summer we hired a four-oar from Cambridge and 
 rowed on the Nene ; we also sailed on Whittlesea Mere, then a 
 lake about fourteen miles round, where we shot snipe, ducks, 
 teal, widgeon, sheldrakes, ruffs and reeves, herons, and other 
 birds. There were some very fine men in the Fens, who lived 
 entirely by the gun, especially one Bate, six feet two. He shot 
 with an old flint and steel gun, worth a few shillings, and for 
 wadding he picked dry sedge as he walked along. I once 
 asked him how it was that he scarcely ever missed a snipe ; he 
 replied, ' I never shoots at them, I always shoots where they're 
 a-going, and then the shot meets them ' this, however, is a 
 digression from coaching. 
 
 In 1833 I went to live in London, where I had such a 
 seven years of coaching as I shall never forget. At that 
 time all the mail coaches assembled once a year on the ist of 
 May, either in Lincoln's Inn Fields or some other roomy place, 
 coachmen and guards all in their new liveries of scarlet and 
 gold, all the horses in ne*r sets of harness All the best 
 horses in or near London belonging to the mails were put in 
 on that day; several gentlemen, lovers of the road, such as 
 Sir Henry Peyton, Sir Lawrence Palk, and several others, also 
 lent their own teams to join in the procession, as the mails 
 were driven through all the principal streets in the West End ; 
 but, before leaving London, all the regular mail teams were 
 put in again. A dinner was always given at Westminster to 
 the mail coachmen and guards ; at this Mr. Chaplin (after- 
 wards member for Salisbury) presided, and he generally gave 
 * shouldering ' as a toast, which was considered a capital joke. 
 As the meaning of the word will be little understood by the 
 present generation, I may explain that it referred to a system 
 in vogue which was rather against the interest of the coach pro- 
 prietors. Coachmen were allowed to pick up * short passengers ' 
 
OLD COACHING DAYS. 175 
 
 between the different towns, charging them a shilling or half-a- 
 crown, according to the distance, and to put these small sums 
 into their own pockets ; and as these short passengers handed 
 the money to the coachman over his shoulder before alighting, 
 this custom was called shouldering. Foreigners were much 
 struck with this procession of the mails. I and other gen- 
 tlemen who were interested in coaching always rode round 
 with them on horseback. The last procession took place in 
 May 1838 ; there were then twenty-seven mail coaches in 
 London ; the Earl of Lich field was Postmaster-General, and 
 Mr. George Louis was Superintendent of the New Post Office. 
 
 I belonged to the B.D.C., or Bedfont Driving Club ; an 
 association which had about thirty members. We dined there, 
 at the Black Dog, three times during the summer. The Club 
 was formerly held at Benson, near Oxford, but Bedfont was 
 much more convenient. It was a pretty sight, about eleven at 
 night, when starting for London, to see all the coaches in the 
 yard, all the lamps lit, and teams of divers colours. I regret 
 that I have not retained the list of the members of the Club, 
 but it included Lord Sefton, Sir Henry Peyton, Messrs. Ville- 
 bois, Bunbury, Kenyon, Spicer, Sumner, and many others. 
 We also had a very pleasant coach dinner in Botham's, at Salt 
 Hill ; the Duke of Beaufort, Lord Chesterfield, Counts d'Orsay 
 and Batthyany, and a host of others, sat down to the number of 
 about fifty ; the hours were small when we reached Kensington 
 Corner. 
 
 The Bath road was in excellent order, as there were pumps 
 at short intervals for watering the road all the way to the 
 western city. There were several excellent coaches on this 
 road the 'York House' to Bath, the 'Berkeley Hunt' and 
 ' Tantivy ' to Cheltenham. About this time some of the coach- 
 ing men l put a very smart Windsor coach on the road called 
 the 'Taglioni,' with a picture on the hind boot of the danseuse 
 
 1 The Earl of Chesterfield and Count (afterwards Prince) Batthyany. It 
 was a two-end coach. Charley Jones (a brother of the former Sir Henry 
 Tyrwhitt) and young Dick Brackenbury were the coachmen. B. 
 
1/6 DRIVING. 
 
 as she appeared on the stage. The horses, all piebalds, were 
 supplied by Mat Milton, a noted character in those days, and 
 they were splendidly driven by Charles Jones. I must also 
 mention a first-rate pair-horse coach, the 'Wonder,' put on the 
 road by Lovegrove of the Bear at Maidenhead. It was full 
 every day, and did the twenty-six miles to London in two hours 
 and a half to a minute. 
 
 Among my own early experiences was driving the ' Age ' to 
 Oxford by way of Uxbridge and Beaconsfield. There was 
 much racing and opposition on this road between the * Age' and 
 the ' Royal William ' indeed, with such energy was the coach 
 conducted that the driver told me he once drove the whole 
 distance, fifty miles, in three hours and sixteen minutes. 
 The ' Age ' ran from the Green Man and Still in Oxford Street 
 to the Mitre at Oxford, leaving London at one, reaching 
 Oxford at half-past six. Major Fane, a fine coachman, often 
 drove the 'Royal William.' Such was the jealousy between 
 these two rival coaches that the horse-keepers of the 'Age,' 
 which happened to be first and was changing horses, put 
 a number of stable buckets across the road, thinking to delay 
 the ' Royal William ; ' but Major Fane, who was driving and 
 galloping at the time, the moment that he saw their little game, 
 caught all his horses fast by the head, and giving them a smack 
 all round, splintered the buckets into pieces and went on his 
 way rejoicing. At first I used to drive to Oxford and return 
 the next day, but I soon wished for more work ; so after dining 
 at the Mitre I used to send for one or two friends who 
 happened to be in the city, and we sat together till eleven, 
 when I drove the Gloucester mail back to London, by Henley 
 and Maidenhead, reaching London at six ; then to bed for two 
 hours, after which I passed the day as usual. I was very fond 
 of driving by night, as horses are always so lively ; to hear the 
 ring of their feet on a sharp frosty night, the rattle of the bars, 
 and the clatter as they rose and surmounted the tops of the 
 hills, was to me the sweetest of music. Sometimes I drove the 
 Gloucester mail from London nearly to Benson, where we met 
 
OLD COACHING DAYS. 177 
 
 the up-mail, when I got on to that and drove back again. The 
 first night that I drove this mail out of London the old coach- 
 man would drive with short-wheel reins, which just came round 
 the middle finger. He called the usual reins 'a newfangled 
 French fashion.' It was a dark, wet night, and rather foggy. 
 When half-way down Henley Hill he began chirping at the 
 leaders, which set them pulling. All he said was, ' It's a nasty 
 hill with a bridge at the bottom, but we must go along, only 
 mind what you're at, as this is just the spot where my partner 
 was killed this day week ; he ran up the bank and turned 
 her over.' Some of these men were terribly reckless. I soon 
 left this road for the Basingstoke or Exeter, which I much pre- 
 ferred to any other, and I never left it as long as coaching 
 lasted. The ' Quicksilver,' or Devonport mail, and the Exeter 
 Telegraph,' were simply perfection such coachmen, such 
 guards, and such horses ! How well I remember the four 
 blood chestnuts, with ring-snaffles, out of London ! Then 
 there was a grey leader over Hounslow Heath, who refused to 
 start at all unless he had ear-caps on. These looked very odd 
 when the ground was covered with snow. I often wondered 
 who found out this horse's peculiarity, for it was such a strange 
 remedy for a bad starter. 
 
 We left Paine's Old White Horse Cellar, opposite Hatchett's, 
 at half-past eight ; we changed at Hounslow and at Bedfont 
 Gate (invariably called Bellfound Gate, but I never knew why), 
 and reached Bagshot at a quarter before eleven twenty- six 
 miles. Here I slept, was called at half-past three, left at four, 
 reached London at half-past six ; then to bed till eight or 
 nine, as the case might require. Sometimes I drove right down 
 to Whitchurch, near Andover, met the up-mail and drove it 
 back again, thus driving all night. 
 
 On two coaches, the * Quicksilver ' and * Telegraph,' we had 
 no side- reins or check-reins, never crossed or lapped the traces, 
 nor throat-lashed the leaders ; four reins in one hand and 
 whip in the other was deemed sufficient. The mail-coaches 
 carried four passengers inside and three outside, the guard 
 
 N 
 
178 DRIVING. 
 
 having a small seat behind all to himself ; he also had a sword 
 and a blunderbuss, and a 'yard of tin,' which he could blow 
 with sufficient expertness to make himself heard at a great 
 distance. The motto on the forepart of the mail was ' Nemo 
 me impune lacessit.' A coachman one day asked me what it 
 meant, and I explained to him ; but I added, ' On the u Quick- 
 silver " it means, " Nobody ever gives me the go-by," ' and no- 
 body ever did ; for even when we were last out of London 
 we were nearly always first into Hounslow. When going into 
 Devonshire I got on to the mail at half-past eight in the even- 
 ing, and got off it again at four the next afternoon, thus 
 occupying twenty hours, driving all sorts of distances. When 
 I went to Exeter by the ' Telegraph ' we left London at five 
 in the morning and reached Exeter at half-past ten at night 
 176 miles in seventeen hours and a half! We breakfasted 
 at Bagshot, dined at Deptford Inn, and had tea at Ilminster. 
 We changed horses nearly twenty times. There were three 
 guards belonging to the ; Telegraph,' all first-rate men, who 
 carried small twisted horns in their pockets, as the passengers 
 were troublesome in trying to blow the usual long horns. 
 These guards frequently managed to jerk the drag from under 
 the' wheel without stopping the coach, but this was very 
 dangerous ; a guard on another coach was killed in attempting 
 it. There was a four-mile stage from Wincanton to Last Gate. 
 A friend of mine, a first-rate coachman, asked the professional 
 the shortest time in which he had ever done the distance, and 
 he replied fifteen minutes. My friend, who was driving, said, 
 'I think it might be done in twelve.' He started at a gallop 
 and did the four miles just under twelve minutes. The next 
 day the professional tried to do the same, but, unfortunately, 
 when at full speed one of the horses put his foot into a hole 
 near the side of the road and broke his leg, which spoiled all. 
 I never heard that he tried it again. 
 
 When I went into Dorsetshire I used to go by the old 
 Exeter mail. I drove to Salisbury, eighty-six miles ; some- 
 times to Dorchester, 120 miles. One evening I met this mail at 
 
OLD COACHING DAYS. 179 
 
 Dorchester. The only passenger was the coachman's wife, so 
 they both got inside and I drove them to Salisbury, where Billy 
 Chaplin, as he was called, got into the mail, which he horsed 
 himself, and, of course, the professional ought to have been 
 driving. I was just mounting the box when the guard said to 
 me, I don't know what to do with the calf.' ' Calf,' I said ; 
 ' what calf? ' He replied, ' I did not tell you before, but veal is 
 cheap in Dorchester and dear in London, and there's a crown 
 to be got out of that calf, only the London butchers like them 
 alive ; but now that Billy is inside perhaps I had better cut its 
 throat, as if he hears it " bah ! " I might get into trouble for 
 carrying it in the hind boot.' I replied, ' Leave the calf alone. 
 I will drive very steadily out of the town, and in less than twenty 
 minutes our only inside, barring the calf, will be fast asleep.' I 
 think it only fair to add that both our insides behaved very 
 well, as we heard no more of either of them till we reached 
 Piccadilly, when Mr. Chaplin jumped into a cab, the calf was 
 dropped into the bottom of the mail-cart under the bags, and 
 carried off to Newgate Street. 
 
 I was often asked in those days why, being so fond of 
 driving, I did not keep a coach and team of my own. My 
 reply was : ' In the first place, consider how much more practice 
 there is in driving road-coaches with all sorts of horses ; a 
 man must become a judge of pace, which is not only useful 
 but necessary ; and then again one learns how to put horses 
 together.' A man's own team is all very well for ten or twelve 
 miles, but in driving a hundred miles he has the variety of 
 ten or twelve teams, likewise of all sorts of ground, and again 
 of driving horses with all sorts of mouths, all sorts of tricks 
 and all sorts of tempers. I drove the Basingstoke coach 
 wnenever I could, frequently three days a week. It ran long 
 stages. The coach stood at Gerrard's Hall, near St. Paul's, 
 and ran from there to Bedfont, fifteen miles ; thence to 
 Bagshot, thirteen ; Hartley Row, thirteen ; Odiham, four ; 
 Basingstoke, six. It was considered a slow coach, but it was 
 not so in reality. It left the Cellar at half-past nine, reaching 
 
 N 2 
 
i8o DRIVING. 
 
 Basingstoke at three, doing fifty-two miles in five hours and a 
 half ; but there was much road-work to be done, picking up a 
 great many 'short passengers.' We also stopped ten minutes at 
 Virginia Water for refreshments, and generally more than ten 
 minutes at Odiham, where the proprietor of the coach lived, 
 and he always had a very nice luncheon laid ready on the 
 table. It was my invariable practice to keep time to a minute. 
 We had roan horses nearly all the way, and it was, of course, 
 not always easy to supply deficiencies. One day, after chang- 
 ing horses at Hartley Row, on nearing Odiham the coachman 
 said to me : ' Do you find any difference between this team and 
 the others you generally have ? ' I replied that I thought that 
 they rather wandered about the road just at starting. 'Well,' 
 he said, ' I did not like to tell you before, but they have not 
 an eye among them.' On reaching Basingstoke I remained 
 till five, when I got on to the Weymouth 'Magnet,' and arrived 
 in London at nine, nearly a hundred miles. There were many 
 amateurs on this road Sir John Rogers, Sir Lawrence Palk, 
 Sir Walter Carew, Lord Willoughby de Broke, Mr. Wadham 
 Wyndham, and many others. 
 
 There was much life on the road in those days, as those 
 who could not afford post-horses went by coach ; occasionally 
 four ladies would engage the inside from Exeter to London. 
 One night the guard said to me, ' Be sure not to turn her over 
 to-night, as we have four members inside,' and I found that 
 these were four members of Parliament. The day after the 
 Coronation, I was just leaving the White Horse Cellar, with a 
 very heavy load on the Basingstoke coach, when a clergyman 
 came running up, and asked if I had any room. I replied that 
 I was very sorry, but that the coach was more than full already. 
 He exclaimed, ' I really must go, or I shall be in a sad scrape ; 
 cannot you make room for me somewhere ? I am ready to jump 
 into the boot or anywhere, sooner than be left behind.' ' Well,' 
 I said, ' both boots are full I know, but sooner than you should 
 get into trouble we will try what we can do.' So I told one of 
 the porters to take a large trunk out of the front boot and pile 
 
OLD COACHING DAYS. 181 
 
 it up on the top of the other luggage, and then the clergyman 
 scrambled into the boot. Of course I left the door open that 
 he might breathe, and I actually left London the day after Her 
 Majesty's Coronation with four in, eleven out, a ton of luggage, 
 and a clergyman to boot, and in the boot ! Strange to say, 
 we were liable to be fined for carrying one extra passenger, 
 also if the luggage was piled up beyond a certain height ; 
 whereas, at present, omnibuses, with only a pair of horses, 
 appear to carry any number of passengers. 
 
 Now as to pace. It often struck me that coachmen seldom 
 knew at what pace they were going, unless they were driving 
 themselves. I will give an instance of this. The Exeter 
 'Defiance' left the Cellar every evening at half-past four, loaded 
 very heavily I was always very fond of a full load. It was 
 well horsed with four dark browns, all sixteen hands, which 
 trotted much faster than they appeared to do. The usual 
 coachman kept on telling me that I was losing time, and re- 
 peated this so often that I resolved to play him a trick if I 
 could ; for, driving as much as I did in those days, I began to 
 think that I knew something of pace. So I trotted along, mak- 
 ing all possible haste I could, but, of course, without galloping. 
 When we reached Basingstoke, the ostler stood at the inn door 
 with his hands in his pockets. It was a fine summer evening, 
 and the town clock was exactly opposite the inn. The coach- 
 man said, ' Well, Jim, where are the horses ? ' ' Lor ! bless ye, 
 master, I haven't put the harness on yet,' was the man's reply, 
 ' for you be here forty minutes sooner than you've a ben for 
 six months.' I looked another way, and slipped off the coach, 
 as my journey ended there. Soon after, being invited to shoot 
 in Norfolk, I went there by the 'Phenomenon,' which left Mrs. 
 Nelson's inn at the East End of London at seven o'clock. I 
 had never been that road; the distance to Norwich is 116 
 miles, of which I drove eighty ; the coach was well horsed, but 
 we had no guard. Mrs. Nelson was a good business woman, 
 and all the passengers were asked to pay their fares when on 
 the coach before it left the inn yard. We had a very smart 
 
182 
 
 DRIVING. 
 
 team into Sudbury three piebalds and a grey. Just as we 
 entered the town there was a man with a wheelbarrow in the 
 middle of the road, with his back towards the coach. I ex- 
 
 The Sudbury barrow. 
 
 pected him to move, but he did not do so till we were close 
 to him j he then ran away with his shovel, leaving the barrow, 
 
OLD COACHING DAYS. 183 
 
 luckily lengthways, in the middle of the road. As it was 
 downhill and I had a heavy load (nearly all Quakers), it was 
 impossible to stop, so I opened out the leaders as well as I 
 could ; they were not throat-lashed or coupled very close, and 
 fortunately did not shy. I managed to clear the barrow with 
 the wheelers also, but the near hind wheel caught it, smashing 
 it to atoms, with a loud report. The Quakers at the back, 
 behind the luggage, all jumped up much alarmed, asking what 
 had happened, as, of course, they had seen nothing and most 
 likely thought that the coach had given way. 
 
 I returned in a day or two, driving a hundred miles. It so 
 happened that I did not go that way again for two years. I 
 then met this same coachman coming towards London, who 
 made a sign for me to stop ; after a few observations, just as 
 we were both starting again, he remarked with a smile, touch- 
 ing his hat at the same time in the most respectful manner, 
 < 1 beg your pardon, sir, but you didn't happen to meet with 
 the Sudbury barrow again, did you ? ' These long coachmen 
 loved a joke dearly, and never forgot to name it if you hap- 
 pened to touch anything when driving. 
 
 I may here add a few words about the patent, or pressure, 
 drag. That this drag is a great boon I cannot deny ; but as 
 to treatment, I know nothing that has been so much abused. 
 In the days of the mails and fast coaches it would have been 
 invaluable. Stopping to put the drag on, or take it off, would 
 have been quite unnecessary ; whereas, formerly, if behind 
 time, a coachman was often tempted to run down a hill with 
 a heavy load, without the drag, to save time, and this caused 
 several sad accidents, the coach getting the better of a weak 
 team of horses who could no longer sustain the weight behind 
 them. There is also another great advantage in this drag, as 
 some hills are only steep just at the top, so that after descend- 
 ing a short distance all pressure can be removed, and the rest 
 of the descent being gradual, you can run down the hill at the 
 rate of ten or twelve miles an hour. With the old drag and 
 chain, when once it was on, it could not be removed till 
 
1 84 DRIVING. 
 
 level ground was gained, as no horses could back a coach 
 uphill. 
 
 The drag, however, may be, and often is, greatly abused. 
 What do we see now ? We may note a well-appointed coach 
 being driven about London, but when necessary to pull up, the 
 horses are no longer expected to stop the vehicle ; the coach- 
 man's duty is to put on the patent drag. It is also often 
 kept on after the coach has been stopped, lest the horses 
 should move again. As the team descends, either in town or 
 country, or even when going over the London bridges, on 
 goes the drag. But the place of all others in which to see 
 the popularity of the patent drag is the top of St. James's 
 Street ; here it goes on with a jerk, a pressure and a noise, 
 that would almost lead one to think that the coach had arrived 
 at the top of Henley Hill, with ' eleven and four,' and two tons 
 of luggage ; whereas, for years, we formerly trotted down St. 
 James's Street, full in and out, with many loads, bound for 
 Mr. Hart's hospitable Trafalgar Hotel at Greenwich or else- 
 where, without any skid at all. But then horses knew their 
 business. The drag is still more abused in the country, as 
 every flyman makes use of it down gradual descents, where 
 it is not the least required, causes a most unpleasant noise, 
 and wears away both itself and the tires of the wheels to no 
 purpose. 
 
 Now, I beg to state that I am not finding fault with the 
 coachmen of the present day ; no doubt there are excellent 
 men among them, and I think it marvellous how few accidents 
 have happened to coaches, especially in and about London, 
 since railways opened, as modern drivers could not have had 
 the opportunity of driving all sorts of horses, by day and by 
 night, as had to be done formerly. The fact is, that horses are 
 not taught to hold back, as every horse ought to be ; but, of 
 course, if dealers and horse-breakers can sell them when 
 ignorant of this useful accomplishment, they will continue to 
 do so. The drag should never be used excepting when 
 absolutely necessary. I have heard much about the drag 
 
OLD COACHING DAYS. 185 
 
 saving horses' legs ; it may do so to a certain extent, but not 
 nearly so much as some people imagine. I have not found 
 that horses last any longer ; and two of my oldest friends, who 
 have driven four horses all their lives, still take a pride in 
 descending steep hills without any drag at all, and declare that 
 their horses last quite as long as other -people's. Of course, 
 in driving a pair of groggy wheel-horses the drag may save 
 them from coming on their heads when going downhill. 
 Living in a hilly country, I still retain breeching and bearing- 
 reins, and the old drag and chain swung under the coach, as 
 in old days, but I employ the pressure drag as well. There 
 may be many changes yet ; for, 
 
 What can escape Time's all-destroying hand ? 
 
 Where's Troy, and where's the May-pole in the Strand ? 
 
 as somebody wrote years ago. 
 
 But Troy's in Wales, there's no question about that. I 
 quite forget who sang, 
 
 The team trots merrily o'er the road, 
 
 The rattling bars have charms ; 
 Eleven and four is our average load, 
 
 And we change at the Coachman's Arms. 
 
 There was one team in the Brighton Day Mail quite per- 
 fection, three chestnuts, and a brown near wheeler who could 
 trot while all the others galloped, but the horn upset him, and 
 unless held hard he was off like a rocket. Such were some 
 of the quaint experiences of horses which one gained on these 
 old coaches. 
 
 The love of driving was so strongly developed in many en- 
 thusiasts, that when coaching came to an end as a business it 
 began to be followed as a sport or amusement, and I now 
 propose to make a few observations about the pleasure road- 
 coaches, London teams, the meets at the Magazine, and driving 
 generally. 
 
 In 1839, finding that railways would soon put an end to 
 coaching, I was one day much surprised by two old friends 
 calling upon me, and inviting me to purchase their coach, 
 
1 86. DRIVING. 
 
 which they had kept between them for some years, stating that 
 they could no longer afford to keep it, and that they were both 
 going on to the turf to make fortunes. I begged them to 
 reconsider their decision, adding that if they really intended to 
 leave the road for the turf I thought it quite likely that I should 
 see them 'both out,' which I regret to say has long since come 
 to pass, nor did I ever hear of those fortunes to which they 
 then looked forward. 
 
 I bought their coach, however, which proved to be an old 
 mail. These mails, made by Ward about 1835, ran better than 
 any coaches that I have ever driven ; they travelled very steadily, 
 followed well, galloped without rocking, and I have never 
 heard of any one of them being upset. 
 
 Having bought a coach, I had no team ; in fact, I never 
 really had a team, as I was always driving odds and ends, per- 
 haps a cabriolet horse and a hunter at wheel, and two buggy or 
 gig horses as leaders, or some equally eccentric combination. 
 Occasionally this was not all pleasure, but it was grand practice, 
 nor can I ever forget the kindness of my friends in lending me 
 all sorts of horses, and sending them on with servants and helpers, 
 when I wished to drive twenty or thirty miles ; one of the best 
 and pleasantest teams that I ever drove consisted of four gig 
 horses, each belonging to a different owner. I soon began to 
 drive large parties of friends to Greenwich, Richmond, Windsor 
 Henley, Hampton Court, and Virginia Water ; also to Epsom, 
 Ascot and Goodwood, and the latter, as we arranged it, made a 
 most enjoyable outing. We were generally a party often ; we left 
 London on Monday morning, sent horses on, had four teams 
 in all, stayed the whole week with a kind friend about twelve 
 miles from the course, so that we had a twenty-four-mile drive 
 every day, and drove back to London, some sixty or seventy 
 miles, on Saturday. We also used to attend the races at the 
 Hoo, then held in the park, some six miles below Welwyn, and 
 thirty-three from London. 
 
 I cannot help regretting that there should have been a sort of 
 interregnum between the stage-coaches and pleasure-coaches. 
 
OLD COACHING DAYS. 187 
 
 The road came to an end in 1840, but it was not till some ten 
 years had elapsed that the Tunbridge, Brighton, and Dorking 
 coaches were put on the road. During these years everything 
 appeared to have got out of gear. The new coaches were 
 badly built, good crops or whips were not to be found, and 
 nearly everything connected with coaching cost more than 
 double, especially horses. I have had a few drives on these 
 pleasure-coaches, but must confess that I never had the same 
 joyous sensation as of yore, when mounting the box of the 
 'Quicksilver' Mail or the Exeter 'Telegraph,' for a journey of 
 two hundred miles. It seemed so very tame by comparison, 
 just driving a few miles out of London and back again ; but I 
 am very glad that good coaches and horses have not altogether 
 disappeared, and that the love of the road survives so strongly 
 as it evidently does. Some of these coaches load well, are 
 well horsed, and well driven ; the chief fault to be found is 
 with regard to the time lost in changing horses, sometimes five 
 or ten minutes, which time the horses have to make up. In 
 old days, two minutes was deemed quite sufficient. Till invited 
 to do so, it never entered my head to write about driving, but 
 now I wish I had retained one half of the coaching songs, 
 anecdotes, and other matters, which might have interested or 
 amused those who still care about coaching. I remember a 
 few lines of a coaching song, written by an old friend in 1835, 
 as under : 
 
 Some people delight in the sports of the turf, 
 
 Whilst others love only the chase ; 
 But to me the delight of all others is 
 
 A coach that can go the pace. 
 There are some too for whom the sea has its charms, 
 
 And who sing of it night and morn, 
 But give me a coach with its rattling bars, 
 
 And a guard who can blow his horn. 
 
 How the girls all doat on the sight of a coach, 
 
 And the dragsman's curly locks, 
 As he rattles along with eleven and four 
 
 And a petticoat on the box ; 
 
1 88 DRIVING. 
 
 His box is his home, his teams are his pride, 
 And he ne'er looks downcast or forlorn ; 
 
 And he lists to the musical sound of the bars, 
 And a blast on the old mail horn. 
 
 There was another song, 'The Tantivy Trot,' which had a 
 great popularity. 
 
 THE TANTIVY TROT. 
 
 Here's to the heroes of four-in-hand fame, 
 Harrison, Peyton, and Ward, sir ; 
 Here's to the diagsmen that after them came, 
 Ford, and the Lancashire lord, sir. 
 
 Let the steam-pot 
 Hiss till it's hot ; 
 Give me the speed 
 Of the Tantivy trot. 
 
 Here's to the arm that holds them when gone, 
 Still to a gallop inclined, sir, 
 Heads to the front with no bearing-reins on, 
 Tails with no cruppers behind, sir. 
 
 Let the steam-pot 
 Hiss till it's hot ; 
 Give me the speed 
 Of the Tantivy trot. 
 
 Here's to the dear little damsels within, 
 Here's to the swells on the top, sir : 
 Here's to the music in three feet of tin, 
 Here's to the tapering crop, sir. 
 
 Let the steam-pot 
 Hiss till it's hot ; 
 Give me the speed 
 Of the Tantivy trot. 
 
 The subject of accidents seems to be an interesting one to 
 those who are fond of reading about coaching in the old days. 
 
OLD COACHING DAYS. 189 
 
 My own luck in this respect was great, personally. During all 
 the years that I drove, I never witnessed any accident, but I 
 will try to describe some of which I have heard, as such 
 description may serve to teach the young coachman what to do 
 and to avoid doing. 
 
 The Edinburgh Mail on leaving London one foggy night 
 was driven by an old man named Penny ; he became nervous, 
 and asked Jack Webb the guard (a first-rate man, and very 
 active) to come over the roof and drive for him, which he did ; 
 but the fog was so dense that in a few minutes he turned the 
 Mail over, and poor old Penny was killed. Webb saved one 
 or two mails from accidents by letting himself down from the 
 foot buard, either on to the pole or on to one of the wheel- 
 horses, and collecting the reins which had been accidentally 
 dropped, and was thus enabled to stop the horses ; this feat 
 required great nerve and activity, and I am pleased to add that 
 he was liberally rewarded. 
 
 A coachman named Bollin, in Northamptonshire,, was 
 driving down a steep hill when the near leader's rein broke. 
 Of course he could not stop, but he had the presence of mind 
 to do the only thing possible to get out of the scrape ; he gave 
 his off leader a smack under the bar, put them all into a 
 gallop, over the bridge at the bottom of the hill, and managed 
 to stop them going up the next hill, which was fortunately steep. 
 The passengers were so delighted that they all clubbed to- 
 gether and made him a very handsome present, as they quite 
 expected to be killed, and no wonder ; for I must admit that 
 it requires some nerve, nor is it all pleasure, to sit still on a 
 four-horse coach with a Christmas load when galloping down- 
 hill, with a bridge at the bottom, and only three reins to the 
 four horses ; but all's well that ends well, as this gallop 
 did. 
 
 Sydney Robinson, who drove from London to Basingstoke, 
 had his leg broken in a most unfortunate manner, he being a 
 steady man and a good coachman ; he left Bagshot with only 
 one passenger who- was on the box-seat. After passing the 
 
i yo DRIVING. 
 
 Jolly Farmer, a small public-house on the road, a brewer's 
 dray, with empty barrels, went by the coach at a trot, and the 
 barrels made such a noise that the coach-horses started off. 
 The box passenger was so alarmed that he quite lost his 
 head, and frantically clutching the two near-side reins, pulled 
 the horses out of the road, and overturned the coach. This 
 silly fellow escaped unhurt, but Robinson's leg was badly 
 fractured ; he was laid up for many weeks, and felt the accident 
 for the remainder of his life. 
 
 Wignell, who also drove on the Southampton road, was 
 upset, and broke his leg so badly that it was taken off above 
 the knee, after which he wore either a cork or a wooden leg ; 
 he was upset twice afterwards, and broke his leg each time, 
 but luckily the wooden one. During the seven years that I 
 drove on the road, I had two horses down. We changed at 
 Bagshot, when a most miserable off-leader was put into the 
 coach. I exclaimed, ' What is that ? ' The coachman replied, 
 'I have often complained of that horse, but the master will 
 not change him.' * Well,' I said, ' my belief is that he will be 
 on his head before he has gone a mile ; ' and it so happened : 
 in less than half a mile we left him by the roadside and went 
 on with three. Another day I was driving a coach called the 
 Forester through the New Forest ; on descending a hill, down 
 came the off-wheeler ; the coachman burst out laughing and 
 exclaimed, ' That's just where it is ! I was a watching you, 
 you know, how you pulled them together and came gently 
 off the brow of the hill as a coachman had ought ; but that 
 horse would never have fallen had I been a-driving, for I never 
 interferes with them old cripples, for if you goes fast enough 
 down them 'ere 'ills, they are afraid to fall.' Now I never 
 forgot that lecture, as there is much truth in it : always go fast 
 with unsound horses if you can. 
 
 One nig'it, the mail from Salisbury to Southampton being 
 rather behind time, they were having a merry gallop through 
 the Forest, when the horses bolted out of the road, having 
 taken fright at the cover of a carrier's cart which had been 
 
OLD COACHING DAYS. 191 
 
 blown off and left by the roadside. The mail was overturned, 
 and the coachman was killed ; the guard, a ready and active 
 man, went on with the mails as soon as he could, and on reach- 
 ing Southampton, had some bills printed describing the accident, 
 which he distributed at all the inns and public-houses, and in 
 a few days the sum of 5oo/. was collected for the coachman's 
 widow and children. 
 
 There are certain things that nearly all horses dislike and 
 shy at. I remember one of the mails being upset in the 
 same manner, through the cover of a cart being blown off 
 between Egham and Staines, at early dawn. I never was 
 on the Worcester Mail, but I have heard that it has been 
 seen ' the other way up ' more often than any other mail out 
 of London. 
 
 I have always been given to understand that the late 
 Duke of Beaufort, Lord Chesterfield, Mr. Probyn, Mr. H. 
 Villebois, Sir Walter Carew, and Lord Willoughby de Broke 
 were reckoned among the best coachmen between the years 
 1830-40. 
 
 Mr. Charles Jones, Age, Brighton ; Bob Brackenbury, Age, 
 Brighton ; George French, Tunbridge Wells Telegraph ; 
 Williams, Light Salisbury ; Charles Ward, Devonport Mail ; 
 Tim Carter, Exeter Telegraph ; Jimmy Witherington, Oxford 
 and Cheltenham ; Bill Harbridge, Exeter to Plymouth : these 
 are a few of the best coachmen that I can remember, about 
 the same time. 
 
 I have heard it stated that, if a set of four-horse harness 
 were taken to pieces and thrown upon the floor, very few 
 coachmen would be able to put it together again. This may 
 be so, but I found enough to do in learning how to bit and 
 harness four horses properly, and to put them together, taking 
 care that the bridles or headstalls did not pinch their ears, 
 which is often the case ; that the bits were not too high nor too 
 low in their mouths ; bearing-reins, cruppers, pole-chains or 
 pole-pieces not too tight or too loose ; that the pads fitted 
 well to their backs, and were well stuffed ; all traces the right 
 
I 9 2 DRIVING. 
 
 length ; throat-lashes rather tight if no bearing-reins ; the pole- 
 hooks downwards, not to catch the bar of the bit, coupling- 
 reins the right length. Be sure that the reins of your four-horse 
 harness are cut properly ; many sets of reins are sent out from 
 the saddler's cut all wrong. 
 
 After driving seven years on the road by day and by night, 
 I began to think that I knew most part of my lesson, but I 
 was very soon undeceived, as, when I began to drive about 
 London, I soon found that I still had a great deal to learn. 
 In the country, going straight ahead, your chief duty was to 
 make each horse do his own share of work and to keep time ; 
 but in London, so to speak, a man must be all eyes and ears ; 
 horses all well in hand, and ready to stop in a moment. I 
 found it a good plan to couple my leaders a little closer, and 
 to pole up my wheelers a link or two, when squeezing through 
 the City in the afternoon. I have seen a few meets of both 
 clubs at the Magazine in Hyde Park, and have been glad to 
 notice a few good coachmen, some very well-built coaches, 
 and many excellent horses. At first, the horses were too often 
 very badly put together, traces much too long, and pole-chains 
 generally much too tight ; nor have I seen much improvement 
 in these matters lately. I dislike carriage-horses in a coach ; 
 they are quite different animals from coach-horses ; both are 
 excellent in their proper places, but not by any means inter- 
 changeable. 
 
 I will now imagine that some young man who has never 
 yet driven, but is attracted by the revival of coaching and is 
 anxious to learn, desires to know how he may best set about it. 
 First, I would buy a second-hand coach, or a strong break, 
 having had it carefully examined ; the harness, if second-hand, 
 should also be looked over most carefully, the reins and hame- 
 straps particularly. Horses could be bought at Tattersall's, or 
 at Gray's Inn Lane, or St. Martin's Lane, or at any well-known 
 dealer's. The best sizes for horses is perhaps about fifteen 
 three, and they need not be too well bred. If the team 
 only requires holding and not hitting, you will never learn to 
 
OLD COACHING DAYS. 193 
 
 use your whip, the proper use of which is among the novice's 
 greatest difficulties. He is nearly always to be met twisting 
 his whip round and round, trying to catch up the thong, and 
 looking at that when he ought to be watching his horses. He 
 should learn to use his whip at home, before getting on to a 
 coach at all. Let him sit on a table or high stool, in a large 
 room, or, perhaps, a garden is better still. He should drive a 
 short split stick, about six inches long, into the ground, at a 
 proper distance from his chair, insert a small piece of card or 
 paper into the cleft of the stick, and slash at it and try to hit 
 it with the whipcord or point of the whip. This he will soon 
 learn to do ; then let an old hand teach him how to catch up the 
 thong instantly ; for the moment you hit a leader, some wheel- 
 horses hang back, and should have a reminder at once, smart 
 and effective. The next thing to be done is to learn how to put 
 your team together, so that you may be well able to teach your 
 servants, who generally know little or nothing about it. Then 
 the novice will do well to take some lessons in driving from 
 some one who thoroughly understands the art, always taking 
 his whip and reins in his hands before mounting the box ; 
 when there, he must place his knees and feet close together, with- 
 out any apparent stiffness, and be sure to cover his legs and feet 
 with an apron : light jean in summer, strong cloth in winter. 
 
 Teach your horses to stand still after you are on the box, 
 till you wish them to move ; having all your reins properly in 
 hand, raise it gently, and they will all start at once ; you should 
 never have recourse to that horrible new custom of crying out 
 ' Hold up,' l in a stentorian voice, which is most unseemly and 
 quite unnecessary, only intended for Bath wagon-horses in the 
 olden time. Begin by driving a few miles into the country, 
 then round the parks, and as soon as you can shift your reins 
 properly, and use your whip, take a turn in the streets before 
 twelve o'clock. Having gained confidence, begin at the Marble 
 Arch, drive down Oxford Street, Holborn, round St. Paul's, 
 and back by the Strand and Piccadilly ; this was a favourite 
 
 1 Or more commonly ' Pull up,' which is ridiculous. B. 
 
 O 
 
194 DRIVING. 
 
 drive of mine, and should you take this drive about four o'clock 
 in the afternoon, you will find plenty to do, and have a really 
 good practice. 
 
 Do not stoop or lean forward, but sit quite upright on the 
 coach-box ; not at all stiffly. Hold your whip well up across 
 your body ; do not hold it close to the end, in the present 
 fashion, but some distance from the end, otherwise you have 
 no power to strike when necessary, and are very likely to let 
 the whip fall altogether. As to your reins, they should be held 
 as near your heart as possible, if you happen to have one ; if 
 not, where your heart ought to be. When you arrive at the 
 top of a hill, pull your leaders gently back, as their traces 
 should then be slack, and the bars should 'chatter.' When 
 about to rise a long steep hill, catch hold of all their heads and 
 trot up as far as possible, no matter how slowly, as in walking, 
 few horses step together ; consequently they will work better 
 together and rise the hill more easily at a slow trot. The 
 Scotch, or pressure drag, is an admirable and most useful 
 invention how glad we should often have been of such 
 assistance some fifty years since, on dark or foggy nights when 
 among steep hills with heavy loads and weak wheel-horses ! 
 But I must add that it is now most absurdly abused, as country 
 flymen put it on on all occasions, whether the hill is steep or 
 not ; and I also see young raw-boned coachmen using it con- 
 tinually, even when they stop or wish to do so ; whereas all 
 horses should be taught to stop the coach themselves, also to 
 run down any ordinary incline without any drag at all. My 
 drag-chain has broken more than once when half down a steep 
 hill ; but, with a strong sensible pair of wheelers, and sound 
 breeching, I never got into trouble. 
 
 In old days, when wishing to shorten, or take up the reins 
 when driving, it was customary to seize the reins with the right 
 hand behind the left, and pull them back through the fingers 
 of the left hand ; but this is a slow process. You should learn 
 to take your reins back from the front, by placing the right 
 hand in front of the left, and pushing them back as quick as 
 
OLD COACHING DAYS. 195 
 
 possible, but taking the greatest care not to drop a rein in so 
 doing, which is most dangerous ; in fact, a beginner should 
 practise this, either at first in the house, or on the coach-box 
 without horses, or when the horses are standing still. If you 
 build a coach, employ one of the best coachmakers, and do 
 not try to build it too light, as light coaches are failures. I 
 never knew one under 18 cwt. fit for all sorts of work or to 
 carry a load well without rocking ; most coaches weigh quite 
 one ton. Be sure to build it with the foot-board well over the 
 horses ; when on the box you should not be able to see the 
 part of the wheelers from the hips to the tail ; let these horses 
 be as near the splinter as possible with safety. Your pole 
 should be rather a short one, as the nearer your leaders are to 
 the coach in reason, the better, as the draught is less, and they 
 are more within reach should they require your right hand ; 
 and be sure your traces are not too long ; in this way you will 
 have all snug and under control. When driving about the 
 streets of London take care to keep your leaders well in hand, 
 and never allow them to pull when turning a corner, or you 
 will soon be in trouble ; take plenty of room, and time also, 
 when possible ; in fact, it should be a case of ' eyes every- 
 where ' \ and, above all, remember that you must practise often, 
 as is the case with chess, whist, or billiards. Study pace, which 
 is most useful, especially in the City : suppose that you wish to 
 pass a vehicle going the same way as yourself, and that another 
 vehicle is meeting you at some little distance, you should know 
 your own pace, and, at a glance, the pace that the vehicle you 
 wish to pass is going, also the pace of the carriage approaching ; 
 in fact ; a judge of pace can squeeze through the City in half the 
 time of an ordinary mortal. I believe that I have now venti- 
 lated the four-horse coach pretty freely ; and if I have only 
 interested or amused for a few minutes any past, present, or 
 future coachmen, I shall be more than repaid for these feeble 
 efforts, made for the road, which is still dear to me. But ten 
 times more shall I rejoice if, from the hints which I have given 
 about driving four horses, I have been able to teach the rising 
 
 o 2 
 
196 
 
 DRIVING. 
 
 generation of coachmen how to get on comfortably and avoid 
 accidents, from which I myself had the good fortune to be 
 totally exempt from 1833 to 1887, some fifty-four years. 
 
 THE OLD NORTH ROAD. 
 
 What pleasant nights and days I have passed on the old 
 North Road, when going to shoot on the Moors in Yorkshire 
 or in Scotland ! 
 
 Over the moors. 
 
 Two or three friends and myself used to secure the whole 
 of the Edinburgh mail about a week previously ; we went in 
 hackney-coaches with our servants and luggage to Sherman's 
 Bull and Mouth Inn, opposite the New Post Office, and here 
 was a grand sight about eight o'clock in the evening, as the 
 yard was filled with mails and stage-coaches with enormous 
 loads, starting for the North ; teams of magnificent horses, mail- 
 guards and coachmen in their liveries of scarlet and gold lace ; 
 horse-keepers busy with the horses, porters helping to load the 
 heavy night-coaches, some of which carried from two to three 
 tons of luggage, as besides the roof and the two boots there 
 was a scrole from behind the back seat, on which was often 
 placed a heavy trunk, and occasionally a sack of oats. Some 
 
OLD COACHING DAYS. 197 
 
 coaches also had a cradle under the coach, which consisted of 
 a large square piece of wood, suspended from the perch by 
 ropes or chains, on which luggage was also carried ; add to 
 this fifteen passengers of twelve stone each, and we must not 
 be surprised that the cattle sometimes sobbed a little when 
 going over the brow of the hill. 
 
 I had often driven this mail, and one night it was proposed 
 that I should begin at once, take the reins in the Bull and 
 Mouth yard, drive into the Post Office yard, take up the 
 mail-bags and drive out again. Now this was very unusual 
 for an amateur ; however I did it, and nothing was known or 
 said about it, so we trotted off at once, and I drove 146 miles, 
 the longest drive that I ever had at one sitting. I then began 
 to grow sleepy, as we had had heavy rain all night, and the 
 sun came out very hot the next day. About midday the 
 coachman begged me to go on driving, declaring that the 
 next team was the best between London and Edinburgh ; but 
 having driven about seventeen hours, I declined. I once went 
 to Fort William, returning by the Pass of Glencoe, and the 
 coachman told me that, as nearly all the harness happened to 
 be worn out at the same time, new harness had been ordered 
 for the whole seventy miles at once, but it had arrived without 
 winkers. Strange to say, no accident happened, as not one 
 horse in all the seven teams appeared to miss anything. I 
 regret that coaching did not last a few years longer, as in 1830 
 it had scarcely reached perfection, and in 1840 it came to an 
 end, as railways in all directions were opened that year. I also 
 regret that the Government did not forbid the opening of more 
 than a few lines at first, to see how they answered, as in that 
 case those connected with the road would not have suffered as 
 they did, many being utterly ruined. Few people are aware 
 of the misery caused by railways to innkeepers, coachmen, 
 guards, postboys, ostlers, and horse-keepers, as it all came to 
 pass so suddenly. Nor could anybody foresee exactly the 
 effects they would have, as the proprietor of a coach on the 
 Western Road was offered Soo/. by the railway company to take 
 
J9 DRIVING. 
 
 his coach off the road within a year of the opening of the 
 railway ; and those who have read the life of George Stephen- 
 son, the chief inventor of railways, may remember that he 
 thought it likely that railways would only be used to carry 
 heavy goods, or that, if they carried passengers, it would only 
 be at the rate of twelve miles an hour, as most people would 
 fear to go faster, whereas very shortly I found myself being 
 carried to Bath, no miles on the broad gauge, in two hours 
 and twenty minutes. At first railways met with much oppo- 
 sition, for not only were companies made to pay fabulous prices 
 for land, but several large landed proprietors ordered men 
 to watch day and night to prevent levels and measure- 
 ments being taken on their property, and there were many free 
 fights in consequence. Then we suddenly fell into the other 
 extreme, many people being most anxious that a branch railway 
 should be brought almost to their doors, or, at any rate, to 
 the small town or village near which they happened to reside. 
 
 I think it was Charles Dickens who told the touching 
 story of the two coachmen (brothers, if not twins) who met 
 daily on the road, just raising their whips, or waving their 
 hands to each other, but scarcely ever having time to stop or 
 exchange a word. One died, after which the brother com- 
 plained how dull the road had become, adding, * I never see 
 Tom's cheery face now, all life seems to have left the road ; ' 
 and in a very few months he followed his brother. 
 
 Let me conclude these remarks by mentioning the requisites 
 for driving, which are good eyes, strong arms, light hands, gcod 
 nerves, good temper, and plenty of practice. 
 
 PROFESSIONAL REMINISCENCES. 
 
 Any account of old coaching days and matters appertaining 
 to them must necessarily be interesting to those fond of the 
 road, and the fact that these reminiscences were supplied by 
 Philip Carter, a coachman of more than fifty years' experience 
 commencing from the year 1828 and continuing almost up to 
 the present time, will, it is hoped, tend to give them value. 
 
OLD COACHING DAYS. 199 
 
 The Belle Sauvage, Ludgate Hill, fifty-eight years ago was 
 the property of Robert Nelson, son of Ann Nelson, of the 
 Bull Inn, Aldgate, and was justly celebrated for being one of 
 the most extensive and popular establishments of its kind in 
 the metropolis. Among the most noted of the fast coaches 
 was the Defiance, which ran from London to Oxford, and the 
 honour of driving it was divided by two very well known coach- 
 men, Adams and Foreman. It was horsed out of Oxford by 
 Christopher Holmes, who had for some years strongly opposed 
 a wealthy firm of that town, by name Coster and Waddall. 
 Mr. Nelson was at the same time proprietor of the fastest and 
 most popular mail in England, the Devonport Mail, commonly 
 called the Quicksilver. In 1828 Mr. R. Nelson instructed 
 one of his coachmen to give young Carter all possible advice 
 and information that he might go to work as soon as 'he was 
 capable, and after a few weeks Carter drove the Leeds Courier 
 out of and into London from the Belle Sauvage. 
 
 On his first day out with him, his mentor took the-oppor- 
 tunity of having him 'sworn at Highgate,' stating it was a 
 very essential form to go through in order to become a quali- 
 fied coachman. His curiosity to know the nature of such an 
 oath induced him at once to assent. He immediately pulled 
 up at the Wellington Hotel at Highgate, where he was duly 
 sworn, ' not to drink small beer when he could get strong ; not 
 to kiss the maid when he could kiss the mistress, and never 
 to pass that house without calling to have a bottle of cham- 
 pagne,' and the landlord was bound to give him credit if he 
 had not the wherewithal to discharge his liability. Carter 
 continued on this coach until 1829, and next drove the Stroud 
 Water mail as far as Benson in Oxon ; he was then fortunate 
 enough to be appointed to drive the Red Rover to Brighton, 
 a coach started conjointly by Messrs. Nelson and Holmes, 
 the latter having sold his business at Oxford. It began to run 
 at the time of the proclamation of William IV., whose resi- 
 dence was at the Pavilion in Brighton, and in consequence of 
 performing the journey in half an hour less time than any other 
 
200 DRIVING. 
 
 coach, it had a capital season. This coach left London half 
 an hour later than any other and arrived at the same time as 
 the rest, leaving at 4 P.M. and reaching its destination at 9 P.M. 
 
 In order to advertise and give notoriety to the coach, on 
 the occasion of the King opening Parliament the coach con- 
 veyed his maiden speech to Brighton in the short time of 
 3 hrs. 35 mins., Philip Carter driving, Mr. Holmes having made 
 strenuous efforts and obtained the speech in shorthand notes. 
 
 Soon after this Carter had a most miraculous escape from a 
 fatal accident. He carried a full load of passengers, and Captain 
 Barclay (of pedestrian notoriety) was on the box. He was a 
 man well known in the coaching world, and was in the habit of 
 driving a great deal with the Brighton coachmen, many of whom 
 were part proprietors ; not being one himself, however, Carter 
 could not allow anyone to drive. On leaving the office at the 
 Clarence Hotel he had twelve outside passengers all booked 
 and loaded. A gentleman who was a regular customer came 
 up at the last moment, and being the last coach from Brighton, 
 Carter was prevailed on to take him on his consenting to ride 
 on the roof and pay the expenses of an information in the 
 event of there being one. The accident occurred by the pole 
 breaking close to the futchels at the top of the hill going off 
 Thornton Heath down into Streatham. Immediately the pole 
 broke it fell down between the horses, and they commenced 
 the descent with fearful rapidity. Carter had some difficulty 
 in preventing Captain Barclay from trying to pull the horses 
 up, as he knew it was an impossibility, and he managed to get 
 round the very awkward turn at the bottom of the hill with 
 only a slight concussion which threw the aforesaid gentleman 
 off the roof on to the ground ; but he fortunately escaped with 
 a severe shaking. The impetus with which they were going 
 carried them up to the top of the other hill, where, with the 
 assistance of the Captain, he pulled up near the Pied Bull, a 
 pair-horse coaching establishment. Here they were furnished 
 with a new pole and continued their journey to London. 
 
 When the coach became well established, soon after Christ 
 
OLD COACHING DAYS. 201 
 
 mas, both proprietors sold their horses. Carter then went on 
 to the Hope, a coach running to Sheffield and Halifax, and this 
 he drove to Hockliffe and back for about two years. In conse- 
 quence of the Hope being removed to the Bull and Mouth, he 
 went on to a coach called the Stag to Shrewsbury, put on by 
 the proprietors of the Wonder coach, which also ran to Shrews- 
 bury, with a view of running a coach called the Nimrod off 
 the road. They succeeded in doing this in about a year, after 
 a very strong opposition during the whole time ; each coach 
 used to gallop for the lead of the road, leaving the Wonder going 
 at its usual pace and time. Carter had strict injunctions not on 
 any account to allow the Nimrod to be in advance of the Stag. 
 Mr. Sherman, who was at that time increasing his coaching 
 establishment, had just finished building the hotel in St. 
 Martin's-le-Grand, now called the Queen's, which was first 
 opened during that year ; it was then called the Bull and 
 Mouth, and was carried on for some years on his responsibility 
 entirely managed by a Mrs. Sanderson. When the Stag was 
 taken off the road Carter went to Oxford to drive a coach put 
 on by the tradesmen of that town, who had formed a company, 
 and horsed by Major Fane, who contracted with the proprietors. 
 The coach started from the Three Cups, Oxford, leaving at 
 8.30 A.M., arriving at the Gloucester Coffee House at 2, going 
 to the Old Bell, Holborn, leaving the Gloucester Coffee House 
 on its return journey at 3 P.M., arriving at the Three Cups at 
 8.30 P.M. This Carter drove up and down as long as the coach 
 was on the road, about twelve months, daily except Sundays, 
 without the assistance of either guard or break. He then went 
 back to Nelson's, of the Bull Inn, Aldgate, and drove the Exeter 
 Telegraph to Basingstoke and back daily, until the railway 
 interfered with it, leaving Piccadilly at 5.30 A.M., arriving at 
 Basingstoke at 9.55 A.M., stopping at Bagshot to breakfast ; 
 leaving Basingstoke on his return journey at 6 P.M., arriving at 
 Piccadilly at 10.15, ano ^ the Bull Inn, Aldgate, at n o'clock. 
 This he did for some years without ever missing a day except 
 Sundays, and he is always pleased to think it was undoubtedly 
 
202 DRIVING. 
 
 the best-appointed and fastest coach in England up to its last 
 journey. The entire distance (176 miles) was performed in 
 seventeen hours ; they stopped one hour for meals. 
 
 Carter never remembers being late at the Bull Inn, Aldgate, 
 during the whole time he drove, except once, and then only seven 
 minutes ; but he was told of it by Mr. Nelson. This happened 
 to be a coach that he was more particular about than any other 
 in his establishment, having gone to great trouble and expense 
 in bringing it to the perfection it reached. All other Exeter 
 coaches being very slow, the people who horsed them ridiculed 
 the idea of his success, and declined horsing it over the same 
 ground, although they horsed his other Exeter coach. He was 
 not to be discouraged, sent horses all the way to Exeter, and 
 horsed the coach himself the entire journey from London to its 
 destination. By making punctuality the primary consideration 
 the coach became a very good property, and enabled Mr. Nelson 
 to sell all his horses, with the exception of two London stagers, 
 at a remunerative price. 
 
 For some months before this coach ceased running to Exeter 
 the proprietors took advantage of the South-Western Railway 
 being open as far as Basingstoke by contracting with the com- 
 pany to carry the coach and passengers as far as they were 
 open, the proprietors paying the ordinary first and second class 
 fare for all passengers, the coach and either coachman or guard 
 to be conveyed free of charge. By this arrangement the coach 
 performed its journey to Exeter in two hours less time, leaving 
 the South-Western Railway Station, which was then at Nine 
 Elms, one hour later than it had left London theretofore, and 
 arriving in Exeter one hour earlier, during the whole of which 
 time, until the Great Western Railway opened throughout, the 
 coach loaded better than before. 
 
 Curtis Brothers being the proprietors at Basingstoke, they 
 placed the London coachman on the coach to drive from 
 Basingstoke to meet the coach coming from Exeter, and on 
 one occasion an extraordinary incident occurred. The coach 
 passed many miles over a very extensive tract of country then and 
 
OLD COACHING DAYS. 
 
 203 
 
 now known as Salisbury Plain, remarkable for very long ranges 
 of hills and deep valleys, extending many miles right and left 
 of the road, and in the month of February of that year a very 
 rapid thaw set in immediately after an exceptionally heavy fall 
 of snow. The 
 ground was fro- 
 zen very hard, 
 the water from 
 the hills descend- 
 ing so rapidly 
 that in seven or 
 eight hours there 
 were streams of 
 a great depth in 
 the valleys where 
 a drop of water 
 had never before 
 been seen, and 
 the current in 
 some in tances 
 was so strong 
 that it did a great 
 deal of damage. 
 Changing horses 
 at Amesbury 
 about twelve o'- 
 clock, the coach 
 should have 
 passed Stone- 
 henge, standing 
 on the summit of 
 
 a steep hill, a deep valley approaching it. At this time the 
 water was running down the valley, and was headed by an em- 
 bankment at the bottom of the hill, which had been thrown up 
 by reducing the hill. On the return journey, about three hours 
 later, changing horses at the next village called Winterborne 
 
 Left behind. 
 
204 DRIVING. 
 
 Stoke, a small trout stream there had so much swollen that it 
 had destroyed a great part of the village, in which was the 
 stabling the coach-horses had just vacated, and the horses 
 taken off were about to enter. On reaching the hill at Stone- 
 henge, about half an hour later, the water had so much increased 
 that it was just running over the embankment. The coachman, 
 having some doubt as to the safety of crossing the embankment, 
 pulled up. Two or three of the passengers got off the hind 
 part of the coach, intending to follow over on foot. On getting 
 safely over, the coachman had just pulled up when the whole 
 bank gave way. The passengers that had got off were left 
 behind, without a possible chance of getting to London that 
 night, the coachman making the best of his way to the Star 
 Hotel at Andover, where the ccach stopped half an hour for 
 dinner, and reached Basingstoke at 7 P.M., the time it was due, 
 to be conveyed by the last train to London. 
 
 A comprehensive idea of the life and work of a coachman 
 in former days may be gathered from the sketch of the career 
 of Mr. Charles Ward (one of a family well-known on the box), 
 written by himself, and published for private circulation a few 
 years back. The Editor takes the opportunity furnished by the 
 author of quoting the following extracts. 
 
 My father was a coach proprietor as well as a coachman, 
 and, I am proud to say, one of the best whips of his day. 
 He gave me many opportunities of driving a team. I will not, 
 however, enter into all the details of my youthful career, but 
 proceed to state, that at the early age of seventeen I was sent 
 nightly with the Norwich and Ipswich mail as far as Colchester, 
 a distance of fifty- two miles. Never having previously travelled 
 beyond Whitechapel Church, on that line of road, the change 
 was rather trying for a beginner. But . fortune favoured me ; 
 and I drove His Majesty's mail for nearly five years without an 
 accident. I was then promoted to the Quicksilver, Devonport 
 mail, the fastest at that time out of London. It must be ad- 
 mitted that I undertook this task under difficult circumstances 
 involving, as it did, sixty miles a night since many had tried 
 
OLD COACHING DAYS, 205 
 
 it ineffectually, or at all events were unable to accomplish the 
 duty satisfactorily. It is gratifying to me to reflect that I drove 
 this coach more than seven years without a single mishap. 
 
 Getting at length rather tired of such incessant and mono- 
 tonous nightly work, I applied for a change to my employer, 
 the well-known and much-respected Mr. Chaplin, who at that 
 time had seventeen hundred horses employed in coaching. 
 His reply was characteristic. ' I cannot find you all day 
 coaches,' said he ; 'besides, who am I to get to drive your 
 mail ? ' I must say, I thought this rather severe at the time, but, 
 good and kind-hearted man as he was, he did not forget me. 
 
 Not long after this interview, the Brighton day mail being 
 about to start, he made me the offer to drive the whole distance 
 and horse the coach a stage, with the option of driving it with- 
 out horsing. Like most young men I was rather ambitious, 
 and closed with the former conditions. The speculation, 
 however, did not turn out a very profitable one, and, the rail- 
 way making great progress, I sold my horses to Mr. Richard 
 Cooper, who was to succeed me on the box. I was then 
 offered the far-famed Exeter Telegraph, one of the fastest 
 and best-appointed coaches in England. My fondness for 
 coaching still continuing, and not feeling disposed to settle to 
 any business, I drove this coach from Exeter to Ilminster and 
 back, a distance of sixty-six miles, early in the morning and 
 late at night. After driving it three years, the railway opened 
 to Bridgewater ; this closed the career of the once-celebrated 
 Telegraph. But those who had so long shared its success 
 were not inclined to knock under. My brother coachman and 
 myself, together with the two guards, accordingly started a 
 Telegraph from Devonport to London, a distance of ninety- 
 five miles by road, joining the rail at Bridgewater, thus making 
 the whole journey two hundred and fifty miles in one day. At 
 that time there was a coach called the Nonpareil, running 
 from Devonport to Bristol. 
 
 The proprietors of this vehicle, thinking that ours would 
 take off some of their trade, made theirs a London coach also, 
 and started at the same time as we did. We then commenced 
 
2o6 DRIVING. 
 
 a strong opposition. I had a very good man to contend 
 against William Harbridge, a first-class coachman. We had 
 several years of strong opposition, the rail decreasing the 
 distance every year, till it opened to Exeter. The Nonpareil 
 was then taken off, and they started a coach called the Tally 
 Ho ! against the poor old Telegraph. Both coaches left 
 Exeter at the same time, and this caused great excitement. 
 Many bets, of bottles of wine, dinners for a dozen, and five- 
 pound notes, were laid, as to which coach would arrive first at 
 Plymouth. I had my old friend Harbridge again, as my com- 
 petitor. The hotel that I started from was a little farther 
 down the street than the one whence the Tally Ho ! appeared, 
 so that as soon as I saw my friend Harbridge mounting the 
 box, I did the same, and made the running. We had all our 
 horses ordered long before the usual time. Harbridge came 
 sailing away after me ; the faster he approached, the more I 
 put on the steam. He never caught me, and, having some 
 trifling accident with one of his horses over the last stage, he 
 enabled me to reach Plymouth thirty five minutes before he 
 came in. My guard, who resided in St. Albans Street, Devon- 
 port, hurried home, and as the other coach passed he called 
 out and asked them to stop and have some supper ; they also 
 passed my house, which was a little farther on, in Fore Street. 
 I was sitting at the window, smoking, and offered them a cigar 
 as they passed a joke they did not, of course, much relish. 
 The next night they declared they would be in first ; but it was 
 of no use, the old Telegraph was not to be beaten. Thus it 
 went on for several weeks ; somehow they were never able to 
 get in first. We did the fifty miles several times in three hours 
 and twenty-eight minutes (that is, at the average rate of a mile 
 in four minutes and nine seconds, including stoppages), and 
 for months together we never exceeded four hours. 
 
 Still, in every contest one party must ultimately give in ; 
 that one, however, was not the Telegraph. We settled our 
 differences, and went on quietly for the remainder of the time, 
 occasionally having a little ' flutter,' as we used to call it in 
 
OLD COACHING DAYS. 
 
 207 
 
 those days, but we were always good friends. Should this 
 narrative chance to meet the eye of some of those who used 
 to travel with us in bygone times, they will doubtless well 
 remember the pace we used to go. 
 
 After a few years the railway opened to Plymouth, and 
 many gentlemen asked me to start a fast coach into Corn- 
 
 Rivals. 
 
 wall, promising to give it their patronage. I accordingly 
 started the Tally Ho ! making it a day coach from Truro to 
 London, joining the rail at Plymouth ; this was a very difficult 
 road for a fast coach, but we ran it, till Government offered the 
 contract for a mail ; we then converted the Tally Ho ! into 
 a mail, and ran it till the rail opened to Truro. It will have 
 
208 DRIVING. 
 
 been seen that I kept to coaching nearly as long as there were 
 any coaches left to drive. 
 
 I had for some years given up driving regularly, having 
 taken the Horse Bazaar at Plymouth, where I used to supply 
 officers of the garrison with teams, and give them instructions 
 in driving ; this I still continue to do, and in every variety of 
 driving. It gives me, indeed,* much pleasure to see many of 
 my pupils daily handling their teams skilfully ; not a few of 
 them giving me good reason to be really proud of them, as I 
 know they do me credit. In my description of my driving 
 career, I stated that I had never had an accident ; I ought to 
 have said, no serious casualty, never having upset or injured 
 anyone ; but I have had many trifling mishaps, such as run- 
 ning foul of a wagon in a fog, having my whole team down in 
 slippery weather \ on many occasions I have had a wheel come 
 off, but still nothing that could fairly be termed a bad accident. 
 
 During the last twenty-five years I have been engaged 
 keeping livery stables and breaking horses to harness, and in 
 that period I have had some very narrow escapes. In one 
 instance, the box of a new double break came off and pitched 
 me astride across the pole between two young horses ; I once 
 had the top of the pole come off when driving two high- 
 couraged horses ; a horse set to kicking, and ran away with 
 me in single harness. As I was of course pulling at him very 
 hard, my feet went through the bottom of the dog-cart, he 
 kicking furiously all the time. Fortunately I escaped with 
 only a few bruises. On another occasion, in single harness a 
 mare began kicking, and, before I could get her head up, she ran 
 against the area railings of a house in Princess Square, Plymouth, 
 broke both shafts, and split the break into matches ; myself and 
 man nearly went through the kitchen window, into the arms of 
 the cook ; she did not, however, ask us to stop and dine. 
 
 I could mention many little events of a similar kind, and 
 consider myself very fortunate in having never had anything 
 more serious than a sprained ankle or wrist during my tolerably 
 long career. 
 
OLD COACHING DAYS. 209 
 
 Before concluding, I will relate some of the difficulties we 
 had to encounter in foggy weather. 1 We were obliged to be 
 guided out of London with torches, seven or eight mails 
 following one after the other, the guard of the foremost mail 
 lighting the one following, and so on till the last. We travelled 
 at a slow pace, like a funeral procession. Many times I have 
 been three hours going from London to Hounslow. I re- 
 member one very foggy night, instead of my arriving at Bagshot 
 (a distance of thirty miles from London, and my destination) 
 at eleven o'clock, I did not get there till one in the morning. 
 I had to leave again at four the same morning. On my way 
 back to town, when the fog was very bad, I was coming 
 over Hounslow Heath when I reached the spot where 
 the old powder-mills used to stand. I saw several lights in 
 the road, and heard voices, which induced me to stop. The 
 old Exeter mail, which left Bagshot thirty minutes before I 
 did, had met with a singular accident ; it was driven by a man 
 named Gambier ; his leaders had come in contact with a hay- 
 cart on its way to London, which caused them to turn suddenly 
 round, break the pole, and blunder down a steep embankment, 
 at the bottom of which was a narrow deep ditch filled with 
 water and mud. The mail-coach pitched on to the stump of 
 a willow-tree that overhung the ditch ; the coachman and 
 outside passengers were thrown over into the meadow beyond, 
 
 1 These words remind me of a good plan for driving on a foggy night, 
 which it may be well to mention here. I have often when driving at night 
 been obliged to pull up and put my lamps out, and was able to get on better 
 without them than with them. The lights shine on to the fog and back again 
 into the coachman's eyes, so that he can see nothing, and is fairly dazzled. 
 So far as he is concerned he is better without lamps, but a light at night is 
 desirable in order to prevent other vehicles from running against one. It is 
 therefore a great object to have a light and to prevent it from shining in the 
 eyes of the coachman, as it is apt to do in a fog. In the coach wallet or the 
 pockets of coach or carriage should be a thick bit of leather fitting over the 
 square or circular lamps, coming down just so far as to cover rather more than 
 half the flame, and firmly strapped or buckled on. This shows the ditch or 
 fence on either side, lights the road, and does not come back off the fog into 
 the driver's eyes. It shows a certain distance, and keeps other people from 
 running against you. B. 
 
 P 
 
2io DRIVING. 
 
 and the horses went into the ditch ; the unfortunate wheelers 
 were drowned or smothered in the mud. There were two 
 inside passengers, who were extricated with some difficulty ; 
 but fortunately no one was injured. I managed to take the 
 passengers, with the guard and mail-bags, on to London, leav- 
 ing the coachman to wait for daylight before he could make 
 an attempt to get the mail up the embankment. They endea- 
 voured to accomplish this with cart horses and chains. They 
 had nearly reached the top of the bank w r hen something gave 
 way, and the poor old mail went back into the ditch again. I 
 shall never forget the scene ; there were about a dozen men 
 from the powder-mills trying to render assistance, and, with 
 their black faces, each bearing a torch in his hand, they prer 
 sented a curious spectacle. This happened about thirty years 
 ago. Posts and rails were erected at the spot after the accident. 
 I passed the place last summer ; they are still there, as well as 
 the old pollard-willow stump. 
 
 I recollect another singular circumstance occasioned by a 
 fog. There were eight mails that passed through Hounslow. 
 The Bristol, Bath, Gloucester and Stroud took the right-hand 
 road from Hounslow : the Exeter, Yeovil, Poole, and Quick- 
 silver, Devonport (which was the one I was driving) went the 
 straight road towards Stain es. We always saluted each other, 
 when passing, with ' Good night, Bill,' ' Dick,' or ' Harry,' as 
 the case might be. I was once passing a mail, mine being the 
 faster, and gave my wonted salute. A coachman named 
 Downs was driving the Stroud mail ; he instantly recognised 
 my voice, and said, ' Charlie, what are you doing on my road ?' 
 It was he, however, who had made the mistake ; he had taken 
 the Staines, instead of the Slough road out of Hounslow. We 
 both pulled up immediately ; he had to turn round and go 
 back, which was a feat attended with much difficulty in such a 
 fog. Had it not been for our usual salute, he would not have 
 discovered his mistake before arriving at Staines. This mis- 
 hap was about as bad as getting into a wrong train. I merely 
 mention the circumstance to show that it was no joke driving 
 

OLD COACHING DAYS. 211 
 
 a night mail in those days. November was the month we 
 dreaded most, the fogs were generally so bad. A singular 
 event happened with the Bath mail that ran between Bath and 
 Devonport. Its time for arriving at Devonport was eleven 
 o'clock at night. One eventful evening, they had set down all 
 their outside passengers except a Mrs. Cox, who kept a fish- 
 stall in Devonport Market. She was an immense woman, 
 weighing about twenty stone. At Yealmpton, where the coach- 
 man and guard usually had their last drain before arriving at 
 their destination, being a cold night, they kindly sent Mrs, 
 Cox a drop of something warm. The servant-girl who brought 
 out the glass, not being able to reach the lady, the ostler 
 very imprudently left the horses' heads to do the polite. The 
 animals hearing some one getting on the coach, doubtless con- 
 cluded that it was the coachman ; at the same time, finding 
 themselves free, and being, probably, anxious to get home, they 
 started off at their usual pace, and performed the seven miles 
 in safety, passing over the Laira Bridge and through the toll- 
 bar, keeping clear of everything on the road. Mrs. Cox mean- 
 while sat on the coach, with her arms extended in the attitude of 
 a spread-eagle, and vainly trying to attract the attention of those 
 she met or passed on the road. She very prudently, however, 
 abstained from screaming, as she thought she might otherwise 
 have alarmed the horses. They, indeed, only trotted at their 
 ordinary speed, and came to a halt of their own accord at the 
 door of the King's Arms Hotel, Plymouth, where they were 
 in the habit of stopping to discharge some of the freight of the 
 coach. The boots and ostler came running out to attend to 
 their accustomed duties, but, to their astonishment, beheld no 
 one but the affrighted Mrs. Cox on the coach and two pas- 
 sengers inside, who were, happily, wholly unconscious of the 
 danger to which they had been exposed ! The coachman and 
 guard soon arrived in a post-chaise. Poor Mrs. Cox drank 
 many quarterns of gin to steady her nerves before she felt able 
 to continue her journey to Devonport, where she carried on 
 a prosperous trade for many years. Many people patronised 
 
 p 2 
 
212 DRIVING. 
 
 her, on purpose to hear her narrate the great event of her life. 
 I often used to chaff her, and hear her repeat the history of 
 her memorable adventure. 
 
 I will add a little anecdote of Bob Pointer, who was on 
 the Oxford road. Giving his ideas on coaching to a young 
 gentleman who was on the box with him, on his way to college, 
 he said : 
 
 Soldiers and sailors may soon learn to fight ; lawyers and 
 parsons go to college, where they are crammed with all sorts of 
 nonsense that all the nobs have read and wrote since Adam of 
 course, very good if they like it but to be a coachman, sir, you 
 must go into the stable almost before you can run alone, and learn 
 the nature of horses and the difference between corn and chaff. 
 ' Well can I remember the first morning I went out with four 
 horses; I never slept a wink all night. I got a little flurried 
 coming out of the yard, and looking round on the envious chaps 
 who were watching me it was as bad as getting married at least, 
 I should think so, never having been in that predicament myself. 
 I have escaped that dilemna ; for (he concluded) when a man is 
 always going backwards and forwards between two points, what is 
 the use of a wife ? A coachman could never be much more than half 
 married. Now, if the law in the case of coachmen allowed two 
 wives, that would b3 quite another story, because he could then 
 have the tea-things set out at both ends of his journey. Driving, 
 sir, is very like life ; it's all so smooth when you start with the best 
 team, so well-behaved and handsome ; but get on a bit, and you 
 will find you have some hills to get up and down, with all sorts of 
 horses, as they used to give us over the middle ground. Another 
 things, sir, never let your horses know you are driving them, or, 
 like women, they may get restive. Don't pull and haul, and stick 
 your elbows a-kimbo ; keep your hands as though you were play- 
 ing the piano ; let every horse be at work, and don't get flurried ; 
 handle their mouths lightly ; do all this, and you might even drive 
 four young ladies without ever ruffling their feathers, or their 
 tempers. 
 
 Shortly before the publication of this volume, in December 
 1888, the sudden and unexpected death of James W. Selby 
 shocked lovers of the road, to few of whom he was unknown ; 
 
OLD COACHING DAYS. 
 
 213 
 
 for Jem Selby was without doubt the most widely popular of 
 modern professional coachmen. Selby's white hair gave a sug- 
 gestion of age which was not borne out by the calendar, for 
 he was only in his forty-fifth year. His energetic career shows 
 that even in these modern days a coachman may work hard 
 
 The late James Selby. 
 
 and lead an extremely busy life. Born in 1844, Selby seemed 
 to have appeared out of due time, for at that period railways 
 had driven coaches off the road and the coaching revival had 
 not begun. The lad was sent into an auctioneer's office, but 
 he found many opportunities to follow the occupation in 
 
2i 4 DRIVING. 
 
 which he delighted, his father being proprietor of the Railway 
 Hotel, Colney Hatch, to which a large livery-stable business 
 was attached. James Selby's professional career opened about 
 1870, when he began to drive the Tunbridge Wells coach, 
 owned by Lord Bective, and on this he continued for five 
 summers, occupying his winters on the St. Albans road. In 
 the summer of 1876 the late Lord Helmsley, Colonel Chaplin, 
 and Lord Arthur Somerset ran the coach to Tunbridge 
 Wells, Selby retaining his position ; in 1877-8 he drove from 
 Beckenham to London and back for Mr. Charles Hoare, 
 and in the autumn of the latter year Selby's own coach, the 
 Old Times, was put on the St. Albans road. The venture 
 was highly successful, and in 1879 the Old Times did a 
 double journey, starting from West Wickham at 8 A.M., going 
 through Beckenham to London, and arriving at Hatchett's 
 at 10.30. It then left for St. Albans at u A.M., and reached 
 the Cellar again at 6 P.M., when Selby once more took up his 
 passengers for the return journey to West Wickham. This was 
 hard work, for he had to reach his home in St. John's Wood 
 to sleep, and to leave not later than 6 A.M. the next morning. 
 In the winter of 1 880-81 the Old Times coach went to 
 Windsor, and in the summer of the same year it was put on to 
 Virginia Water, on which road it continued until the summer 
 of 1888, going in the winter only as far as Oatlands Park. 
 Last winter (1888), however, the Old Times started for its 
 journey to Brighton. Major Dixon, Sir Thomas Peyton, and 
 Sir Henry de Bathe were his first subscribers on the Old Times 
 coach in 1878, Major Dixon remaining with him, his firm friend 
 and patron, until his death in 1886. On January 18, 1881, the 
 Old Times had a memorable journey, the only passengers being 
 Major Dixon and Selby. They drove to Windsor in a severe 
 snowstorm, Selby being forced on his return home to have his 
 hat thawed, it being * frozen to his head.' The coach ran these 
 eleven years without intermission, Sundays and Christmas Days 
 excepted. In the spring of 1879, Selby went to Paris and 
 started a coach for Captain Cropper, which ran from Paris to 
 
OLD COACHING DAYS. 215 
 
 Versailles, but only for a short time. He visited Ireland in 
 1 883, at the request of the late Captain Chaine, to see if it was 
 possible to put a coach on from Larne to the Giant's Causeway, 
 but he considered the expense of working too great. 
 
 Selby's name will be memorable in the annals of coaching 
 in consequence of his having beaten the record by driving from 
 London to Brighton and back in 7 h. 50 min. At the Ascot 
 meeting of 1888 a bet of i,ooo/. to 5007. was offered and taken 
 that the journey could not be done in 8 hours. On July 13 
 Selby started from the White Horse Cellar punctually at 10 A.M., 
 having on the coach Messrs. Carleton Blyth, McAdam, Beckett, 
 Walter Dixon, W. P. Cosier, and Alfred Broadwood. Passing 
 along Piccadilly, Grosvenor Place, and Buckingham Palace 
 Road, over the Chelsea Suspension Bridge, the Horse and 
 Groom at Streatham was reached at 10.28, and here the first 
 change occupied 47 seconds. West Croydon was passed at 
 10.45 o'clock. A pace of thirteen miles an hour was maintained 
 to the Windsor Castle, Purley Bottom, where anothef^change, 
 occupying i min. 5 sec., took place. Horley was reached at 
 1 1.51^, the coach having travelled some of the distance between 
 Earls wood and that town at a speed of 20 miles an hour. At 
 Crawley the time was taken 12.11, a couple of minutes having 
 been lost by a delay at some level crossing gates which were 
 open to let through a train. Fresh teams were taken on at 
 Peas Pottage, Cuckfield, Friars Oak the galloping stage 
 between the two last-named places being covered in admirable 
 style and Patcham. The coach drew up at the Old Ship, 
 Brighton, at 1.56. ro that is to say, 3 min. 50 sec. under four 
 hours. 
 
 Of course there was no delay at Brighton ; the coach was 
 turned round, the return journey begun, and the Cellar reached 
 at 5.50. 
 
 One other notable performance may well conclude this 
 chapter. In 1834 opposition coaches the Oxford Age, driven 
 by Joe Tollit (one of four brothers, John, William, George, 
 and Joe), and the Royal William, driven by Snowden ran 
 
216 DRITIXG. 
 
 from Oxford to London, starting at the same time. There 
 was keen rivalry between the two. The Age usually reached 
 London first ; but on the evening of April 30, Snowden gave 
 out that next day he was determined to have the best of it, 
 and he had prepared the way for a remarkable achievement 
 by ordering horses to be ready and waiting for him at the 
 different changes, these orders having been given as he drove 
 back to Oxford on the afternoon of the day named. Joe 
 Tollit was no less resolved not to be beaten, and the result 
 was that the Age accomplished the journey from Oxford to 
 Oxford Street in 3 h. 40 min. Tollit started from the Vine 
 Hotel, High Street, at n o'clock on May i, and thus describes 
 -the journey : 
 
 I was just two hours going to Wycombe (25 miles), leaving that 
 place exactly at one o'clock, and one hour and forty minutes going 
 from Wycombe to London (29 miles). The Old Blenheim Coach 
 left the Star Hotel at 9 o'clock, and we passed it at Gerrard's Cross, 
 20 miles from London, although we had to wait at Uxbridge, for 
 the horses were not harnessed, and at Acton I had to drive the 
 same team back to town that had just come down, and also to 
 help harness them. I had a lady just behind me, and I asked 
 when at Notting Hill if she had felt at all alarmed ? She said not 
 in the least, her only fear was that her friends would not be at the 
 Bell and Crown, Holborn, to meet her. This turned out to be 
 the case, so I put her into a 'growler' and sent her home. Sir 
 Henry Peyton, of four-in hand renown, met Mr. James Castle, the 
 driver of the Blenheim, in Oxford Street, and said, ' Well, what's 
 become of the Age and Royal William ; I thought they were to 
 be in town before you to-day ? ' ' Well,' he said, ' so they are, I 
 should think, for they passed me while I was changing horses 
 at Gerrard's Cross, and I have not seen them since. If they have 
 not had a jolly good dinner before this time, they have been very 
 idle.' 
 
 A more remarkable achievement than this has rarely found 
 a place in coaching annals. It was said of Joe Tollit that he 
 could get more out of four horses than any man in England. 
 The following instance of coolness and daring must have some- 
 what astonished anyone of weak nerves who happened to be on 
 
OLD COACHING DAYS. 217 
 
 the coach at the time. Black Will, as the people used to call 
 him, a well-known whip, went to London with Tollit on the 
 box-seat one day, and just after he changed horses at Beacons 
 field, and was going down Dupree's Pitch, as it was called, one 
 of the leaders began kicking and got one of her legs over the 
 inside traces. Black Will asked Tollit if he was not going to 
 stop, but he replied, ' No, not till I get to Gerrard's Cross, for 
 if I do she will begin again.' ' Well,' the other said, ' I have 
 been driving for forty years and never dared to do a thing of 
 the sort.' Tollit drove the animal right through to London, 
 and she never kicked afterwards. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 'ON THE BOX.' 
 
 BY THE 
 
 DUKE OF BEAUFORT, K.G. 
 
 THOSE who have never travelled on or 
 in stage-coaches can have no idea of the 
 pleasures experienced by those who made 
 such journeys in former days, supposing 
 the traveller had any fondness for horses, 
 and entered into the fun of the road. It cannot 
 be said that the inside passenger enjoyed him- 
 self much, cramped up in small space with 
 perhaps three other people. If one was an old 
 woman, she was sure to have a canary-bird or 
 
 , 
 
' ON THE BOX} 219 
 
 parrot in a cage and several parcels, all of which she placed 
 on the floor, so that one's legs could not be moved. No ! 
 it was better outside, even on the coldest night, and neither 
 by day nor by night was any of the fun of the road to be had 
 inside, though adventures occasionally befell inside passengers ; 
 indeed, I have heard of a marriage being brought about on 
 one occasion by the accident of a young lady and a young 
 gentleman, previously strangers, making a journey alone together 
 in a mail and that was not an entirely exceptional case. 
 
 To the outside passenger there was always the excitement 
 before starting of guessing what sort of a man the coachman 
 would turn out to be. Some few were very bad coachmen and 
 surly individuals ; but the bulk of them were cheery jovial fellows, 
 full of anecdotes of adventures and accidents either to them- 
 selves or others, careful of the comforts of their passengers, 
 and masters of the art of driving. As you changed horses there 
 was much interest as to what kind of team the fresh one would 
 prove on acquaintance. Then there was the hasty rrnvinto the 
 inn bar for a mouthful of bread and cheese and a glass of 
 home-brewed beer far better for circulating the blood and 
 warming the feet than any amount of spirituous liquor ; or the 
 twenty minutes' stop for breakfast and dinner. Not much time 
 to feed, and generally more profitable to the provider of the 
 repast than to him who partook of it ! Well do I remember as a 
 boy, going to school on a bitterly cold January afternoon, order- 
 ing a glass of hot port-wine negus. Hot ! there was no doubt 
 about its being hot ; it was quite undrinkable in the time we had 
 to do it in. I had the satisfaction, having paid first and run 
 out to avoid being left behind (which would have caused the 
 schoolmaster next day to have warmed his tardy pupil in a less 
 agreeable manner), to see, through the window of the inn parlour, 
 the waiter scraping off the nutmeg with a spoon and proceeding 
 to sip the beverage. A few had less pleasant experiences in 
 the shape of accidents, some of which, all authentic, it may be 
 interesting here to narrate, as instances of what used occasion- 
 ally to happen on the old coaches. 
 
220 DRIVING. 
 
 Simpson, a very little light fellow, not over five feet four and 
 weighing about nine stone, was one of the numerous coachmen 
 on the Devonport and London mail, commonly called the 
 Quicksilver, timed throughout at eleven miles an hour, including 
 stoppages and changing horses, forty-five seconds being the time 
 allowed for the latter operation. Here I may interpolate, with 
 reference to Simpson's size and weight, that it used to be said 
 of the very small coachmen, of which there were not a few, 
 that what the big ones did by strength the little ones did by 
 artifice. Well, Simpson was running out of Andover driving 
 the down Quicksilver on a very tempestuous wintry night, 
 with the snow falling in thick flakes and not a soul in or on 
 the mail but himself and the guard. He had set the horses 
 into a gallop, and was rising the hill, after crossing the brook in 
 Abbots Ann Bottom, when suddenly his leaders shied off to the 
 near side, and he found himself pitched off the coach right away 
 in front of the leaders. Whether the snow made it soft falling 
 or why I cannot say, but he was unhurt, and discovered that 
 it was a tilted miller's waggon with the man asleep inside, with 
 two horses abreast in shafts, coming home empty. The lights 
 of the lamps had glanced sufficiently on the waggon and horses 
 for the leaders to see it and clear themselves, but the unfortu- 
 nate off-wheel horse had not seen it, and the shaft entering 
 his chest had killed him. The guard on his perch behind 
 had observed nothing, but suddenly found himself shot through 
 the air and falling on the dead off-wheel horse. The coachman 
 and guard, with the assistance of the miller's man, backed the 
 coach, pulled the dead horse to the side of the road, put one 
 of the leaders at wheel, and started off pickaxe, past the Golden 
 Ball to the Pheasant at Winterslow Hut, where they changed ; 
 and they reached Salisbury only forty-five minutes late. Not 
 bad work on such a night and with so little assistance to set 
 them going again ! 
 
 Writing of Winterslow Hut reminds me that it was there 
 a lioness which had escaped from a travelling menagerie killed 
 one of the leaders in a coach that travelled this road -most 
 
'ON THE BOX: 221 
 
 likely the Devonport mail, but of this I am not sure. This 
 same mail, or I might say two of them, had a very narrow escape 
 from collision on Hartford Bridge Flat. The down-mail was 
 nearing this spot, when the coachman turned round to his 
 guard with the remark, ' Bill seems to be in a hurry to-night ' 
 (referring to the coachman of the up-mail). ' I can hear the 
 pebbles flying, and he must be over a mile off.' It was a lovely 
 still moonlight summer's night, or rather early morning. Pre- 
 sently the coachman exclaimed, ' Why, there's not a soul on 
 the coach !' and immediately pulled as much into the heather 
 on the flat as he could, in order that the other might pass him 
 without accident. Their hearts went up into their mouths, 
 when suddenly the off-leader of the runaway coach put his ears 
 back and came at them. The coachman hit his off-wheel horse, 
 and that just saved them ; for at that pace it would be the work of 
 an instant, and the two boxes of the off- wheels of both coaches 
 just clinked together sufficiently to be heard, but not to shake 
 them. A lucky escape ! There was one passenger, a French- 
 man, inside the flying up-mail. The coachman and other 
 passengers had gone in for a cup of tea or ' hot stoppings ; ' the 
 horsekeeper had been left at the wheel-horses' heads, and was 
 holding the leaders' reins as usual, when some one called him, 
 and, very wrongly, he left his charges and ran into the house. 
 Hartford Bridge was a flat galloping stage both ways, 5^ miles 
 from Hartley Row to Blackwater, and the horses starting off 
 broke as usual into a gallop. When they got to their place of 
 changing at Blackwater, not having a coachman to steady them, 
 they kept on at their full pace and stopped suddenly at the door, 
 so suddenly that they all four slipped up. The Frenchman, 
 who had quietly sat it out, opened the door when they stopped, 
 jumped out, and rushing at the off-wheel horse, kicked him 
 violently three or four times as he lay on the ground, saying, 
 
 ' Ah ! you d n beast ! I see your white legs ' he was a 
 
 chestnut with white legs 'going all de way/ 
 
 Old Jack Adams was many years on the Oxford Defiance, 
 and a very first-rate coachman ; a big strong steady man with 
 
222 DRIVING. 
 
 fine light hands and a good use of his whip. He was very 
 fortunate as a rule in freedom from accidents, but one day they 
 crowded in upon him in a very extraordinary manner ; perhaps 
 just as a hint that those sort of things did or might happen 
 sometimes, or as a reminder that coaches, however strong to 
 appearance, might have a weak spot in them. Jack came out 
 of the Golden Cross one morning on his journey to Oxford, 
 sitting behind as good and quick a team as ever were driven, 
 with a flower in his button-hole and a cheery anecdote for his 
 box passenger, or some remarks on the passing carriages and 
 horses. He had a full load, and a good bit of luggage. All 
 went well till they were in the Kensington Road, just opposite 
 Holland House, when crack went the front axletree, and off 
 the box went Jack, falling on to the pole with his heels forward 
 and his head towards the coach. One of the wheelers was a 
 mare and a tremendous kicker. She smashed his hat and cut 
 the collar of his coat to ribbons, but most fortunately never 
 touched him. He managed to extricate himself, jumped on 
 one of the leaders and galloped back to the Golden Cross, 
 Charing Cross, got a fresh coach and a couple of porters, and 
 hurried back to his passengers and luggage, which were soon 
 loaded upon the coach he had brought. Things went well till 
 they got to Brentford, when right in the middle of the town 
 crack went the front axletree of that coach. Fortunately Jack 
 did not come off the box this time, and beyond the annoyance 
 of the delay no one was the worse. He had to get another 
 coach, and was very late into Oxford. He was a great many 
 years on the road, and had never known an axletree of a coach 
 break but on that one day strange that two should have gonej 
 one so immediately after the other ! Good old Jack Adams 
 was one of the few who saved a good bit of money, and he and 
 his excellent wife survived for many years after the coaches 
 were run off the road by the rail, and lived in peace and 
 comfort. He used to come to Badminton every year in the 
 winter or the spring, and enjoyed driving some of the many 
 pied or skewbald horses that were there in those days, or 
 
'ON THE BOX: 223 
 
 some of the well-bred dark browns that were in the coach 
 stable. 
 
 As a reminiscence of the final days of coaching it may be 
 interesting to many readers to give a list of well-known coach- 
 men who drove the mails and stage-coaches for the last twenty 
 years of their existence. Many of these men had driven them 
 much longer. Some of them were dead, or run off the roads by 
 the railways before the end of what may be called old coaching 
 days. Some few of them are still living (1888). 
 
 Taking the Devonport or Quicksilver Mail first, as the one 
 timed the fastest and consequently one of the best horsed, we 
 find- 
 Charles and Harry Ward, brothers ; alive now. 
 Isaac and two other brothers Johnson. 
 Little Harry Simpson, who lived for over thirty years as 
 stud groom to the late Sir Watkin Williams Wynn, and died 
 there in 1885 or 1886. 
 
 Toby Philpotts, Gentleman Davis, Anthony Harden^ Jack 
 White, Big Brown of Bridgnorth, Jem Hennessy, Charles 
 Tedder, Bob Magic. Blight drove from Devonport to Ash- 
 burton ; he always wore top-boots and a light-coloured grey 
 coat. In 1843 I rode up with him the last day of August and 
 returned September 3. He then drove from Devonport to 
 Ivy Bridge. He told me he had been twice married, and had 
 ten children by the first wife and seventeen by the second, and 
 at that time they were all alive ; and on enquiry at Devonport I 
 found this was quite true. He was not a good coachman to his 
 horses, though a very respectable man and a chatty, pleasant 
 companion on the box. Mr. Elliot, of the Royal Hotel, who 
 horsed him out of Devonport with grey horses, used to complain 
 of Blight, and say that he cost him several hundreds a year more 
 than another coachman who formerly drove his horses a fact 
 which is well worth mentioning, as showing what careful driving 
 may save, and what careless may cost. Most of the above were 
 first-class coachmen and most respectable men; indeed, it 
 was very rare to find a black sheep amongst the fraternity. 
 
224 DRIVING. 
 
 Both the Wards, all three Johnsons, Harry Simpson, Jack 
 White, and Charles Tedder, if any were superior where all 
 were so good, might be said to be quite the perfection of 
 coachmen. Oddly enough, Jack White, from no fault of his 
 own, upset the Mail going down Star Hill at the end of Hart- 
 ford Bridge Flat. No one was hurt except the guard, Luke 
 Tabor, who had his leg broken and was laid up at the White 
 Hart Inn, where the Mail changed horses. This inn was then 
 kept by the father of Charles (the well-known dealer in horses, 
 of Brompton Road) and Harry Ward. Tabor was with Charles 
 Ward as guard for many years after his accident. Perhaps, of 
 the Johnsons, Isaac was the prettiest coachman, and had the 
 most wonderful hands. They were equally good and safe 
 coachmen ; but one brother whose Christian name I forget was 
 singularly unlucky, and turned the Mail over two or three 
 times, though never from any fault of his own. 
 
 The ancient city of Oxford turned out many good and cele- 
 brated coachmen. Jack Adams than whom there was none 
 better drove the Defiance from London, and Jemmy Wither- 
 ington l took it on to Cheltenham and vice versa each day. 
 Will Bowers, generally known as * Black Will,' drove the Alert. 
 Tollit, a very celebrated whip, 2 Foreman, and Footman all 
 drove out of Oxford, but I forget now the names of their 
 coaches, for it is very long ago over fifty years. The Age and 
 Royal William coaches ran from Oxford to London through 
 Uxbridge, starting at the same time and racing all the way. 
 Joe and George Tollit horsed and drove the Age ; Colonel 
 Fane often drove, and Perrin, a livery stable-keeper, and Bill 
 and Dick Snowden, horsed the Royal William, the two latter 
 driving it. The Old Blenheim, driven by Charles Holmes, 
 ran from London through Oxford to Woodstock, and I used 
 often to go by it when going to Heythrop. It was a slow 
 
 1 The passengers who travelled from Cheltenham to Oxford gave Jemmy a 
 watch, the twelve letters of his name standing in lieu of the figures on the 
 face. 
 
 2 See p. 215. 
 
'ON THE BOX: 225 
 
 coach, and I did not like it as well as travelling by the Defiance 
 or the Alert to Oxford and posting the rest of the way. Old Sir 
 Henry Peyton, grandfather of the late Sir Algernon and uncle 
 of the present Sir Thomas, presented Holmes with a silver 
 cup. The poor fellow committed suicide by jumping off a 
 steamer into the Thames. 
 
 The longest route to Oxford is through Hounslow, Slough, 
 and Maidenhead, turning off to the right on Maidenhead 
 Thicket and through Henley fifty-eight miles. The very 
 steep hill into Henley was an objection to this road, however, 
 particularly on the up-journey. The shortest road, through 
 Tetsworth and Uxbridge, is fifty-four miles. 
 
 On the Edinburgh Mail were Blackmore, W. Edlington, 
 George Leach, Tom Page, and Tom Holtley ; Glasgow Mail, 
 Jack Campson; Louth Mail, White, Ringrove, Lumm; Lincoln 
 Mail, Gambler ; Huntingdon coaches, Clarke, Carter, Sam 
 Speller, Rowland Berkeley ; Colchester and Norwich, Joe 
 and Tom Wiggins, Jem Flack, and Jem Fenn ; Southampton, 
 Robinson and Wignell ; Portsmouth Telegraph coach, A. 
 White, Jack Parsons, and Jack Peer. These last two men were 
 said to be able to drive the ground from London to Hounslow 
 with fewer horses than any other coachman that drove that 
 road and their name was legion for all Devonport, Exeter, 
 Bristol, Bath, some Portsmouth, Southampton, many Oxford, 
 and other coaches went that way. Some Portsmouth coaches 
 went by Kingston-on-Thames and Esher, and some Oxford 
 notably the Age, Royal William, and Old Blenheim to Wood- 
 stock went by Uxbridge. Robinson on the Blue coach to 
 Alton ; to Basingstoke, Henry Thumwood, Thomas Goodchild ; 
 Exeter, * Tim ' Carter (whose real name is Philip) ; Harbridge, 
 Hennessy; Weymouth Magnet, Matcham and W. Dove; Bath, 
 York House, Edwards, from Bath to Maryborough in morning 
 and back at night sixty-four miles a day ; Jem Adlam and 
 Jack Sprawson from Marlborough to London, or vice versa ; 
 the latter quite first class always kept his time, and neither 
 
 Q 
 
226 DRIVING. 
 
 tired his horses nor appeared to go so fast as Adlam, who was 
 always late. 
 
 There were some quaint characters amongst the coachmen. 
 Ned Mountain drove the Exeter Defiance. He left Basing- 
 stoke at ten at night, drove down till he met the up-coach, 
 when the coachmen changed coaches, and he got back to 
 Basingstoke at eight in the morning, driving from eighty to 
 ninety miles every night. He was once unwell and sent for the 
 doctor, who cross-examined him as to his habits. He said he 
 always had a pipe and a glass at eight o'clock every morning, 
 upon which the doctor expressed astonishment that he was 
 alive after drinking in the morning. ' It may be morning to 
 you,' said Ned, ' but it's my bed-time, and I can't leave it off.' 
 Billy Barrett drove the Nonpareil ; he was called Old Billy, 
 and drove the omnibus between Plymouth and Devonport for 
 twenty years after the coaches were off the road. He used to 
 get 'rather mixed with his words. He was fond of pointing out 
 country gentlemen's seats on the road. At one place he used 
 
 to say Lord had 'the finest revenue of trees in England.' 
 
 On a certain occasion, wishing to be very polite to a lady for 
 whom there was not room inside his coach, he endeavoured 
 to persuade an inside passenger to give up his seat and travel 
 outside ; seeking to enlist sympathy by declaring that the lady 
 was 'very ill-disposed.' There was a very eccentric coachman 
 named Saunders who used to drive a coach from Tiverton to 
 Exeter, and when the railway opened altered his route and 
 drove to Beam Bridge (twenty miles from Exeter). He had a 
 guard named Bill Emery, a fine player on the key-bugle. Emery 
 could imitate the lowing of cattle, and often set oxen and cows 
 running in the meadows. Saunders wore the most correct 
 coaching costume : a low-crown flat-brimmed white hat, and 
 spotted shawl round his neck, which he wore on the hottest 
 day of summer, declaring that if he left it off ' he always got 
 the chop-ache.' He also wore what some call overalls (other- 
 wise knee-caps) of drab cloth that buttoned up from his ankles 
 to the top of his thighs generally over top-boots in the hottest 
 
'ON THE BOX: 227 
 
 weather, declaring he got rheumatism if he did not. His top- 
 coat was the thick drab West of England cloth. It was neces- 
 sary to make the sleeves very large on account of the stiffness 
 and thickness of the cloth, and the consequence was that in wet 
 weather the rain drove up them and wetted him. To obviate 
 this he used to make Bill Emery get some clean straw out of 
 the stables to fill them up, and to do this effectually Bill kept 
 a short strong stick to ram the straw tight. One day whilst 
 they were changing horses Bill purposely left the stick up his 
 right-hand sleeve. They had not gone far when they came to 
 a sharp hill. Wanting to hit his leaders with his whip, Saunders 
 was perplexed and pained to find that he could not bend his 
 arm, and was unable to use his whip, so he called to the guard 
 to jump down and touch up the leaders, declaring that his arm 
 was quite stiff from rheumatism. He did not discover the stick 
 up his sleeve till he got to the next change, when of course Bill 
 vowed he had forgotten to withdraw it after the ramming opera- 
 tion ; but Saunders stuck to it that it was rheumatism- which 
 made his arm stiff, and that it was stiff for weeks after. 
 
 All the mails had guards, who had charge of the mails and 
 were responsible for their punctual arrival and safe delivery, and 
 under whose orders the coachmen were. Very few of the day 
 coaches carried guards ; they only added to the load, and took 
 up the place of a paying passenger. A good many of the heavy 
 night and long-distance coaches, many of which ran through very 
 long distances, had guards, however. I am told that Killing- 
 ley on the Exeter subscription coach used to go right through 
 to Plymouth from London, 220 miles. How long he rested 
 before going back I do not know. On the mails were Jack 
 Webb, Louth; Jack Tew, Gloucester; Jack Thetford, Edinbro'; 
 Dick Watts, Devonport ; Tom Preedy, Exeter ; Bob Morne, 
 Barnstaple ; Exeter Telegraph (coach), John Acworth, George 
 and Sam Southgate. . There was a notorious little guard between 
 Yeovil and Exeter on the Quicksilver, Tommy Waters, who 
 always wore a green cutaway coat and brass buttons and top- 
 boots. He had a very peculiar low voice. Whilst the mail 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 DRIVING. 
 
 was changing horses one night about eight o'clock at the Glohe 
 Hotel at Newton Abbot, he went on to the post-office. The 
 mail used to stop or slacken speed for him to jump up, and on 
 this occasion some boy standing by, imitating Tommy's voice, 
 called out 'All right, Bill,' and away went the mail to Totnes. 
 Tommy had to get the best conveyance he could and catch 
 the mail. Of course he was very angry with the coachman, 
 Bill Crab, whom he began violently to abuse. The coachman 
 said, 'You called out "All right." ' ( Me call out "All right ! " 
 he answered, ' how could I ? Why, I was kissing the pretty 
 girl in the post-office ! ' The explanation was deemed sufficient 
 and satisfactory, so they made friends ! 
 
1 The Red Rover in a gale. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE BRIGHTON, BATH, AND DOVER ROADS. 
 
 BY THE DUKE OF BEAUFORT, KG. 
 
 ON these roads there were many coaches and many coachmen of 
 high reputation, and I select them for description as it chances 
 that my experiences of them date back many years, and have 
 been constant and considerable. Castle Square, Brighton, in the 
 morning and evening was crowded with people assembled to see 
 the departure and arrival of the various coaches. The Square 
 had as many coach offices as other houses. I will begin with 
 the Times office, belonging to Samuel Goodman. He had 
 the seven o'clock Times, which left in the morning and ran to 
 the Golden Cross, Charing Cross, in about five hours and 
 fifteen minutes. From Castle Square to the Elephant and 
 Castle is fifty-two miles ; thence a pair-horse branch coach 
 
230 DRIVING 
 
 took the passengers to the City. The coach was timed five 
 hours to the Elephant. It returned from the Golden Cross at 
 two, and reached Brighton at 7.15. A heavy family coach, 
 called the Regent, left both ends at ten, and was supposed 
 to do the journey in six hours, but it was really six hours 
 and a half. Goodman had also the four o'clock Times, which 
 left both ends at four and was due in London and Brighton at 
 9.15. He generally drove this coach himself, and as he had a 
 farm six or seven miles out of Brighton on the roadside, he had 
 a man who often took it out of and brought it into Brighton, 
 Goodman getting down and sleeping at his farm. There was 
 a very peculiar old fellow who drove the Regent. He was a 
 very slow safe old coachman, who would not have liked to 
 drive any faster than he did. In 1833, my mother not being 
 very well, my father took a house at Brighton Western House, 
 which is next to the easternmost house of Brunswick Ter- 
 race. He was then in the House of Commons, and had to 
 go up and down between London and Brighton often. Being a 
 very fine coachman very powerful, and with hands as fine on a 
 horse's mouth as a woman's he could drive any horses ; indeed 
 I have known him drive horses that went pleasantly and without 
 pulling with him, when it had been declared that no man could 
 hold them. He was in the habit of driving many of the coaches 
 on the Oxford, Bath, Portsmouth, and Southampton roads, and 
 was well known as a first-rate artist,' Goodman a surly cross- 
 grained fellow would not let him drive. My father, vexed at 
 the uncourteous treatment he had received, went to Alex- 
 ander's, a large horse and coach proprietor in the Borough. 
 In the lapse of time I have lost the name of his large stables, 
 but well do I remember that whilst business was being dis- 
 cussed I used to wait in the coffee-room. Coffee ! save the 
 mark no whiff of the fragrant berry ever sweetened that den. 
 Dog's-nose, gin, the smell of stale bad tobacco smoke, sand, 
 sawdust, and spittoons offended the nose and eyes ! All coffee- 
 rooms all over England had boxes fancy an old-fashioned 
 church pew, only higher, say six feet high, a brass rod above it, 
 
BRIGHTON, BATH, AND DOVER ROADS. 231 
 
 another eighteen inches or two feet, and a dirty red stuff curtain 
 (stuffy too), a narrow table in the centre of each, and a narrow 
 ledge to sit upon against the side of the pew on each side, and 
 you have 'the box presented to your view.' There would be 
 five or six of these places on each side of the room, according 
 to its size ; they answered to the modern private room, and once 
 taken were sacred to their occupants the less favoured traveller 
 having to share the still dirtier public table in the middle of the 
 room. Oh ! more fortunate youths of the present day who revel 
 in the modern hotel, how little do you know of the discomforts 
 of travelling shared not so very long ago with his contemporaries 
 by him who writes these lines ! You know not the perpetual 
 ' Yes, sir ! coming, sir ! ' (but he never came ! ) of the one un- 
 fortunate dirty, greasy waiter who had customers in the eight or 
 ten boxes and at the middle table to wait upon. The memory of 
 those days of my youth has, however, caused me to digress, so I 
 must turn from the 'Chop, sir? yes, sir!' to our muttons, in the 
 shape of my father and Alexander. Very little negdtTation was 
 necessary. It was settled that within a fortnight they should, 
 between them, put on a coach leaving Brighton and London at 
 the same time as Goodman's seven o'clock Times. Well can 
 I recall it, a yellow coach, called the Wonder, and an afternoon 
 coach leaving both ends at four, a dark coach with red wheels 
 called the Quicksilver, both timed to do the journey to and 
 from the Elephant and Castle in four hours and forty-five 
 minutes. Capps drove the Wonder; Bob Pointer, as fine a 
 coachman as ever was seen, drove one end of the Quick- 
 silver. 
 
 All went swimmingly till one evening, going out of Brighton, 
 a young coachman, son of one of the large coach proprietors 
 whose office was in Castle Square, was driving the four thorough- 
 bred chestnuts, as good and quick 'a Townend team ' as could be 
 found, when, for some never to be explained reason, they broke 
 away from him, and he turned the coach over just opposite the 
 New Steine Hotel. Several passengers were badly shaken, and 
 two unfortunate ones were thrown on the spikes that surmount 
 
232 DRIVING. 
 
 the railings of the NewSteine. Happily, in time they all recovered, 
 but it cost some money to cure them. Nothing daunted, the pro- 
 prietors painted the Quicksilver dark brown, renamed her the 
 Criterion, and she resumed her place on the road. Bitterly did 
 Goodman repent his surliness and want of courtesy, for these 
 coaches very sensibly diminished his takings. Poor Bob 
 Pointer had one infirmity, and one very curious peculiarity. 
 He could be depended upon to start at any hour perfectly 
 sober, but it was necessary to have the stables at which horses 
 were changed out of reach of a public-house, or he would get 
 intoxicated before the journey's end. 
 
 Before I leave this coach I must relate a small personal 
 anecdote. I was at a school where our creature comforts were 
 well attended to as far as food went, for we were fed like fighting 
 cocks, and in case of illness were tended by the kind wife of the 
 schoolmaster as though we were her own children. As regards 
 cleanliness, in winter I used to get a warm sea bath three times 
 a week, which in those days, when I don't think people washed 
 as much as they do now, was looked upon as rather an effemi - 
 nate luxury, and in summer we bathed in the sea four or some- 
 times five day? in the week. Now I, with some others of the 
 boys, was idle and liked amusement better than learning my 
 lessons, or doing those to me, who am no poet abominations 
 called verses. The consequence of this combination of unfor- 
 tunate circumstances w r as that I used to go home striped like a 
 hyena, the various stripes representing by their difference of 
 colour the different periods at which I had been caned. 
 Yesterday's wheals would be red ; two or three turning yellow 
 denoted a thrashing of the day before, whilst the green and 
 black and blue were relics of an anterior date. Learn we 
 should, said the pedagogue, and if we did not take it in 
 kindly at one end, we should have it knocked into us at 
 the other. Two stalwart ushers had long thin canes which 
 lapped round one's shoulders, or the small of one's back, and 
 caught the tender under part of the upper arm, and that was 
 indeed pain ; but the doctor himself had a thicker, stiffer and 
 
BRIGHTON, BATH, AND DOVER ROADS. 233 
 
 more bruising weapon. He had a large school and charged a 
 long price for tuition, yet he was always in debt. If he was 
 worried by creditors or served with a writ he would come down 
 to the school- room, and woe to any unfortunate small boy on 
 whom his eye fell, or whom he called to bring up his verses 
 or theme. We used to think it was his fancy that we stood in 
 the bailiff's shoes. We knew by the twitching of his nose if 
 he had been served with a writ that morning. Like a hawk 
 swooping on a bird did he pounce from his chair, drawing the 
 dreaded weapon simultaneously from his desk ; his left hand 
 was on the boy's collar and his knuckles in the boy's throat 
 before he had time to say ' Oh ! ' and beginning at his heels he 
 whacked him over the tendon Achilles all up the legs and up 
 his back till he could whack no more, and dropped exhausted 
 into his seat ; from thirty to forty blows would he give, too 
 severe a punishment with a thick cane for small boys. 
 
 On one occasion, early in November 1833, I, being then 
 nine years old, had committed the high crime and misdemeanour 
 of ending a pentameter with a three-syllable word, for which 
 the usher caned me at eleven o'clock school. At five o'clock 
 school the Doctor came in I think he must have been served 
 with two writs that day. His eye fell on me. ' Have you been 
 caned to-day ? ' ' Yes, sir.' < What for ? ' I told him. ' What, 
 a three-syllable word again ! Go and fetch my cane.' The 
 usher was a good fellow, though passionate, and said, ' I caned 
 him severely for it.' * Never mind,' said the Doctor, ' he will 
 remember two thrashings better than one.' His hand was on 
 my throat, and I was writhing under his blows for fully three 
 minutes. As he went out of the room he turned and said, 
 'After prayers to-morrow morning you shall have just such 
 another thrashing.' And this threat brings us back to the 
 Wonder coach. 
 
 Before six next morning I woke, dressed in the dark, and 
 started, for I had made up my mind to run away, feeling that I 
 had been quite sufficiently punished for my offence. The gate 
 between the playground and the front approach swung and 
 
234 DRIVING. 
 
 made a peculiar noise, and I was afraid to open it ; but the 
 dogs there were half a dozen kept there had scooped the 
 ground out under, and through their private entrance I crept. 
 Fourpenny bits, called Joeys after Joseph Hume, had just been 
 invented ; I had one of these in my pocket, the only coin I 
 possessed. It was one of the bitterest, cold, foggy November 
 mornings possible, and I had no greatcoat, and one glove. I 
 knew where the Wonder put up close to Mutton, the pastry- 
 cook's. As I turned into the yard the horses were being put 
 to. I saw Capps, whom I knew, and told him, with perfect truth, 
 that my father had the gout and I was going up to him. Like 
 a young idiot, instead of getting inside or into the front boot, 
 I must swagger and go on the box. There were but three 
 outside passengers. At prayers I was not missed ; but the 
 Doctor afterwards remembered his promise, and said, ' Now 
 I will give that young gentleman an appetite for breakfast ' 
 but I was not to be found. The son of the pedagogue, who was 
 then home for a few days from Cambridge, got on to the Doctor's 
 favourite horse and rode into the town, and a stupid porter 
 told him that a little boy had gone on the box of the Wonder. 
 Upon hearing this off went the Cambridge undergraduate, 
 and performed the very extraordinary feat of catching the coach, 
 though it had got a full hour's start. At Crawley, being so 
 lightly clad, and having had nothing to eat since milk and bread 
 and butter at six the night before, I was so cold I had got 
 inside the coach. Just before we got to Horley, tAventy-seyen 
 and a half miles from Brighton and five from Crawley, my pur- 
 suer overtook the coach and called upon Capps to pull up, but 
 this he would not do, whereupon the undergraduate rode across 
 the leaders, being nearly knocked over. Though his horse was 
 dead beat, he followed the coach till it stopped to change at 
 Horley; there a great palaver took place, and Capps was all for 
 "sticking to me, but at last reluctantly gave way, and I was delivered 
 up. Some tea and some rashers of bacon and eggs were quickly 
 put on the table, and we set off back to Brighton with a postboy, 
 ride and drive, in an old Bounder, as postchaises were then called, 
 
BRIGHTON, BATH, AND DOVER ROADS. 235 
 
 from the fact that they bounded about on their Cee-springs, with 
 the Doctor's animal tied on to the hand-horse. Poor old Vaga- 
 bond ! he never did another day's work, the ride finished him. 
 
 All the Russells had 
 been at school there : 
 Lord Alexander, now 
 a full General and 
 C.B., was there with 
 me ; and Vagabond 
 had been a present 
 from the Duke of Bed- 
 
 ford, John, sixth Duke, 
 grandfather of the 
 present and ninth 
 
 Rode across the leaders.' 
 
 Duke, who succeeded his cousin. When we arrived I was 
 .greeted with : ' Well, so you object to a caning, do you ? I 
 
236 DRIVING. 
 
 shall respect your prejudices, and have prepared a very nice 
 birch for you ; ' and sure enough he laid into me till he was so 
 blown he could lay in no longer. Fortunately for him my father 
 was in bed with the gout, for he was furious at the treatment 
 I had received. However, Christmas came, and I went home 
 and returned to the same school again, and remained there till 
 I went to Eton. 
 
 The Wonder and Criterion flourished for many years. I 
 should have mentioned the Age, as an older established 
 coach, before these, but their origin arising from Goodman's 
 surliness they followed the Times. The Age was started by 
 Mr. Stephenson, a gentleman by birth. I suppose I must have 
 seen him, but cannot say ; his face and figure are familiar to 
 me from the old coloured print of him standing by the side of 
 his four greys in Castle Square just going to mount the box. 
 Those connected with the Age that I remember well were Sir 
 St. Vincent Cotton, a Cambridgeshire baronet, and Jack Willan, 
 and on the baronet's retirement, Willan and Brackenbury 
 Bob I think his name was ; he was the elder of two brothers, 
 the younger of whom drove the London and Windsor Taglioni 
 a few years later. The Age left both ends at noon, and took 
 about five and a quarter hours. It .was a very favourite coach, 
 well horsed and driven, and all three coachmen were very 
 popular. All these coaches ran to Brighton by the Elephant 
 and Castle, Brixton Hill, Streatham, Croydon, Smitham Bottom, 
 Red Hill, and Horley, and most of them by Crawley, Hicksted, 
 Piecombe, and Patcham to Brighton ; but some from Horley 
 came by Cuckfield and Clayton Church to Piecombe, and 
 so on. 
 
 Many coaches ran by Tooting, Sutton, Walton Heath, by 
 Reigate, Hookwood Common, Crawley, and Hand Cross to 
 Brighton ; others by Smitham Bottom and Redhill to Reigate, 
 and others again by Ewell, Leatherhead, Mickleham, Burford 
 Bridge, Dorking, Horsham, by Henfield to Brighton ; but this 
 route was 61 miles as against 52^ the other way. Still there 
 were passengers and fish and parcels to carry, so that, as all 
 
BRIGHTON, BATH, AND DOVER ROADS. 237 
 
 could not live on one road, each was considered, and residents 
 in different localities kept the coaches going by patronising 
 them. 
 
 Returning to Castle Square, I next come to the old Blue 
 Coach office. Coaches from here were good and safe, but 
 slower than the others described previously. From this office 
 they ran not only to London but to Hastings, Portsmouth, and 
 other places. Then there was the White Coach office, Snow's, at 
 the north-east corner of Castle Square, with windows into the 
 Old Steine. The coaches running from here were all white 
 and belonged to Snow. There were several to London and 
 other places from this office : one to London was called the 
 Magnet, I remember. Also from this office ran the Red 
 Rover, through Shoreham, Worthing, Chichester, Southampton, 
 Salisbury, and Wells, to Bath. I often went to school and 
 came home for the holidays by it. It was a. very good fast 
 coach, a dark body and red wheels, and the horses had red 
 collars. I have forgotten the names of the coachmen un- 
 fortunately, and do not know who can tell me them fifty 
 years have passed since I travelled by it. 
 
 I remember leaving Brighton on the Red Rover one morn- 
 ing in such a gale of wind from the south-west as I have 
 seldom seen ; as we went along the road between the Bedford 
 Hotel, then just newly opened, and Brunswick Square we saw 
 two flys coming out of side streets blown clean over, and a 
 poor woman coming along the bottom of Brunswick Square 
 was caught in a squall, and her petticoats being whisked up 
 were caught over the iron spikes on top of the rails above her 
 head. Had anyone been in the square at that early and 
 tempestuous hour I think he would have been reminded of 
 a peacock, who puts up his tail in the spring and invariably 
 turns his back to you. Fortunately some man coming along 
 got to her and unhooked her. We had a very unpleasant 
 drive to Worthing. The gale was, as a sailor would express it, 
 on our port bow, and more than one of the passengers lost 
 their hats for ever and a day. After leaving there we altered 
 
238 DRIVING. 
 
 our course, and got it more abeam, and the wind subsided a 
 little. I remember hearing that on that morning some elm- 
 trees were blown across the London Road between Brighton 
 and Preston, and that all the earlier coaches had to go up a very 
 awkward narrow road on to the Down, and to come down 
 another equally awkward one into the road beyond Patcham. 
 There was an old fire-eating Irish major, some relation to an old 
 Dowager Duchess who lived a good deal at Brighton. I re- 
 member his hat and wig well beautiful silky brown curly hair 
 it was he lost them both off the coach on top of the Downs 
 going to London that day. What was his name ? O'Grady, I 
 fancy. 
 
 After the Brighton Railway had run all the coaches off the 
 road, and the Great Western Railway had done the same for 
 the Bath and Bristol coaches, James Adlam, who for years had 
 driven the Bath York House from London to Marlborough alter- 
 nate days there and back, set up a four-horse coach on the long 
 road to Brighton. Though I travelled by it a few times I forget 
 the exact route he went. He was not a good coachman, but was 
 the first that ever let me drive a public coach. When I was 
 fifteen years of age and at Eton I had had hold of my father's 
 horses several times for two or three miles at a time, so that I 
 knew something about it, and was as handy with my whip then 
 as any old coachman, and could both catch my thong or hit 
 either leader without any difficulty. Jem Adlam did not get 
 on well, which was his own fault. When people got sick of him 
 and he gave up, George Clark started his coach and called 
 it the Age. An ugly coach, very long, no perch, nut-cracker 
 springs in front, and mail-coach springs behind ; not a coach 
 to my mind, but one of the best to carry a load I ever sat on. 
 Clark was very short of money, and so was I, but I managed 
 to find him three-fourths of the horses. We had no break 
 on our coach ; loaded tremendously : Monday, Wednesday, 
 and Friday from Brighton ; Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday 
 from London. Very long stages, some of them thirteen miles. 
 Very weak, bad horses. It was splendid practice. Down some 
 
BRIGHTON, BATH, AND DOVER ROADS. 239 
 
 of the hills we only kept in the road by the use of the whip ; 
 no use pulling at their heads their heads only came, and not 
 their bodies ; and to keep them and the coach out of the ditch, 
 nothing but a smart smack over the neck or shoulder would do it. 
 We ran from London by Kew Bridge and Richmond, pulled up 
 at the Greyhound to water, and pick up passengers and parcels. 
 George Clark- a very fine coachman was over eighteen stone 
 weight. If the coach was full I used to send him down by rail. 
 One day, one minute before the clock struck, reins and whip 
 in hand, I jumped on to the box and found an old gentleman 
 occupying the box-seat. ' Come,' he said, 'this won't do. I 
 am not going to be experimentalised upon.' ' What do you 
 mean ? ' ' Why, that I am not going to be driven by a young 
 chap like you.' ' Such will be your sad fate,' I replied ; 'the 
 horses are mine, the coach is mine, and I am going to drive. 
 You have only one alternative, and that is to get down and 
 have your money back in the office (White Horse Cellar) ; but 
 sharp's the word, for in ten seconds the clock will strike and 
 the coach start.' He grumbled something, but did not move. 
 When we stopped at the Greyhound, I was getting the waybill 
 from the landlord, with very particular directions about some 
 parcel to be delivered, when a passenger got down from 
 behind, and touching me on the elbow, said, 'Young man, 
 which is the way to the Star and Garter?' 'Turn to left at 
 the end of the street and keep the uphill road.' 'Thank you,' 
 said he, ' here is a shilling for you.' So I touched my hat 
 and thanked him, and put it in my pocket one I kept clear, 
 and the contents of which were handed over to old George 
 Clark. My box passenger had not uttered a word, but as I 
 got on the box and started again he unclosed his lips. ' You 
 have begun well, earned a shilling already,' he said. ' Don't 
 you think I deserved it ? ' said I. ' I will tell you more about 
 it by-and-bye,' said he ; 'and, look here, it will all depend how 
 you drive how much 7 give you when we get to Brighton, if 
 Providence ever permits us to get there.' ' All right,' I said, 
 'and if you are fond of coaching, I bet you sixpence you 
 
240 DRIVING. 
 
 come and have another ride with me.' After a bit we got 
 on, and chatted away. Our route from Richmond was 
 under the Star and Garter, over Ham Common to Kingston- 
 on-Thames, where we changed at the King's Arms, thence 
 through Leatherhead, where we stopped at the Swan to water, 
 and changed at the White Horse at Dorking ; going then 
 through Mickleham, we passed the Running Horse Inn, where 
 old John Scott used to stay for Epsom, and in the stables of 
 which many Derby winners have slept on the eve of and 
 after their victory ; and so by Burford Bridge, at the foot of 
 the celebrated Box Hill. On our up-journey we dined at 
 Dorking. 
 
 The first stage out of London was twelve miles from Hyde 
 Park Corner. From Kingston King's Arms to Dorking fourteen 
 miles, making twenty-six miles ; by Westminster Bridge, Tooting, 
 Merton, Ewell, Epsom, and Leatherhead it is twenty-three 
 and a half miles. Our next change was at Horsham, thirteen 
 miles, where on the down journey we dined at the King's 
 Head. Thence we ran through Cowfold to Henfield, eleven 
 and a half miles, and from there into Brighton, thirteen miles : a 
 pleasant stage down, but up it was a twister ; the first six miles 
 out of Brighton uphill, and yet such a gradual rise a great part 
 of the way that it took a practised coachman to find out it was 
 uphill. Altogether it was about sixty-four miles ; for I think it 
 is impossible to get our route to Kingston in twelve miles cer- 
 tainly, from White Horse Cellar. When we arrived at Brighton 
 my box passenger pulled out a golden sovereign. ' Young 
 man,' said he, ' I never enjoyed a ride on a coach more in my 
 life. Take this, and if the box seat is not booked I will ride up 
 with you to-morrow,' and he did, and stood another sovereign, 
 on receiving which second one I remarked, ' Thank you very 
 much ; this is a good job for old Clark.' ' Who is old Clark ? ' 
 ' That fat old fellow standing down there ; he is our ballast ; 
 when the coach is empty we take him down to make the 
 springs ride pleasantly, when it is full we send him up to London 
 or down to Brighton by luggage train in a truck by himself.' 
 
BRIGHTON, BATH, AND DOVER ROADS. 241 
 
 'Is he your father that he takes all the money ?' ' No,' said I, 'he's 
 only my sleeping partner, and you know the sleeping partner 
 in a firm gets all the money.' So he laughed, and said, ' I will 
 come and have another ride as soon as ever I can ; ; and he 
 often came after and we made great friends. Our existence 
 depended on fish and parcels almost more than on passengers. 
 We did very well till the branch rails to Leatherhead, Dorking, 
 and Horsham ran us off the road. Poor old Clark got ill and 
 bedridden, and we gave up the coach, after which for several 
 years there was no coach to Brighton. 
 
 In 1866 there was no coach running regularly from London 
 to Brighton, though Captain Haworth had been occasionally 
 on the road, and in the year named he asked me if I would 
 join in putting a coach on by way of Croydon and Crawley. 1 
 The result was that we started the New Times it was a yellow 
 coach. Three or four people horsed it. The Captain used to 
 go every day, but when any of us who horsed it went we used 
 to drive a good part of the way. The first year hehad no 
 regular coachman, and, if I recollect right, one of the Cracknells 
 was the guard. He drove some coach a few years later. This 
 coach soon collapsed, and in the following year, 1867, the late 
 Edward Sacheverell Chandos-Pole, of Radbourne Hall, Derby- 
 shire, B. J. Angell, usually called 'Cherry Angell,' and I put on 
 a two-end coach on the Croydon and Crawley road to Brighton. 
 Pratt drove from London to Horley and Alfred Tedder from 
 Brighton to Crawley, each taking the coach home from Horley. 
 When any of us travelled by the coach, which was four or five 
 days a week, we always drove. Angell horsed it two stages 
 out of London, I horsed the middle ground three stages, and 
 Chandos-Pole two stages out of Brighton. We had lots of fun 
 and driving ; the coach was very well horsed, and kept good 
 time. There have been many Brighton coaches since ; an 
 American gentleman, Mr. Tiffany, ran for one or two years, and 
 another American, Colonel de Lancey Kane, was a familiar 
 figure on the road. In 1887, Selby's Old Times was put 
 1 It was a three-days-a-week coach from each end. 
 
 R 
 
242 DRIVING. 
 
 on, making six stages. He drove it till almost the day of his 
 death. 
 
 There were a great many coaches on the Bristol and Bath 
 road to London. The one I usually travelled by was the York 
 House coach from Bath, starting from both ends at seven A.M., 
 and reaching London about seven, covering no miles. It 
 stopped twenty minutes at Marlborough going up and at Salt 
 Hill going down for breakfast, and half an hour at the Pelican 
 at Speenhamland, better known as Newbury, both ways, for 
 dinner. Old Mrs. Botham kept that hotel, and horsed the 
 coach a couple of stages, and her nephews the Brothers 
 Botham kept the Windmill at Salt Hill, where the coach 
 breakfasted, and horsed it two or three stages. There was an 
 hotel at Salt Hill, the Castle, where other coaches changed 
 horses and breakfasted. Reilly, who kept the York House at 
 Bath, horsed it some part of the way ; I am not sure who 
 horsed it out of London, but think it was Mr. Nelson. Their 
 first change was nearly a mile short of Hounslow, close to where 
 the railway arch now stands. That was the first public coach I 
 ever drove, as I have mentioned before. James Adlam was 
 not nearly so good a coachman as Jack Sprawson ; the former 
 was always going faster and taking more out of his horses than 
 Jack. Adlam made his wheel-horses do all the work the first 
 half of the stage, and when they were beat made the leaders 
 pull both the coach and the beaten wheel-horses, so that he 
 got the whole lot well tired before the end of the stage, and in 
 spite of going faster he was always late always a minute, some- 
 times five, sometimes more. Jack Sprawson made his horses 
 work level, never seemed to be going so fast, and yet was 
 always punctual to a minute. When they were run off the road 
 Sprawson started a coach of his own from Reading to Devizes, 
 and when the railway opened, first to Newbury and then to 
 Hungerford ; he ran from those places to Devizes through 
 Marlborough, till finally the rail opened to Devizes and he had 
 to shut up. He was universally liked and respected by every 
 one, which I cannot say of the other man. They drove alternate 
 
BRIGHTON, BATH, AND DOVER ROADS. 243 
 
 days to and from London and Marlborough, seventy-four and 
 a half miles hard work every day in the heat of summer and 
 the cold of winter. Bath by Devizes from Marlborough was 
 1 07 \ miles, but most of the coaches came through Chippenham 
 and Calne, no miles. The roads down from London parted 
 at Beckhampton on Marlborough Downs, the right-hand road 
 through Chippenham, the left-hand through Devizes. Old 
 Edwards drove in the morning from Bath to Marlborough and 
 back at night, thirty-one and a half miles each way, making 
 sixty-three miles a day by figures ; but ten miles each way over 
 Marlborough Downs was equal to twenty miles it was a 
 fearful road in the snow. We sometimes went by the Regu- 
 lator, half an hour later than the York House ; Isaac Johnson, 
 afterwards on the Quicksilver, Devonport mail (one of the 
 three brothers elsewhere mentioned), drove from Bristol to 
 Marlborough and back. Sometimes we came from London 
 by the Emerald, a green coach leaving London at three P.M. ; 
 the Regulator was a dark coach with red wheels,"^the York 
 House chocolate with yellow wheels. 
 
 I omitted, whilst writing of the York House coach from 
 Bath, to state a circumstance which will give an idea to the 
 luxurious first-class railway traveller, now usually wrapped from 
 his chin to his toes in furs, of the discomfort in which people 
 travelled by public conveyances in former days. Coming 
 home once from Eton for the Christmas holidays in bitterly 
 cold weather with snow on the ground, I was so perished with 
 cold that, instead of going into the Pelican at Newbury, and 
 falling to on the excellent boiled or roast beef or mutton pro- 
 vided for the coach dinner, I ran to the saddler's and invested 
 twelve shillings in a large and thick horse-rug, and was much 
 laughed at for my pains, not only by my fellow- passengers, but 
 by my own family when I got home. However, that evening 
 coming over the Marlborough Downs between that town and 
 Calne I think I had the laugh on my side ; and after I got 
 home mackintosh soft white stuff having then just been in- 
 vented I made the village tailor cover my rug with the patent, 
 
 R 2 
 
244 DRIVING. 
 
 and this excellent warm wrap I had for years. No such thing as 
 a railway wrapper or travelling rug was known in those days. 
 No apron or rug belonged to a coach. At starting, or whenever 
 they changed coachmen, the new comer appeared whip in hand 
 and an apron over his arm generally a stiff tarpaulin large 
 enough for the box passengers as well as himself -the other pas- 
 sengers made shift with a bit of clean straw if they were lucky 
 enough to get it. Our greatcoats were uncomfortable ; they 
 had pockets behind like an evening tail-coat, and on the 
 hips with flaps over them ; without unbuttoning the coat you 
 could not get your hand in or out of them or withdraw any- 
 thing you wanted ; a small breast pocket was put for one's 
 handkerchief and that was all. There was no such thing as 
 a tab for the collar, only three long hooks and three eyes, 
 through which the wind whistled into one's teeth. Before my 
 time, I am told, even the coachman had no apron ; this probably 
 was the reason why so many of them wore knee-caps, and a 
 night coachman was swaddled up something like a mummy 
 how he got on and off his box or could use his arms was 
 a mystery. I must not forget dear old Mrs. Botham, of the 
 Pelican, at Speenhamland, with her rich black silk gown and 
 her high white, sort of modified widow's cap. She was always 
 kind and hospitable. When the family posted up they dined 
 there, and all were made to drink a little most excellent cherry 
 brandy, each was presented with a cornet or screw of white 
 paper containing brandy snaps of the very best, and when 
 children travelled by the coach they had the same. The 
 cherry brandy was noted for its excellence all over the country. 
 Mrs. Botham died at a ripe old age, respected by all who 
 knew her. 
 
 A coach ran from Salisbury to Chippenham Railway Station 
 and back again, horsed and driven by a very respectable man 
 and good coachman of the name of Stevens, who did both 
 journeys thirty-three miles each way. That it should pay 
 between Chippenham and Devizes I can understand, but how 
 he took anything except from * through ' passengers and parcels 
 
BRIGHTON, BATH, AND DOVER ROADS. 245 
 
 on the other two-thirds of the road I cannot think. About three 
 miles out of Devizes you come to Red Horn turnpike on the 
 edge of Salisbury Plain, and with the exception of the Bustard 
 Inn, half-way and about two miles from Stonehenge, and the 
 Druid's Head Inn and training stables about three or four 
 miles further on, there is not only not a village, but not a house, 
 in the twenty miles. The Great Western Railway branch by 
 Westbury and Warminster drove Stevens off the road, and 
 not long after the South-Western Railway opened their line 
 from London through Basingstoke and Andover through Salis- 
 bury to Exeter. 
 
 The Dover road was always a very pleasant one to drive, 
 excepting the fearful hill on the south of Chatham, not far 
 from Brompton Barracks. Poor old Rickman, who was for 
 many years stationmaster of the Midland Station at Derby, 
 drove on this road. He was killed about the year 1879 
 or 1880 on the day they opened the loop enabling trains 
 running from London and Trent to go through to Normanton 
 or elsewhere without passing through Derby Station. He had 
 walked along the line to see that it was being worked all right, 
 and in coming back was run over and cut to pieces by a train. 
 He was an excellent servant of the company, and most civil 
 and obliging to the passengers. The three brothers Wright 
 had many pairs of post-horses, and horsed several, coaches. 
 One kept the Ship Hotel at Dover, the principal hotel till the 
 Lord Warden was built ; another kept the Fountain Hotel at 
 Canterbury, and was as well known and respected as the 
 Cathedral ; the third kept the Rose at Sittingbourne. When 
 the Dover Wright died, he was succeeded by Birmingham, 
 who had been commissioner to the hotel and used to take 
 one's keys, and get one's luggage through the Custom House. 
 When the Lord Warden was built, he took the hotel, and 
 eventually became Mayor of Dover, and used to receive the 
 potentates and princes who passed through. He was an ex- 
 cellent man and much respected. I knew him fifty years ago. 
 He has not been dead above three or four years. When 
 
246 DRIVING. 
 
 quartered in London I used often to go down by the Dover 
 Mail, get on to the up Mail when we met her, and come back 
 again with her to London. The spectacle of the Mails driving 
 into the General Post Office, and coming out of it, arriving or 
 starting, was very pretty and interesting. I used to get a good 
 deal of driving, but never up or down that hill on the other 
 side of Chatham. The coachmen were afraid of a drag-chain 
 breaking and of being discharged if a stranger was driving, and 
 an accident should happen. 
 
Hyde Park Corner. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 DRIVING CLUBS, OLD AND NEW. 
 
 THE date at which amateurs first began to drive four-in-hand 
 is shrouded in obscurity Before a regular system of stage-coach- 
 ing was established, the squire of the period may have added a 
 leader or leaders to his travelling carriage, to help him over the 
 rough roads ; and so necessity may have laid the first stone of 
 what subsequently grew to be a great institution. It is pro- 
 bable, too, that, when stage-coaches were first started, gentlemen 
 were found to be ambitious of driving, regardless of the dis- 
 comforts of springless coach-boxes for the springs under the 
 box coachmen were indebted to John Warde, ' the father of fox- 
 hunting ' ruts three feet deep, and, probably, very indifferent 
 horses. This, however, is surmise ; yet there may have been 
 amateur talent at least in the time of Oliver Cromwell, who, it 
 appears, was himself something of a coachman. As, however, 
 he is one of the earliest amateurs of whose doings on the box 
 we have any record, we may make mention of him, especially 
 
248 DRIVING, 
 
 as the scene of his exploits was Hyde Park, a place which 
 has since become closely identified with the gatherings of the 
 now existing driving clubs. The Count of Oldenburg had 
 presented the Lord Protector with six German horses, four of 
 which Cromwell, regardless of the fact that they might never 
 have been put together before, somewhat rashly attempted to 
 drive himself. The accepted version of the story is that, being 
 annoyed at one of the horses, he made an ill-advised use of 
 the whip how history repeats itself ! startled his team, and 
 was eventually thrown from the box, falling on to the pole, 
 and thence to the ground, after being dragged for some 
 distance by his feet catching in the harness ; while additional 
 danger threatened the Lord Protector from the fact that his 
 sudden descent caused the accidental discharge of a pistol 
 he carried in his pocket. Such is the prose account of the 
 accident ; but Cleveland, the cavalier, commemorated the 
 affair in verse, in these words : 
 
 Hark how the scoffing concourse hence derives 
 
 The proverb, ' Needs must when the devil drives.' 
 
 Yonder a whisper cries, ' 'Tis a plain case, 
 
 He turned us out to put himself i' the place ; 
 
 But, God-a-mercy, horses once for aye 
 
 Stood to 't, and turn'd him out as well as me.' 
 
 Another, not behind with his snacks, 
 
 Cries out, ' Sir, faith, you were in the wrong box.' 
 
 He did presume to rule because, forsooth, 
 
 He's been a horse commander from his youth ; 
 
 But he must know there's a difference in the reins 
 
 Of horses fed with oats and fed with grains. 
 
 I wonder at his frolic, for be sure 
 
 Four hamper'd coach horses can fling a brewer ; 
 
 But ' Pride will have a fall,' such the world's course is, 
 
 He who can rule three realms can't guide four horses ; 
 
 See him that trampled thousands in their gore, 
 
 Dismounted by a party but of four. 
 
 But we have done with 't, and we may call 
 
 This driving Jehu, Phaeton in his fall. 
 
 I would to God, for these three kingdoms' sake, 
 
 His neck, and not the whip, had given the crack. 
 
DRIVING CLUBS, OLD AND NEW. 249 
 
 In a poem entitled ' The Fall,' Sir John Birkenhead also 
 commemorates Cromwell's accident. Both of the foregoing 
 uncomplimentary rhymesters, however, fell upon evil times ; 
 Cleveland was imprisoned in Yarmouth gaol, whence he ad- 
 dressed to Cromwell a petition for his release ; and Sir John 
 Birkenhead was very nearly starved until, at the Restoration, he 
 obtained a lucrative appointment as one of the Masters of 
 Requests. 
 
 Whatever else we learn of amateur coachmanship is very 
 fragmentary and wholly unimportant, until the end of the 
 eighteenth century, by which time the labours of McAdam 
 and Telford had begun to bear fruit. Roads were good, a 
 higher rate of speed was attained ; ' then,' in the words of a 
 grateful coachman of old time, ' came Mr. McAdam, with his 
 hammers, sand, and resin, and the crooked places were made 
 straight, and the rough places plain and hard.' The advent of 
 the famous road engineer was indeed the dawning of a new 
 era, for in the old days of bad roads the lot of -the coach 
 traveller was far from being a happy one. A coach, which 
 took four days to reach London from York, made its first 
 journey on Friday, April 12, 1706, the announcement being 
 made in the form of the advertisement on p. 250. 
 
 In due course other stage-coaches made their appearance : 
 one between London and Dover was established on March 28, 
 1751, taking about thirty-six hours on the way, and having 'a 
 conveniency behind the coach for baggage and outside pas- 
 sengers.' About the same time there was coach communica- 
 tion between London and Edinburgh, as in 1754 the vehicle 
 previously in use was, ' for the better accommodation of pas- 
 sengers,' altered ' to a new genteel two-end glass coach machine, 
 .being on steel springs, exceeding light, and easy to go in ten 
 days in summer and twelve in winter.' In 1757 the merchants 
 of Liverpool organised their ' flying machine,' also on steel 
 springs, in imitation of the Manchester ' flying coach ; ' and as 
 time sped on, the business of coaching expanded; many of 
 the best known men of the day interested themselves in the 
 
250 DRIVING. 
 
 ALL that are desirous to pass from LONDON 
 to YORK, or any other place on their road, let 
 them repair to the 'BLACK SWAN,' HOLBORN, in 
 LONDON, and the 'BLACK SWAN' in CONEY 
 STREET, YORK, at both which places they may be 
 received in a STAGE COACH every MONDAY, 
 WEDNESDAY, and FRIDAY, which performs the whole 
 journey in four days (if God permits), and sets forth at 
 five in the morning, and returns from York to Stamford 
 in two days, and Stamford to Huntingdon in two days 
 more, and the other like stages on their return, allowing 
 each passenger 14 pounds weight, and all above 3 pence 
 per pound. 
 
 C B. KINGMAN. 
 Performed by^ H. HAINSFORD. 
 
 LW. BAYNES. 
 
 affairs of the road, and were often seen 'at work.' The 
 natural outcome of the taste for driving was the founding of the 
 Bensington (Oxonice Benson) Driving Club, which was institu- 
 ted on February 28, 1807. 'Nimrod ' says that it consisted of 
 twenty-five members elected by ballot, each of whom paid io/. 
 on admission. To these enthusiastic coachmen, to whom long 
 journeys were of every-day occurrence, distance was at first of 
 no consideration. Accordingly, we find the club rules pro- 
 vided that members should drive twice a year to the White 
 Hart, Bensington, in Oxfordshire, fifty-six miles from London ; 
 and twice to the Black Dog, Bedfont, near Hounslow, fourteen 
 miles from town. This arrangement lasted for sixteen years, 
 when the Bensington gatherings were given up. Bedfont, 
 however, seems to have been the virtual head-quarters of the 
 
DRIVING CLUBS, OLD AND NEW. 251 
 
 B.D.C., and there it was that the club had its wine-cellar, 
 a circumstance which may or may not have prompted a 
 chronicler of the time to say, when describing one of the visits 
 to Bedfont, that the members ' dashed home in a style of speed 
 and splendour equal to the spirit and judgment (sic) displayed 
 by the noble, honourable, and respective drivers.' During its 
 early years the B. D.C. was colloquially known as the Black 
 and White Club, owing to the places of meeting being the 
 White Hart and the Black Dog. 
 
 Before the B.D.C. had been established for a year, the 
 Benevolent Whip Club came into existence. It has been 
 said that the Bensington Driving Club men founded it ; but 
 such was not the case. A dozen well-to-do professionals, anxious 
 for the interests of their less fortunate brethren, conceived the 
 idea of establishing a benefit society ; and their deliberations 
 took the form of the Benevolent Whip Club, whose object it 
 was to relieve coachmen and guards, when in distress, and to 
 allow i2s. per week to the families of those who wereSn prison 
 for debt. To the funds of this society the B.D.C. contributed 
 one hundred guineas, and its resources would appear to have 
 been subject to a heavy drain, as, in twenty years, grants to 
 the amount of 9,ooo/. were made to needy men, and the families 
 of those who found themselves in prison. When this club was 
 dissolved cannot be discovered ; but its modern representa- 
 tive is the Cabdrivers' Benevolent Association. 
 
 The prestige which immediately surrounded the original 
 driving club caused applications for membership to flow in ; 
 but it was decided not to exceed the number of 25, so in 
 1808, Mr. Charles Buxton, the inventor of the Buxton bit, 
 together with one or two of his friends, were instrumental 
 in founding a second society, called the Four-Horse Club, but 
 often, though erroneously, known as the Four-in-Hand Club, 
 the Whip Club, and the Barouche Club. It no doubt re- 
 ceived the last-named appellation owing to the fact that its 
 members drove a sort of barouche. In the Sporting Magazine 
 for February, 1809, under the heading 'Carriages for the 
 
252 DRIVING. 
 
 Whip Club,' a contributor wrote: 'The Vis landau will be 
 the fashionable carriage among the members of the Whip 
 Club this season. This carriage differs from the vis-a-vis in 
 respect to its size ; the former carries four, the latter only 
 two. It is round on one side, with a single sweep from elbow 
 to door-rail, the roof is less round than heretofore ; the joints 
 are of Prince's metal, or plated ; the crests in raised silver 
 in a garter on the head-plates ; arms on door and end 
 panels. The Vis landau differs from the barouche by reason 
 of the former being divested of the sword-case behind, and the 
 sweep in the fore-panel, which latter gains another seat or two. 
 There are two lamps in front. The body is yellow, between a 
 patent and a king's yellow ; the carriage is red picked out with 
 black ; its length is 8 feet, and the body is hung 4 feet from 
 the ground on German instead of Polignac springs. It has 
 a barouche box instead of a fixed or Salisbury one, and is 
 hung to the body with open fore- end The lining is of dark 
 blue, with blue and yellow lace. Lord Sefton, Lord Saye and 
 Sele, Lord Hawke, the Hon. M. Hawke, Messrs. Butler, Best, 
 and Buxton will exhibit a splendid appearance.' The club rules, 
 however, merely said that the barouches should be yellow 
 bodied, with ' dickies,' the horses bay, with rosettes at their 
 heads, and the harness silver-mounted. Inasmuch as Mr. 
 Annesley drove roans, and Sir Henry Peyton greys, however, the 
 stipulation as to the colour of the horses does not appear to 
 have been strictly enforced. 
 
 Equally particular were the Four-Horse -men about their 
 personal appearance. The uniform of the modern driving 
 clubs is very simple ; but eighty years ago far greater attention 
 was bestowed upon matters of detail. The prescribed dress 
 consisted of a drab coat reaching to the ankles, with three 
 tiers of pockets, and mother-o'-pearl buttons as large as five- 
 shilling pieces ; the waistcoat was blue, with yellow stripes an 
 inch wide ; breeches of plush, with strings and rosettes to each 
 knee ; and it was de rigueur that the hat should be 3 \ inches 
 deep in the crown. Making all allowance for the whims of 
 
DRIVING CLUBS, OLD AND NEW. 253 
 
 fashion, and the changes in dress in the course of three-quarters 
 of a century, there was something rather outre in this attire. 
 Charles Mathews, the elder, ever on the watch for a subject 
 for travesty, caricatured the uniform of the Four- Horse Club 
 in ' Hit and Miss,' and thereby brought upon himself the wrath 
 of the coaching fraternity, one of whom professed to see in the 
 comedian's get-up a likeness to himself. ' Hit and Miss,' how- 
 ever, ran its course, and was laughed at by the public. Joseph 
 Grimaldi, too, the famous clown, made capital out of the dress 
 in one of his comic scenes. After the fashion of clowns, he 
 stole a blanket which served for a coat ; this he decorated 
 with cheese-plates (the result of a second theft) for buttons ; 
 and a cabbage served for a bouquet. A landau and wheels was 
 extemporised out of a cradle and some cheeses, and a toy- 
 shop burglary yielded four blotting-paper horses. Behind this 
 team Grimaldi took his seat, and, after having in pantomimic 
 action filed his front teeth, in imitation of one or two amateurs 
 who had in that particular copied certain professionals, was 
 drawn across the stage amidst much whistling and whip-flourish- 
 ing. This, however, was taken in good part ; indeed, the 
 travesty soon became popular, and all the coaching men in 
 London filled the boxes at the theatre to witness Grimaldi's 
 scene. 
 
 The first meeting of the Four-Horse Club was held in April 
 1808, and the subsequent days of meeting were the first and 
 third Thursdays in May and June. The members assembled 
 at Mr. Buxton's house in Cavendish Square, and drove down 
 to Salt Hill to dinner, patronising the Windmill and the Castle 
 alternately. At one of the club dinners a controversy arose 
 concerning the merits of the two houses ; both had their advo- 
 cates, and, as the question of supremacy could not be satisfac- 
 torily settled by the experience of the past, it was resolved to 
 give both landlords notice of the dispute, and to notify the fact 
 that, in the next season, the usual visits would be made with the 
 special object of deciding in favour of one or the other. In due 
 course May arrived, and the first visit was to the Castle. The 
 
254 DRIVING. 
 
 dinner and its surroundings were as perfect as they could be, 
 and no exception could be taken to the cuisine or the wines. 
 The next foregathering at the Windmill only resulted in a 
 gastronomic dead heat, for the preference could be given to 
 neither. There was then nothing to be done but to give one 
 more trial to each hostelry ; and the second dinner at the 
 Castle served but to further fog the self-appointed arbiters. 
 Then it so happened that, when the club went to the Wind- 
 mill, for the last time, the day was broiling hot. The cloth had 
 been cleared, and the diners were on the point of settling down 
 to their wine, when the head waiter entered, followed by numer- 
 ous attendants. Each guest was requested to rise, and the 
 chair on which he had been sitting was exchanged for a^w/one. 
 After this careful attention to detail, the verdict was in favour 
 of the Windmill. There were a couple of halts on the way 
 down to Salt Hill, a distance of 24 miles from London. The 
 club lunched at the Packhorse, Turnham Green, on the right 
 of the road, and took further refreshment at the Magpies, 
 Hounslow Heath ; thence they ran to their destination, and 
 back the next day, ' without,' as Nimrod says, ' the horses being 
 taken out of their harness.' 
 
 Scarcely, however, had the Four-Horse Club been fairly 
 started ere a charge of furious driving was formulated against 
 some of the members : ' an ungovernable phrensy,' it was stated, 
 took possession ' of these youths, who fancied, no doubt, that 
 they were in the act of directing Roman chariots in the field of 
 Mars, by their declared hostility to everything that came in 
 their way.' For this, they 'received permission to resign,' and 
 there was some talk of starting a new club, the Defiance, to be 
 composed partly of ' new hands and partly of the members 
 who were lately permitted to retire from the Buxton and 
 Peyton Association.' The intending founder of the club was 
 a gentleman whose name cannot be discovered ; but he was a 
 coachman of repute, and likewise a personage with science 
 enough to ' design many of the improvements in the new- 
 fangled machines.' Preliminaries were carried as far as de- 
 
DRIVING CLUBS, OLD AND NEW. 255 
 
 daring that the key-bugle should be substituted for the straight 
 horn, that the coats should be of Yorkshire drab, and the 
 waistcoats of 'white silk shag.' Arrangements, however, fell 
 through, and the club never existed. 
 
 For several years both the B.D.C. and F.H.C. flourished 
 in friendly rivalry ; members turned out in their full strength, 
 and the coachmen were, from all accounts, the very embodi- 
 ment of good-fellowship. About 1815, however, the Four- 
 Horse Club began to wane, and in 1820 its dissolution came. 
 ' I hear you men have broken up,' was the remark made by 
 a well-known amateur to one of the club. 'No, we haven't 
 broken up,' was the reply ; ' we've broken down ; the Four- 
 Horse Club had not enough in hand to keep on with.' In 1822 
 it was revived under somewhat altered conditions. The carriage 
 was a brown landaulet without ornaments ; the horses might be 
 of any colour, and the harness was brass-mounted, instead of 
 silver-plated, as formerly. Even these more simple regulations 
 were ineffectual to restore the club to its earlier popularity, and, 
 after existing for a year or two in a casual sort of way, it finally 
 died out altogether about 1824. Meantime the B.D.C. held 
 its way, was never short of its 25 members, who drove to 
 its meets with unfailing regularity, at least till the year 1824, 
 when the long journeys to Bensington were abandoned, and 
 the expeditions confined, as already stated, to the Black Dog at 
 Bedfont. B.D.C., nevertheless, stood just as well for Bedfont as 
 for Bensington, and as long as the club initials only were used 
 there was no great solecism in giving up the visits to the place 
 from which the club took its name. The alteration, however, ap- 
 pears to have been in accord with the taste of the members, and 
 the Bedfont dinners gained in popularity. One night, after the 
 club had dined, the King stopped to change horses at the Black 
 Dog, and, on the members being informed that His Majesty's 
 carriage was at the door, they drank his health with three times 
 three. The King shortly afterwards saw one of the B.D.C. 
 men, and having acknowledged the loyalty of his subjects on 
 the night in question, asked, ' Was not old John Warde among 
 
256 DRIVING. 
 
 you ? ' On being told that he was, the King remarked, ' Ah ! 
 I thought I knew his holloa.' ' Nimrod,' who relates the 
 story, tells another about a Mr. Prouse, whose name seems 
 to have been a household word on the Great Western road. 
 In his own proper person good coachmanship, good fellowship, 
 a marvellous capacity for liquor, and the skill of the juggler 
 would seem to have been happily combined. 
 
 After five bottles of hock (says the narrator) which he could 
 put under his waistcoat at a sitting without the smallest inconveni- 
 ence, he has often been seen to fill a bumper, and place the glass on 
 his head, during the time he would sing a song, in which not only 
 every coachman's, but every innkeeper's, name between London 
 and Plymouth was introduced. At the same time also he would go 
 through the manoeuvres of hitting wheeler and leader, without 
 spilling a drop of his wine ; and, after he had drunk it off, he 
 would run the empty glass up and down the large silver buttons on 
 his coat with very singular effect. 
 
 In more ways than one, probably, worthy Mr. Prouse would 
 be more than a match for most coachmen of to-day. 
 
 To return to the history of driving clubs, however, the 
 B.D.C. was without a rival from the time of the break-up of 
 the Four-Horse Club until the year 1838, when the Richmond 
 Driving Club was founded by Lord Chesterfield ' the magnifi- 
 cent,' who was its president. No longer was it the correct 
 thing to ape the manners and dress of stage-coachmen ; for 
 'Ches,' as the originator of the club was familiarly called, 
 insisted on his followers * driving like coachmen, but looking 
 like gentlemen ; ' and his lordship's standard of both qualifica- 
 tions was a high one. 1 At the outset the club consisted of the 
 following members, their names and the description of their 
 equipages being as given by Lord William Lennox : President, 
 Earl of Chesterfield, blue and red coach, four bays ; Marquis 
 of Waterford, brown and red coach, four greys ; Earl of 
 Waldegrave, blue and red open barouche, bay team ; Earl of 
 Sefton, dark coloured barouche, bay team ; Earl of Rosslyn, 
 
 1 No better coachman ever drove four horses. B. 
 
DRIVING CLUBS, OLD AND NEW. 257 
 
 dark coloured coach, bay team ; Count Batthyany, dark 
 blue and white coach, bay team ; Viscount Powerscourt, open 
 barouche, four greys ; Lord Alford, dark brown and red 
 coach, bay team Lord Alfred Paget, yellow and blue coach, 
 mixed team ; Lord Macdonald, dark brown and red coach, 
 mixed team ; Hon. Horace Pitt, blue and red coach, mixed 
 team ; Sir E. Smythe, Bart., dark green coach, three greys and 
 a piebald ; Mr. A. W. Hervey Aston, dark blue and white 
 coach, two bays and two greys ; Mr. T. Bernard, dark brown 
 coach, bay team ; Mr. J. Angerstein, dark brown coach, bay 
 team ; Colonel Copeland, yellow barouche, four browns ; Mr. 
 George Payne, yellow coach, bay team ; Mr. Lewis Ricardo, 
 dark blue and white coach, bay team. Mr. H. Villebois, Junr., 
 yellow coach, four bays. 
 
 Whatever may have been the criticism bestowed upon the 
 earlier driving clubs, an outline of whose history has already 
 been given, the efforts of the members of the Richmond 
 Driving Club were not, perhaps, uniformly "successful, if, 
 indeed, any reliance is to be placed upon the stinging satire, 
 The ' Chaunt of Achilles,' at first attributed to ' Charley ' 
 Sheridan, but afterwards recognised as the production of 
 Mr. Surtees, the author of * Mr. Facey Romford's Hounds,' 
 ' Soapy Sponge,' and other works of a like character. At any 
 rate, after stating that Lord Chesterfield led the way, this is 
 how the author dealt with the procession : 
 
 Following his track succeeds a numerous band, 
 
 Who vainly strive to work their fours-in-hand. 
 
 For Richmond bound I view them passing by, 
 
 Their hands unsteady, and their reins awry. 
 
 Some scratch their panels, some their horses' knees 
 
 Beaufort and Payne, I class you not with these ; 
 
 For who so smartly skims along the plain 
 
 As Beaufort's Duke? What whip can equal Payne? 
 
 No matter dinner comes, when 'all are able 
 
 To drive their coaches well about the table. 
 
 Ricardo then can driving feats relate, 
 
 And Batthyany swear he'd clear the gate ; 
 
 S 
 
258 DRIVING. 
 
 Till midnight closes o'er the festive scene, 
 Then who so bold as ride with Angerstein ? l 
 He who aloft can mark with unmoved nerve 
 The wheelers jibbing while the leaders swerve, 
 And sit, all careless, 'mid the wordy war 
 To lose a linen-pin, break a splinter-bar. 
 
 With reference to the above scathing lines, it may be men- 
 tioned that the then Duke of Beaufort, though taking part in 
 some of the processions, was not a member of the club. There 
 were, however, other opinions besides those expressed by Mr. 
 Surtees, for another rhymester is more complimentary : 
 
 In this famed driving club it were endless to trace, 
 All the notable coachmen the ribbons who grace ; 
 Since Waterford, Paget, and Pitt swell the stream, 
 And the eye dwells delighted on every team. 
 
 'Paget' was the late Lord Alfred; and 'Pitt' was subse- 
 quently Earl Rivers. 
 
 The Richmond Driving Club used to meet at Lord Chester- 
 field's house, and drive to dinner to the Castle Hotel, Rich- 
 mond. There poor Charley Sheridan would sing his best 
 songs, one of them being ' John Collin,' beginning : 
 
 My name is John Collin, head-waiter at Limmer's, 
 At the corner of Conduit Street, Hanover Square, 
 Where my chief occupation is filling up brimmers 
 To solace young gentlemen laden with care. 
 
 In spite of the prestige the club gained under its noble presi- 
 dent, the Richmond Driving Club only lasted about six or 
 seven years, and the B.D.C. was once more alone in the 
 
 1 Mr. Angerstein was so rash a coachman that no one would ride with him. 
 On one occasion, when starting home after dinner at the Castle Hotel, Rich- 
 mond, a guest inadvertently climbed on to his (Mr. A.'s) coach-box. Mr. 
 Angerstein was so delighted at getting a passenger that he did not wait to 
 start in procession, but went off at once. This caused his box-seat passenger 
 to turn his head, whereupon, seeing to whose care he had entrusted himself 
 that he was on Angerstein's coach he said nothing, but stood up and jumped 
 straight off the box Into the road. B. 
 
DRIVING CLUBS, OLD AND NEW. 259 
 
 field, and so it continued to the year 1853 or 1854. By this 
 time, it must be remembered, the ' palmy days ' of coaching 
 were over ; the train had driven most of the coaches off the 
 road ; and amateur driving was no longer influenced and in- 
 spired by the real business. Moreover, many members of the 
 B.D.C. were well stricken in years \ while, lastly, the Crimean 
 war had broken out. Each of these circumstances had, without 
 doubt, its influence upon the B.D.C., and contributed its 
 share towards the breaking up of the club in the years 1853 
 and 1854, when, after an uninterrupted existence of forty-six 
 years, it was dissolved, the bars were hung up, private fours-in- 
 hand seemed likely to become as extinct as the quadriga, and 
 the driving of four horses a lost art. 
 
 There was one amateur, however, who still remained faith- 
 ful to the amusement in which he had for so long a period ex- 
 celled. In the last of his papers upon the ' Four Georges ' 
 written in 1852 Thackeray says : 
 
 Where my Prince did actually distinguish himself was in 
 driving. He drove once in four hours and a half from Brighton 
 to Carlton House fifty-six miles. All the young men of that day 
 were fond of the sport. But the fashion of rapid driving deserted 
 England, and, I believe, trotted over to America. Where are the 
 amusements of our youth ? I hear of no dicing now but amongst 
 obscure ruffians ; and no boxing except amongst the lowest rabble. 
 One solitary four-in-hand still drove round the Parks in London 
 last year ; but that charioteer must soon disappear. He was very 
 old ; he was attired after the fashion of the year 1825. He must 
 drive to the banks of the Styx before long, where the ferry-boat 
 waits to carry him over to the defunct revellers, who boxed and 
 gambled, and drank, and drove, with him who died George IV. 
 
 This ' solitary charioteer ' was none other than Sir Henry 
 Peyton, whose yellow coach and grey horses had been, for 
 many, many years, a familiar sight at the gatherings of the 
 B.D.C., and in London. Ten grey horses was the average 
 strength of his coach stable ; he drove all the year round ; when 
 not in London, his coach was invariably to be found in Oxford- 
 shire, either between Swift's House and Oxford,. or, laden with 
 
 S 2 
 
260 DRIVING. 
 
 a party of hunting men, on its way to the fixture of Mr. 
 Drake's hounds. It was Sir Henry Peyton who first introduced 
 the two mounts now seen on nearly every whip. 
 
 THE FOUR-IN-HAND DRIVING CLUB. 
 
 On peace being proclaimed, in 1856, the taste for driving 
 once more asserted itself, and the idea was conceived of forming 
 a new club, to take the place of the defunct B.D.C. A meet- 
 ing was accordingly called, and took place in April, 1856, at 
 2 Hamilton Place, Piccadilly, the residence of the Marquis 
 of Stafford, afterwards Duke of Sutherland. On that occasion 
 there were present the Marquis of Stafford, Earl Vane, after- 
 wards Marquis of Londonderry, William Morritt of Rokeby, 
 Esq., the Hon. Leo Agar-Ellis, and John Loraine Baldwin, 
 Esq. After some discussion it was determined to form a four- 
 in-hand driving club, and the following members joined and 
 formed the club : 
 
 Duke of Beaufort. 
 
 Marquis of Stafford, afterwards fifth Duke of Sutherland. 
 
 Earl Vane, afterwards third Marquis of Londonderry. . 
 
 Lord Edward Thynne. 
 
 Lord Henry Thynne. 
 
 Sir Watkin Williams Wynn. 
 
 W. Morritt, of Rokeby, Esq. 
 
 C. P. Leslie, of Glaslough, Esq., M.P. 
 
 Captain Hugh Smith Baillie, Royal Horse Guards. 
 
 W. Cooper, of Stoke D'Abernon, Esq. 
 
 W. Craven, Esq., 1st Life Guards. 
 
 W. P. Thornhill, Esq., M.P. (Warwickshire). 
 
 J. Inglis Jones, Esq., Royal Horse Guards. 
 
 Secretaries. 
 J. L. Baldwin, Esq. Hon. L. Agar-Ellis. 
 
 At the first meeting the following rules were proposed and 
 adopted : 
 
 1. That this Club be called the Four-in-Hand Driving Club. 
 
 2. That the Club be limited to thirty members. 
 
DRIVING CLUBS, OLD AND NEW. 261 
 
 3. That the Committee consist of President, Vice-President, 
 and three members. 
 
 4. That the Committee alone have power in the election of 
 members, and in all matters connected with the Club. 
 
 5. That during the season two days at least be appointed for 
 a meeting of the coaches to drive down to some place for dinner. 
 
 6. That any person being absent from the Club during a whole 
 year cease to be a member. 
 
 7. That five form a quorum of the Committee. 
 
 Committee, elected April, 1856. 
 
 Duke of Beaufort, President. 
 Marquis of Stafford, Vice-President. 
 
 Members. 
 Earl Vane. 
 
 Captain H. S. Baillie, Royal Horse Guards. 
 W. Morritt, of Rokeby, Esq. 
 
 Secretaries. 
 J. L. Baldwin, Esq. Hon. L. Agar-Ellis. 
 
 It was agreed that, no Subscription being necessary, there 
 should be none to the Club. 
 
 DRIVING RULES TO BE OBSERVED ON CLUB DAYS. 
 
 1. That no coach be permitted to pass another, unless the latter 
 be standing still, or permission has been obtained. 
 
 2. The general pace not to exceed ten miles an hour. 
 
 3. The order of starting to be arranged by lot. 
 
 4. The starting-point to be within Hyde Park. The hour 
 4.45 P.M. 
 
 The date of the first meeting of the coaches is not entered 
 in the book, but Lord Stafford, Lord Henry Thynne, Captain 
 H. S. Baillie, Royal Horse Guards, Mr. W. P. Thornhill, and 
 Mr. W. Morritt turned out early in May, and they went to the 
 
262 DRIVING. 
 
 Trafalgar at Greenwich. The second turn-out was on Whitsun 
 Monday, May 12 a fearfully wet day not a soul in the Park 
 but the three or four coaches that went. No record in the 
 book who put in an appearance, but the President and Captain 
 H. S. Baillie both took their coaches down, and there were 
 two or three others in addition ; the dinner took place at the 
 Castle Hotel, Richmond. The only note is ' The badness of 
 the dinner surpassed by the execrable wine.' We can say the 
 weather was a match for either in point of badness. On May 24 
 they turned out again : the President, Vice-President, the late 
 Lord Willoughby de Broke, Messrs. W. G. Craven, W. P. 
 Thornhill (the late), W. Morritt (the late) ; and on June 5 
 eleven coaches, headed by the Vice-President, assembled 
 again. On June 28 eleven coaches, the President, Vice-Presi- 
 dent, all the Committee except Lord Vane, and seven others 
 met ; and there was a last meeting of seven coaches on July 9, 
 1856. It was a very bad wet summer. 
 
 On May 13, 1859, the thanks of the Committee and Club 
 were voted to the two Honorary Secretaries, and they were 
 elected Honorary Members of the Club. In 1861, on July 5, 
 Lord Sefton and Mr. W. P. Thornhill were added to the 
 Committee. In 1867 Colonel Leslie, in 1870 Lord Londes- 
 borough, in 1872 Lord Aveland were also placed on the Com- 
 mittee. In 1873 Mr. \V. Morritt, who had acted as Secretary 
 since 1859, died, and Lord Aveland kindly undertook his 
 duties. The Club had increased to fifty-four members, in- 
 cluding the officers driving the coaches of the three regiments 
 of Household Cavalry. It was now found necessary to have 
 a subscription of i/. per annum to meet the expenses of police, 
 &c., in the Park, and Lord Aveland appointed Mr. Love- 
 grove, who is in the Lord Great Chamberlain's office in the 
 House of Lords, to be Secretary, since which time the irregu- 
 larities in the keeping of the records have ceased, and the name 
 of every member who turns out at the meets, or is present 
 with his coach in the enclosures at Ascot, Lord's, or elsewhere, 
 
DRIVING CLUBS, OLD AND NEW. 263 
 
 is duly entered. On May 18, 1874, the Earl of Macclesfield 
 and the late Lord Wenlock were put upon the Committee. On 
 June 24, 1874, the German Ambassador, Count Miinster, was 
 elected a member of the Club, with which he almost invariably 
 turned out, and to which he still belongs. In r875, tne annual 
 subscription was raised to 2!. 2$. In consequence of the very 
 great increase in the number of the carriages using Hyde 
 Park during the season, H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge, the 
 Ranger, wrote to the Chief Commissioner of Works to say 
 that the driving clubs when they met in the Park caused such 
 an obstruction to the traffic that it would be advisable for him 
 (the Commissioner, the Right Honourable Gerard Noel) to 
 suggest their meeting elsewhere. This was after the first meet 
 of the coaches that year. Not only the Park, but Piccadilly, 
 St. George's Place, Grosvenor Place, and Hamilton Place were 
 completely blocked for over an hour. Soon after June 30, it 
 was arranged between the Board of Works, the Chief Commis- 
 sioner of Police, and the Committee, that the -meets should 
 take place at 12.30 P.M. instead of at 5 P.M., and there is, in 
 consequence, but little inconvenience on the days of meeting. 
 As the members like, in July, to dine at the Crystal Palace on 
 a firework night, they met on July 19, 1877, in Belgrave 
 Square, and carried out their gathering with scarcely any crowd. 
 Since then H.R.H. the Ranger has permitted the Club to meet, 
 when it wishes to do so in the afternoon, on the Horse 
 Guards Parade in St. James's Park. On June 17, 1879, the 
 Earl of Macclesfield was elected Vice-President vice the Duke 
 of Sutherland, who took his name off the list of members of 
 the Club, and Viscount Castlereagh (now the Marquis of 
 Londonderry) was added to the Committee. On June 19, the 
 Earl of Fife was elected a member of the Committee vice 
 Lord Wenlock resigned. On Saturday, May 12, 1883, Rule 10 
 was added, viz : ' That, in future, the Club shall consist of fifty 
 members,' and it was resolved on June 12 that the subscription 
 be raised to 3/, 35-. per annum ; on May 13, 1885, the Duke of 
 
264 DRIVING. 
 
 Portland was added to the Committee, in place of the Marquis 
 of Londonderry deceased. 
 The following are the 
 
 RULES. 
 
 1. That this Club be called THE FOUR-IN-HAND DRIVING 
 CLUB. 
 
 2. That the Committee consist of President, Vice-President, 
 and Six Members. 
 
 3. That the Committee alone have power in the election of 
 Members, and in all other matters connected with the Club. 
 
 4. That during the Season two days at least be appointed for 
 the Meeting of the Coaches, to drive down to some place for 
 dinner. 
 
 5. Any Member, by turning out with his own Coach and 
 Horses at a Meeting of the Club, will be entitled to a Ticket for 
 the F.H.D.C. Enclosure at Ascot, Hampton (since abolished), Lord's, 
 &c., Tickets for which must be paid for at the time of issue. 
 
 6. Any Member who has not turned out at a Meeting of the 
 Club during the seasons of 1872 and 1873 will not be entitled to a 
 Ticket for the Enclosures in 1874. This will apply in future to any 
 Member who does not turn out for two years. 
 
 7. Any Member who has not been out for two years, upon 
 turning out at a Meeting of the Club, will again be entitled to a 
 Ticket for the Enclosures. 
 
 8. That each Member pay an Annual Subscription of 3/. 31. 
 The Subscriptions to be paid to Mr. Lovegrove, 9 Halkin Street 
 West, Belgrave Square, during the month of May ; and any 
 Member whose Subscription remains two years in arrear shall 
 cease to be a Member of the Club. 
 
 9. That three form a quorum of the Committee. 
 
 10. That in future the Club shall consist of 50 Members only. 
 
 BEAUFORT, Chairman. 
 
 The uniform of the Club is brown coat and vest with gilt 
 buttons. 
 
 The following are the Members (1888) : 
 
 Honorary Member. 
 IJ.R.H. THE DUKE OF CONNAUGHT, K.G. 
 
DRIVING CLUBS, OLD AND NEW. 
 
 265 
 
 Committee. 
 
 Duke of Beaufort (President). 
 Earl of Macclesfield 
 
 (Vice- President). 
 Earl of Sefton. 
 Earl of Lonclesborough. 
 Lord Aveland. 
 Marquis of Londonderry. 
 Earl of Fife. 
 Duke of Portland. 
 Earl of Abingdon. 
 Capt. Evelyn Atherley. 
 Hon. L. Agar-Ellis. 
 J. L. Baldwin, Esq. 
 Earl of Bective, M.P. 
 Lord Charles Beresford, M.P. 
 Major Brocklehurst. 
 Lord Carrington. 
 H. Chaplin, Esq., M.P. 
 Lord Cheylesmore. 
 Marquis of Cholmondeley. 
 Col. Stracey-Clitherow. 
 W. G. Craven, Esq. 
 Baron Deichmann. 
 Gen. Dickson. 
 Earl of Enniskillen. 
 Col. Sir H. P. Ewart. 
 Sir Edward Guinness, Bart. 
 Lord Hastings. 
 
 Adrian Hope, Esq, 
 Lord Hothfield. 
 Sir John Lister Kaye, Bart. 
 H. Gerard Leigh, Esq. 
 Walter Long, Esq., M.P. 
 Earl of Lonsdale. 
 Count Miinster. 
 Lord Muncaster, M.P. 
 W. E. Oakeley, Esq. 
 Earl of Onslow. 
 R. A. Oswald, Esq. 
 Sir Roger Palmer, Bart. 
 Reginald Chandos Pole, Esq. 
 Lord Poltimore. 
 ,C. Birch Reynardson, Esq. 
 Sir M. Shaw Stewart, Bart. 
 Earl of Shrewsbury and Talbot. 
 Captain John Spicer. 
 Sir H. Meysey-Thompson, Bart. 
 
 M.P. 
 
 Lord Tredegar. 
 F. E. Villiers, Esq. 
 Capt. Whitmore. 
 Maj.-Gen. Owen Williams. 
 Capt. H. Wombwell. 
 Marquis of Worcester. 
 Marquis of Waterford. 
 
 Officer driving 1st Life Guards Coach. 
 Officer driving 2nd Life Guards Coach. 
 Officer driving Blues Coach. 
 
 In connection with the Blues old coach there is a some- 
 what curious story. A few years ago the regiment ordered 
 a new coach of Messrs. Holland & Holland, who took back 
 the old one. When that firm came to scrape the latter, it was 
 found that she had been an old West-country Mail, and on 
 taking off the front seat, an antiquated bird's nest was found 
 underneath, the supposition being that the coach had at some 
 period in her career stood in some inn yard, and that the bird 
 
266 DRIVING. 
 
 had taken advantage of the circumstance to build her nest 
 therein. 
 
 Some years later, a club on a smaller scale was established 
 in Monmouthshire, also under the presidency of the Duke of 
 Beaufort, their chief meet being to drive to Abergavenny 
 Steeplechases, when the little parade made a most imposing 
 show. Mr. Hamilton, of Millstones, formerly in the i3th 
 Hussars, was the originator, and the late Major Alec Rolls, 
 Mr. Crompton-Roberts, the late Lord Raglan, Mr. Reginald 
 Herbert, Mr. Crawshay Bailey, and one or two more were 
 members; but death, vacancies, and change of residence among 
 the little band, have broken it up and it has now ceased to 
 exist. A Coaching Club has also been started at Hyderabad. 
 
 The Four-in-Hand Driving Club continued alone in its glory 
 from the day of its foundation until 1870, by which time the four 
 years of coaching revival had invested with greater interest the 
 meets of the F.H.D.C., and had given a decided fillip to the taste 
 for driving four horses. The Four-in-Hand Driving Club was 
 both exclusive and limited in its numbers, and could not, even 
 if its members had been so inclined, have received a quarter of 
 the candidates upon their books. At this juncture Mr. George 
 Goddard suggested to one or two gentlemen interested in coach- 
 ing the formation of a second driving association. The idea was 
 approved of, and the Coaching Club was established ; history 
 thus repeating itself in the formation of an overflow society. A 
 beginning was made with fifty members ; but the club became 
 so popular, and the driving mania, as it was derisively called 
 at the time, increased so greatly, that, in a very short time, it 
 had quite outgrown itself, and there were no fewer than 120 
 on the books. This was found to be too great a number, and 
 no fresh candidates, excepting under extraordinary circum- 
 stances, were put up for election, until retirement, and other 
 causes, had reduced the muster-roll to one hundred. As 
 already stated, the Coaching Club was founded in 1870, but 
 its opening meet did not take place until Tuesday, June 27, 
 1871, on which day 22 coaches (a larger number, it is believed, 
 
DRIVING CLUBS, OLD AND NEW. 267 
 
 than had ever before been seen at a driving club meet) assem- 
 bled at the Marble Arch, preparatory to driving down to the 
 Trafalgar at Greenwich for dinner. Among those who attended 
 were the Duke of Beaufort, president ; Lord Carrington, vice- 
 president ; Marquis of Downshire, Earl Poulett, Lord Cole, 
 Lord Valentia, Colonel Armitage, Mr. Reginald Herbert, Mr. 
 Foster, Mr. J. Harrison, Mr. Candy, and Mr. Murrieta. The 
 uniform of the club is dark blue coat, buff waistcoat, gilt 
 buttons with ' C.C.' engraved on them ; and the following are 
 the rules of the club, and a list of its members (1888) : 
 
 RULES AND REGULATIONS. 
 
 1. That the Club be called THE COACHING CLUB, and be 
 limited to 100 Members, who will pay an Entrance Fee of io/. los. 
 and an Annual Subscription of 2/. 2s. ; but, notwithstanding the 
 above limit, the Committee shall have power, if they think it 
 desirable, to elect in each year not exceeding three Members from 
 the Book of Candidates. 
 
 2. That the Members be elected by the Committee, five Members 
 to form a quorum. 
 
 3. Every Candidate for admission shall be proposed by one 
 Member and seconded by another, and be the bond fide owner of a 
 Coach and Four Horses. The Candidate's name, usual place of 
 residence, rank, profession, occupation, or any other description, 
 shall be inserted by the proposer in the Book of Candidates at 
 least one month prior to the day of election : the Candidate must 
 be personally known to both the proposer and seconder. 
 
 4. That the Entrance Fee and Subscription be payable in 
 advance to the Bankers of the Club for the time being. Subscrip- 
 tions to be payable on the ist of January in each year. Any 
 Member omitting to pay his Subscription by April I shall have his 
 name erased from the List of Members. 
 
 5. That the Committee consist of Twelve Members, three of 
 whom are to retire annually in rotation ; the vacancies to be filled 
 up at the Annual General Meeting. 
 
 6. That the First Meeting of the Coaches shall take place 
 annually on the Saturday next but one before the Derby. 
 
 7. That the Annual General Meeting of the Club shall take 
 place during the week before the Derby. The day to be fixed by 
 the Committee. 
 
268 DRIVING. 
 
 8. That each Regiment in the Service possessing a coach shall 
 be entitled, on payment of Entrance Fee and Subscription, to name 
 an annual representative, who shall enjoy all the privileges of the 
 Club as an e.r-officio Member. 
 
 9. That no coach race with or pass another belonging to the 
 Club when driving on Meeting Days. 
 
 10. That the Committee be empowered to make such Rules that 
 from time to time they may consider necessary for the welfare of 
 the Club. 
 
 1 1. That any Member (with the exception of e.r-offido Members) 
 not having turned out at a Meeting of Club Coaches for two years? 
 shall not be entitled to a Ticket for any of the Club Enclosures, till 
 he again turns out. 
 
 12. That the Committee shall have the power to decide any 
 dispute arising out of irregular driving, or any other matter brought 
 to its notice, when the Club assembles to drive to Races and other 
 places ; and that their opinion on such matters shall be accepted by 
 the Members of the Club as final. 
 
 Committee. 
 
 The Duke of Beaufort (President). 
 Lord Hothfield (Vice-President). 
 Sir John Thursby, Bart. 
 F. Seager Hunt, Esq. 
 Captain Charles Bill. 
 Major Frank Shuttleworth. 
 
 Pryce B. Hamilton, Esq. 
 Colonel F. Aikman, 1 V.C. 
 Henry A. Brassey, Esq. 
 W. E. Oakeley, Esq. 
 Captain S. T. Ashton. 
 Lord Arthur Somerset. 
 
 Bankers. 
 London and Westminster, I St. James's Square, S.W. 
 
 Secretary. 
 Mr. J. Lovegrove, 9 Halkin Street West, S.W. 
 
 Members are particularly requested to inform the Secretary of any change 
 of address, to avoid delay in their receiving notices of meetings, &c. 
 
 List of Members. 
 
 Aikman, 1 Colonel F., V.C. 
 Allfrey, Major Goodrich. 
 Anglesey, Marquis of. 
 Armitage, Lieut. -Col. 
 
 Ashton, Captain S. T. 
 Beaufort, The Duke of (President). 
 Baird, Alexander, Esq. 
 Banbury, Frederick G., Esq. 
 
 1 Colonel Aikman, V.C, has since died. 
 
DRIVING CLUBS, OLD AND NEW. 
 
 269 
 
 Bective, the Earl of, M.P. 
 Beech, Rowland, Esq. 
 Beresford, Lord Charles. 
 Bill, Captain Charles. 
 Bibchoffsheim, Ferdinand, Esq. 
 Boulter, Stanley C, Esq. 
 Brand, Andrew, Esq. 
 Brand, James, Esq. 
 Brassey, Albert, Esq. 
 Brassey, Henry A., Esq. 
 Bruce, James, Esq. 
 Burns, James, Esq. 
 Byass, Arthur, Esq. 
 Carew, Frank H., Esq. 
 Clifford Constable, Sir Talbot, Bart. 
 Colston, Edward, Esq. 
 Cook, Frederick L., Esq. 
 Coupland, J., Esq. 
 Craven, J. A., Esq. 
 Crawshay, William, Esq. 
 Crompton-Roberts, C. H., Esq. 
 Darell, Edward, Esq. 
 Darell, Sir Lionel, Bart. 
 Deichmann, Baron. 
 Eden, Sir William, Bart. 
 Edwards, Charles, Esq. 
 Enniskillen, Earl of. 
 Ferguson, Victor, Esq. 
 Fernie, C. W., Esq. 
 Fife, Earl of. 
 Foster, James, Esq. 
 Flower, Arthur, Esq. 
 Fulcher, Arthur W., Esq. 
 Gassiott, Charles, Esq. 
 Hamilton, Pryce B. , Esq. 
 Hamilton, Charles E., Esq., M.P. 
 Hanbury, John, Esq. 
 Hanbury, Charles, Esq. 
 Hargreaves, C. Reginald, Esq. 
 Hargreaves, John, Esq. 
 Harter, Hatfeild J. F. , Esq. 
 Harter, James C., Esq. 
 Hesketh, Sir Thomas G., Bart. 
 Hoare, Charles A. , Esq. 
 
 Hothfield, Lord (Vice-President). 
 
 Hunt, F. Seager, Esq. 
 
 Jary, Major. 
 
 Jones, Gerwyn, Esq. (of Pont Glas). 
 
 Kaye, Sir John Lister, Bart. 
 
 Kelso, Capt., R.N. 
 
 Lennox, Lord Algernon Gordon. 
 
 Mackenzie, Austen, Esq. 
 
 Marton, George B., Esq. 
 
 Meysey-Thompson, Sir H., Bart., 
 
 M.P. 
 
 Mitchell, John, Esq. 
 Monteith, John, Esq. 
 Morley, Robert, Esq. 
 Murray, Colonel C. E. Gostling. 
 Murrieta, A. De, Esq. 
 Murrieta, C. De, Esq. 
 Nickalls, Patteson, Esq. 
 Oakeley, W. E., Esq. ' 
 Onslow, Earl of. 
 Palmer, Sir C. M., M.P. 
 Paulet, George, Esq. 
 Phillips, Charles J., Esq. 
 Phillips, S. H., Esq. 
 Poulett, the Earl. 
 Praed, Winthrop M., Esq. 
 
 Reade, Colonel Colquhoun. 
 
 Rothschild, Alfred De, Esq. 
 
 Sandeman, Albert, Esq. 
 
 Sassoon, Edward, Esq. 
 
 Scott, Charles Tollemache, Esq. 
 
 Shuttleworth, Major Frank. 
 
 Somerset, Colonel Alfred. 
 
 Somerset, Lord Arthur. 
 
 Stapylton, Major. 
 
 Stern, Sydney, Esq. 
 
 Starkie, Colonel Le Gendre. 
 
 Swan, John, Esq. 
 
 Talon, Marquis de. 
 
 Throckmorton, Sir William, Bart. 
 
 Thursby, Sir John, Bart. 
 
 Trotter, Henry J., Esq. 
 
 Trew, J. P., Esq. 
 
 Turner, Captain Wyatt. 
 
270 
 
 DRIVING. 
 
 Valentia, Viscount. 
 Villiers, Frederick E., Esq. 
 Wheble, Lieut. -Colonel. 
 Whitmore, Capt. 
 
 \Vinnington, Sir Francis, Bart, 
 Wood, Joseph Carter, Esq. 
 Wood, Thomas, Esq. 
 Wynne, L. M., Esq. 
 
 Members Abroad. 
 
 Lord Carrington (O.H.M.S.) 
 
 Lord William Beresford (O.H.M.S.) 
 
 Count Miinster. 
 
 Regimental Coaches (Ex-Offirio}. 
 
 1 1st Life Guards. 
 
 2nd Life Guards. 
 
 Royal Horse Guards. 
 
 1st Dragoon Guards. 
 
 2nd Dragoon Guards. 
 
 3rd Dragoon Guards. 
 
 4th Dragoon Guards. 
 1 5th Dragoon Guards. 
 
 6th Dragoon Guards. 
 
 7th Dragoon Guards. 
 1 1st Dragoons Royal. 
 1 2nd Dragoons, Royal Scots Greys. 
 
 6th Dragoons (Inniskilling). 
 
 3rd Hussars. 
 
 4th Hussars. 
 
 7th Hussars. 
 
 loth Hussars. 
 
 nth Hussars. 
 1 1 4th Hussars. 
 
 1 5th Hussars. 
 1 1 8th Hussars. 
 1 I Qth Hussars. 
 
 2Oth Hussars. 
 
 2ist Hussars. 
 
 5th Lancers. 
 
 9th Lancers. 
 1 1 2th Lancers. 
 
 1 6th Lancers. 
 
 1 7th Lancers. 
 1 Royal Horse Artillery. 
 1 Cavalry Depot Coach, Canterbury. 
 1 Grenadier Guards, 1st Batt. 
 
 Grenadier Guards, 2nd Batt. 
 
 Grenadier Guards, 3rd Batt. 
 
 Coldstream Guards, 1st Batt. 
 
 Coldstream Guards, 2nd Batt. 
 
 Scots Guards, 1st Batt. 
 1 Scots Guards, 2nd Batt. 
 
 Each driving club has a private enclosure for itself at Ascot 
 the Four-in-Hand being stationed nearly opposite the Royal 
 Stand, and the Coaching Club by the telegraph board in each 
 of which from twenty to thirty well-turned-out coaches are 
 drawn up on each of the four days of the royal meeting. 
 Private enclosures are also reserved for both clubs at San- 
 down Park, Kempton Park, and Lord's Cricket Ground. The 
 meets of the coaches at the Magazine, in Hyde Park, are 
 among the most popular sights of the whole London season. 
 
 i Ex-officio Members 1888. 
 
DRIVING CLUBS, OLD AND NEW. 271 
 
 Each club has two parades a year, the Four-in-Hand Driving 
 Club generally meeting at the Magazine on the Wednesday 
 before the Derby, and later in the season on the Horse Guards 
 Parade ; while the Coaching Club holds its first levee on the 
 Saturday next but one before the Derby, and its last shortly 
 after Ascot. This, at least, is the recognised programme, 
 though, from unavoidable circumstances, it has of recent years 
 been more often the exception than the rule. 
 
 The Four-in-Hand Driving Club, being much smaller and 
 more exclusive, does not generally turn out in such large 
 numbers as the junior club, which, on two or three occasions, 
 has mustered over thirty. In 1880, at the meet of the 
 F.H.D.C., twenty-two members turned out, and the same 
 number were counted at the corresponding gathering in 1881. 
 In 1882 the number dropped to fourteen, but rose to twenty- 
 two again in 1886. The meets and the parades of these clubs 
 are often patronised by the Prince and Princess of Wales, the 
 former of whom occasionally occupies the box-seat of one of 
 the coaches, and by other members of the Royal Family. The 
 crowds that assemble far exceed in magnitude any others that 
 are ever seen at any time in the Park, while the show of 
 magnificent horses and carriages can scarcely be equalled, let 
 alone surpassed, in the whole wide world. 
 
 Neither club has a house of its own, and on the meeting 
 days, after the drive round the Park in parade order is over, 
 the members generally disperse, some going down in a body 
 to luncheon at Greenwich or Richmond, the Crystal Palace, 
 the Hurlingham or Ranelagh Club, or elsewhere, the others 
 merely to take a turn round the Park again. Several years ago 
 the Road Club was established in Park Place by Major Furnivall 
 as a home for the coaching fraternity, and at first it answered 
 very well, kept a coach of its own for a season or two, and was 
 a very comfortable house ; but other attractions, not so inno- 
 cent as the road, crept in : Major Furnivall at last left the sink- 
 ing ship, and in a short time it ceased to have the remotest 
 connection with coaching. In 1875, the late Mr. Hurman, 
 
272 DRIVING. 
 
 who, when not engaged in coaching, hunting, or racing, prac- 
 tised as a medical man at Turnham Green, took the lease of 
 100 Piccadilly, and there established the Badminton Club, 
 which was then, to all intents and purposes, a thorough coach- 
 ing club, always having all the year round a coach, a break, a 
 team or two, besides brougham, mail phaeton, &c., as well as 
 capital stabling and coach-houses, with chambers and bedrooms 
 kept for the use of its members. The idea of ' the Doctor ' was a 
 novel one, and most people thought at the time that he had 
 gone mad, for to all appearances there were no available means of 
 utilising, for the purposes of a club, the premises which had for 
 years been occupied by a succession of horse-dealers, and con- 
 sisted of about forty or fifty stalls and loose boxes. But the 
 Doctor set to work. The front yard, where the horses used to 
 be trotted up and down, was metamorphosed into a very 
 pretty garden ; a stable leading out of it, that had contained 
 five stalls and three loose boxes, was transmogrified into a 
 smoking-room ; the hayloft became the coffee-room ; the corn 
 store was converted into a billiard-room ; and so it was occupied 
 until 1883, when the number of members beginning to increase 
 rather too rapidly for the capacity of the premises, and the lease 
 falling in, the opportunity was seized of converting the club 
 into a company. The two next houses, 98 and 99, w r ere 
 secured, and a noble pile of buildings has sprung up. All the 
 old associations, the garden in front, the stables, &c., in the 
 rear, with all their surroundings, are kept up, and the new club- 
 house now (1889) forms a prominent feature of Upper Picca- 
 dilly. 
 
 The institution of driving clubs has not been confined ex- 
 clusively to England, as in 1875 a Four-in-Hand Club was 
 founded in New York. The first meet took place in 1876, on 
 which occasion six coaches turned out ; but the taste for driving 
 four horses having once taken root, flourished, as in 1878 there 
 were nine coaches by English builders, two of Parisian make, 
 and several of American construction. Subsequently the number 
 rose to twenty-two ; but the total has since declined. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 COMPILED BY 
 W. C. A. BLEW. 
 
 THE old stage-coaches, except in very far-away districts, had 
 long been off the road, and Clark's Brighton coach, The Age, 
 was the last link left between the old days, when coaching was 
 in its zenith, and those to come, which were but little dreamed 
 of then, when we were once more to witness its revival, and 
 pretty nearly a dozen coaches rattling down Piccadilly every 
 day. The Age, of which Mr. Eden, who afterwards put on the 
 High Wycombe coach, was one of the supporters, after having 
 stopped for a year or two, was started again and ran through 
 1862, on alternate days, driven by the Duke of Beaufort, 
 Sir George Wombwell, or Clark, from the Globe, Baker 
 Street, every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, at 10.30 A.M., 
 calling at the Gloucester, in Oxford Street ; Griffin's Green 
 Man and Still, also in Oxford Street ; the Universal Office 
 at Regent's Circus, and Hatchett's White Horse Cellar, the 
 
274 DRIVING. 
 
 time at the latter place was 1 1 o'clock both in Piccadilly ; 
 then on to Slark's office, Knightsbridge, after which stoppage 
 they fairly began to go, and travelled quickly along through 
 Richmond, Kingston, Leatherhead, Dorking, Horsham, Cow- 
 fold, and Henfield, arriving at Brighton at 6 P.M., returning 
 from Castle Square on the alternate days. The distance was 
 sixty-two miles, which makes the time look slow ; but it must be 
 remembered that there were five stoppages before the London 
 stones were left behind, and a good deal of time was lost in 
 picking up parcels and passengers ; while in older days heavily 
 laden coaches, like the Royal Sovereign to Leamington, and 
 many others, used to be allowed an hour from the City to the 
 Marble Arch. 
 
 In the year 1854, Mr. Charles Lawrie, who at that time 
 horsed the coach from Kingston to Dorking with bays and 
 browns, had a picture of the Age painted, and it was engraved 
 for Clark's benefit through the kindness of the same gentle- 
 man. The off-side leader had originally run in Kershaw's 
 Baldock and Hitchin coach, but was bought when the concern 
 was sold off, after the road had been for a century occupied 
 by the Kershaw family. One of the wheelers had been em- 
 ployed in the duty of drawing an old lady's carriage, but having 
 one day run away, and, it was said, caused the death of its 
 owner, it came to coach-work. The team, as represented in 
 the picture, was the property of Dick Carpenter, who used to 
 drive the original Age with Sir St. Vincent Cotton, and who it 
 is believed died in Hapwell Asylum. What next became of 
 the picture is not known ; but, soon after the Brighton road 
 was revived, a picture of the new coach made its appear- 
 ance, in which the grouping, &c., was identical with that 
 of Mr. Lawrie's picture, only the colours were changed. 
 In the November of the year 1888, however, the original 
 painting turned up at Albert Gate, its price being, it is be- 
 lieved, 35/. 
 
 After the Duke, Sir George, and Clark had hung up their 
 whips in 1862, coaching seemed to be, in the expressive 
 
THE COACHING REVIVAL. 275 
 
 language of the Ring, 'dead settled.' For four long years the 
 sound of the bars and the echo of the horn were not heard in 
 Piccadilly, and the ancient steps of Hatchett's were deserted 
 by all save those who were lodging in the hotel. In 1866, 
 however, a slight sign of the coming revival appeared on the 
 coaching horizon. Captain Haworth led the way, and was 
 joined by the Duke of Beaufort, Colonel Armitage, Mr. Lawriej 
 Mr. B. J. Angell, Lord H. Thynne, Mr. Chandos Pole, Mr. 
 C. Lyley, with another or two. This little band instituted a 
 subscription coach, which they called the Old Times, and ran 
 it to Brighton, on alternate days, with William Pratt as their 
 professional coachman. In the course of its brief season the 
 coach carried a good many passengers ; but the venture turned 
 out a failure ; coach, horses, harness, and all belongings being 
 sold at Tattersall's in the autumn, when the confederacy was 
 broken up. 
 
 The pecuniary failure of the opening year of the coaching 
 revival, however, so far from tending to damp the enthusiasm 
 for the road, appears to have stimulated it ; as in 1867 we find 
 Mr. Chandos Pole, Mr. Angell, and the Duke of Beaufort 
 engaged in a much more ambitious venture than that of 1866. 
 This took the form of running a coach up and down, between 
 London and Brighton, every day. William Pratt, who had 
 formerly driven a coach between Malvern and Cheltenham, 
 retained his old berth, and, with George Dackombe as guard, 
 drove on 'one side of the road,' while Alfred Tedder (who 
 remained on the Brighton road till the time of his death, in 
 December 1872), was on the other coach, with Phillips as his 
 guard. The London terminus was the White Horse Cellar ; 
 the Albion Hotel was the corresponding point at London- 
 super-Mare ; and the coaches were two new ones, built by 
 Holland & Holland. Mr. Chandos Pole worked out of 
 Brighton ; Mr. Chandos-Pole-Gell, a sleeping partner in the 
 concern, for his name did not appear in the list of proprietors, 
 horsed the coach from Cuckfield to Friars Oak ; the Duke of 
 Beaufort had the middle ground, and Mr. Angell found the 
 
 T 2 
 
276 DRIVING. 
 
 horses for the two stages in and out of London, the two 
 coaches meeting for lunch at Horley. 
 
 The -Brighton road did not, however, have the revival all to 
 itself in 1867, as another coaching disciple arose in the person 
 of Mr. C. A. R. Hoare, lately Master of the Vale of White 
 Horse hounds, who in the autumn started a coach called the 
 Exquisite, between Beckenham and Sevenoaks, the horses 
 for which were provided by E. Fownes. When the Brighton 
 double-coach was taken off for the season, the horses belonging 
 to Mr. Angell were sold ; but Mr. Chandos Pole determined 
 to run to Brighton on his own account all the winter. Mr. 
 Chandos-Pole-Gell agreed to let his horses remain ; some ad- 
 ditional ones, several of which had been working during the 
 summer in the Ilfracombe coach, were purchased, and the 
 coach ran ' single ' all the winter, with Tedder and Dackombe 
 as coachman and guard. 
 
 Some years previously Mr. Chandos Pole bought, at 
 Gloucester, what was probably the last of the old 'Patent 
 Mails.' It had been newly done up, and was lettered for 
 * Gloucester and Carmarthen,' the continuation of the old 
 London and Gloucester mail, which in pre-railroad days Alfred 
 Tedder had driven between London and Oxford. This coach 
 was used by Mr. Chandos Pole on the Brighton road during 
 the winter season of 1867-68, because it was lighter than either 
 of those by Messrs. Holland & Holland, and quite roomy 
 enough for the passengers likely to patronise the undertaking ; 
 and so it came about that Tedder, at the outset of the revival, 
 found himself on the box of the identical coach he had driven 
 years before. It must have been terribly dreary work, however, 
 and fortune made but a poor requital for the proprietor's pluck 
 and perseverance. The professionals often had the coach 
 to themselves, when, of course, no ' tips ' accrued to relieve 
 the monotony of their drive ; and the coach barely earned 
 its tolls. 
 
 The summer of 1868 saw coaching once more to the fore. 
 Mr. Chandos-Pole-Gell (brother to the late Mr. Chandos Pole), 
 
THE COACHING REVIVAL. 277 
 
 who assumed the name of Cell in 1863, now joined his brother ; 
 and the partners carried on the Brighton road upon the same 
 lines as during the preceding season ; that is to say, two 
 coaches were put on. Tedder and Phillips still kept each 
 other company ; while, Pratt having left the service, E. Crack - 
 nell became the professional on the other side of the road 
 (when Mr. Chandos Pole had to give up driving through ill- 
 ness), Dackombe remaining as guard. f At the beginning of the 
 season Mr. Chandos-Pole-Gell horsed the coach from London 
 to Streatham, Mr. Chandos Pole being responsible for the horses 
 thence to Stoat's Nest. At the latter place Mr. Chandos-Pole- 
 Gell's horses were used to Merstham and thence to Lowfield 
 Heath, from which point Mr. Chandos Pole ran to Brighton. 
 In the course of the season, however, Mr. G. Meek was desirous 
 of joining the confederacy, and horsed the coaches between 
 Lowfield Heath and Staplefield Common, w r here he lived. 
 Mr. Charles Hoare appeared for the second year in the role of 
 coach proprietor ; but this time ran from London to Sevenoaks 
 instead of between Beckenham and Sevenoaks, with Comley 
 as professional coachman, and Ike Simmons as guard. Mr. 
 Hoare's coach was another link with the past. It was one of 
 the mails built in the year 1831 by Wright, and when it was 
 bought by Messrs. Holland & Holland (by whom it was let 
 to Mr. Hoare on the usual mileage terms), it had V. R. and a 
 crown on it, a proof that it had seen mail service during the 
 reign of Her Majesty. It had, of course, a single seat only 
 behind for the guard, whose blunderbuss case was opposite, 
 and where the second seat would be. The hind boot opened 
 at the top, beneath the guard's feet, so that he could easily 
 drop his mail-bags into the depths below. In order to give 
 as much room as possible for the letter-bags, the hind boot 
 was deeper than usual ; and, differing from the general plan, the 
 boot was brought out flush with the body of the coach. In 
 order to allow of the extra depth of boot, the hind axle was 
 bent downwards. The ' old school ' will perhaps smile at 
 notice being drawn to these details ; but they will pardon the 
 
278 DRIVING. 
 
 digression on remembering that since coaches were driven off 
 the road, a race has arisen to which the ' revival ' is history, 
 and the fashion of the Park drags a pattern. Such, at all events, 
 was the Sevenoaks coach when it first came into the possession 
 of Messrs. Holland & Holland ; but, in order to adapt it to 
 modern requirements, the guard's seat was lengthened to carry 
 four, and a like number of passengers were accommodated 
 where the guard's armoury had erstwhile been. This old mail 
 eventually became * Cooper's coach ' on the Box Hill and Dork- 
 ing road, and Mr. Cooper was driving it when, in 1875, tne 
 pole broke within 150 yards of the journey's end. Let into 
 what is technically known as the ' boot tread ' (that is to say, 
 the step on the front boot), on each side was a lamp with the 
 object of throwing a clear light on both roller bolts. A pleas- 
 ing wind-up to the coaching season of 1868 was the presenta- 
 tion of a well-deserved testimonial, in the shape of a silver 
 flagon, to Mr. Chandos Pole and a silver tankard to Tedder. 
 
 ' The light of other days ' shone brilliantly in 1869, an annus 
 mirabilis in the history of the coaching revival. The Duke of 
 Beaufort was, indeed, no longer a patron of the road ; but 
 Mr. Chandos Pole and Mr. Chandos-Pole-Gell were still faith- 
 ful to the bench, and were now helped in their undertaking 
 by Lord Londesborough, Colonel Stracey-Clitherow (who, 
 as ' Tom ' Stracey his real name is Edward had long been 
 known as a first class coachman), and Mr. G. Meek. The 
 coach was now but a single one, running each way on 
 alternate days. The London terminus was the Ship, Charing 
 Cross, the choice being made in order to avoid the clatter 
 over the stones between that place and Hatchett's ; for wood 
 and asphalte were then unknown, unlaid. Tedder was still pro- 
 fessional ; and we find a note to the effect that in this year 
 4 shouldering ' the time-honoured subject of a time-honoured 
 toast was abolished, in theory at least. Lord Londesborough 
 was responsible for the horses to Croydon, Colonel Clitherow 
 ran thence to Redhill, Mr. Chandos-Pole-Gell to Lowfield 
 Heath ; then came Mr. Meek to Staplefield Common, where 
 
THE COACHING REVIVAL. 279 
 
 Mr. Chandos Pole came on, and went to Brighton. There 
 was, however, one other circumstance which in a marked 
 degree contributed to the success, not of the Brighton road 
 only, but subsequently of other routes as well. It was this : 
 in 1869 the proprietors were fortunate enough to secure as 
 Honorary Secretary Mr, Arthur Guillum Scott, of the India 
 Office, who freely advertised the coach, and brought to bear 
 upon its welfare untiring energy, perseverance, and great 
 judgment. Everybody knew about the Brighton coach now ; 
 handbills and posters were encountered everywhere ; cards, 
 setting forth the hours and places of its arrival and departure, 
 found their way to the chief continental hotels, and to go to 
 Brighton by road was soon the proper thing to do ; so the 
 speculation prospered, and the horses found their loads much 
 heavier than did those which drew Mr. Chandos Pole's coach 
 in the winter of 1867-68. In short, the season was said to 
 be remunerative, and when the coach was taken off the road 
 at the beginning of October, it was with the understanding 
 that the succeeding spring would again find it running. 
 
 Meantime Mr. Charles Hoare had chosen Tunbridge 
 Wells as his destination, though between that place and 
 Sevenoaks the horsing was entrusted to Mr. W. Pawley, who 
 used to run platers at the Bromley Steeplechases, and nephew 
 to the Mr. Pawley who ran a coach from Sevenoaks, in Kent, 
 to some place in the neighbourhood of Sloane Street down 
 to the year 1851. The example of the three previous years 
 tempted Lord Carrington to enrol himself in the list of coach 
 proprietors. Preferring a partner to share the driving and the 
 profits or losses he met with one in the person of Mr. 
 Angell, who had now left the Brighton confederacy, and the 
 two started a coach to Windsor, via Hounslow, with G. 
 Dackombe, late of the Brighton, as coachman and guard. 
 That it was capitally horsed and driven need not be said ; 
 but if proof be wanted it is forthcoming in the fact that the 
 journey of 21 miles was sometimes performed in an hour 
 and fifty-five minutes. The proprietors were unremitting in 
 
280 DRIVING. 
 
 their attention to passengers ; indeed one gallant colonel was 
 so pleased with Mr. Angell's performance that he insisted on 
 his accepting half a sovereign, which the recipient used to 
 wear on his watch-chain. It was in 1869, too, that the 
 memories of the Oxford road were revived ; for Mr. John 
 Eden, with Lord Aveland, and one or two more as sub- 
 scribers, put on the Prince of Wales coach, which started 
 from the Scotch Stores, Oxford Street, to High Wycombe, 
 via Gerrard's Cross, following the course of the Wendover 'bus 
 through Uxbridge ; E. Elston was the first coachman and 
 guard. Mr. Wm. Sheather, subsequently well known on the 
 Dorking road, found the horses, and continued to do so, we 
 believe, as long as the coach ran. 
 
 In 1870 Mr. Hoare still ran to Tunbridge Wells, but, 
 instead of working single-handed, had for partners Lord 
 Kenlis, Colonel Chaplin and Colonel Hathorn ; while General 
 Dickson and Captain Candy tried their luck with a coach to 
 Virginia Water. This venture, however, was not a success, 
 and, as it worked on Sundays, scandalised some of the weaker 
 brethren. The Windsor coach, in the same hands as in the 
 preceding year, had a rather merry season, and, during the Ascot 
 week, did good business by running through to the racecourse, 
 leaving Hatchett's at ten in the morning. On Tuesday, 
 Wednesday and Friday the fare was i/., with IDS. extra for the 
 box-seat, but on Thursday this tariff was doubled. This, how- 
 ever, was its last season for some time. The Brighton road still 
 flourished, though Mr. Chandos-Pole-Gell's name was no longer 
 found in the list of proprietors. As the horses were stabled in 
 Farm Street Mews, through the kindness of Mr. Willis, a great 
 friend to the undertaking, the Ship at Charing Cross was given 
 up, and the coach once more started from Hatchett's. The usual 
 arrangement was for Colonel Stracey-Clitherow to drive as far 
 as Redhill, where he was relieved by Mr. Chandos Pole, who 
 made way for Mr. G. Meek at Lowfield Heath, Mr. C. Pole 
 again taking the reins at Friars Oak. When his services were 
 required Tedder was still professional, and Mclntyre guard. 
 
THE COACHING REVIVAL. 281 
 
 In the autumn of 1870, it was announced that Sir Henry 
 de Bathe and Colonel Withington would run a coach from 
 Hatchett's to the Fleur-de-Lys Hotel at Canterbury. It was 
 to be called the Old Stager, and its colours were to be those 
 of the I Zingari black, red and yellow a very sporting pro- 
 gramme indeed. 
 
 At this juncture, the Hon. Sec., the indefatigable Mr. A. G. 
 Scott, had his say, and, having convinced Sir Henry and the 
 Colonel that they were about to embark on an undertaking 
 which would prove most unprofitable, succeeded in inducing 
 them to run from London to Dorking instead. They took 
 his advice, and were, in 1871, the first to open out this very 
 favourite road, with F. Moon as coachman and Simmons 
 as guard ; while, taking a leaf out of the Windsor book, the 
 coach ran to Epsom on all four days of the summer meeting 
 there. 
 
 For some reason or other, the season was a very short one, 
 the coach being taken off the road on August 22? Neither 
 the Windsor nor Virginia \Vater road was taken this year ; but 
 the Tunbridge Wells and Brighton coaches showed no signs of 
 stopping, both being in the same hands as before, except that 
 Mr. Cooper joined the management of the latter, and Mr. 
 C. Smith was said to 'have a wheel.' The Brighton season 
 finished on October 21, and on the 23rd some of the regular 
 patrons of the coach organised a party to meet at the Chequers, 
 Horley (where, in 1867, the up and down coaches used to 
 meet as they did in 1888 for lunch), to wish well to 
 Tedder, the professional, who had become landlord of that 
 coaching inn. Colonel Tyrwhitt and Lord Norreys (the pre- 
 sent Earl of Abingdon), it should be added, started a coach 
 to Oatlands Park, with Timms as professional ; but this 
 turned out badly, while an attempt to carry coaching from 
 London to Southend, via Rochford in Essex, proved a mighty 
 fiasco. For a year or two previously Lord Bective had found 
 the horses, and had sometimes driven ; but he now withdrew, 
 and hence the sudden collapse, the coach making but one 
 
282 DRIVING. 
 
 journey, i.e. from London to Southend. When it returned it 
 was on the train. 
 
 The spring of 1872 saw the Dorking coach make its first 
 journey for the season on May 1 1. Mr. Godsell joined Sir Henry 
 de Bathe and Colonel Withington in the proprietorship. The 
 new comer, who never drove, found the horses for the Cheam 
 and Epsom ground, and one extra change was made on the 
 road. Notwithstanding that the weather was wretched during 
 the early season, and a seat on a coach apparently the most 
 uncomfortable of perches, the booking office was besieged, 
 and on Whitsun Monday three coaches might have been sent 
 off, so eager were the British public to drive to Dorking. The 
 season lasted till September 26, and the venture had proved 
 so successful that the proposal was mooted of running, when 
 the next season came round, an afternoon ' Dorking,' leaving 
 town after business hours, and setting forth from Dorking 
 early on the following morning. 
 
 The Brighton coach, over which Mr. Chandos Pole, Colonel 
 Stracey-Clitherow, Mr. G. Meek, and Mr. W. H. Cooper 
 still reigned, began their season on May 27, the guard being 
 now clad in scarlet. Colonel Clitherow horsed the coach for the 
 first three stages, to Redhill that is to say ; then came Mr. 
 Cooper and Mr. Meek, while Mr. Chandos Pole looked after 
 the Brighton end. Mr. Charles Hoare had now left the Tun- 
 bridge Wells road, and Lord Bective, who succeeded, carried 
 on the affair with Colonel Hathorn, Colonel Chaplin retiring, 
 the professional being James Selby subsequently of the Old 
 Times who made his debut as a four-in-hand coachman, 
 and kept to the same road for half a dozen seasons. Simmons 
 was guard, but, having the misfortune to break his leg, made 
 way for Cracknell, son of the coachman of the Tantivy. 
 The present Earl of Fife (then Lord Macdufl) and Lord 
 Muncaster put on a new coach to Sunbury, in conjunction 
 with Captain Percival. The original intention was to go as 
 far as Hampton Court only, but that home of holiday-makers 
 being within the Metropolitan district, the coachman would 
 
THE COACHING REVIVAL. 283 
 
 have been obliged to wear a badge, like an omnibus-driver ; 
 hence the extension of the journey. Lord Norreys and 
 Colonel Tyrwhitt gave up the Oatlands Park, and ran to 
 Reigate instead, with Timms for professional as before. On 
 December n the proprietors of the Brighton coach lost the 
 services of Alfred Tedder, who died at the age of sixty ; he 
 began his career on the Oxford road, and at one time used to 
 keep the Royal Hotel, Truro ; so that in taking the Chequers, 
 Horley, he was not, as some supposed at the time, embarking 
 in a business of which he knew nothing. 
 
 The season of 1873 saw twelve coaches running in and out 
 of London, with here and there a change in the proprietors of 
 the old-established concerns. The number of previously exist- 
 ing coaches wa increased by Sir Henry de Bathe (who quitted 
 the Dorking confederacy) and Major Furnivall taking the 
 Westerham road, with Moon coachman and E. Spencer guard. 
 The inauguration, if we remember rightly, was scarcely a happy 
 one, as some portion of the harness gave way, and aTIady sus- 
 tained an injury. Mr. Sedgwick bethought him of Watford, and, 
 with Saunders as professional, and Brown as guard, started 
 the Tantivy on a road which, at the outset, seemed scarcely 
 likely to pay. After a short time, however, the coach made 
 two journeys a day. It reached Piccadilly from Watford about 
 ii A.M. ; a fresh team having been put to, it started again, 
 returning in the afternoon. When the Tantivy made its first 
 appearance it was seen that the harness-maker had become 
 somewhat confused between the technical language of stag- and 
 fox-hunting ; for he had decorated the blinkers and pads with 
 foxes which, had the coach been named the Tally-ho, would 
 have been quite appropriate. The Tantivy required a stag. A 
 third new speculation was the Guildford coach, which, though 
 beginning late in the season, afforded an opportunity for Mr t 
 Angell, then out of harness, to display his skill on the box. 
 He was the sole proprietor, and when he was absent, Cracknell, 
 the once famous Tantivy coachman, took his place. Captain 
 Haworth, who had been instrumental in giving coaching a fresh 
 
284 DRIVING. 
 
 start in 1866, put on the Rochester coach with Mr. Lawrie. 
 Certainly one of the most arduous undertakings chronicled 
 since the beginning of the revival was the establishment of 
 the Aldershot coach, of which Lord Guilford and Mr. Reginald 
 Herbert were proprietors. The last train for the military centre 
 left London at about twelve at night, too early to allow the 
 soldiers to attend a ball in London, yet it was not possible 
 to travel by any other train, when it was necessary to attend 
 early parade. It therefore occurred to the gentlemen above 
 mentioned that to tide over the difficulty through the medium 
 of wheels would be to supply a want. Accordingly it was 
 arranged that the coach should leave London at 3 A.M. ; but 
 the starting-point was the puzzle, as at that unseasonable hour 
 all hotels would have been long shut. Ultimately, however, 
 Brandon's Cigar Stores were fixed upon, and, with all the old 
 time surroundings of sleepy horse-keepers, cS:c. the new 
 venture was launched. But it was scantily patronised, and did 
 not last long. 
 
 Now we come to a most successful new departure, which 
 was without doubt the feature of the season, the starting of 
 the afternoon Dorking coach. This had been a pet project 
 of Mr. Scott's for some time, and now that Mr. W. H. Cooper, 
 who lived at Stoke D'Abernon, was willing to undertake the 
 horsing and driving, the time was ripe for a start, which was 
 made in due course, Edwin Fownes (who at the age of 
 fourteen acted as guard of the Tunbridge Telegraph) being 
 the professional, and thus began the successful career of 
 * Cooper's coach,' which now travelled via Mitcham. Two 
 coaches were built by Ventham, of Leatherhead, from Mr. 
 Cooper's own designs, assisted by a genuine old mail-coach 
 model built either by Wright or Wand of the Old Kent 
 Road ; but, whichever was the builder, on the coach could 
 be seen the peculiarity of the perch-bolt working perfectly 
 loose. 
 
 Meantime the Brighton road fell from its his high estate. 
 All the old proprietors deserted it in a body ; and when the 
 
THE COACHING REVIVAL. 285 
 
 afternoon Dorking became an accomplished fact, Mr. Scott 
 resigned his post as honorary secretary, and devoted himself 
 exclusively to the two Dorkings. The fate of the Brighton 
 road hung for some time in the balance; but at last it was 
 worked by Mr. Tiffany, an American gentleman, who obtained 
 his horses, and likewise his instruction, from Charles Ward, 
 of the Paxton stables. Mr. Tiffany did the thing very well : 
 he had two coaches, one by Peters, and the other built for 
 him by Messrs. Laurie & Marner ; one of the two had pigskin 
 cushions. 
 
 Colonel Tyrwhitt and Lord Norreys kept on to Reigate ; 
 Captain Waller Otway and Captain Williams, with H. Thoro- 
 good, professional, worked the Sunbury and Weybridge road ; 
 while Sir H. de Bathe, having quitted the Dorking coach 
 for the Westerham, left the former in the hands of Lord 
 Macduff and Colonel Withington, with whom was John Thoro- 
 good, nephew to the old coachman of the Norwich Times. 
 The guard was Byford. Lord Bective and ColoneL_Hathorn 
 looked after the Tunbridge Wells coach, and, when it finished 
 the season, the proprietors, together with Selby and Cracknell, 
 transferred their services to the St. Albans road for the winter. 
 The High Wycombe coach, under Mr. John Eden's manage- 
 ment, went on as usual. In two instances there was a little 
 needless interference by one coach with the route of another ; 
 but in other respects the season passed off satisfactorily. On 
 three days in the week, Mr. Tiffany ran through Reigate, 
 and by so doing caused a certain amount of harm to the 
 regular Reigate coach, which, by the way, left London at the 
 same time as the Brighton coach. Then the morning Dorking 
 travelled via Vauxhall Bridge, and for some distance accom- 
 panied the Westerham coach. 
 
 In 1874 the interest in road-coaching appears to have been 
 well sustained, though there were several changes from the 
 order of 1873. Lord Norreys and Colonel Tyrwhitt had given 
 up the Reigate road ; the Weybridge coach was a thing of the 
 past ; while Lord Guilford and Mr. Reginald Herbert had been 
 
286 DRIVING. 
 
 so badly patronised by the soldiers at Aldershot that they 
 brought their first season (1873) to a premature end, and never 
 put their coach on the road again. On May 12 Mr. Angell 
 ' Cherry ' Angell as he was called, from the colour of his 
 racing jacket died. He had, as is well known, won the 
 Grand National with Alcibiade in 1865. 
 
 The Tunbridge Wells made an early start on April 20 under 
 the former proprietors, and, before starting on its first journey 
 from Piccadilly, a whip was presented to Colonel Hathorn. 
 James Selby was still professional, and Cracknell acted as guard, 
 Mr. Sedgwick once more worked the Watford Tantivy ; but 
 the locals were sparing of their patronage ; the fears entertained 
 at the outset as to the chance of non-success were realised, and 
 the proprietor had a very poor season. Lord Macduff having 
 retired from the Dorking coach (which at one point in the 
 journey used to be regularly raced by a team of four boys in 
 hand, driven by a fifth), Colonel Withington had for partners 
 the Marquis of Blandford (the present Duke of Marlborough) 
 and Mr. W. M. Praed, whose coach, as surely as the Epsom 
 Summer Meeting comes round, is seen in his private ' pew ' 
 opposite the stand. No change took place in connection with 
 the High Wycombe coach, which had a circus-like team of 
 skewbalds out of London, nor with the Westerham, except 
 that the route was altered so as to include the Crystal Palace 
 and Beckenham. Mr. Cooper remained faithful to the after- 
 noon Dorking, which now stopped short at Box Hill, going 
 via Sutton, and, in order to meet the convenience of his up- 
 passengers, ran straight to the Royal Exchange in the morning, 
 so as to land City men at the doors of the places wherein the 
 golden calf had to be worshipped till the coach started in the 
 afternoon. General Dickson took the Guildford, vice the late 
 Mr. Angell ; Mr. Tiffany was succeeded on the Brighton road 
 by Captain Haworth, who, during the early part of the season 
 ran to Rochester, as in 1873, but. becoming disgusted with the 
 road, changed to Brighton ; the Windsor route was revived 
 under Mr. Williams (late of the Virginia Water), and Mr. 
 
THE COACHING REVIVAL. 287 
 
 Hurman, with whom was Captain Waller Otway, and Mr. 
 Bailey set up the St. Albans coach in succession to the con- 
 federacy by which it had been worked during the winter ; so 
 that the number of coaches working out of London in 1874 
 was eleven : one less than in 1873. 
 
 During the winter of 1874 London was not left coachless, 
 as Mr. Cooper ran to Box Hill on alternate days, and there 
 was also a winter coach to St. Albans. Then again coaching 
 was kept alive by the Road Club, of which mention has already 
 been made. Major Furnivall was the proprietor, and the 
 Committee of the Club included the Duke of Beaufort, 
 Sir Henry de Bathe, Mr. E. Godsell, Colonel Withington, 
 Marquis of Blandford, Colonel Hathorn, Colonel Dickson, 
 Lord Bective, Colonel Tyrwhitt, and Major Furnivall. The 
 opening dinner, with Sir Henry de Bathe in the chair, took 
 place on November 7 at the Club house, 4 Park Place, St. 
 James's Street. In December, however, the coaching world 
 had to mourn the loss of one of its most esteemed -members. 
 Mr. G. Meek * handsome Meek ' he was often called contem- 
 plated driving a coach during the forthcoming season, but ere 
 his intention could be carried out, he took a chill and died at 
 the age of 48. 
 
 Hitherto the coaches had commenced running at such 
 times as to the several proprietors seemed best, having regard 
 to their convenience, and the amount of business likely to be 
 done. Prior to the beginning of the season of 1875, however, 
 a suggestion was made that a leaf be taken out of the book of 
 the ancients, and that the season should be opened with a 
 procession of coaches on April 28, in imitation of the mail 
 procession of old on the King's birthday. This would natu- 
 rally have been a novel and imposing sight to Londoners ; 
 but there were difficulties in the way, and the proposal was 
 not acted upon. Another suggestion was that the Road Club 
 should take a house at Twickenham, let part of it for the 
 purposes of an hotel, and retain the remainder of the premises 
 as a sort of country home for coaching men. This suggestion, 
 
288 DRIVING. 
 
 however, like the former one, came to nothing, and the season 
 began and ran its course in the ordinary way. 
 
 In 1875 Colonel Chaplin rejoined the Tunbridge Wells 
 . coach, from which Colonel Hathorn retired, so that Lord 
 Bective was Colonel Chaplin's sole partner ; with Jarnes Selby 
 for professional, and A. Fovvnes, instead of H. Cracknell, as 
 guard. At the beginning of the season the day Dorking 
 started as in the previous year, but scarcely had a commence- 
 ment been made ere Colonel Withington, the ' Peter ' of many 
 friends, died, to the honest grief of those who had been asso- 
 ciated with him. This lef: the coach under the dual control 
 of Lord Blandford and Mr. M. Praed, while Mr. Cooper who 
 at the end of the season was presented with a whip by the 
 Clapham and Tooting omnibus men, at the dinner he gave to 
 them every year again made Box Hill his terminus, and bad as 
 professional B. Hubble, who succeeded E. Fownes. Hubble 
 came upon the coaching world with great suddenness. He 
 had been driving a four-horse omnibus, and while acting in 
 that capacity was seen by Mr. Scott, who, when Fownes left, 
 suggested the engagement of Hubble. Mr. Cooper, as an old 
 coachman, was at first rather averse to appointing an unknown 
 man ; but, on the strong recommendation of Mr. Scott, saw for 
 himself, and was satisfied. Colonel de Lancey Kane, an Ameri- 
 can gentleman, took the road to Virginia Water, and to him went 
 E. Fownes on quitting the Box Hill. The Windsor road now 
 passed into the hands of Colonel Greenall, Mr. Hurman, and 
 Captain Chichester, the coach travelling by way of Richmond, 
 Hampton Court, and Staines, with Harry Thorogood and Bob 
 Rear as coachman and guard. On the Guildford road General 
 Dickson was single-handed ; but in the early part of the 
 season he had John Thorogood to help him in the driving ; 
 but the latter was presently replaced by Timms ; E. Spencer 
 was guard. Mr. F. G. Hobson and Captain Ramsay put on the 
 Criterion coach to Maidenhead, and Mr. Stewart Freeman ran 
 to Brighton, via Sutton and Reigate, with Mclntyre as guard 
 and Pope as coachman ; but in mid-season J. Thorogood left 
 
THE COACHING REVIVAL. 289 
 
 the Guildford and succeeded Pope under Mr. Freeman. Major 
 Furnivall and Mr. Baker ran to Beckenham. Mr. John Eden 
 still kept on with the Wycombe, but the Westerham road was 
 deserted, and Mr. Sedgvvick no longer occupied the Watford 
 road. Mr. Bailey and Mr. Parsons kept to the St. Albans road 
 during the summer ; but in the winter Mr. Parsons ran the 
 coach, with Selby as coachman, and H. Cracknell as guard. It 
 was during this season, on September 9, that the unfortunate 
 accident occurred to Mr. Cooper's coach. When within one 
 hundred and fifty yards of Box Hill, the pole, an apparently 
 sound one, which had been in use for some time, broke off short 
 at the futchels ; and the coach locking, eventually turned over. 
 Three passengers besides Mr. Cooper were somewhat injured ; 
 but the remainder were able to go to London the same night. 
 For the sufferers Mr. Cooper manifested the greatest anxiety, 
 and everything that could be done for their benefit was done. 
 
 The opening of the season 1876 saw the Tunbridge Wells 
 coach under the proprietorship of Lord Bectivep Colonel 
 Chaplin, and Captain Talbot, the latter of whom had succeeded 
 Colonel Hathorn, Selby and A. Fownes being the professionals. 
 The St. Albans was now an up coach worked by Mr. Parsons ; 
 Mr. Brand joined Mr. Praed on the Dorking road ; but the 
 Box Hill, owing to the indisposition of Mr. Cooper, did not 
 run. The Windsor coach now went by way of Kew. Bushey, 
 Hampton Wick, Staines and Datchet, the proprietors being 
 Colonel Greenall, Mr. H. Bailey, and Captain Spicer ; Mr. 
 Hurman was too ill to take his turn. The Watford road, 
 which had lain fallow in 1875, was now occupied by Mr, 
 F. G. Hobson ; while, as General Dickson had severed 
 his connection with the Guildford coach, another, which in 
 1880 received the name of the New Times, was put on by 
 Mr. W. Shoolbred, Mr. Luxmore, and Major Furnivall, the 
 triumvirate engaging Tom Thorogood and E. Spencer as 
 coachman and guard respectively. Colonel Clitherow joined 
 Mr. Freeman in the maintenance of the Brighton coach, 
 and Mr. Carleton Blyth, with Edwin Fownes for coachman 
 
 u 
 
2QO DRIVING. 
 
 and Blackburne behind him, ran from London to Oxford via 
 Reading. From that place, however, to Oxford the horsing 
 was undertaken by Mr. Mansell. The Maidenhead Criterion 
 coach did not run in 1876, Mr. Eden gave up the Wycombe, 
 the Westerham was taken off, and Colonel Kane having 
 returned to America where he set up a coach of his own, 
 between New York and Pelham Bridge, taking A. Fownes 
 with him as professional the Virginia Water route was vacant, 
 and so remained until 1879. 
 
 Before next May-day came round the ranks of coaching 
 men had been thinned by the hand of death. In November 
 1876, Mr. Willis, the banker, joined the great majority. Though 
 he never drove, he took great interest in the welfare of the 
 Brighton road, and in Mr. Chandos Pole's time found the horses 
 for the stage into Brighton, besides placing his fine stables in 
 Farm Street Mews, London, at the disposal of the proprietors 
 a circumstance which was the cause of Hatchett's being the 
 starting point in 1870, instead of the rendezvous at Charing 
 Cross, as in 1869. Mr. Byng, too, who, besides taking great 
 interest in everything appertaining to coaching, was instrumental 
 in founding the Dogs' Home, died, and so did Mr. Eden, late 
 of the Wycombe. Mr. Godsell, who had a house at Tulse Hill, 
 and had had an interest in the Dorking and Westerham roads, 
 though he never drove, also died towards the close of the year. 
 
 The season of 1 87 7 witnessed a few changes. The St. Albans 
 road passed from Mr. Parsons, who now ran between London 
 and Watford, to Mr. Broadbent ; Lords Bective, Cole, Helmsley 
 and Castlereagh were associated with Colonel Chaplin in the 
 management of the Tunbridge Wells, on which James Selby 
 was still coachman, with Arthur Perrin, in lieu of A. Fownes, as 
 guard; and the Dorking stopped short at Box Hill. The Windsor, 
 Guildford, and Brighton went on as before, with John Thoro- 
 good and Ike Simmons as coachman and guard ; but there were 
 a couple of new ventures. Mr. C. R. Hargreaves and Mr. H. 
 Wormald, with Edwin Fownes as professional, started the 
 Rocket to Portsmouth, running down one day and back the 
 
THE COACHING REVIVAL. 291 
 
 next ; and the Orleans Club put on a coach to Twickenham via 
 Richmond, with Adams as coachman ; while, during the winter, 
 Lord Arthur Somerset and Mr. C. A. R. Hoare ran the Rapid 
 to Beckenham, an arrangement which found occupation for 
 Selby when he had finished with the Tunbridge Wells. 
 
 The coaches which in 1878 ran in and out of London, 
 and lent quite an old-time appearance to Piccadilly, were, in 
 great measure, made up of old friends. Mr. Parsons ran 
 to Watford and St. Albans ; Mr. Shoolbred and Mr. Luxmore, 
 with whom Major Furnivall made only a short stay two 
 years previously, looked after the Guildford, having Sir H. de 
 Bathe with them ; while the Windsor remained in the hands 
 of Colonel Greenall, Mr. Bailey, and Captain Spicer. Lord 
 A. Lennox joined Mr. Freeman on the Brighton road ; while 
 visitors were carried to Dorking through the medium of the 
 Perseverance now started by Mr. William Sheather, with 
 Lord Aveland as his chief supporter ; and this coach ran every 
 year in the same hands down to the time of Mr. Sheather's 
 death in 1885. As might have been expected, the horses 
 were excellent, and the very liberal complement allowed 
 no doubt accounted for their freshness at the season's end, 
 when they were offered for sale. Mr. Sheather held to the 
 idea that no horse should work more than once a day, and so 
 the return journey was made with entirely fresh teams, an 
 arrangement which materially lightened the work of the horses, 
 for the coach invariably loaded well, be the weather what it 
 might ; Arthur Perrin was guard and Mr. Sheather's right-hand 
 man. Lord Arthur Somerset and Mr. Hoare, having finished 
 their winter undertaking to Beckenham, changed to West 
 Wickham for the summer, Selby going with them ; Mr. Har- 
 greaves again ran to Portsmouth, having as companions Mr. 
 H. Wormald, his old partner, and Mr. L. Blackett, who, it is 
 believed, had had some practice driving on the Brighton and 
 Arundel road. Mr. Carleton Blyth deserted coaching in 1877, 
 but he this year (1878) again went to Oxford, and, changing 
 his .route,- ran by Maidenhead and Henley ; and the list of 
 
292 DRIVING. 
 
 coaches was completed by that to the Ranelagh and Hurling- 
 ham, which made two journeys each way daily, the drive 
 occupying thirty minutes. When all the above-mentioned 
 coaches had finished for the season, another, which has since 
 become famous, was started. This was the Old Times, which 
 last season (1888) ran to Brighton on alternate days. The first 
 proprietors were Sir Henry de Bathe, Mr. Carleton Blyth, Mr. 
 H. Wormald, and Major Dixon ; James Selby (subsequently 
 sole proprietor) and Edwin Fownes, who since 1884 has also 
 been a proprietor, being the professionals, the usual arrange- 
 ment being for each of those concerned to drive one day a 
 week. St. Albans was the destination fixed upon, and since 
 November 4, 1878, when the Old Times made its first 
 journey, it has never been off the road for a single day, except, 
 of course, Sundays and Christmas Days. As will be seen, 
 however, by the record for the years following, it has not always 
 kept to one route. 
 
 On March 25, 1878, the coaching world lost one of its 
 most respected members, Mr. W. H. Cooper * Billy ' Cooper he 
 was always known as, both at B.N.C. and during the time he 
 served in the 8th Hussars. He was taken ill in the previous 
 January, while on a visit to Lord Fitzhardinge, and never re- 
 covered. The esteem in which Mr. Cooper was held at once 
 showed itself by the immediate desire on the part of his 
 friends to place some memorial to him in the church of Stoke 
 D'Abernon, and this eventually took the form of a west win- 
 dow. When the window and design were determined upon, 
 it was resolved that no one should be asked to subscribe, and 
 that subscriptions should be limited to a minimum of 5^. 
 and a maximum of five guineas an arrangement which some 
 imagined would prevent enough money being raised to pay 
 for the window. So far from this being the case, however, 
 Mr. A. G. Scott, who was as closely identified with the 
 memorial as he had been with Mr. Cooper himself during life, 
 found that, after paying 220/. for the window, and n/. for a 
 sketch thereof presented to Mrs. Cooper, there still remained a 
 
THE COACHING REVIVAL. 293 
 
 balance of 1367., which was handed over to the Hunt Servants' 
 Benefit Fund. 
 
 Having survived the winter, the Old Times ran to St. 
 Albans during the whole of 1879, and the well-established 
 coaches running to Guildford, Dorking, Brighton, and Windsor 
 remained in the hands of their old proprietors. The Seven- 
 oaks road was revived under Lord Helmsley and Baron William 
 Schroder, who, with Ike Simmons as guard, started without a 
 professional coachman, meaning to do the driving themselves ; 
 but Lord Helmsley becoming indisposed, his partner, fearing 
 to tie himself down to a perpetual engagement, engaged Harry 
 Ward (in November, 1888, a testimonial was organised) to assist 
 him. Mr. Robinson, with F. Page as professional, ran a coach 
 to Thames Ditton, the Ranelagh and Hurlingham coach was 
 out again, and one ran to Hampton Court. The Virginia 
 Water road was opened out, as already mentioned, by 
 General Dickson and Captain Candy in 1871, and, after 
 being deserted for three years, was taken for one^season in 
 1875 by Colonel Kane, and was once more occupied this year 
 by the Tally-ho, started by Captains Hartopp and Jacobson, 
 having with them E. Cracknell, who, however, gave way to 
 Evans in mid-seascn. The Box Hill coach was now put on 
 the road by Mr. Seager Hunt, Lord A. Somerset and Sir 
 Henry de Bathe, who took with them that neat coachman 
 Ben Hubble. The West Wickham and Beckenham was still 
 in the hands of its former proprietors ; but the feature of 
 the season was the undertaking of Mr. Carleton Blyth, who 
 ran the Defiance from Oxford to Cambridge, a journey of 
 120 miles, for which 120 horses were kept. On Mondays, 
 Wednesdays, and Fridays the Defiance left Oxford at 9 A.M., 
 changing horses at Wheatley, Tets worth, Stokenchurch, High 
 Wycombe, Gerrard's Cross, Hayes, and Acton, the team 
 from the last-named place running to Hatchett's, reached at 
 2.50 P.M., and where twenty minutes were allowed for lunch. 
 A fresh team from Piccadilly worked to Tottenham Cross, 
 the other changes being Waltham Cross, Wade's Mill, Bunt- 
 
294 DRIVING. 
 
 ingford, Royston, and Harston, fifteen teams in all ; but rest 
 horses were kept besides. On the intervening days the return 
 journey was made. The Blenheim coach, which worked in 
 connection with the Defiance, belonged to Mr. Augustus 
 Craven, but on Saturdays the Defiance itself ran right through 
 from Cambridge to Cheltenham, after leaving Oxford, where 
 half an hour was allowed for supper, reaching the Plough 
 Hotel, Cheltenham, at two on Sunday morning. On Monday 
 the Defiance left Cheltenham at 4 A.M., 'the coach break- 
 fasted ' at Oxford, lunched at Hatchett's, and reached Cam- 
 bridge at 9 P.M. 
 
 This somewhat herculean task, however, only lasted during 
 1879, as m I 88o Mr. Blyth ran the Defiance from London 
 to Brighton, taking the long road by Sevenoaks, Tunbridge 
 Wells, Uckfield, and Lewes ; E. Fownes, Blackburne, and 
 J. Banks being the professionals engaged. The route being 
 a somewhat hilly one, five horses were used on three stages. 
 On the coach arriving at Tunbridge Wells, three leaders abreast 
 were employed ; the same arrangement obtaining at the next 
 two changes, till Lewes was reached. At the foot of the bridge 
 on approaching Lewes the horses were stopped to let them get 
 their wind, after which a fresh start was made, the horses 
 galloping till the steepness of the ascent fairly reduced them to 
 a walk. On the up journey another route was taken so as to 
 avoid the hill. On one occasion, when E. Fownes essayed 
 the task of coming down the aforesaid hill, the staple of the 
 skid drew, but an accident was avoided. It was the custom, 
 by the way, to carry on the Defiance a spare pole made in two 
 or three pieces, the whole being screwed together when required. 
 No change was made in connection with the Perseverance 
 to Dorking, the New Times to Guildford, or the Box Hill 
 coaches. The other Brighton coach now became a double 
 one, with Mr. Chandos Pole, son of the former proprietor, as a 
 new partner, Harry Ward and John Thorogood coachmen, with 
 E. Spencer and Ike Simmons guards. Mr. Robinson was again 
 on the road, but now ran on to Esher, while the Old Times 
 
THE COACHING REVIVAL. 
 
 295 
 
 went to Virginia Water during the summer. Captain Edwards 
 and Mr. Noble put on a coach to York House, Maiden- 
 head ; and Captain Spicer having quitted the Windsor, was 
 succeeded by Sir Thomas Peyton. In the autumn of the 
 year the Old Times ran to Virginia Water and back on one 
 day, and to Windsor and back the next ; while during the 
 
 ' The Defiance.' 
 
 winter months it ran between Windsor and London exclusively, 
 another winter coach turning up in the St. Albans, run by Mr. 
 C. R. Hargreaves. 
 
 In 1 88 1 the Dorking, Guildford, Box Hill, and Windsor 
 went on as before, except that Mr. F. Davis took Colonel 
 Greenall's place on the Windsor, and the Old Times went back 
 
296 DRIVING. 
 
 to Virginia Water till the winter came round, when it ran its 
 original route to St. Albans, which road during the summer 
 was taken by Messrs. Jones and Shaw. The Hurlingham 
 and Ranelagh was again a convenience for the members of 
 those clubs and their friends, and in August E. Fownes put 
 on the Age to Brighton for a short season. At the end of the 
 summer the Old Times stopped short at Oatlands Park. 
 
 Mr. Chandos Pole quitted the Brighton road in 1882, and 
 on Baron Oppenheim joining Mr. Freeman, the coach was 
 again a double one, horsed by Woodlands ; for after the first 
 few years Mr. Freeman preferred this system to that of buying 
 his own cattle. E. Fownes and John Thorogood were the 
 coachmen ; E. Graham and E. Fownes, junior, were the guards. 
 On one occasion when nearly opposite the Asylum on Banstead 
 Downs a mishap occurred ; and while the passengers and pro- 
 fessionals were in painful confusion, a pedestrian on the road 
 laughingly observed, ' What a capital picture this would make ! ' 
 A Surbiton coach also ran in connection with the Brighton. 
 The Dorking ran as usual, and so did the Old Times to 
 Virginia Water ; the Windsor, and New Times to Guildford ; 
 the Rapid worked between Esher and London ; Mr. C. R. Har- 
 greaves again ran the Rocket to Portsmouth, and the Wonder, 
 Mr. Rumney's, went to St. Albans. The Maidenhead coach 
 did not appear, nor did the Box Hill. 
 
 Hitherto the coaching revival had apparently been popular ; 
 but the year 1882 showed a falling off in the number of coaches, 
 and 1883 was of less promise than the year before a state 
 of things for which it is not altogether easy to account. The 
 wave of depression which affected every branch of sport and 
 pastime doubtless had some connection with the waning of 
 coaching ; but there were possibly other causes, which it is not 
 necessary to specify, at work. When the season of 1883 began 
 the Perseverance still kept on to Dorking and Box Hill ; Mr. 
 Bailey and Mr. F. Davis stuck to the Windsor, the Old Times 
 carried passengers to Virginia Water, and Mr. Rumney ran the 
 Wonder to St. Albans, Sam Clark being the professional, as 
 
THE COACHING REVIVAL. 297 
 
 in the previous year. In ,the autumn the Wonder ran from 
 Brighton to Eastbourne ; but it was not till very late in the 
 year that Mr. Freeman made any sign on the Brighton road, 
 with John Thorogood as coachman, and J. Sullivan behind 
 him. 
 
 Five coaches only ran out of London in 1884. Mr. Free- 
 man did not put on the Brighton at all; but the Dorking, 
 Virginia Water, and Guildford went on as usual ; the Windsor 
 had Colonel Ferguson as one of the proprietors, the fifth 
 being the Defiance, owned by Edwin Fownes, which this year 
 ran to St. Albans vice the Wonder. In 1885 the Defiance 
 was taken off the St. Albans road in favour of the Wonder, 
 and ran to Bentley Priory, Edwin Fownes being still pro- 
 prietor ; there was no Brighton coach, and of the many 
 roads which had at one time or another been taken, seven 
 only were occupied, and the great coaching revival was now 
 represented, in addition to the above, by the New Times, Per- 
 severance, Old Times, and the Windsor, Colonel Ferguson now 
 retiring from the last named. The new coach was put on to 
 Eton, vid Hounslow, by Messrs. Beckett and M'Adam. 
 
 In 1886 there were several changes, though coaches were 
 few. The Guildford, Old Times, and the Defiance remained as 
 before ; but, Mr. Sheather being now dead, the Dorking and 
 Box Hill (the Perseverance) passed into the hands of Mr. 
 H. Withers of Oxford Street, with whom were associated 
 Messrs. Balding and Munday ; the Wonder ran to St. Albans ; 
 but Mr. Freeman, instead of putting on the Brighton, ran the 
 Royal to Windsor instead, with H. Thorogood as professional. 
 A portion of the Sevenoaks road was revived, as Mr. Charles 
 Webling put on the Excelsior between that place and New 
 Cross. In the next year (1887), however, Mr. Freeman was 
 again working between London and Brighton, the Windsor 
 being now in the hands of Mr. King, with E. Fownes finding 
 the horses and acting as professional. The Vivid, of which 
 Fownes who was presented by his friends with a new coach 
 to celebrate his fifty- third year of connection with the road 
 
293 DRIVING. 
 
 was proprietor, though it was driven by his son Ernest, was 
 put on to Hampton Court. There was no change on the St. 
 Albans, Guildford, Dorking, or Virginia Water roads, and these, 
 together with the Excelsior, were the coaches of the year. 
 
 In 1888 the Wonder, the Perseverance, the Vivid, now the 
 property of Arthur Fownes, and the New Times held their 
 way ; the Defiance ran to Bentley Priory ; and the Old Times, 
 after its winter course was done, ran to Brighton on alternate 
 days. Another coach of Selby's ran to Oatlands Park ; it was 
 called the Express at the commencement of the season, but it 
 was subsequently renamed the Old Times, so that really there 
 were two coaches of the same name, and owned by the same 
 proprietor, running at the same time. Mr. Webling this year 
 changed his plans, and ran from London to Tunbridge Wells. 
 Mr. F. Davis, formerly of the Windsor, also ran the Surbiton 
 coach. On the Brighton road, however, there was great op- 
 position, for Mr. Freeman put on the Comet double coach, 
 so that on three days in the week there were two coaches 
 to Brighton, and on the remaining three days there were two 
 up coaches. The Old Times kept to the 15^. fare ; but the 
 Comet charged only half a guinea, the same as the railway 
 charge. When the summer season was over, Selby deter- 
 mined to run the Old Times to Brighton all the winter, and 
 as Mr. Freeman, with whom Mr. M'Calmont was associated, 
 resolved to keep on one of the Comets as well, there was 
 every prospect of the Brighton road showing great activity. 
 What the ultimate arrangements may be remains to be seen, 
 as on Friday, December 14, the coaching world was startled 
 by the announcement that James Selby, the proprietor of the 
 Old Times, had breathed his last in the forenoon of that day. 
 On Friday, the yth, he brought the coach from Brighton, but 
 complained of a cold. Bronchitis supervened, and, together 
 with disease of the heart, proved fatal on the above day. 
 Selby, who was only forty-five at the time of his death, was 
 originally intended for an auctioneer, and was articled to that 
 calling ; but horses proved a superior attraction, and in course 
 
THE COACHING REVIVAL. 299 
 
 of time he managed Mr. Pawley's yard at Hastings. His 
 connection with coaching, given in the foregoing pages, dates 
 from 1872 ; but he was a busy man, and besides keeping 
 commission stables in the Edgware Road, started a short 
 time ago a business as coachbuilder in conjunction with Mr. 
 Cowlard, who had formerly been in the employ of Messrs. 
 Holland at the time that well-known firm miled nearly all the 
 stage-coaches. Poor Selby was a genial kind-hearted man, 
 and will be much missed in coaching circles. From having 
 driven in and out of London, summer and winter, for so long, 
 his face was perhaps better known than that of any other 
 coachman. His effects were sold at Aldridge's on Wednesday, 
 January 2, 1889, and realised phenomenal prices. The Old 
 Times itself was bought for 290 guineas by Selby's subscribers, 
 Messrs. H. L. Beckett, A. M'Adam, W. Dickson, A. Broad- 
 wood, and Carleton Blyth. Two pairs of whips brought 
 20 guineas, while 26 guineas were paid for two coach-horses. 
 
 Such is a brief outline of the coaching revival, and if the 
 modern stage-coaches are not so numerous as they were a few 
 years ago, no surprise need be felt at a period like the present 
 when railway travelling is so expeditious and cheap, and the 
 majority of travellers care much more about reaching their 
 journey's end quickly than about the means of transit. Most 
 people, for example, would probably prefer to go to Brighton 
 and return in the newly-started and luxurious Pulman train to 
 going down on a coach and cutting short their stay at the so- 
 called ' Queen of watering-places.' Moreover, the running of 
 coaches as mediums for advertising has not commended itself 
 to many who would otherwise patronise the road. When the 
 revival commenced in 1866, and for some years subsequently, 
 the coaches were almost exclusively in the hands of those who 
 remembered coaching in pre-railroad days ; and those gentle- 
 men had a strong personal following which materially helped 
 to load the coaches. However, it is to be hoped that coach- 
 ing will never die out ; if it does, there is some chance of old 
 traditions being forgotten. Like the war songs of the savages 
 
300 DRIVING. 
 
 and like the sea fisherman's 'marks,' the right and wrong way 
 of driving four horses has hitherto been handed down orally. 
 Few old coachmen, either amateurs or professionals, are alive, 
 and those interested in the preservation of road traditions 
 would regret to see the links with the past snapped at last. So 
 far as what may be called the business coaches are concerned, 
 the incorporation of * subscribers ' takes the place of the 
 partnerships, in which the Duke of Beaufort, Sir H. de Bathe, 
 Mr. Chandos Pole, Colonel Hathorn, and others, whose names 
 have been mentioned, bore their share. The positions, how- 
 ever, of partners and subscribers are not identical ; for, whereas 
 the former share profits or losses as the case may be, sub- 
 scribers pay a fixed sum for the privilege of driving one or 
 more days a week. It is on this principle that Selby's and 
 Fownes's coaches are run, so that if no passengers be carried, 
 the working expenses are paid wholly or in part, and this 
 accounts for the fact that both the Defiance and the Vivid 
 will run through the winter. 
 
 A notice of modern coaching would perhaps be incomplete 
 without a passing reference to the value of the horses em- 
 ployed, especially at a time when public attention is strongly 
 directed towards the demand for and production of the general 
 utility horse. It appears that, as coaching increased in popu- 
 larity, and competition became more keen, better horses have 
 been used, or it may be that purchasers have by degrees come 
 to recognise the wisdom of buying animals whose daily work 
 is some sort of guarantee for their soundness and condition. 
 In 1870 the Brighton horses realised just over 307. each ; but 
 in 1876 the St. Albans horses, 30 in number, realised 1,065 
 guineas, giving an average of 35^ guineas ; a roan team brought 
 1 60 guineas, and four bays 210 guineas. In the same year 
 the average for the Tunbridge Wells horses was 41 guineas, 
 while the horses which had been working on the Brighton 
 road averaged 88/. 4^. ; the Guildford horses, 56 \ guineas ; the 
 Wycombe 39^ guineas, and Mr. Carleton Blyth's Oxford horses 
 88 guineas. In 1877 the Brighton average was the capital one 
 
THE COACHING REVIVAL. 301 
 
 of SQ/. gs. for 43 horses sold, but one of them fetched 200 
 guineas, the total sum being 3,5847. 45-., and 9 of the horses 
 running to three figures. The Guildford horses, which have 
 always sold well, averaged 80 \ guineas for 19 lots; and 46 
 horses from the Portsmouth Rocket realised 1,928 guineas, 
 giving an average price of 44 guineas. In 1878 the Brighton 
 average was 57 ; the Guildford 65, and the Oxford 82.^. In 
 '1882, 25 lots from the Guildford coach sold for 2,2077. 2s., 
 yielding an average of 887. 5^. 8d. ; in the following year 747. 2s. 
 was the average, and in 1884 777. ijs. 6d. During the last, 
 mentioned three years the Windsor and Dorking horses aver- 
 aged about 6o7. each; while in 1883 and 1884, the Margate 
 and Canterbury Champion horses brought about 6o7. apiece. 
 In 1885 the averages were as follows : Guildford (2 3), 747. ios., 
 the highest price 120 guineas ; Dorking (13), 567. ios. ; East- 
 bourne and Brighton (28), 447. 15^. ; Margate and Canterbury 
 (10), 467. 6s. ; while in 1886 the Windsor averaged 61 guineas ; 
 and in 1887 the 31 horses from the New Times -sold for 
 737. 145-. zd. each. 
 
 Although the coaching revival was first matured in London, 
 the taste for driving ultimately extended to the provinces, 
 though to a less extent than might reasonably have been 
 expected. The purely business affairs which have always been 
 in the country, running under the name of coaches often 
 omnibuses or breaks do not come within the scope of these 
 remarks. Though unquestionably useful as a means of com- 
 munication, there is scarcely one, within the writer's knowledge, 
 a journey on which can be said to have afforded pleasure. 
 ' Well-whipped horses,' more than half worn out, a slow rate 
 of progression, and a driver they are not always coachmen 
 not possessed of the proverbial 'fund of anecdote,' do not 
 conduce to pleasurable sensations. It is not pretended that 
 this description applies to every public conveyance running in 
 the country ; but, unfortunately, it is too true in respect of 
 many. The following remarks, therefore, relate only to those 
 coaches started on somewhat the same footing as the London 
 
302 DRIVING. 
 
 ones ; and, considering the scenic attractions within easy reach 
 of the most popular tourist resorts, and the number of tourists 
 brought down by train, it is surprising that coaching should 
 not have become a favourite means of locomotion in the pro- 
 vinces, and have proved a remunerative undertaking. Still, as 
 will be gathered from the subjoined sketch, at one time and 
 another a fair number of coaches have been started in various 
 parts of England. 
 
 The younger generation have perhaps never heard of ' Mad ' 
 Wyndham, who, before the coaching revival was planned, com- 
 mitted what was then deemed the eccentricity of running the 
 Cromer coach. The same vehicle it weighed 30 cwt. is, or 
 was a few years ago, running between Bude and Holsworthy, in 
 the West of England. 
 
 Prior to 1875 Mr. Platt ran a coach from Doncaster to 
 Rotherham, his professional being F. Page, who, however, left 
 to go with Mr. Lowther on the Scarborough and Bridlington 
 Quay road. Mr. Hargreaves later on took up the road between 
 Margate and Canterbury ; Colonel Somerset, formerly master 
 of the Hertfordshire hounds, used to drive his chestnuts 
 between Enfield and Luton, his coach being named the 
 Hirondelle ; Mr. W. W. Crawshay was responsible for the 
 Newnham and Gloucester coach ; Mr. Carleton Blyth ran 
 between Reading and Windsor ; while Manchester and 
 Altrincham were afforded coach communication by Messrs. 
 Belcher, Mewburn, and C. Belhouse. Mr. Pryce Hamilton, 
 who often turns out with the Coaching Club in Hyde Park, 
 ran from Malvern to Ross ; Mr. Nat Cooke a well-known 
 sporting character in Cheshire started a coach between 
 Woodside and Chester, with Purcell as professional ; and 
 Lord Mayo, with Ike Simmons as guard, ran between Brighton 
 and Arundel. Captain Otway's coach joined Llandrindod and 
 Kington, with H. Cracknell, formerly of the Windsor, as 
 professional ; Mr. Crawshay Bayley and Mr. T. Rosher ran 
 between Brecon and Abergavenny, and Mr. Edwardes from 
 Barmouth to Dolgelly. 
 
THE COACHING REVIVAL. 303 
 
 In 1876 Captain Cecil Otway changed his route to Aberysth- 
 with and Presteign ; Mr. Pryce Hamilton plied between Ross and 
 Tintern ; the Newnham, Gloucester, and Cheltenham coach 
 was in the hands of Mr. Robert Chapman and Mr. Platt ; a 
 coach ran between Leamington and Stratford-on-Avon, and 
 another between Cheltenham and Malvern ; while Colonel 
 Somerset in 1877 ran from Enfield to Hitchin. In the same 
 year a coach was started between Cheadle and Manchester, 
 while in 1878 Mr. C. B. E. Wright, master of the Badsworth 
 put on a coach from Buxton to Matlock, and Lord Aylesford 
 one from Birmingham to Coventry, his horses coming from 
 Charles Ward of the Paxton Stables. In 1879 Mr. Augustus 
 Craven ran the Blenheim to Cheltenham in connection with 
 Mr. Carleton Blyth's Defiance from Cambridge to Oxford ; 
 and Leamington had two coaches, one to Stratford-on-Avon, 
 the other to Coventry, the Malvern and Cheltenham still keep- 
 ing on. 
 
 Mr. Parsons, who had formerly been on the St. Albans road 
 out of London, carried out, in 1880, his intention of running a 
 coach between Reading and Brighton via Dorking and Guild- 
 ford, changing in the succeeding yearzvVz Worthing, Arundel, 
 and Chichester to Brighton and Portsmouth, while a coach 
 was now running between Melksham and Bristol. Meantime 
 at a previous period Colonel C. Rivers-Bulkeley, who as 'Mr/ 
 Charles' was well known between the flags on earlier days, ran 
 from Rhyl to Bettws-y-Coed. In this year, too, Mr. Slater 
 ran from Dover to Deal, and Mr. R. S. Hudson put on a 
 coach between York and Liverpool, and while on its last stage, 
 on the last day of the season, an accident occurred which was 
 very nearly attended with fatal consequences to the passengers; 
 While descending a steep hill between Prescot and Liverpool 
 the horses bolted, and came into contact with a wall at the 
 bottom. Two of the horses were killed and the passengers 
 were severely shaken. In 1882 Captain J. R. P. Goodden and 
 Captain W. W. Tumor, assisted it is believed by Captain Fife, 
 started a coach from Sherborne to Weymouth ; and in 1883 
 
304 DRIVING. 
 
 Mr. E. Cosier was running from Margate to Canterbury, Mr. 
 E. Onslow Seeker had put on the Quicksilver between Folke- 
 stone and Canterbury, while as soon as the Wonder had ceased 
 running from London to St. Albans, it was taken into Sussex, 
 and put on between Eastbourne and Brighton, taking Lewes on 
 the way. 
 
 On the Continent a coaching venture was made in 1883, 
 when Messrs. W. Forbes Morgan and H. Ridgway ran a coach 
 from Pau to Lourdes, a distance of twenty-five miles. The 
 English Club at Pau was the starting-point, and the Hotel 
 des Pyrenees the terminus at the other end, the journey occupy- 
 ing two and a half hours. Later in the season the route was 
 changed from Lourdes to Oleron, the coach still starting from 
 Pau. This road was four miles shorter than that to Lourdes, 
 and was very picturesque, but as a set-off it was extremely 
 hilly. Nevertheless good time was kept, and the coach loaded 
 well. In 1885 Mr. Padelford joined the other two proprietors, 
 the Pau and Oleron route being adhered to ; but, owing to the 
 coldness of the season, the management met with indifferent 
 success, the takings falling considerably short of those of the 
 previous year. About the same time the Rocket was started 
 to run to Biarritz, a journey of seventy-three miles, completed 
 in eight hours, with six changes on the road. Edwin Fownes 
 was coachman, and R. Graham guard. From Bayonne to 
 St. Etienne a long hill was encountered, up which a ' cock- 
 horse,' ridden by a lad in postilion dress, was used ; but the 
 road was wide, firmly made, and, with the exception of the hill 
 aforesaid, well adapted for coaching. 
 
 A few seasons prior to 1885 Mr. James Turbett started a 
 coach by Peters, and lent to him by Mr. Watson, a good man 
 on the bench, and over a country between Dublin and the 
 Wooden Bridge Hotel, Co. Wicklow ; but it did not pay, and 
 was thereupon discontinued; and in 1883 a venture was 
 launched between Dublin and Avoca. On July i, 1885, how- 
 ever, another attempt was made, as Captain Steed, whose 
 horses were poisoned a year or two ago, got together thirty 
 
THE COACHING REVIVAL. 305 
 
 horses, and put on a coach built by Shanks, which started 
 from the Shelburne Hotel, Dublin, at 11.30, and ran to Grey- 
 stones. In 1887 the road was taken by the Tantivy, in the 
 hands of Mr. Thompson, whose professional was Ernest 
 Fownes. During the same year Messrs. Power and O'Reilly 
 ran a coach they called the P & O between Dublin and Bally- 
 brack ; the same proprietors have run from Dublin to Bray by 
 way of the Scalp. 
 
 In 1888 Mr. Thompson ran through Bray and Dalgany. 
 
 The Buxton to Matlock, Margate to Canterbury, Leam- 
 ington to Stratford-on-Avon, and Folkestone to Canterbury 
 coaches were in the hands of their former proprietors in 1884 ; 
 while in the same year Mr. Woods ran between Petersfield and 
 Winchester, having with him Ernest Fownes, then sixteen years 
 old. Mr. Beckett ran the Express from Brighton to East- 
 bourne, the Wonder being taken off, and a coach was put on 
 from Brighton to Worthing and Arundel. Things were much the 
 same in 1885, in which year Lord Savernake (now Marquis of 
 Ailesbury) put on the Star from Windsor to Henley. 
 
The obstinate postboy. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 POSTING IN ENGLAND. 
 
 BY THE DUKE OF BEAUFORT, K.G. 
 
 IN writing of driving it would be scarcely possible to pass over, 
 without some short notice, the posting which, in ante-railroad 
 days, was the only method of locomotion open to those who 
 did not travel by public conveyances. Though a journey by 
 mail-coach in England, and by the malJe-poste or diligence in 
 France, was often most enjoyable, the pace all that could be 
 desired, the driving brought to the greatest perfection, and 
 accidents very rare, there was always the disadvantage of being 
 tied to particular times, and the inability of choosing one's 
 company. Posting in private carriages with post-horses in 
 England on the main roads was by far the most comfortable 
 
POSTING IN ENGLAND. 307 
 
 and convenient method of travelling, and the riding and driving 
 of the postboys was a science that had reached as near per- 
 fection as possible. 
 
 Posting was not only a pleasant and comfortable way of getting 
 about the country, but it was also a very safe way of travelling. 
 The driving was good, the horses well accustomed to their work, 
 and the carriages and harness strong ; the patent axletree box 
 was only just invented before the finish of coaching and posting, 
 so that most of the carriages had the old linch-pin. Every 
 now and then a linch-pin came out and a wheel came off, and 
 then there was a disaster, but not often a serious one. Some- 
 times a collision was caused by a runaway horse or the dark- 
 ness of the night. I knew of one very strange accident, though 
 it ended with no damage being done. During the debates 
 in the House of Commons on the Reform Bill in 1831 and 
 1832 many members used to go home after the divisions, have 
 a bath, put on their boots, and ride down into the country to 
 hunt The Marquis of Worcester constantly d : d this, keeping 
 three hacks on the road, and riding down for a day with his 
 father's hounds in the Heythrop country. Oxford is fifty-four 
 miles from London, and Heythrop fifteen miles beyond. He of 
 course went wherever the meet of hounds was. On one occa- 
 sion, either to save himself or his hacks, he posted part of the 
 way down. Not having been to bed he fell asleep. After some 
 little time he was awoke by an unusual jolting, and finding him- 
 self going exceptionally fast he looked out of the front window. 
 The day was just breaking, and to his astonishment he found 
 that there was only one horse attached to the 'bounder,' that 
 this was the hand-horse, and he was on the near side of the 
 pole ! There was no postboy and no riding-horse. Just then 
 they came to a steep hill with a sharp turn in it. The horse 
 was unable to turn the post-chaise, and so ran the pole bump 
 into the bank, which happened to be of sand, and the pole 
 penetrating some inches, there they stuck. The traveller got 
 out, and shortly after the postboy rode up. It appeared that 
 a donkey had lain down in the road, and just before daybreak 
 
 x 2 
 
3o8 DRIVING. 
 
 both horses had fallen over him. In the struggle on the ground 
 the harness-strap or buckle of the riding-horse broke, and let 
 him clean out of his harness, all excepting his bridle and 
 saddle ; the hand-horse's traces slipped over his back, he got 
 under the pole, and rose up on the wrong side of it. No 
 damage was done, the harness was all there, attached to the 
 pole-piece and roller-bolts, so the horses were quickly put to, 
 and off they went. The reader will say, ' Is this the way you 
 illustrate the safety of travelling by post?' Exceptions, how- 
 ever, are said to prove the rule, and such an occurrence as this 
 was quite exceptional. 
 
 The great post-horse proprietors, all keepers of hotels and 
 inns, used to have in their stables thirty or forty pairs of horses, 
 and a postboy and cad to each four horses, the whole super- 
 intended by an experienced ostler ; these proprietors would 
 not keep a postboy who did not drive well. The ' boys ' were 
 brought up to it from childhood a strong small hardy race of 
 men, about the size of the modern flat-race jockey. They 
 learnt how to drive by riding the leaders, the wheel-boys talk- 
 ing to them and instructing them as they went along. They 
 were generally the sons of the older postboys ; many of them 
 were what are popularly called ' characters ' in their way, and 
 they were very good judges of the company they had to drive. 
 I remember some fifty years ago a celebrated postboy, at 
 Newman's in London, driving Lord FitzRoy Somerset from 
 his house in Stanhope Street, Mayfair, to the George Inn at 
 Hounslow. Whilst they were changing horses the old ostler 
 approached Lord FitzRoy, touched his hat, and said, 'Old 
 Tippoo brought you down, my Lord, I see. He is a rare judge 
 of his company, he is rattled you down in forty-five minutes. 
 Why, if it had been an old lady he had been driving, he would 
 have taken an hour and forty-five minutes toddling her down ! 
 A rare judge of his company he is ! ' 
 
 Now there was much truth in this. Had he * rattled ' the 
 old lady down in forty-five minutes, he would have frightened 
 her to death, and she would have given him nothing ; knowing 
 
POSTING IN ENGLAND. 309 
 
 Lord FitzRoy liked going along* fast, he knew he would get his 
 five shillings, just as he knew if he ' toddled ' the old lady down 
 she would have said, ' Here are five shillings for you ; you are 
 a nice steady driver.' Tippoo's father was a nigger, and he 
 was, if not as 'black as your hat,' most unmistakably marked 
 with the tar-brush, and had nigger features, as had his son (an 
 equally good postboy, who was for many years postilion to 
 the seventh Duke of Beaufort) and his grandson. These boys 
 drove most scientifically, particularly the long heavy stages. 
 They went steadily the first three or four miles, and when their 
 horses had got their second wind they sent them along, and 
 did their journey at the rate of ten or eleven miles an hour, 
 without distressing them, getting over their stage much faster, 
 and taking less out of their horses, than if they had started off 
 at a very fast pace. Some of the stages were very long. The 
 hotel-keepers in the different towns always ran to the same 
 houses in the towns on each side of them ; there was great 
 opposition, and they disliked running to any other house but 
 that kept by their friends. For instance, on the Bath road 
 going up to London, the White Hart at Chippenham could not 
 change at Calne, but ran through to Marlborough, to the Castle 
 Hotel (now Marlborough College), nineteen miles. Only an 
 artist could have ridden and driven horses that distance at the 
 rate often miles an hour, with a heavily-laden travelling carriage, 
 without knocking the animals up. A light, quick, pretty well 
 bred stamp of horse was used ; they were fed with the best 
 of oats and plenty of them, and were in excellent condition. 
 Another stage on that road was from Newbury to Reading, 
 seventeen miles through deep grinding gravel. The boys and 
 horses came out in regular turn, as a carriage (supposing horses 
 for it had not been ordered beforehand) was seen coming. The 
 big ostler's bell, the handle of which was by the side of the 
 porch, was loudly rung, and ' First turn out ' was called in a 
 loud voice there were always two or three pair ready harnessed. 
 As the carriage pulled up, out they came, often with the post- 
 boy ready mounted. The previous boy having been paid for 
 
310 DRIVING. 
 
 horses and self is. 6d. per mile, and every fraction of a mile, 
 for the horses, and 6d. a mile for himself off went the carriage, 
 generally in from two to three minutes from its arrival. The 
 old posting-houses were all built with the entrance into the 
 posting-yard through the centre of the house, what is called a 
 porte-cochere in France, or with the entrance to the yard at the 
 corner of the house, or just across the road opposite. 
 
 If there were ladies in the carriage, the landlady would 
 come out and addressing them would say, ' Will you please to 
 alight?' or as some said 'unlight.' I really believe that the 
 great majority of these landladies, and a very great many of the 
 landlords, for years and years together never went twenty yards 
 from their houses. One of the most charming specimens was 
 Mrs. Botham, of the Pelican at Speenhamland, which was in 
 fact Newbury in Berkshire. Her nephews kept the Windmill 
 at Salt Hill, in whose garden, on the opposite side of the road, 
 stands the celebrated Eton ' Montem.' Most of these post- 
 masters and innkeepers horsed some of the coaches several 
 stages on their roads, in addition to the thirty to forty pair of 
 post-horses already mentioned, and at their inns travellers, by 
 private carriages and the coaches they horsed, breakfasted, 
 dined, or had tea. For instance, coming from London to Bath 
 the York House breakfasted at Salt Hill, dined at the Pelican 
 at Newbury, and had tea at Marlborough. After dinner, if a 
 carriage full of ladies and children dined, as they were starting, 
 Mrs. Botham, a grand old lady with a charming voice and 
 manner, in a rich stiff black silk gown, and a stiff high white 
 cap, attended by neatly-dressed handmaidens bearing trays, 
 arrived, and plied the ladies and youngsters each with a small 
 glass of most excellent cherry brandy, and for each youngster, 
 done up in a white ' cornet ' of the cleanest paper, was a parcel 
 of delicious brandy-snaps. For something like twenty years did 
 I know Mrs. Botham, and she looked just as old when I first 
 knew her as she did when I saw her last ; and I might invert 
 the remark and say that she looked just as young when I last 
 saw her as the first time I partook of the liqueur and cakes. 
 
POSTING JN ENGLAND. 311 
 
 I have digressed, but these reminiscences of old customs 
 may help to give those who were unborn in the days of posting 
 an idea of the road when this mode of travelling was in vogue. 
 There are still left some who remember those days, but time 
 has rolled on and they are in a small minority and are rapidly 
 passing away. To return to the way in which this service was 
 performed, I must repeat that each pair of horses and their 
 postboy came out in turn. For example, forty pair of horses 
 had ten postboys and ten cads to drive them. When there 
 was a good run on the road and all ten postboys with their 
 first pair were out, if a carriage drove up the second pair 
 belonging to the first pair of horses that had gone out had 
 become ' first turn,' and they were driven by the cad. He had 
 proper boots and breeches, and a jacket of the proper colour 
 a detail to which allusion will presently be made. If on the 
 journey they met the boy to whom the horses belonged return- 
 ing home, the carriage was pulled up and the boys changed 
 places ; this scarcely took a minute, and off they went again. 
 There was a regular tariff. If the boy was met one-third of 
 the way, the cad got one-third of the fee, whatever it was, that 
 the postboy received ; if they met half-way, he got one-half ; 
 if he had gone more, he got two-thirds. 
 
 Going into London, of course the carriage was driven to the 
 houses of the owners say to Grosvenor or Berkeley Square, 
 or the streets adjacent and was taken, when the owners had 
 alighted, to their stables. The horses were taken to bait at 
 stables they always used for the purpose, always situated on 
 the high road for instance, on the North road in Islington ; 
 coming from Newmarket and Cambridge, or the Chelmsford 
 and Eastern roads in Whitechapel ; and on the Western roads 
 in Kensington, Netting Hill, or Shepherd's Bush. If a cad, 
 or with four horses one or both boys were cads, they would 
 commence, when yards got off, a peculiar cry ; we can only 
 describe it as ' How pow powie ' in a high shrill voice ; then 
 if the regular boy had deposited his carriage and got back 
 to his baiting place, you would see him come running out of 
 
312 DRIVING. 
 
 the public-house, in the stables of which his horses were put 
 up, with his mouth fall of bread and cheese, wiping his lips 
 with the back of his hand, to dispose of the froth from his last 
 swig at his pot of beer. 
 
 Postboys were very neatly dressed. The few that one 
 sees now-a-days are very different from the old boys ; their 
 boots and breeches are badly made and put on ; they wear 
 velvet caps with a large flopping fringe of gold or silver lace at 
 the top, perhaps a band of the same round the cap ; jackets 
 with three or five rows of buttons and made of dark blue 
 cloth. In the old days to begin at the top they all wore 
 hats made of beaver real flu fly beaver ; generally white hats, 
 but sometimes black ones. Their jackets were light blue or 
 yellow at some of the houses they were scarlet cloth made 
 of a sort of moleskin stuff, with only the one row of buttons ; 
 their breeches were of the whitest corduroy, and their boots 
 brown-topped. Some of the boys had four or five buttons 
 (generally mother-o'-pearl) on the breeches, but many of the 
 old hands had five or nine buttons, so that if it had not rained 
 and their boots were only wet from the splashing, they could 
 unbutton their breeches at the knees high up, and put on dry 
 stockings and a dry pair of boots, or shoes and gaiters. The 
 jacket always had three snicks about three-quarters of an inch 
 wide at the bottom in the back ; their greatcoats they put on 
 the dickey, or strapped on to the front Cee-spring of the car- 
 riage. They were made slit up to the waist with long tails. 
 The front part was tucked under the knees, and the hinder 
 part doubled under over the thigh, exposing the white breeches 
 underneath, so as neither to heat the riding horse nor to spoil 
 the coat with his sweat. A postboy was like a soldier of 
 those days. Everything he had, his pocket-handkerchief and 
 anything else he wanted, went into his hat. The boys were 
 always at least the first three or four turns ready dressed, 
 booted and spurred, excepting their jackets, which were hung 
 up in the saddle-room, and to keep themselves clean and 
 smart they put on over all white smocks buttoned up to their 
 
POSTING IN ENGLAND. 313 
 
 necks and reaching down to their heels, with a pocket on each 
 side in which you invariably saw their hands as they lolled at 
 the door on the look-out for a carriage. 
 
 As I write I call to mind one old boy, from the Bear at 
 Reading, with a yellow jacket and a very red face. It did not 
 signify at what time of the year he drove you, he always had 
 a yellow flower in his mouth, which he kept there the whole 
 seventeen miles to Newbury, or the thirteen miles to Maiden- 
 head, or the eighteen to Salt Hill, and in the yellow jacket he 
 always had a red flower. When there was much of a run on 
 the road the boys were constantly in the saddle, and drove and 
 rode not only the horses harnessed to carriages many miles during 
 the twenty-four hours, but had the more tedious work of bringing 
 the tired horses home ' lear,' which was the expression used for 
 harness-horses when travelling without a carriage behind them. 
 I remember having to go to attend a political meeting at 
 Raglan in Monmouthshire in 1846. In the morning we left 
 Gloucester early, and a very tall boy unusually so for his 
 profession quite five feet ten, drove from there to Ross (the 
 distance thence was eleven miles to Monmouth and eight on 
 to Raglan), seventeen miles, waited the return, and drove back 
 to the Bell. The writer had to post on to Stroud, and there 
 being no other postboy at home, the same boy mounted a 
 fresh horse, and with a fresh hand-horse drove nine miles to 
 Stroud and had to ride the horses back fifty-two miles alto- 
 gether. He was under two hours each way along the very hilly 
 road to Ross, and about fifty minutes doing the nine miles to 
 Stroud. He started at 8 A.M. and would not be home before 
 ten at night. It was a hard life. Too much work one day, not 
 enough the next It is always much pleasanter travelling with 
 four horses than with a pair, but if a man living a hundred miles 
 from London was in a hurry, he could do the journey quicker 
 with a good mail-phaeton and pair of post-horses than he could 
 with four. 
 
 A few remarks must be made about the difference between 
 putting horses to a carriage when they are to be ridden and 
 
314 DRIVING. 
 
 driven and putting-to for driving from the box. Both hand- 
 horses at wheel and leader were put to and the wheel-horse 
 poled up as for driving ; but the wheel riding-horse had his 
 traces a couple of holes longer than his partner, and his pole- 
 piece a hole slacker, while the leading riding-horse had his 
 traces a hole or two longer. This gave both boys more com- 
 mand over the hand-horse and enabled the wheel-boy to keep 
 away from the pole. He rode with an iron guard on his right 
 leg and along the outside of his right foot, to prevent the limb 
 from being crushed or broken by the riding-horse leaning on 
 the pole. Even with this, observant travellers must often have 
 wondered, when they have seen the wheel-boy's foot bent or 
 caught under the pole, how it was he did not get more hurt. 
 Fortunately for the postboys all carriages were built with 
 perches, so that the pole rode steady. Had they driven with 
 the modern carriages without perches, every time they went over 
 a crossing or gutter they would have stood a good chance of 
 having their knee-cap or thigh fractured. It is a matter for 
 speculation how many horses' teeth are knocked out by the 
 flying up and down of the pole in the present day. 
 
 A word must be said about the postboys' characters. All 
 those who have tried know how difficult it is to drive a pair or 
 four horses to one's own satisfaction, and it is seldom that one 
 pulls up at the end of a stage, or gets off a coach-box, without 
 feeling that the horses might have been driven better ; that one 
 horse or the other did too much or too little work, and that more 
 justice might have been done them. Now knowledge, the use 
 of the hands, patience and temper, are all wanted to enable 
 driving to be well done. If gentlemen of education who have 
 had the latter qualifications instilled into them, and who have 
 been taught by the best and most experienced coachmen, find 
 so much difficulty in putting that which they have been taught 
 into practice from the driving-box, how much more difficulty 
 would there be in driving well from the saddle ! From the box 
 each horse ought to be made to do his fair share, but in riding 
 and driving the two near-side horses have to carry a man, 
 
POSTING IN ENGLAND. 315 
 
 which gives them an extra weight of from eight to ten stone to 
 carry. The consequence of this is that the hand-horses were 
 required to do more of the drawing than the riding-horses, and 
 this added another element of difficulty, and called for a further 
 nicety of discernment on the relative amount of work that 
 
 should be exacted 
 from each horse. 
 The postboys in 
 those days were 
 ignorant men, most 
 
 of whom could neither read nor write, and they had to learn 
 from observation of how their seniors drove, and from a sort of 
 instinct, how it was to be done. There were of course good 
 and bad drivers, but the bulk of the postboys on the main 
 roads were marvels of cleverness in their profession, and drove 
 
316 DRIVING. 
 
 on dark and stormy nights, amidst hail and snow and rain, 
 apparently with as great facility as on a fine bright day. 
 Remember that the carriages were large, roomy and heavy, 
 and twice as long between the wheels as a coach, loaded 
 \\ ith many people and much heavy baggage. The only thing 
 I do think dangerous in riding and driving is to put four 
 horses and two postboys to a coach what we call a coach. It 
 is so much shorter than the old gentleman's coach or landau 
 that it is easily set swinging if horses gallop, and as the 
 wheel-boy would not feel the swinging, which a coachman 
 on the box does, they might easily swing it over. If it was 
 dangerous in those days, what would it be now when a good 
 postilion or postboy is more rare than the black swan of Virgil? 
 My belief is that the excellence of driving in those days arose 
 from the instruction the younger boys got when driving before 
 a good wheel-boy, and that the wretched, execrable driving of 
 gentlemen's coachmen and flymen in these days is attributable 
 to their beginning to drive alone, and always going alone, and 
 having no one to point out the faults they commit. Strange 
 it is that they all fall into the same bad way, the near rein in 
 the left hand, the off rein and the whip in the right, with results 
 as described in the Introduction. 
 
 We have already mentioned that the posting-masters would 
 not keep a boy who did not drive well. Now they almost all 
 liked a drop of beer, and they made sufficient money to keep 
 their families respectable and comfortable, and had enough to 
 spare to indulge a little ; but it was seldom that a postboy was 
 seen in liquor. He either did not drink, or he could carry his 
 liquor, and drive as well when 'half seas over.' The danger 
 was if he had been overworked, and picked himself up with a 
 pot of beer on his return journey. In the number of miles the 
 writer has posted, he does not recollect more than three occa- 
 sions on which he could say a postboy was drunk, and one of 
 these three was only a few years ago, when posting was nearly 
 over, and no job was expected by the boys that day. It would 
 be twenty or more years since. A party were driving down to 
 
POSTING IN ENGLAND. 
 
 317 
 
 Bognor from Goodwood. One of the teams did not turn up, and 
 
 four horses were obtained and harnessed from the inn at . 
 
 Two regular old-fashioned boys turned out, and all went well 
 for three or four miles, when the wheel-boy began lurching about 
 He had a hard-pulling riding-horse, with a very severe bit, and 
 his rein on the bottom bar. At last he lurched backwards, and 
 must either have fallen off or pulled his horse over, when the 
 
 A practical remonstrance. 
 
 occupant of the box-seat seized him by the collar and set him 
 right again. This operation stopped the coach. It was sug- 
 gested he should dismount and get up behind, and as we had 
 a set of wheel-reins, that one of us should drive the wheel- 
 horses. ' Le vin lui avait prit mauvais,' and he was pug- 
 nacious and would not dismount. I got down and talked to 
 him, and tried to persuade him to leave his saddle, but he 
 
318 DRIVING. 
 
 threatened to brain, with the butt of his heavy whip, anyone 
 who touched him. However, in the course of the conversation 
 the writer managed to sidle up to him, and slipping his left 
 hand quietly up, got hold of the thong of the whip, and at the 
 same moment getting a grip of the collar of the boy's jacket, 
 had him off the horse and in the road before he could say 
 ' knife ' ; the wheel-reins were quickly put on, and we drove 
 through the county-town with the old boy up behind weeping 
 salt tears, and found our next team waiting us some miles 
 further on. The other instance occurred fifty years ago at 
 Stoke-upon-Trent. Horses were ordered a capital team ; two 
 smart boys turned out ready mounted, there being no symptom 
 of anything wrong. There is a very steep hill out of the town, 
 and the wheel-boy, who was drunk, began to gallop at the top 
 of the hill, the leading boy having to flog and gallop for his 
 life. This lasted for some three or four miles, when the 
 drunkard got sleepy, and the leading boy, who drove admirably, 
 gradually slackened speed, and eventually stopped all four 
 horses, who by that time were nothing loth to stop. With a 
 very heavy travelling carriage, it was a marvellous escape of a 
 bad accident. It is so long ago that I forget how we got on 
 after, but know that our destination was safely reached, thanks 
 to the sagacity and efficiency of the leading boy. 
 
 I once witnessed a most laughable scene with a sulky post- 
 boy, who could drive very well but would not go along. It was 
 posting through Oxfordshire on a mail-phaeton in the year 
 1834. The owner of the phaeton, a very fine coachman, had 
 driven his own horses the first stage, and was going to drive 
 others further on in the journey. The post-horses were good 
 and the gentleman was in a hurry, but nothing would induce 
 the boy to go on. The gentleman's driving whip was in the 
 bucket, so he took it out, laid into the horses, put them into a 
 gallop, and kept them in it till they got to the town where they 
 were to change. The postboy was furious, and invited the 
 gentleman to get out and have his head punched, which he 
 immediately did ; but when the boy saw six feet one, as upright 
 
POSTING IN ENGLAND. 319 
 
 as a dart, descend from the phaeton, he took his hat off and 
 apologised, pulled his forelock, and said he hoped he would 
 not be reported to his master. 
 
 Such cases as those just related were, however, very rare 
 a better behaved or more trustworthy set of men than the old 
 postboys were not to be found. The modern fly did not exist 
 in those days. If anyone not having a carriage at hand wanted 
 to post, he was obliged to have recourse to the post-chaises 
 kept at the inns. They were familiarly called ' bounders ' from 
 being very light and hung on Cee-springs, and bounding merrily 
 up and down. Many of them had a rail or bar flat at the top, 
 and about four or five inches wide, fixed from one front spring 
 to the other, and when the bounder returned empty the post- 
 boy, who had secreted a pair of driving reins under the seat, 
 mounted the bar and drove home. When there was no bar 
 the postboy often drove home from inside the bounder through 
 the front windows. These carriages were always painted yellow, 
 and sometimes had red wheels. 
 
 When opposition was very brisk I have seen in places, 
 notably at Barnet amongst others, four horses turn out on 
 seeing a carriage coming from London (they could see nearly a 
 mile from the door) from the Red Lion to tempt the travellers 
 to change there. Sometimes they would do so, at others they 
 galloped by to the Green Man at the other end of the town, 
 and the Red Lion horses turned in again. 
 
 As in those days the posting on some parts of the continent 
 was very well done, and the pace at which one could travel was 
 really good, a few words describing it would not be amiss in 
 this work. We therefore propose to give a short account of it, 
 as well as of the travelling by malle-poste and diligence. 
 
320 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 POSTING IN FRANCE. 
 
 BY THE DUKE OF BEAUFORT, K.G. 
 
 WHEN the railway was made from Boulogne to Paris, posting 
 in France had been brought as nearly as possible to perfection. 
 Comparisons are odious, and I think I may fairly sum up the 
 question as to whether it was better done in England or in 
 France, by saying that the French system, the driving, harness- 
 ing, and everything connected with it, best suited the roads and 
 the carriages that had to travel along them ; and that if we had 
 tried our system and our harness on their horses, and they had 
 done the same by us, the whole thing would probably have 
 failed, I was on the point of saying, look what our boys, their 
 dress, their manner of driving and their horses were ; and then 
 look at the other side of the Channel ; but I forget that I am 
 writing for those who never saw either. To those, therefore, I 
 say, fancy, aiding imagination by pictures you may have seen, or 
 by the recollection of some well-turned-out postilion, a whipper- 
 in in a short jacket, a neat, well-built, pretty well-bred, very short- 
 tailed, light horse, and harness all made of leather, well fitting 
 well cleaned, well put on, boys that could ride to perfection, 
 and, whilst riding, drive as well boys who knew when they were 
 going seven and when they were going twelve miles an hour 
 (which no modern flyman or gentleman's coachman that I ever 
 see nowadays does know), who could do justice to their horses 
 over any ground and any distances, whose average stages were 
 ten miles (they varied from five to eighteen miles), and who 
 without distressing their horses got to the end of their stage 
 
POSTING IN FRANCE. 321 
 
 oftener at a pace exceeding ten miles an hour than under it. 
 Such was the English boy boy by name, weight (from eight 
 to ten stone) and appearance, but often over sixty years of age. 
 In trying to describe the French postboy and horse I 
 should fail to convey any idea to a reader who has never seen 
 them, unless the pencil can come to the assistance of the pen 
 there are many good prints of the French road as it was. To 
 anyone fond of bowling along at ten miles an hour, a journey 
 from Calais or Boulogne through Paris and Lyons to Marseilles 
 was a real pleasure. I don't say that being in such a hurry 
 that it had to be done at a stretch without stopping was a 
 pleasure, but to a gentleman with plenty of time and money it 
 was delightful. The only drawback was the pavee, or paved 
 road. I scarcely know how I can describe to a modern reader, 
 who does not remember when Piccadilly and St. James's Street 
 were paved with cubes of Aberdeen granite of from eight to ten 
 inches, or who never saw a highway in Cheshire forty years ago, 
 what a pavee was like. The high-roads were very wide, the 
 country open, no fence at the side of the road, the centre 
 convex and paved to a width sufficient to allow two of the 
 widest waggons, diligences, or carriages, to pass each other, and 
 room enough to spare besides ; on either side at least ten feet 
 of road between the pavee and the grass. In summer this was 
 not bad going, but in winter it was very deep. The horses were 
 mostly the white, high-crested, and heavy forehanded Normandy 
 horse, light in the flank, thin in the thigh, and all stallions, such 
 as you may see in the Paris omnibuses at this day, or in Rosa 
 Bonheur's picture of a French Horse Fair ; and many is the 
 good fight the writer has seen between horses when they were 
 taken out of the carriage. The ostler was generally particu- 
 larly on the Paris and Calais road a woman, who harnessed 
 and fed the animals and brought them out to be put to the 
 carriage. These women wore sabots (the wooden shoe of 
 France) with very sharp-pointed toes, and when there was a row 
 amongst these fighting devils, were quite equal to the occasion ; 
 with one vigorous kick, always applied on the same place, they 
 
 Y 
 
322 DRIVING. 
 
 brought them speedily into subjection. The harness was all 
 made of rope, and the reins also. 
 
 When an English gentleman was going to travel abroad he 
 had to send his carriage to the coach-builder, to be fitted for 
 foreign travel. A small bar, such as you have in a dog-cart, 
 only much stronger and without any steel ends, was attached 
 by a strong leather brace round its centre to the middle of the 
 splinter-bar, half-way between the roller bolts on each side of the 
 pole, the end of the bar having a nick to prevent the rope traces 
 from slipping off. A hook pointing downwards towards the back 
 was placed under the futchels, and from this hook a stout rope 
 was run under the pole, supported by two or three loose straps 
 to the pole ; and at the end of this, one strong light bar about 
 the full length of the splinter-bar, to which the rope traces of 
 the leaders were attached. Collars were seldom used, breast- 
 plates being the almost invariable rule. In most parts of 
 France, and sometimes on the Paris and Calais road, the four 
 horses were driven by one postboy riding the near wheel-horse, 
 with a long whalebone driving whip very smartly bound round 
 with red and green leather, the thong about the same length as 
 the crop, which was probably somewhere near five feet long. 
 A good deal of the driving was done with this whip, and it was 
 marvellous to see the way in which, at a good round trot of seven 
 or eight miles an hour, they would turn out of a narrow street 
 into the porte-cochere of an hotel that was not more than 
 eighteen inches or two feet wider than the breadth of the car- 
 riage they were driving. 
 
 Those who had plenty of money and chose to travel luxuri- 
 ously always engaged a courier. If they wished to travel fast, 
 instead of having only one postilion with four horses, they had 
 two boys, who drove with a wooden-handled short whip, the 
 crop about eighteen inches long, a very long keeper five or six 
 inches long, and a thong of leather and whipcord point, the 
 whole from end of the crop some three feet in length. The 
 horses all belonged to the State, and the boys wore dark blue 
 cloth jackets with short broad tails not reaching to the saddle, 
 
POSTING IN FRANCE. 323 
 
 with red facings and edgings to the tails of the same colour, 
 yellow leather tights, and big boots. In many instances the 
 boots were 'jacked.' They were so hard that a carriage- wheel 
 would go over them without making a dent, and were fastened 
 on to the saddle, so that the boy came out in slippers, was 
 chucked up on to his horses, and taking his slippers off, thrust 
 his legs into his boots, which were in the stirrups and attached 
 to the pommel of the saddle. In front of him was his cloak 
 rolled and strapped occasionally it was rolled on the pad of 
 the hand-horse. The riding-horse was called le porteur, the 
 hand-horse le limier. The writer has seen horses fall and lie 
 on their side, the rider's boots being so hard that they were not 
 depressed or squeezed, and if the boy (Postilion, he was called 
 when spoken to) had not hurt himself or knocked himself 
 out of time, he quickly withdrew his legs from his boots and 
 got up. Those boys who did not fasten their boots to the 
 saddles had equally hard boots, and used to come clumping 
 out hardly able to walk in them. The stages w- 'Postes* 
 were all five miles in length, ' une liene et demie? The writer 
 never remembers to have seen one of these Posies of five miles 
 driven without the boys pulling up to refresh. There was always 
 a cabaret about half-way, and approaching this there was a 
 tremendous cracking of whips from both boys ; they were very 
 clever in cracking them above their heads (which, by-the-bye, 
 were covered with a tall, strong, hard, high, glazed hat with a 
 gold-lace band round it), and as you approached the cabaret a 
 damsel in sabots sallied forth with a small tray on which were 
 two liqueur glasses containing schnaps. The stop was only 
 momentary no refreshment for the horses the schnaps was 
 tossed off and away they went. This liquor was most abomin- 
 able stuff, more like vitriol than anything else, and would have 
 choked or burnt the throat of anyone but a postilion. 
 
 The courier was mentioned on the preceding page. These 
 were an extraordinary race of hardy men, capable of any fatigue, 
 who had all the routes of the continent at their fingers' ends, 
 and knew which hotels to avoid as well as those to be patronised. 
 
 Y 2 
 
324 DRIVING. 
 
 Supposing a traveller had landed at Calais and was going right 
 through to Marseilles. When the carriage was brought ashore 
 from the steam-packet and the horses were put to, off went the 
 courier, on a little horse provided by the maitre de poste^ but 
 always on his (the courier's) own saddle, with his cloak rolled 
 on it ; and he made such haste as to get to the change in time 
 to have the horses out ready to be put to on the arrival of the 
 carriage, a fresh bidet being provided at each change. He paid 
 for the horses, and started generally as they were being put 
 to; but if there were any altercation about payment or -any 
 other cause of delay, he passed the carriage at a gallop and got 
 on to have the next change of horses ready. The courier rode 
 all the way from Calais to Marseilles. The writer has known 
 three couriers who have ridden from Rome to Calais night and 
 day without stopping, and to the best of his recollection it took 
 nine or ten days and nights to do the journey. It sounds in- 
 credible, but it is an actual fact that it has been done several 
 times, and no stoppage of more than two hours ever occurred. 
 This, considering the inevitable wranglings and quarrels with 
 post-masters, postilions, and douaniers, is a very extraordinary 
 feat. Many of these couriers were big heavy men. In some 
 ways it was an advantage to a courier to be light, but he could 
 not do the ' work if he were not strong in constitution and in 
 body ; and when it came, as it sometimes did, to a rough and 
 tumble, a bit of fight, or a good swinging soufflet to an insolent 
 maitre de paste or a refractory postilion, a little weight was of 
 advantage. The couriers had a very good idea of their own 
 importance, and got themselves up very smartly. They wore 
 a blue jacket with short tails, like the postilions, with red 
 facings, leather tights, jackboots and spurs, and jackets much 
 bedecked with gold lace ; a hard stiff glazed cap, with a gold- 
 laced band, a chin-strap for windy weather, and a fall-down to 
 go over their ears and keep their necks dry in rain. They 
 usually carried a whip like the postilions, and a good warm 
 waterproof cloak rolled on the front of the saddle. 
 
 A dormeusei.e. a travelling chariot with a long boot in front 
 
POSTING IN FRANCE. 325 
 
 into which one could, by letting down the front of it, put 
 one's legs, the front fixing under the seat made a good bed. 
 A rolled-up mattress was carried in the boot, and this joined 
 the cushions the travellers sat on. Imperials, bonnet-boxes, 
 cap-boxes, and wells under the seat held the luggage. On the 
 dickey behind was a cabriolet head to keep the servants warm 
 and dry ; and then a fourgon that held two in front, also with 
 a cab head to it, the body resembling a deer-cart, behind the 
 head, and with four horses to draw it, kept up with the 
 travelling carriage, and carried a vast amount of luggage inside 
 it. When a gentleman and his wife went on the continent for 
 some months and proposed visiting some of the capitals of 
 Europe, it was necessary for the lady to have court and other 
 smart dresses, and for the gentleman to have uniforms, hunting 
 and shooting costumes, besides his ordinary clothes, and these 
 it would have been impossible to carry without the help of 
 i& fourgon. . The writer when young travelled many hundreds 
 of miles in a fourgon with a hard cabriolet front, an apron, 
 and curtains that fastened together in the cab-head, and 
 very dry, warm and comfortable it was in wet, and cool in hot, 
 weather. 
 
 In Germany the posting was slower than in France. In 
 some parts of both countries a most peculiar and unfair custom 
 prevailed. If the road was hilly a cheval de renfort was insisted 
 on ; that is, supposing anyone were travelling with a pair, he 
 had to pay for three horses over that stage, or if travelling with 
 three arbakt, had to take four ; this was all very well, but very 
 often they either had not, or pretended they had not, the third 
 or the fourth horse at home, yet all the same the traveller had 
 to pay for the cheval de renfort. In Italy in many parts the 
 travelling was excellent by post ; always two boys to four horses, 
 and they drove really fast and well. In Germany one seldom 
 had more than one boy to four horses, and usually one string to 
 the near-side leader, for reins, and nothing to the off-side 
 leader. They drove by word of mouth and waving of their 
 long whips ; but if the waving was not attended to, they could 
 
326 DRIVING. 
 
 use them to good effect. Probably horses that never have 
 anything but grass and black bread do not require a rein, but 
 it hardly accords with our ideas of driving. The fact is that 
 the post-horses in those countries are like our cart-horses, and 
 answer to 'Come hither,' &c., as ours do. What the French 
 call their 'horses I do not know, but the Germans call all theirs 
 by their colours : Rappen black, Fuchs chestnut, Schimmel 
 white or grey the bay horses I forget. Our carters do not 
 do that, but their range of names is very limited : Captain, 
 Prince, Dragon, Brown, Vilet (Violet), Primrose, and a few 
 other names for the mares, making a short list that is constantly 
 drawn upon. 
 
 We must return for a moment to the postilion, so dif- 
 ferent in size and shape, as well as in so many other things, 
 from his English confrere. His dress and accoutrements have 
 been described. Now about himself. He was almost invari- 
 ably a tall gaunt man of from 5 ft. 10 in. to 6 ft. high, lean in 
 the flank and not heavy for his height, but still weighing between 
 eleven and twelve stone ; and he drove in his rough way re- 
 markably well and safely. With one postilion to four horses 
 from eight to nine miles an hour was the usual pace ; but with 
 two postilions on these short stages you could calculate on 
 travelling at the rate of ten miles an hour, or rather over, includ- 
 ing stoppages. The traces being rope were quickly twisted 
 round the bars, and not being fixed, it did not matter to an 
 inch or two whether they were exactly even or not. The 
 leathern pole-pieces on the pole were quickly slipped through 
 the ring on the breast-plates, and the change was rapidly 
 effected. The postilions were a very civil class, particularly 
 to those who travelled with a courier, many of whom were 
 well known to the postilions on the main routes, as from them 
 they expected a very liberal pourboire, a few centimes more 
 or less making a great difference to them. The P^nglish are 
 credited with being more given to drinking than foreigners ; 
 but whether it is that they call a spade a spade and we do not, 
 or whatever the cause, when we pay a man for driving we call it 
 
POSTING IN FRANCE. 327 
 
 a 'tip,' they make no bones about it, but call it plainly a 
 pourboire. In Italy buona mano expresses the same ' tip,' and 
 in Germany Trinkgeld. 
 
 TRAVELLING BY < MALLE-POSTE ' IN FRANCE. 
 
 When the railways knocked this ' service ' on the head, it 
 had reached the highest state of perfection to which man and 
 horseflesh could be brought. Loading much lighter than our 
 mail-coaches, the malle-postes fully equalled the pace at which 
 ours travelled. They were inconveniently fast to the traveller, 
 for as their changes of horses were effected in forty-five seconds, 
 he had no time to get out to stretch his legs, excepting at long 
 intervals when at a post-office bags had to be taken in or 
 out. 
 
 There were two sorts of malle-poste. The lighter one car- 
 ried but two passengers. It was built like a britzka, with a 
 very long front boot and a commodious dickey behind, with a 
 movable head to it in which travelled the conducteu^Anglice, 
 mail-guard. The body in which the passengers sat had a hard 
 fixed half-head and a sort of cabriolet head attached to it which 
 could be let down low and in which there were curtains, a 
 hard apron coming high up. It was most comfortable plenty 
 of room for one's legs, and far preferable to the other sort 
 of malle-poste. Only one portmanteau was allowed to each 
 passenger, with any small handbag or parcel ; the rest of his 
 baggage had to be sent by diligence. This sort of carriage was 
 always driven ' ride and drive,' and generally by two postilions, 
 though occasionally by one, always with four horses. The 
 other sort resembled an English mail-coach without any seats 
 for outside passengers. It carried four inside, and the con- 
 ducteur was usually on the cabriolet in front or on a dickey 
 behind with head to it. The mails went in the fore and hind 
 boots, and the carriage was often driven from a little seat, we 
 can hardly dignify by the name of a box-seat, in front four-in- 
 hand. The pace, including stoppages, was quite up to the 
 Devonport Quicksilver Mail, the Exeter Telegraph, or the 
 
328 DRIVING. 
 
 Shrewsbury Wonder, viz. eleven miles an hour ; the five-mile 
 stages and the quickness of the changes enabled them to do 
 this. The eight, nine, or ten mile stages of the English mails 
 which accomplished the distance in the same time could only 
 be done by the better-bred English horses ; the underbred ones 
 in France could just do the five-mile stages and could not have 
 done more. 
 
 TRAVELLING BY DILIGENCE IN FRANCE. 
 
 If anyone wished to know discomfort and tedium in 
 travelling this was his opportunity. There was only one place 
 to sit in, and it was the cheapest, corresponding to the third 
 class in railway travelling, and this was the cabriolet on the 
 roof. 
 
 How can I describe a diligence to one who has never 
 travelled in or seen one ? Again I must say look at the 
 pictures of them. Of all the unwieldy lumbering heavy 
 vehicles, invented by the ingenuity of man, that was the acme 
 of everything it should not have been. It had only one merit, 
 very great solidity and strength. On the first floor, as we may 
 call it, was the coupe that held three passengers ; three windows 
 in front, two doors one at either end, with a window in each, 
 or sometimes one doorway and a dummy, close to the horses' 
 tails. Above it the perch whence the horses were driven. 
 Behind the perch the cabriolet, which was really the roof 
 covered in, the front part having a plentiful supply of hay 
 and that was the best place in which to travel. The dedans 
 held six or eight people crammed together, and the coupe was 
 so short in front there was no room for one's legs ; the luggage 
 was on the roof behind the cabriolet, under a tarpaulin. These 
 diligences were run with three horses abreast called limoniere. 
 Pick-axe as we call it, the arbalet was hardly ever used four 
 horses or five horses, two at wheel, three leaders, all driven 
 from the box. In hilly roads sometimes six horses driven 
 Mongset,' i.e. four from the box, and a postilion on the 
 leaders. Much stopping, much drinking, much swearing, and 
 
POSTING IN FRANCE. 329 
 
 very little progress is the best recollection the writer has of 
 travelling by diligence. From Calais through Paris and Lyons 
 to Marseilles by malle-poste was something like travelling, as 
 good as going from London to Edinburgh or Glasgow by the 
 mail, and in a much more comfortable carriage, particularly 
 if you w r ere lucky enough to go in one that held but two 
 passengers. As, however, only two or four passengers could 
 travel each night by the malle-poste^ if the traveller could not 
 afford time to w r ait, he had to face the horrors of the diligence, 
 unless possessed of a carriage and able to afford post-horses. 
 Belgium was far in advance of France in the matter of railways, 
 which were well organised, though they travelled very slowly ; 
 but on their cross roads there were still diligences nearly fifty 
 years ago. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 SLEIGHING. 
 
 MAJOR-GENERAL SIR C. TEESDALE, V.C. 
 
 To arrive at the origin of 
 sleighing it would probably 
 be necessary to arrive at 
 the origin of man. As 
 soon as man had invented 
 some sort of rope and had 
 seen snow, so soon must 
 he have learned that to 
 drag weights over a smooth 
 and slippery surface in- 
 
SLEIGHING. 331 
 
 volved less labour than carrying or rolling them. In the first 
 instance he must have dragged for himself, but as soon as he 
 had sufficiently subjugated some animal, doubtless he made 
 that animal drag for him. Our first object and ruling passion 
 in these days is to arrive at a position, thanks to which we 
 can get somebody or something to do all those things which 
 we do not care to do ourselves, and no doubt that instinct 
 existed quite as strongly soon after the creation as it does at 
 the present moment. 
 
 Primeval man must, however, have had many difficulties to 
 overcome before arriving at anything like this coveted position. 
 It must have been very long before any animal was sufficiently 
 domesticated and subdued to do man's work for him, and 
 before populations became dense the human slave must have 
 been a rare luxury. Given, however, an increase of population 
 and its consequent spread over the earth, the weaker tribes 
 must have gradually been forced towards the mountains and 
 have made acquaintance with the snow. Then, to a certainty, 
 sleighing must have commenced. Probably ages passed before 
 the powers of the inclined plane, the wheel, the screw, or even 
 the lever, were properly understood and utilised ; but the ease 
 with which heavy bodies can be moved along a smooth surface, 
 with but the smallest amount of friction, must have been 
 one of man's earliest and most useful discoveries. Probably, 
 however, no discovery has ever proved itself to be so little 
 capable of development or improvement. What sledging was 
 ages ago that, virtually, it is now, and must continue to be to 
 the end of time. 
 
 If, as we are told, Asia Minor were the cradle of the 
 human race, and, supposing the climatic conditions to have 
 been somewhat the same as now, the weaker of our forefathers 
 must soon have been shouldered out towards the mountains of 
 the present Armenia. The fertile plains of that country may 
 have flowed with milk and honey, as they would do now in the 
 summer if properly cultivated, but to exist during the long cold 
 winters fuel is indispensable, and that is only to be found in 
 
332 DRIVING. 
 
 any quantities in the forests that even yet cover the great 
 range of high land, some eight thousand feet above the sea, 
 that stretches east and west nearly across the whole continent. 
 There the snow lies permanently from the beginning of No 
 vember to the end of May, and in the intervening months 
 the trees must be cut up for fuel, fashioned into dwellings, and 
 put to all the uses that wood serves in primitive countries. 
 
 The axe must be busy during the summer, and the trees 
 felled and trimmed before the snow covers the ground again. 
 Then, when all is white once more, no storms threaten, and the 
 surface is hard and smooth, oxen are yoked to the ends of the 
 trees and plod patiently along towards the towns or villages for 
 which the timber is destined. At first the work is terrible and 
 progress very slow T , but when once the main route has been 
 struck, tree following after tree wears out a groove that becomes 
 upon its surface as hard and smooth as genuine ice, and along 
 it one yoke of oxen can drag a mighty tree with but little exer- 
 tion so long as the track is level. 
 
 Of primitive sledging that was my first experience, as in the 
 winter of 1854-5 my time was spent between the towns of 
 Kars and Erzroom, and to reach one from the other the great 
 forest-covered mountain called the Soghanli Dagh had to be 
 crossed. 
 
 The grooves worn out by the trees are blessed by travellers 
 who have to ride across that fearful country, where roads in 
 our sense of the term are unknown and the tracks are hidden 
 feet deep beneath the snow. The sure-footed little native 
 horses, fresh shod in Turkish fashion, gallop along them with 
 rarely a stumble. If a procession of trees has to be passed by 
 leaving the hard track for only a few inches, it is quite another 
 matter, and a flounder in the soft snow is pretty nearly inevit- 
 able. Of course when meeting the trees, the horseman draws 
 out of the track and sits still until they have passed. I once 
 left Kars, just before Christmas, with the thermometer at 13 
 below zero, and galloped without drawing rein for sixteen hours, 
 except to change horses, then rested on a bare floor with my 
 
SLEIGHING. 333 
 
 saddle for a pillow for three or four hours, then rode on again 
 into Erzroom and got through the 130 odd miles without a 
 tumble. I had left Kars early one morning and arrived at 
 Erzroom soon after breakfast the next. On the return journey, 
 after some days of heavy snow, when every trace of the tracks 
 had been obliterated, I got sixteen falls in one day, was nearly 
 lost in a tepi, chasse-neige, or blizzard, with the whole of a 
 strong escort, and took six days to do the same journey. A 
 pretty good illustration of the value of the sledging track to 
 travellers. 
 
 I must not, however, dwell on any more adventures in that 
 wild country for fear of shouldering my crutch and showing 
 how fields were won, but pass over a year and get to Tiflis, a 
 prisoner to the Russians. 
 
 It was to Tiflis that General Williams and his staff were 
 sent, in the first place, after the fall of Kars in the last days of 
 November 1855, and had my chief's health been as strong as 
 his indomitable will, my experiences of sleighing would pro- 
 bably have been far more varied and extended. As it was, 
 when the reaction began after months of mental and physical 
 strain, he was struck down by fever that lasted for weeks, so 
 that when orders arrived from the Czar as to our ultimate destina- 
 tion, the General was completely incapacitated for travelling. 
 Our comrades were sent off, Lake and Thompson to Penza 
 and Churchill to Riazan, a town well on the road to Moscow, 
 but somewhat to the south of it. It .was at Riazan that 
 General Williams and I were also to have remained until the 
 termination of the war, but peace having been declared before 
 our arrival there, we only passed through it and were kindly 
 permitted to travel home by Moscow and St. Petersburg. 
 
 At length the General recovered strength enough to travel, 
 and towards the end of March 1856 we bade adieu to Tiflis, 
 and to many kind friends who had done their best to make 
 our stay there a pleasant one. Chivalrous, hospitable, kind and 
 courteous, there seemed to be nothing they would not do to try 
 and make us forget our bitter disappointment and misfortune. 
 
334 DRIVING. 
 
 It was indeed with a heavy heart that we parted from such 
 good friends and generous enemies as the Viceroy Muravieff, 
 Dondukoff Karsakoff, Loris Melikoff, Serge Cheremeteff, and 
 many others. 
 
 We started on our long posting journey under the care of 
 Prince P. Gagarine in a ' tarantass,' and as that vehicle became 
 for a time a sleigh it deserves here a word of description. The 
 body of the machine was like the centre portion of a boat that 
 had had its stern and bow cut off. This midship segment was 
 closed at either end, and over it was spread a sort of leathern 
 waggon tilt. There was no superfluous luxury about its internal 
 fittings. Valises containing some bedding and a portmanteau 
 had to suffice for seats and everything else. Some four or five 
 rough poles connected the axles, did duty for springs, and 
 supported the body. The driver sat upon some primitive 
 and mysteriously attached edifice in front. The distance that 
 separated the axles was so great that after the fore-wheels had 
 bumped through a hole or over a rock one went to sleep again 
 before the hind wheels negotiated the same obstacle. The 
 machine as a rule had five horses attached to it, three at the 
 wheel and two in the lead, but I have seen as many as eleven 
 employed when the quality of the road was somewhat below the 
 average. Amongst the many advantages appertaining to the 
 ingenious construction there was this very important one : it 
 would travel either upon runners or wheels, as occasion required. 
 If there were little or no snow the thing went upon wheels, 
 the runners being attached to the poles connecting the axles. 
 If there were good snow the wheels and runners changed 
 places. 
 
 Now we could not have left Tiflis at a more disadvantage- 
 ous moment than the end of March, but in Russia of all 
 countries in the world ' on ne connait que la consigne.' 
 
 Travelling is always more difficult and dangerous in spring 
 during the debacle than at any other time of the year. The 
 snow melts, avalanches fall, the ice on the rivers breaks up, 
 floods, floods are everywhere, the lower lands are rotted and 
 
SLEIGHING. 335 
 
 swampy, and the road tracks when not completely obliterated 
 are extremely difficult to find. 
 
 Nevertheless off we had to go, on wheels at first, but with 
 the runners all ready for use, as we knew that the great snowy 
 barrier of the Caucasus was close in front of us. 
 
 It was on the second evening of our journey that we halted 
 for the night at the foot of the mountain. At the stanitza, or 
 post-house, a serious conversation at once commenced between 
 Prince Gagarine and the post-master ; for the passage of the 
 Caucasus is never a thing to be undertaken lightly, and during 
 the debacle it requires an expert to say whether the mountain 
 can be attacked with any degree of safety. 
 
 Only a short time previously a Russian general, against 
 advice, undertook to cross the mountain on horseback with an 
 escort of Cossacks. They were caught by an avalanche ; one 
 or two of the Cossacks perished, and the rest of the party 
 escaped with the greatest difficulty. This was enough in 
 itself to make those on whom responsibility restedr cautious. 
 Luckily for us, the weather for two or three days had been 
 cold, bright and frosty, so it was determined to take advantage 
 at once of the favourable conditions which presented them- 
 selves. 
 
 Accordingly, next morning we were ready for a start at 
 the earliest hour, and the sight that then presented itself was 
 certainly an odd one. In the pale dawn, the tarantass, bereft 
 of wheels and lowered on its runners, seemed to be surrounded 
 by a host of men and a herd of cattle. The crowd, when it 
 took shape, consisted of eleven yoke of oxen, with their drivers 
 and various attendants. The two-and-twenty animals were 
 eventually all attached to the metamorphosed tarantass, and 
 when we had settled ourselves inside the order for a start was 
 given. 
 
 Then there arose a din that would have done honour 
 to Smithfield in its palmy days. Whips cracked, bullocks 
 bellowed, and men howled. I don't know what they said, as 
 my studies in Russian had not extended to the mountain 
 
336 DRIVING. 
 
 dialects. It may be that the drivers encouraged their animals 
 to work in words of the sweetest Caucasian endearment, 
 and though it did not sound much like it, I only trust that it 
 may have been so. I have never, however, travelled in any 
 country where a profuse profanity did not appear to be the 
 most natural and humane means of stimulating beasts of 
 traction to exertion ; indeed, I think that in Spain an artist 
 is specially trained to run beside the diligences and offer 
 observations to the mules. In any case, the long procession 
 was at last set in motion and we plunged at once into the 
 snow. 
 
 From the beginning the gradient was steep, but for a 
 time the progress was steady if slow. All went well for an 
 hour or two, but as we ascended difficulties seemed gradually 
 to increase. The track became so narrow that the tarantass 
 no longer fitted it, owing most likely to very few vehicles of its 
 size having passed the mountain at that early season of the 
 year. The consequence was, with one runner in the track, and 
 the other in the unbeaten snow, the upsetting angle was so 
 often on the point of being obtained, that w r e were very 
 politely requested to get out and walk, which we did without 
 much pressing, as, had an upset occurred, it was difficult to 
 say, and quite impossible to see, what the end of it might 
 have been. The cold became very great, but before starting 
 we had been provided by the authorities with good rough fur 
 pelisses, fur boots and big Circassian sheep-skin caps, so while 
 sitting still we were comfortable enough, although the costume 
 was hardly adapted for walking in, had our rate of progress 
 been more rapid. Still up, and always up, we plodded along 
 in the wake of our unstable equipage. At the dangerous 
 places detachments of men floundered along knee-deep at 
 either side, and when an upset seemed all but inevitable by 
 the sheer weight and strength of their bodies restored the 
 tottering ark to something approaching equilibrium. Up, and 
 always up, till the lower country had long been lost to view, and 
 nothing but the spotless snow was to be seen, look where one 
 
SLEIGHING. 337 
 
 would. At times, as we emerged from a cloud into the sun- 
 shine, the dazzle was so great that not a contour of the piled-up 
 masses could be distinguished, and the only definite line that 
 the eye could catch was where the white peaks above us cut 
 against the bright blue sky. 
 
 Hour after hour passed with the same ceaseless labour, and 
 it became plain why such an immense amount of power had 
 been given to draw such a comparatively light load. There 
 was no resting place, no refuge in case of storm, no human 
 habitation. Once started, the ascent had to be made during 
 the day ; so reserve of strength was necessary, for had the 
 beasts given in, the gravest consequences might have been the 
 result. Up, and always up, until the evening sun was close to 
 the rugged horizon, when at last we saw the huge cross that 
 marks the summit of the Kasbek Pass cutting sharply against 
 the sky, but still far above us. As we neared the top the 
 gradients were not so severe, and the oxen moved more freely. 
 The night began to fall, and the big cross faded away and was 
 lost in the gloom, but all felt that the long day's struggle had 
 nearly ceased, so at a better pace the wearied animals toiled 
 on over a more level track, until suddenly what seemed to be 
 a small fortress loomed through the deep twilight, and shortly 
 we slid up to the door of the stanitza that crowns the pass. 
 
 Thankful, indeed, were we to get inside a dwelling-place of 
 any sort, and to rest our eyes upon bare walls and floors after 
 the never-ending snow. There was at least shelter ; we knew 
 that food had been brought in plenty, and as to rest and sleep 
 we had been used to find them in many a worse place. But 
 Heaven help the guardians of such a house throughout the 
 winter ! Existence in a lighthouse may be endurable ; life in 
 a lightship may have charms when ships pass, stray fish are to 
 be caught, and the latest specific against sea-sickness has not 
 been introduced on board ; but, not being an imaginative one, 
 my mind recoils from the task of thinking out what the exis- 
 tence of human beings can be, condemned to spend a long 
 winter in that solitary speck of greystone, begirt if not covered 
 
 z 
 
3 3& DRIVING. 
 
 with endless snow, miles and miles away from any habitation 
 of man, beast, or bird, no sound to hear but the howling of 
 the wind, no movement but the driving storms, no interest but 
 the rising and setting of the sun. 
 
 It would be more than needless to say that fuel in such 
 an eerie was scarce, and that the night was desperately cold. 
 There was no fear, however, of any bad results arising from 
 damp sheets, seeing that neither beds nor sheets are things 
 known in stanitzas. Those who travel in luxury as we did can 
 generally manage to get some straw, hay, or a bundle of rushes 
 littered down upon the floor, and then with the blankets and 
 pillows that are an indispensable part of the travelling equip- 
 ment, some very satisfactory rest and sleep can be obtained 
 after a wearisome day's travelling. 
 
 On the night in question sleep came quickly enough, though 
 it was troubled by the dread that a storm might come in the 
 night and oblige us to remain imprisoned in the ice-house for 
 an indefinite period. As good luck would have it there was 
 no change in the weather, so when the colourless day broke 
 again preparations had already been made for the descent of 
 the pass. 
 
 The contrast between the arrangements for that day's work 
 and those for the previous one was something startling. No 
 oxen were in sight, nor was there any crowd of men, and the 
 lumbering tarantass was left aside as if it had not yet recovered 
 from the exertions of the day before. In its place there stood 
 the smallest and most primitive of sleighs. It was, in fact, 
 nothing but a deal box on runners, with shafts attached to it. 
 The general and I had just room enough to sit on a piece of 
 plank at the back, and the driver hitched himself on to one of 
 the corners in front. There was a pickaxe team put to hind 
 side before that is to say, there was one horse in the shafts and 
 two in the lead. How they were guided, governed, or con- 
 trolled, remains a mystery to me to this day, but the perfumed 
 mass of sheepskin who held the ropes in front of us seemed 
 to be ubiquitous in the very limited space for his movements, 
 
SLEIGHING. 339 
 
 and before the end of the day I came to the conclusion that 
 he must have been quite an artist in his own particular line. 
 
 Years afterwards a Russian friend of mine remarked, as we 
 were galloping full speed in a troika down a steep hill with 
 nothing particular between us and the Black Sea or eternity 
 but a few hundred feet of jagged rocks, 'We don't use blinkers 
 in our country, and horses won't go over precipices if they 
 can avoid it.' I don't think they use blind horses much in 
 Russia. 
 
 All the same I should have been a far more comfortable 
 traveller had that very true and practical observation been 
 made to, and well digested by, me before the day's proceedings 
 which I am trying to describe. 
 
 There was no delay about starting this time. Hardly had 
 we seated ourselves in our box than the isvostschik poised 
 himself on a corner, shouted, cracked his whip, took a pre- 
 liminary canter over the profanity course, and then away we 
 dashed over the tableland as fast as ever the ramble hardy 
 little horses could lay their legs to the snow. In Turkey, when 
 riding post, I always found that the guide in charge of the 
 horses, the 'Suwarridji,' as he was called, always started at a 
 walk, then trotted, cantered, and finally settled down into a 
 gallop, which was kept up to the end of the stage. In Russia 
 they always seem to go off best pace at once, and so it was on 
 this occasion. Very pleasant travelling it was, gliding swiftly 
 over the smooth snow, so long as the more or less level land 
 lasted, but long it did not last, and after a very few versts had 
 been eaten up the descent began in earnest. 
 
 Just as on the other side of the mountain, there was snow, 
 nothing but blinding snow above, below, and all around. The 
 track looked like a little thread curling round the sides of the 
 hills. Always at full speed we whizzed along it, the runners 
 throwing up the powdered snow like spray from the cutwater of 
 a steamer. 
 
 As the sun rose and drew up the mists from the depths 
 below, the scene became one of almost indescribable grandeur. 
 
340 DRIVING. 
 
 The features of the mountains were colossal, and as to distances 
 they were impossible to estimate even approximately. At the 
 altitude that we were, and in such clear pure atmosphere, the 
 eye must have reached to an immense distance, but there was 
 nothing to judge it by. At times a precipice of rock that the 
 snow could not cling to showed on the opposite side of a valley 
 and broke the monotony of the dazzling white : but how far 
 off was it? Was it a mile, or two miles, or three? It was 
 impossible to say, for there was no tree, no object of known 
 size to form any standard of comparison. 
 
 All this time we were descending very rapidly, and it was 
 distinctly advantageous to the nerves that we were passing 
 through scenes so nearly approaching to the sublime, for the 
 study of affairs close at hand was not exactly quieting. 
 
 It is true that the little box we sat in pretty well fitted the 
 track, and the sure-footed horses rarely stumbled, but, at the 
 pace we went, whenever the sleigh came to a turn the runners 
 ceased to bite and we skidded off sideways in the most dis- 
 agreeable proximity to the edge of the slope. The average 
 width of the track may have been about three feet, but at the 
 sharp corners where our demon driver ' chanced ' the turns, it 
 had been worn out to a breadth of as many yards by the skid- 
 ding of other sleighs. 
 
 At points of rock or very sharp turns indeed the isvostschik 
 condescended for a moment to slacken speed, but it was only 
 for an instant, and as soon as his shaft horse was round the 
 corner, with a shout and vicious whack of his whip, he was off 
 again. Often, as we galloped along the side of a more than 
 usually precipitous hill, I craned over the edge to see where 
 we should go to ' in case,' but it was of no use. One could see 
 sheer down much farther than was necessary for any practical 
 purpose, and then the mist put an end to any more speculation. 
 To test the distance between ourselves and the abyss I put out 
 my hand and found that it would reach beyond the little barrier 
 of snow, some few inches high, that formed the only protection, 
 and then thought it far better again to turn my attention to 
 
SLEIGHING, 341 
 
 other subjects. This was not difficult with such a wealth of 
 novel beauty around us, and any sense of danger became dead- 
 ened at last by its monotonous recurrence. I think that we 
 changed horses somewhere after descending some thousands 
 of feet, but, while all the splendour of the scenery has remained 
 brightly stamped upon my mind, the details of the reckless 
 gallop have faded away. Probably there was more danger in 
 the day's work than we knew of. More than once we heard 
 the thunder of an avalanche in the distance, and the wild pace 
 may have been put on to get away from the higher altitudes 
 before the sun had loosened the overhanging masses. When 
 lower down we were comparatively safe, and eventually we 
 reached Vladi Kavkass without the slightest mishap. Thither in 
 due course the tarantass followed, and was again put upon its 
 wheels. The snow had melted from the steppes and left the 
 soft mud bare. Sleighing was at an end, and for the next five 
 weeks we struggled through endless difficulties to Moscow. 
 
 Some years passed before I saw sleighing in all its glory in 
 midwinter at St. Petersburg. Winter is the season in that gay 
 capital, and the Newski Prospect on a fine bright January after- 
 noon presents a sight that is not easily forgotten, and one that 
 is full of interest to all lovers of horse and harness. Every 
 possible variety of sleigh and sledge is to be seen there, from 
 the brilliant equipage of the Court to the rudimentary contri- 
 vance on which the peasant brings his huge block of ice. 
 
 The horses are quite as varied in appearance and quality as 
 the vehicles they draw. The animal that most fills the eye is 
 the big black trotter that comes from the Don Cossack country. 
 It is a large bony beast, somewhat coarse-looking to the 
 English eye, but possessed of fine free action, great power, 
 strength and endurance. Its hind action is particularly re- 
 markable, and the way in which a good specimen of the breed 
 flexes its hocks when going at speed is quite a picture. ' These 
 big blacks are generally driven in the small sleighs singly, and 
 sometimes in pairs in the larger class. 
 
 For the troikas, or three-horse sleighs, a smaller sort of 
 
342 DRIVING, 
 
 horse is used, and the troika is perhaps more typically Russian 
 than any of the many other forms of conveyance. 
 
 The three horses are harnessed abreast ; the centre one is 
 in the shafts beneath the yoke that in its way does duty for 
 hames and carries the inevitable bell. His business is to trot, 
 no matter at what pace. The outer horses, with their heads 
 turned outwards and far back, must always gallop, and the 
 more their heads are twisted round and the less they can see 
 in front of them the more correct their deportment is supposed 
 to be. Perhaps the original idea was that, by making the 
 horses look outwards, they better avoided the dangerous edges 
 of the road, and passing vehicles. 
 
 At High Mall on the Newski there are always certain equi- 
 pages to be seen that attract the greatest amount of admira- 
 tion and criticism. To whom they belong is not always known 
 of all men, but they vie with one another in the faultlessness of 
 their turn-out. First the splendid trotters attract the eye, then 
 the gorgeous isvostschik in square gold-laced cap, bearded to 
 the eyes and begirt with a smart sash around his furred caftan : 
 both arms well out, a lap of the reins round each wrist, and a 
 ' short Tommy ' depending from the right one. 
 
 Of the fair occupant of the sleigh but little is generally to 
 be seen. Perhaps two bright eyes and a little nose, slightly 
 reddened, it may be, by keen biting air, peep between a sable 
 cap and the collar of a priceless shouba, the rest of the figure 
 being concealed beneath a wealth of furs. There is only time 
 for a glance and then the swift trotters whirl the vision far away. 
 
 No Russian ever thinks of going outside the house even in 
 very moderate weather without the warmest covering, and yet 
 the temperature of the air that must be breathed seems to be 
 a matter of absolute indifference. Ladies will leave the most 
 stifling ball-room and, enveloped in their furs, will drive home 
 in their sleighs with the thermometer standing at any number 
 of degrees below zero, and to men the use of a closed carriage 
 seems to be unknown except for long journeys. 
 
 Amongst the jeunesse doree of St. Petersburg a favourite, 
 
SLEIGHING. 343 
 
 and certainly a very agreeable, way of finishing an evening 
 again brings sleighs into requisition. After a long and joyous 
 dinner, when most subjects of conversation have been threshed 
 out, even by such admirable ciuseurs, and a temporary cooling 
 process is deemed to be advisable, sundry troikas, according 
 to the number of the party, are ordered from establishments 
 known to possess the swiftest teams. As soon as they are an- 
 nounced a fortifier against the night air is swallowed, and the 
 party distributes itself amongst the sleighs. The point to be 
 reached is a winter garden in the suburbs. The passengers 
 are in the highest possible spirits, the horses roaring with 
 impatience, the streets are comparatively clear, and the isvost- 
 schiks only too eager to earn a good pourboire for furious 
 driving. When all are settled in their places and the desti- 
 nation has been explained, the signal is given and away goes 
 the whole party to a flying start and at the wildest speed, 
 the drivers shouting and stamping, and the horses scampering 
 as if they had been fed upon wodka, the youths of the party 
 meanwhile laughing and chaffing each other until there is 
 as merry a noise as the sedate inhabitants of the early-to-bed 
 quarters of the town possibly care to hear. Somehow or other 
 all arrive safely at the goal, the winner of the race not being a 
 matter of any great importance, and perhaps difficult to deter- 
 mine in the absence of a competent judge. 
 
 Then the muffled-up figures get extricated from the 
 sleighs, grope their way through the fog caused by the crowd of 
 smoking horses, and leave the cold and darkness of the night for 
 the thoroughly well-warmed and brilliantly lighted conservatory 
 restaurant. Then amongst the palms, ferns and verdure of all 
 kinds, comes the inevitable supper, and something very unfore- 
 seen must happen if the horses outside have not ample time to 
 rest and cool before being called upon to gallop home again. 
 
 Another very amusing but somewhat more sedate sleighing 
 party is occasionally given by the Master of the Horse to 
 members of the Court and a few fortunate retainers. It be- 
 gins with a luncheon at his palace, and when that has been 
 
342 DRIVING, 
 
 horse is used, and the troika is perhaps more typically Russian 
 than any of the many other forms of conveyance. 
 
 The three horses are harnessed abreast ; the centre one is 
 in the shafts beneath the yoke that in its way does duty for 
 hames and carries the inevitable bell. His business is to trot, 
 no matter at what pace. The outer horses, with their heads 
 turned outwards and far back, must always gallop, and the 
 more their heads are twisted round and the less they can see 
 in front of them the more correct their deportment is supposed 
 to be. Perhaps the original idea was that, by making the 
 horses look outwards, they better avoided the dangerous edges 
 of the road, and passing vehicles. 
 
 At High Mall on the Newski there are always certain equi- 
 pages to be seen that attract the greatest amount of admira- 
 tion and criticism. To whom they belong is not always known 
 of all men, but they vie with one another in the faultlessness of 
 their turn-out. First the splendid trotters attract the eye, then 
 the gorgeous isvostschik in square gold-laced cap, bearded to 
 the eyes and begirt with a smart sash around his furred caftan : 
 both arms well out, a lap of the reins round each wrist, and a 
 ' short Tommy ' depending from the right one. 
 
 Of the fair occupant of the sleigh but little is generally to 
 be seen. Perhaps two bright eyes and a little nose, slightly 
 reddened, it may be, by keen biting air, peep between a sable 
 cap and the collar of a priceless shouba, the rest of the figure 
 being concealed beneath a wealth of furs. There is only time 
 for a glance and then the swift trotters whirl the vision far away. 
 
 No Russian ever thinks of going outside the house even in 
 very moderate weather without the warmest covering, and yet 
 the temperature of the air that must be breathed seems to be 
 a matter of absolute indifference. Ladies will leave the most 
 stifling ball-room and, enveloped in their furs, will drive home 
 in their sleighs with the thermometer standing at any number 
 of degrees below zero, and to men the use of a closed carriage 
 seems to be unknown except for long journeys. 
 
 Amongst the jeunesse doree of St. Petersburg a favourite, 
 
SLEIGHING. 343 
 
 and certainly a very agreeable, way of finishing an evening 
 again brings sleighs into requisition. After a long and joyous 
 dinner, when most subjects of conversation have been threshed 
 out, even by such admirable causeurs, and a temporary cooling 
 process is deemed to be advisable, sundry troikas, according 
 to the number of the party, are ordered from establishments 
 known to possess the swiftest teams. As soon as they are an- 
 nounced a fortifier against the night air is swallowed, and the 
 party distributes itself amongst the sleighs. The point to be 
 reached is a winter garden in the suburbs. The passengers 
 are in the highest possible spirits, the horses roaring with 
 impatience, the streets are comparatively clear, and the isvost- 
 schiks only too eager to earn a good pourboire for furious 
 driving. When all are settled in their places and the desti- 
 nation has been explained, the signal is given and away goes 
 the whole party to a flying start and at the wildest speed, 
 the drivers shouting and stamping, and the horses scampering 
 as if they had been fed upon wodka, the youths^ of the party 
 meanwhile laughing and chaffing each other until there is 
 as merry a noise as the sedate inhabitants of the early-to-bed 
 quarters of the town possibly care to hear. Somehow or other 
 all arrive safely at the goal, the winner of the race not being a 
 matter of any great importance, and perhaps difficult to deter- 
 mine in the absence of a competent judge. 
 
 Then the muffled-up figures get extricated from the 
 sleighs, grope their way through the fog caused by the crowd of 
 smoking horses, and leave the cold and darkness of the night for 
 the thoroughly well-warmed and brilliantly lighted conservatory 
 restaurant. Then amongst the palms, ferns and verdure of all 
 kinds, comes the inevitable supper, and something very unfore- 
 seen must happen if the horses outside have not ample time to 
 rest and cool before being called upon to gallop home again. 
 
 Another very amusing but somewhat more sedate sleighing 
 party is occasionally given by the Master of the Horse to 
 members of the Court and a few fortunate retainers. It be- 
 gins with a luncheon at his palace, and when that has been 
 
344 DRIVING. 
 
 done honour to a huge sleigh that holds a dozen people, and is 
 drawn by as many horses, is brought to the door. The notables 
 of the party take their places therein, and the others bestow 
 themselves in small sleighs that, as a rule, carry but one person, 
 but which with careful packing and at a pinch will hold two. 
 Then the expedition starts demurely for 'the Islands/ the 
 favourite summer resort of the St. Petersburg fashion. In 
 winter it is almost deserted. Once arrived at a circular open 
 space amongst the wood where passers-by are very rare, it seems 
 to be generally understood that a certain amount of reserve 
 may for the moment be put aside, and the proceedings begin 
 to be somewhat lively. The first result is that all the horses 
 are taken out of the small sleighs, which are then attached 
 by a rope to the big one in single file a la queue-leu-leu. 
 Then the huge machine starts off round and round the cir- 
 cle as quickly as its dozen horses can gallop, with its tail of 
 smaller fry in tow ; the fun of the thing and the avowed 
 object being to see if sufficient pace can be attained to swing 
 some or all of the small sleighs off the track and scatter them 
 and their occupants in the soft snow outside. Whether the 
 experiment be successful or not, it is sure to be followed, as 
 soon as the horses can gallop no more, by a wild game of 
 snow-balling, and that by something exceedingly like what we 
 should call a bear-fight, a name that has no particular sense 
 with us, but which might have been invented to describe such 
 a romp amongst the snow and fir-trees. 
 
 When nearly every member of the party has been made to 
 look like a snow-man and has no more breath left in his body, 
 the fun perforce ceases, and when toilettes have been repaired 
 and original colour restored to the outer garments, the horses 
 are re-harnessed and the party returns gravely to the town. 
 
 There is no pleasanter capital than St. Petersburg in the 
 winter. There are no more agreeable comrades nor firmer 
 friends than those once made amongst the Russian noblesse, 
 and there are certainly few more exhilarating pastimes than 
 sleighing in such good company. 
 
345 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 MODERN CARRIAGES. 
 
 BY GEORGE N. HOOPER, 
 
 President of the Instit^lte of British Carriage Mamifactiirers ; Member of 
 the Council of the London Chamber of Commerce. 
 
 MUCH has been written of late years on this subject, but as 
 most of the information is strictly technical, and is widely 
 scattered, it is proposed to place before the reader a resume of 
 the subject, mainly from a popular point of view,~and chiefly 
 extending over the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, and 
 the period that has witnessed the introduction of travelling by 
 railways and tramways ; for these agencies have been the main 
 factors in the necessary changes that have taken place, by 
 reason of the absolute revolution in land locomotion. 
 
 The design, construction, and weight of carriages must, in 
 almost every case, depend greatly on the state of the roads 
 over which they are to be used ; and the coachmaker, however 
 clever, scientific, practical, or artistic he may be, must inevitably 
 sooner or later adapt his work to the wants of his supporters. 
 In the interest of himself and others, the sooner he realises 
 the fact, the better for all concerned. From the first introduc- 
 tion of carriages into England they had to be made to use on 
 the roads (or no roads) that were available, and from the time 
 of Charles II,, when they became an ordinary article of manu- 
 facture, till the time of George III., when Englishmen woke 
 up to the advantages of good roads, the progress in the art of 
 carriage-building was slow, notwithstanding the efforts of the 
 
348 DRIVING. 
 
 and mail coaches, letters being now carried with greater speed 
 and safety in four-horse coaches, instead of as in former times 
 in saddle-bags by mounted postmen. Highwaymen and foot- 
 pads had been almost driven off the. road, partly by arming 
 the guards of the coaches carrying the mails, and by a more 
 speedy administration of justice on offenders. The less fre- 
 quent breakdown of coaches on the improved roads, and the 
 more rapid pace of travelling, also rendered the highwayman's 
 calling more uncertain. 
 
 During the reigns of Georges III. and IV. it was the custom 
 to serve out the new scarlet and gold-laced liveries to the 
 drivers and guards of the royal mail-coaches on the King's 
 birthday, and the coaches were driven in procession through 
 the London streets. It was a pretty sight, that Londoners 
 dearly loved ; they turned out in large numbers to admire and 
 criticise the horses, men, and coaches, and there was great emu- 
 lation among all concerned in obtaining a favourable opinion 
 from those who were proud of them, and almost gloried in their 
 achievements and the punctual performance of their duties. 
 
 At the commencement of the reign of Her Majesty Queen 
 Victoria, travelling on English roads had undergone a vast 
 change ; posting for the upper classes, and stage-coach travel- 
 ling by the middle classes, had reached a punctuality and 
 perfection that could hardly have been imagined a genera- 
 tion or two before. Working men travelled from town to town 
 (always on foot) in search of employment, acquiring an amount 
 of knowledge and experience they could not otherwise have 
 obtained. 
 
 At this time, the great day for seeing and being seen in 
 one's carriage was Sunday, and on a fine Sunday afternoon the 
 road from the Marble Arch to Hyde Park Corner was filled 
 with the chariots, coaches, landaus, barouches, britzskas and 
 cabriolets of the nobility and gentry of England who spent the 
 season in London, and on other afternoons the same road was 
 almost as well filled with hundreds of well-appointed carriages 
 of the same class. 
 
MODERN CARRIAGES. 349 
 
 So great a fascination did the art of four-horse driving at 
 this time possess for gentlemen of the upper classes, that many 
 practised it under the expert and experienced drivers of mail 
 and stage coaches, and often ended by excelling these pro- 
 fessionals in rapid, skilful, and exact driving, and knowledge 
 of the habits, tempers, and qualities of the teams, so that their 
 establishments of horses and carriages derived many advantages 
 from the knowledge they had acquired on the road. 
 
 Hobson greatly improved the two-wheel gigs of his time, 
 and Tilbury invented the pretty vehicle that bears his name, 
 and was greatly in fashion among the young men. 
 
 The travelling carriages of the nobility and gentry had 
 received great attention, and had been immensely improved, 
 so much so, that the best of them were used for very long 
 journeys through England and Scotland, and across the 
 continent of Europe from Calais to Rome, Calais to Vienna 
 or other distant capitals, requiring only the renewal of the 
 worn iron tires of the wheels, and new soling the drag- 
 shoes as they became worn by the contact with the road. 
 
 When Her Majesty and the late Prince Consort built a 
 castle for themselves in the highlands of Scotland, they had 
 still nearly a hundred miles of road to travel from the nearest 
 railway station at Aberdeen. The Royal travelling carriages 
 were old but sound, and it was not worth while to build new 
 ones that might not long be wanted : accordingly the then 
 Crown Equerry (the late George Lewis, Esq.) would year by 
 year have the old vehicles carefully overhauled by the most 
 trusted and careful of the Court coachmakers of his day. A 
 number of men, equivalent to the weights to be carried on the 
 journey, were placed inside the body and on the outside seats ; 
 they rocked and swayed the carriage up and down, to test to 
 the utmost the steel springs, they examined the leather braces, 
 and the strapping, the steps, doors, glasses, blinds, and all the 
 multitude of etceteras that might fail on the road. Exact 
 lists were made on the spot of every large and small repair 
 that was needed, the drag-shoes were put in their places to 
 
350 DRIVING. 
 
 ascertain that the soles were thick and strong enough, and 
 the chains the proper length for service not too long nor 
 too short the tool-boxes were opened and ransacked, to 
 ascertain if every necessary tool was there, with spare clips 
 and bolts and strong cord. In fact, nothing was left un- 
 examined even to the packets of nails and screws, and an 
 exact estimate of cost had to be submitted before the carriages 
 left the royal mews, and the order was given to proceed with 
 the work. With such an organisation and such precautions, 
 the old carriages conveyed their precious charges safely, and 
 no unnecessary expense was incurred under conditions of 
 transition in the manner of travelling. 
 
 At the time when the Emperor Napoleon III. was in the 
 height of his prosperity, many of his best carriages were made 
 in London : they were copied in Paris, where the adoption of 
 London fashions did much to improve French carriages. 
 
 In any Imperial gala procession the Imperial coachmaker 
 accompanied the procession on horseback, in a well-appointed 
 and handsome uniform, attended by his workmen (suitably 
 clad in gala dresses) in case their services were required. It 
 is probable that the general public were quite ignorant of the 
 reason for their presence. In fact, they were the counterparts 
 of the breakdown gang, held available by modern railway 
 companies in case of accidents on the line. 
 
 The contrivances for comfort, safety, and conveyance of 
 luggage had attained a perfection that was greatly appreciated 
 by well-to-do travellers. Capacious and neatly fitted boxes, 
 with covers to exclude rain and dust, were carried on the 
 roofs of closed carriages ; some were placed under the cushions, 
 others in and on the front boot. At the back of the rumble 
 that carried servants behind, a capacious cap-case contained 
 ladies' bonnets and head-gear, while a row of hat-boxes was 
 attached behind the upper part of the rumble ; two wells, 
 secured to the bottom of the carriage, contained provisions, 
 accessible from trap-doors in the carriage flooring ; the sword- 
 case projecting from the back of the body (easily accessible 
 
MODERN CARRIAGES. 351 
 
 from the interior) contained arms for those inside the carriage, 
 while the courier was provided with pistols placed in holsters 
 at his side of the rumble. The front of the body was furnished 
 with a folding sunshade and Venetian blinds with movable 
 laths for sultry weather ; spring curtains kept off the sun's rays, 
 and a lamp with one or two candles, fixed at the back of the 
 carriage, lighted the interior ; the heat, burnt air, and smoke 
 of the wax candles passing away outside the carriage. Some 
 of these elaborate private carriages were provided with dormeuse 
 boots, and from them could be developed beds affording 
 accommodation for sleeping during night journeys. Veritably 
 Pullman's sleeping cars were anticipated, and in use long 
 before he was heard of. 
 
 Some of the most complete, compact, and hardworking 
 of these noted travelling carriages were used by the king's 
 messengers to his ambassadors in foreign capitals. The 
 safe custody and rapid delivery of important Government 
 despatches from one end of Europe to another entailed great 
 responsibility and care on the part of those entrusted with 
 them. These messengers were generally retired military or 
 naval officers, or other hardy and adventurous gentlemen. 
 Occasionally, the incessant and continuous rapid travelling of 
 many days was so exhausting, that they had to be lifted out of 
 their carriages on reaching their distant destination. In very hot 
 or very inclement weather their suffering was sometimes acute. 
 
 These carriages were provided with strong safety ropes 
 under the body, extending from one C-spring to another, in 
 case a much-worn leather spring brace should break at an 
 inconvenient place or time, and arrest further progress : they 
 were also provided with two drag-shoes and chains, and in 
 addition a wheel-hook and chain, in case a bad piece of road 
 should displace one or both of the drag-shoes ; also a drag-staff 
 to let down in ascending an Alpine road, to prevent a jibbing 
 horse, or one with sore shoulders, from backing, and sending the 
 carriage, its occupants, horses, and servants, down a precipice. 
 In addition, there was a box (or tool budget) provided with 
 
'a, 
 3 si eft 
 
MODERN CARRIAGES. 353 
 
 all necessary tools, with spare bolts and clips incase of a break- 
 down in the open country ; and a good courier was expected to 
 be able to use the tools effectively, to replace a broken bolt 
 or secure a broken tire with a tire-clip. 
 
 Carriages for continental travelling had always to be provided 
 with loose swinging splintrees attached to the splinter-bar so 
 that each horse pulled from a centre easing the horse's collar, 
 but rendering accurate guidance more difficult and less precise 
 than when the traces are attached to fixed splinter-bars, as is 
 usual in England where, consequently, with ordinary care, 
 collisions were less frequent, by reason of greater certainty in 
 steering. 
 
 The couriers who accompanied noblemen and great 
 families on their continental journeys were almost invariably 
 foreigners Swiss, Italian, German, or French. They required 
 a combination of qualities to perform their duties to the comfort 
 and satisfaction of their employers, for on the good management 
 and knowledge of this functionary depended much "of the pleasure 
 of a continental ramble. It was, of course, necessary that he 
 should speak three or four languages, if not to perfection, at least 
 so as to be well understood in the roadside inns and hotels. 
 He had to organise the route, the length of the day's journey, 
 provide for punctual relays of post-horses, order rooms at hotels 
 beforehand, if his party were large, settle the bills, pay all 
 expenses on the road, and duly render periodical accounts of 
 the money supplied to him. With a bachelor employer his 
 duties were comparatively light, but with a large party his re- 
 sponsibilities were heavy, though diminished somewhat if his 
 employers were considerate. 
 
 If a long tour were arranged for, and there were a large pro- 
 portion of ladies who entered much into society and gaiety, the 
 baggage was proportionately extensive, and would be carried in 
 a compact fourgon, half carriage, half van, the fore part having 
 a cabriolet body with folding hood, carrying the courier and 
 lady's-maid, while in the rear were tiers of neatly numbered 
 and arranged wooden boxes, the leather-covered imperials, 
 
 A A 
 
354 DRIVING. 
 
 hat-cases, or portmanteaus, being put outside and protected 
 with a capacious waterproof tarpaulin cover. 
 
 This vehicle often preceded the party in the family coach, 
 landau, or britzska, by some hours, so that, on their arrival 
 at the hotel chosen, all was comfortably arranged for their 
 reception. 
 
 But this was not the only manner of travelling, although it 
 was that usual with the wealthy nobility and gentry of England. 
 On the Continent the system of posting was conducted in a 
 way which differed from the English plan ; for while, in this 
 country it was left to private enterprise, abroad it had been 
 organised as a sort of semi-state affair, with regulated tariffs. 
 Post-horses were supplemented, however, by private enterprise 
 of a convenient kind. 
 
 The Italians had a class of ' vetturini ' who owned carriages 
 and post-horses, and were ready to drive you from Naples 
 to Paris, or anywhere else, at short notice, if terms could be 
 arranged to suit both parties. 
 
 There was less responsibility, but at the same time less 
 comfort, with such an arrangement ; for the owner of the 
 carriage and horses was master, and, to a certain extent, para- 
 mount on the journey. 
 
 In England post-horses and post-carriages could be had at 
 the town hotels and at the country inns, and were invariably 
 attached to houses of entertainment, the charge per mile 
 being regulated much by the gradients and conditions of the 
 neighbouring roads. The innkeepers as a body were enter- 
 prising, proud of their horses' condition, harness, speed, and 
 punctuality; the public carriages (mail and stage coaches) 
 mostly belonged to them, and they kept up a keen competition 
 among themselves, especially as regards speed of journeys, and 
 fares for travelling. The best coaches were run on the roads 
 leading north and west of London ; to York, Manchester, 
 Liverpool, Bristol, Exeter, and Plymouth. So remarkable 
 was the punctuality, that although the guard with his London- 
 made watch brought the exact London time, many people 
 
MODERN CARRIAGES. 355 
 
 considered they could well set their clocks by the arrival of 
 the coach from London. 
 
 The box-seat next the coachman was considered a place 
 of honour, generally reserved for some local magnate, if it 
 was known that he intended to travel by the coach. Fre- 
 quent contact and conversation with highly-educated gentlemen 
 was a training to these coachmen, softening and refining their 
 rougher natures, and polishing off their angularities of character ; 
 they were looked up to and consulted on many matters, 
 and the consideration bestowed on them as a class attracted 
 more cultivated men to the calling than would otherwise 
 have presented themselves. The isolation of the drivers 
 on the public conveyances of the Continent, while driving, 
 tended always to keep them among the peasant class, from 
 whom they came. At this time one of the travelling carriages 
 common on the roads of France was the heavy two- wheel 
 cabriolet, hung on C-springs and leather braces behind, and 
 carrying four persons inside under the hood ;--ihe luggage 
 was roped on a board behind, and the rate of travelling was 
 about four miles an hour. In Cornwall, not a very great 
 many years ago, the public carriages consisted of light one- 
 horse covered vans travelling at about the same rate. 
 
 In France the through traffic on the high roads was carried 
 on by ' diligences ' and ' malle-postes,' the latter conveying the 
 mails, owned by companies under the patronage of the State, 
 starting from Paris and traversing the great roads to the frontiers 
 of Belgium, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and Spain. The 
 diligences were huge heavy conveyances of a type totally 
 different from the English ones, which were unlike those of all 
 other countries as regards lightness, compactness, and general 
 arrangement of seats ; for whereas the English carriages had 
 most of their passengers outside, the continental ones placed 
 most of theirs inside. This arrangement was probably 
 adopted by reason of the greater equability of our climate, the 
 summer not being so hot, nor the winter so cold, as in most 
 continental states. 
 
356 DRIVING. 
 
 In France the first front portion was the coupe, carrying 
 three persons, looking on the horses and exposed to the dust, 
 mud, smell, and neighing of the great stallions usually em- 
 ployed. Next came the berline (or coach proper), carrying six 
 inside transversely, and face to face ; after this came the 
 rotonde, or omnibus, carrying eight persons, also sitting face 
 to face, but on each side as an omnibus. The banquette 
 was on the roof of the coupe, and carried three or four persons, 
 protected from the weather by a leather hood, with folding 
 glass windows in front. 
 
 On the floor of this was carried treasure heavy sacks of 
 silver five-franc pieces, being consigned to bankers or for 
 making payments in connection with the business of the 
 'diligence' company, and sadly incommoding the feet and legs 
 of travellers on a long journey. The fares varied in respect of 
 place. i. The coupe ; 2. berline ; 3. rotonde ; 4. banquette. 
 The last, affording the best view and most fresh air, generally 
 attracted young Englishmen on their travels. 
 
 Screw-breaks, to retard the speed of the carriage down 
 mountain roads, were general on the French carriages long 
 before they were taken up in England the steep Alpine 
 gradients probably led to their use. The journey from Paris 
 to Geneva would occupy three days and two nights, the 
 longest rest being at Dijon ; a halt of twenty to thirty minutes 
 was made at intervals for meals, and the horses were generally 
 changed very rapidly. The diligence leaving Paris early on 
 Monday morning reached Geneva on Wednesday night. 
 
 The same guard (or 'conducteur') would go through, getting 
 down from his seat on the banquette at every change of horses, 
 sleeping as he could at intervals ; but the driver, a peasant in 
 a blue linen suit, would drive his team of five horses one stage, 
 and be replaced by another, so that on such a journey there 
 may have been sixty different drivers, each driving about an hour. 
 
 Five horses was the regulation allowance for such a dili- 
 gence, which, besides the passengers, carried a large quantity of 
 luggage on the roof behind the banquette, and over the berline 
 
MODERN CARRIAGES. 357 
 
 and the rotonde. There were two wheelers, and three leaders, 
 driven from a high box, supported by strong iron stays in front 
 of the banquette, about half-way forward over the backs of 
 the wheelers. The driver held little conversation with the 
 guard, and none whatever with the passengers. He was ill 
 clad and ill protected from the cold at night fortunately for 
 him, his exposure rarely exceeded an hour. In former times 
 the near-side wheeler was ridden by a gaily-uniformed postilion, 
 with high and heavy jackboots and a cocked hat, who managed 
 the team of five horses ; but probably from motives of economy 
 he was afterwards replaced by a more humble and less costly 
 successor. The horse-collars were of great size and weight, 
 and fitted well; the traces were nearly always of rope, but 
 neither the harness nor carriages were so well cleaned and 
 kept up as in England. 
 
 But there were two accessories, one appertaining to each 
 country, that differed entirely : the whip, and the coach-horn 
 (or 'yard of tin,' as it was sometimes familiarly called). 
 
 The English coachman carried in his right hand a work 
 of art in a neat, jaunty, highly-finished whip with a thong 
 skilfully plaited, and he used it with grace, sometimes with an 
 elegant flourish just enough to remind a highly bred-horse that 
 he was not doing his best, or to remove a troublesome fly ; at 
 other times with resolution, to chastise a sluggard who wished 
 his mate to do all the pulling, while he trotted along with a 
 loose collar and traces. 
 
 The French driver carried an elastic stick with a long and 
 taper thong, but he had a marvellous knack of so using his 
 whip on entering a town, as to imitate the detonation of per- 
 cussion caps, and so announce his arrival. The English guard 
 cleared the road of a sleeping waggoner by a blast or octave on 
 his long copper horn, but in so merry and pleasant a way as to 
 cheer all hearts, and many were the children in the towns who 
 turned out to greet the coach. 
 
 In Germany the eil- and schnellwagen performed the duties 
 of keeping up communications on the roads, but the service was 
 
358 DRIVING. 
 
 greatly. in the hands of the Prince of Turn and Taxis, who 
 for some reason in a former age had been granted a sort of 
 monopoly. If the postilions of the olden time in France 
 were gay in colours, the German postilions were gayer still : 
 some wore canary-coloured suits, others blue, with a multi- 
 tude of gold-coloured tassels, aiguillettes and white plaited orna- 
 ments, resplendent with buttons, buckles, and head-gear, and 
 some in scarlet. But neither the French nor German service 
 was so rapid as the English ; for the vehicles were heavier, 
 the breed of horses coarser, and the men not animated with 
 the desire to show off to advantage, as was the case in England. 
 
 In Switzerland a light narrow four-wheeled vehicle differing 
 from those of all other countries was in general use. It is difficult 
 to describe to the uninitiated, and somewhat doubtful whether 
 an English coachmaker could make one from any written 
 description, though he might do so had he a full-sized working 
 drawing made by one who had graduated in any of the good 
 modern technical schools, such as we now have in England. 
 
 Its name was a char-a-cote, and the body was like that of a 
 tilbury ; but, instead of carrying two persons, it carried three 
 instead of going forward like a tilbury, it was suspended on 
 four wheels coupled together by two elastic poles, the body 
 being fixed sideways ; the driver sat * somewhere,' probably on 
 the higgage over the front wheels, if there was any ; if not, then 
 on the head of the perch-bolt, his face on a level with the 
 horse's hind-quarters, and his feet dangling close to the sur- 
 face of the road ; luggage was also carried on a board between 
 the hind wheels. There was a fixed panelled head over the 
 seat part of the body, and with a leather apron, a step and 
 a pair of shafts, the trap was complete absolutely but not 
 perfect, as some of our readers may have found out to their 
 cost, in days gone by. It was generally so suspended that the 
 passengers entered the carriage and looked out on the near 
 (or left) side, which was all very well if the view on a mountain 
 road was on that side ; but it sometimes happened that the 
 view nearly all day long was on the right side of the road, and 
 
MODERN CARRIAGES. 359 
 
 in that case the travellers had to admire as best they could 
 the walls of rock close to which they travelled. 
 
 There were, nevertheless, some advantages on the score 
 of safety in these long narrow carriages, for they cleared one 
 another on the somewhat narrow mountain roads of Switzer- 
 land, and this is not always the case with the modern and wider 
 carriages now in common use in that country. 
 
 When the Swiss engineers laid out the improved roads 
 of their country, they did not foresee that Switzerland would 
 sooner or later be compelled to move with the times, and to 
 bear on her roads the carriages of other countries, as well as 
 the little narrow ones common to their own, and the passing of 
 ordinary vehicles on the narrow mountain roads requires the 
 utmost care to avoid accidents. One hears of omnibuses, 
 diligences, private carriages, and carts toppling down the preci- 
 pices by reason of collisions, horses taking fright, jibbing, and 
 other causes, and fortunate are the occupants if they ever again 
 alive, or not seriously injured for life reach jhe road from 
 which they fell. 
 
 Passing through the Engadine from St. Mauritz to Finster- 
 munz, and slowly climbing the mountain-side to the Austrian 
 territory at Nauders, after passing for many miles along the 
 narrow roads and tortuous narrow main streets of the Swiss 
 villages, one almost suddenly emerges on the wide and truly 
 imperial roads of Austria, laid out with a width, boldness, 
 and grandeur that are in great contrast to those left behind. 
 Perhaps (and probably) they are roads of a later date, and laid 
 out by men who were aware of the difficulties and dangers of 
 the adjoining narrower roads. 
 
 A few words more, and we have done with the roads and 
 carriages of continental Europe. In Russia they have the 
 ' tarantass ' and the 'kibitka.' In Norway tourists travel in a 
 carriole that only carries one person, and has a board behind 
 for luggage, shafts for a hardy little horse, a pair of springs and 
 two wheels. 
 
 The Irish, like the Swiss, have carriages unlike those of 
 
360 . DRIVING. 
 
 any other nation. The outside car, so common in the land 
 itself, has made little way elsewhere. It may roughly be de- 
 scribed as a dog-cart body hung sideways, but the similitude 
 goes no further, for it is suspended on a pair of low wheels 
 which revolve inside, or rather under the body. The seats are 
 provided with cushions and stuffed backs, and the footboards 
 turn up when not in use. The driver sometimes sits on a 
 separate seat in front, and at other times on one of the side seats. 
 
 'Advised to hold on.' 
 
 To ride on or drive an Irish car requires a certain amount of 
 teaching, training, or practice. Visitors from other countries 
 are very apt to be thrown off into the road, if the driver is 
 humorous, or lively, and turns a street corner quickly ; any 
 stranger who rides on an Irish car ought to be advised to hold 
 fast, and not relax his hold till he has safely ended his drive. 
 
 Ireland was much indebted to the enterprise of an Italian 
 named Bianconi, who had settled in one of the small towns> 
 and gradually overspread the country with a regular service of 
 
MODERN CARRIAGES. 361 
 
 two and four wheel cars, well horsed and organised. Many of 
 the latter were drawn by four horses driven from a high seat, 
 and enabled travellers to see the country to advantage. They 
 were all, however, open carriages, and exposed the travellers to 
 the full influence of the rainy climate of the Emerald Isle. 
 
 American ingenuity has for many years been directed to 
 carriages, and with the object of precisely adapting means to 
 ends, but with some remarkable contrasts in design, construc- 
 tion, proportion, and finish. 
 
 Many Englishmen have from time to time seen the light 
 spider phaetons that have been brought over to England ; but 
 in 1887, during the American Exhibition at West Kensington, 
 people had the opportunity for the first time of seeing a genuine 
 American stage coach. This was the * Deadwood ' coach, 
 daily and nightly attacked by Colonel Cody's party of wild 
 Indians in the ' Buffalo Bill ' performances. 
 
 It may surprise our readers to hear that similar coaches may 
 still be seen in New York, where they are used for journeys 
 outside the city, to places not served by railways. They are 
 neither like an English stage coach, French diligence, nor German 
 schnellwagen. They have no springs, but the coach bodies are 
 suspended on perch carriages with leather braces of heavy make 
 and proportions, and seem to answer the purpose intended. 
 
 The reason of the very heavy stage-coach and very light 
 ordinary road vehicles is consistent, strange as the assertion 
 may appear at first sight. It happened that at a particular 
 period of development in the United States railways and tram- 
 ways were made in advance of ordinary roads, and it was never 
 found to be worth the expense of developing the latter, as had 
 been done in Europe, for twenty or thirty years before railways 
 became general. This will probably happen in all new countries 
 and colonies, where facility of communication is extended on 
 the system that has found favour in America. It therefore 
 follows that carriages &c. drawn by horses would always (or 
 nearly always) be used on rough and ill-kept roads, and would 
 have to be made to suit the conditions available for traffic. 
 
362 DRIVING. 
 
 To carry heavy loads on bad roads it has been found in 
 America, as in Europe, that the carriages must be strong and 
 weighty ; but for light loads, light carriages, hung low between 
 light and high wheels, do the work required in a satisfactory way. 
 But it must not be expected that such carriages provide all 
 the comfort and convenience of European carriages which have 
 been criticised, improved, and remodelled time after time and 
 year after year by all the makers of Europe, who have competed 
 among themselves for nearly forty years at numerous great 
 international and other exhibitions. 
 
 Changes of ideas, tastes, and fashions take place in most 
 countries, and although thirty years ago European carriages 
 taken to the States were condemned by reason of their weight, 
 that is not so now, for as the upper classes of Americans came 
 over to Europe in thousands and travelled not only over the 
 most accessible but over remoter parts, they found that the 
 European types of carriages had so many merits and advan- 
 tages, that they bought and ordered them freely, and took them 
 home for ordinary use in their own country. 
 
 To such an extent did this happen, that the coachmakers 
 of America had to adapt their work to the altered tastes of 
 American buyers, and one now sees in New York, in Chicago, 
 and in the cities on the Pacific coast, that London taste prevails! 
 as regards carriage fashions. 
 
 About fifty years ago gigs on two wheels swarmed on the 
 suburban roads round London, mornings and evenings, for* 
 the bankers, merchants, and traders who lived in the outskirts, 
 drove up to their offices in the morning in their gigs, returning 
 in the same way in the evening. Where the establishment 
 was small and the gig the only carriage kept, the gig-house 
 built at the side of the residence was indispensable, and many 
 of these diminutive gig-houses may still be seen on some of 
 the roads leading into London, just as a few of the ' torch 
 extinguishers ' still remain in some of the older squares of 
 London, attached to the area railings one on each side of the 
 principal entrance reminding one of times when footmen. 
 
MODERN CARRIAGES. 363 
 
 carried torches, and ran beside the carriages, before London 
 had any lamps, gas, or electric lights. 
 
 Closely connected with carriages and roads were the inns 
 of former times, which have undergone almost as much change 
 in condition, use, and customs as the carriages we have been 
 considering. The inns, even in villages and small towns, had 
 to be used occasionally by the nobility, landed gentry, clergy, 
 professional men, and upper class of merchants and manu- 
 facturers in the course of their journeys, as well as by labour- 
 ing men, and were chiefly kept by steady, orderly, and hospitable 
 landlords and landladies, who prided themselves on their clean 
 linen, well -aired beds, and orderly households. The servants 
 had mostly been long in the same house, and knew the guests 
 personally, and in a friendly way. The cooking and pro- 
 visions, though plain, were fresh and wholesome. The landlord 
 brewed his own beer, and got credit or the reverse, according 
 to the result. The middle and lower classes relished their 
 home-brewed table beer or cider, while the upper classes kept 
 to orthodox port and sherry, there being little demand for 
 sparkling wines and claret. Of spirits there was but a moderate 
 demand, and then only as an occasional fillip, not to be 
 repeated till next day. With the withdrawal of the custom of 
 the upper and middle classes, the character of a large propor- 
 tion of such houses gradually fell, and many are now places 
 for the sale of drink lodging and other entertainment seems 
 now to be relegated to some other classes of the community. 
 
 Returning to the main purport of our chapter ; not very long 
 before the accession of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, hackney- 
 coaches were the only carriages plying for hire in the streets of 
 London. They were invariably the old family coaches of the 
 nobility and gentry, and frequently bore the arms, coronets, 
 and heraldic devices of their original noble owners. They 
 were, however, despoiled of their gorgeous hammercloths that 
 seated the coachman in front, and the carved stands that 
 supported one or two footmen behind in their former halcyon 
 days. They had their whip or full C- springs, leather braces 
 
364 DRIVING. 
 
 and perch, but the carpet was replaced with straw. The folding 
 iron steps were deprived of their soft carpets and trimmings, 
 and being uncovered showed their bare iron limbs ; the 
 windows rattled and let in rain and cold air. The hackney- 
 coachman was a man fond of his beer or gin, wearing a heavy 
 box coat with about ten cloth capes, one over the other ; en- 
 cumbered with the weight of his protection from rain and cold, 
 he was generally slow, seldom civil, and usually grumbled at 
 the fare given in return for service. Starting in a hackney- 
 coach was very different from hailing a modern London hansom 
 cab. Now, by raising an umbrella or walking-stick, you may 
 be off in thirty seconds ; then it took a good five minutes to 
 remove the horses' nose-bags, stow them away in the boot, un- 
 fold the body steps, get in the passenger, tuck the loose straw 
 neatly in, refold the steps, close the door, gather up the reins, 
 inquire for the route and destination, and mount the high 
 driving seat. If five or six miles per hour were accomplished, 
 the pace was considered fair ; but the interior was odoriferous, 
 the smells somewhat mixed, and if fever of some sort did not 
 lurk in the corners, so much the better for the passengers ; for 
 little was then done to enforce the most primitive sanitary regu- 
 lations and precautions. 
 
 About the year 1830 a light two-wheel cab, with a fixed 
 panel top, and carrying two persons inside, was introduced ; 
 the driver sat on a little seat over the off-side wheel ; it was 
 hung high, and was dangerous if the horse fell, but it prepared 
 the public for faster, less cumbersome, and less costly vehicles 
 than the old coaches. 
 
 About 1835 tne fi fst four-wheel cabs, carrying only two 
 passengers inside, and drawn by one horse, appeared in London. 
 It was soon found that they could be made to carry four 
 persons inside with a very small increase of weight. 
 
 The following story, current in 1837 at the time of the intro- 
 duction of broughams, may here be related : The late Lord 
 Chancellor Brougham, who was not only a great lawyer, orator, 
 and writer, but also an innovator, and an originator of many 
 
MODERN CARRIAGES. 365 
 
 ideas on many subjects, grasped the idea before anyone else, 
 that a refined and glorified street cab would make a convenient 
 carriage for a gentleman, and specially for a man of such ideas 
 of independence as one who carried his own carpet-bag on 
 occasions when time was important and his own servant other- 
 wise employed. 
 
 The Chancellor called on his coachmakers, Messrs. Sharp & 
 Bland, of South Audley Street, and proposed to them that they 
 should build a small close carriage, like the street cabs that 
 carried two persons inside, and had just been introduced in 
 London. They were evidently not the men to carry out a new 
 idea that was destined to overspread the world, wherever good 
 carriages are now used. They were in the habit of building 
 family coaches, landaus, barouches, britzskas, and chariots, 
 which function carried with it certain ideas of rank, ceremony, 
 dignity, independence, and we may add prejudice. They threw 1 
 so many difficulties in the way, that it was hopeless to get them 
 to carry out the work satisfactorily, so his lordship called on 
 some neighbours of theirs in Mount Street. Messrs7 Robinson & 
 Cook had not been so thoroughly trained in the school of crystal- 
 lised habit, obstruction, and prejudice as their neighbours ; 
 they accordingly accepted the idea, and the order for construc- 
 tion, with alacrity, civility, and energy. 
 
 They did their best ; they pleased their customer ; he was 
 delighted with the result, and in his turn he did his best to 
 influence the world of fashion. He began with his personal 
 friends, advising them to order carriages like his new one, and 
 he so influenced the carriage -buy ing public that they flocked 
 to the coachmakers who had worked out successfully the 
 idea which was destined to revolutionise the old method of 
 carriage-building as regards lightness, handiness, ease of access, 
 and economy. 
 
 Shillibeer introduced omnibuses about the same time ; they 
 ran for some years from Paddington to the Bank of England 
 and back, and for a long period the owners did not seem to 
 realise the fact that riders required to go in any other direction; 
 
3 66 DRIVING. 
 
 By degrees, as new and wider thoroughfares and streets were 
 opened up, other wants arose, and were gradually provided for 
 by the competition of younger and newer traders seeking em- 
 ployment for brains and capital. 
 
 Omnibuses have been greatly improved of late years, espe- 
 cially as regards the ventilation of the interior, which for many 
 years was extremely defective, and probably led to the spread of 
 disease, much illness, and loss of health, strength, and energy 
 in those who habitually used them. Now that London has so 
 much excellent wood pavement, with a chance of its further ex- 
 tension, it is probable that the same class of horses now used 
 could draw a vehicle affording rather more space per passenger ; 
 but those who travel outside have far better accommodation 
 than in former times, and the convenient staircases and better 
 outside seats now attract many female passengers, who prefer the 
 fresh air and sight of the busy traffic of the streets, to having 
 their feet trodden on by some heavy boor in the interior. 
 
 A singular vehicle appeared about the year 1840; it was called 
 ' slice of an omnibus.' Imagine twenty inches cut off the end 
 of an omnibus, suspended on two wheels, and a pair of shafts 
 attached to the front part,jhe driver sitting on the roof and the 
 passengers entering or leaving by a door behind. They were 
 ugly, cramped as to accommodation, and soon went out of 
 use ; but they had one good effect : they taught people to look, 
 hope for, and expect something better ; and Mr. Harvey, a linen- 
 draper of Westminster Bridge Road, did improve on the idea. 
 He made a more roomy body, cut a gap in the off hind upper 
 portion, and put in it a seat for the driver ; it carried three 
 persons inside, protected from rain and storm, but not com- 
 fortably, and besides it was too weighty. 
 
 The idea which has made the name of Hansom so well 
 known was the application to two-wheel vehicles of the system 
 of suspension that had not long before been applied to the 
 four-wheelers ; he lowered the body by placing the axle under 
 the seat instead of below the floor line, as had hitherto 
 been usual. But, although he accomplished improvements, so 
 
MODERN CARRIAGES. 367 
 
 much needed in a public vehicle on two wheels low suspen- 
 sion, for safety in case of the horse falling, and facility of 
 entrance and exit he had not the skill to utilise his materials 
 to the best advantage, such as is expected of all carriage builders 
 who are masters of their craft. 
 
 He had, as an architect, been brought up in the use of 
 materials where weight was of no consequence, and his patent 
 for some years prevented others showing him the way to do 
 better ; in fact, after his death, the cab-builders copied his 
 designs, using a low standard of materials and workmanship 
 making up in substance and weight what was deficient in 
 quality and skill. When, about 1873, the Society of Arts 
 offered prizes for improvements in street cabs for London, 
 coachmakers turned their attention to the matter, and Forder, 
 of Wolverhampton, showed how the weight could be reduced 
 by the use of better materials and more skilled workmanship. 
 He mounted his vehicles on lighter wheels, reducing the weight 
 of the undergear, and making the body correspondingly lighter. 
 His neater and more comfortable interior fittingsT suited the 
 public taste in this country, and led to an export trade to other 
 countries, where hansoms have since been adopted and copied. 
 The laying of better road surfaces of wood and asphalte in 
 London has induced many of the cab-owners to go a step 
 further and put indiarubber tires on the wheels. 
 
 Messrs. Laurie & Marner of Oxford Street had, about the 
 year 1842, introduced a close carriage midway between a 
 brougham and a coach, which they called a 'clarence,' 'sove- 
 reign,' or ' carriole.' It had very curved and rather fanciful lines, 
 seated four persons inside, was entered by one step from the 
 ground, carried the coachman and footman on a low driving seat, 
 and was used with a lighter pair of horses than the family coach 
 required. They afterwards made such carriages with landau 
 heads, and David Davies introduced a novelty in such carriages 
 by providing the front windows with bent plate glass. They 
 were all hung on elliptic or other combination of springs that 
 did not need a perch to sustain them. The celebrated novelist 
 
370 DRIVING. 
 
 reduced bulk and weight of materials ; and though great 
 diversities of form, shape, and size have to be provided for, 
 it is astonishing how little material change has been made 
 since the inventor first introduced the system. 
 
 At this time London swarmed with the handsome chariots, 
 coaches, landaus, barouches, and britzskas of the nobility and 
 gentry. Many were hung on perches with C-springs, and almost 
 as many with under as well as C-springs, for they had been added 
 in the reign of George IV., much to the alarm of the London 
 artisans of that day, who considered that the vibration and 
 consequent wear and tear of the under works would be so 
 much reduced, and their durability so much prolonged, as to 
 deprive the workmen of the means of living. Like most other 
 improvements, they tended to the enjoyment of the buyers 
 and likewise to the welfare of the men, who were kept busily 
 employed making the carriages that had been so greatly im- 
 proved. It may here be mentioned that London carriages 
 were then being rapidly improved, and that wealthy foreign 
 nobles and merchants visiting England, ordered or bought 
 handsome and costly carriages to be sent to their own coun- 
 tries. The best London carriages and their makers' names 
 became well known in all the great capitals of Europe, where 
 English carriages were copied with more or less success by 
 the coachmakers carrying on business there. 
 
 Mail-phaetons hung on mail springs and perches were much 
 used by noblemen and gentlemen ; the late Earl of Chesterfield 
 generally had the credit of turning out with one of the best, if 
 not actually the best. They were frequently used by bachelors 
 for long posting journeys in England, as well as on the Con- 
 tinent. They are still a favourite carriage (hung on elliptic 
 springs), and have almost reached perfection in the hands of 
 Peters. 
 
 The carriages generally driven by ladies are mostly park 
 and pony phaetons. This type of carriage owes its origin and 
 fashion to the Prince Regent (afterwards George IV.) In 
 the course of his studies in coachmaking with the late Mr. 
 
MODERN CARRIAGES. 371 
 
 William Cook, he worked out the idea of a comfortable, low, 
 elegant, and stylish carriage which he could drive with a pair 
 of ponies of about fourteen hands ; and many of our readers 
 may have seen engravings, lithographs, and prints with a 
 portrait of the Prince driving his favourite ponies. If a Prince 
 Regent, or King, could drive and liked the amusement or 
 exercise, others less exalted in station might do the same with- 
 out loss of dignity, and they accordingly followed the King's 
 example. 
 
 Two-wheeled dog-carts had long been used by sportsmen 
 when going out for a day's shooting, to convey themselves, ser- 
 vants, dogs, and guns to their destination ; but with improved 
 roads, and the establishment of railways, they were put to 
 many other uses, and were adopted for carrying persons with 
 comfort and safety, rather than for the special conveyance of 
 dogs. 
 
 The use of lancewood for shafts offered an excellent elastic 
 material to increase the easy run of these vehicles. The'; 
 various patterns of bodies might be reckoned by hundreds, 
 almost by thousands, each maker adopting one of his own, 
 which differed in some respects from his neighbour's. About 
 fifty years ago, the fulcrum shafts were patented by Fuller 
 of Bath and George Hayman of Exeter, and applied to many 
 two-wheeled carriages. Their chief aim was to suppress 
 the jolting (or knee action, as it was called) caused by the 
 rise and fall of the shafts at each step of the horse, and the 
 plan is now adopted for nearly all two-wheeled carriages when 
 the construction permits the application, so that such carriages 
 now run much more pleasantly than those of the olden time. 
 Many vehicles of this type are made of small size, hung low, 
 and are much driven by ladies and even by children. They 
 are balanced, according to the load they carry (two or four), 
 by allowing the body to travel back or forward on polished 
 iron slides fixed on the shafts, and regulated by a screw with 
 crank handle behind. Where the fulcrum shafts are used, the 
 lever arm acts on the seats only, instead of on the whole body. 
 
 B B 2 
 
372 DRIVJXG. 
 
 Many years ago Hooper & Co. made one for Captain W. G. 
 Craven in which the opening and closing of the hind door 
 adjusted the balance. They have now a very simple plan of 
 regulating the balance with a lever having a handle beside the 
 driver's seat. 
 
 Most of the gigs of the olden time were hung (Stanhope 
 fashion) with four springs (two side and two cross), forming 
 a square, and they carried the body only, the strong iron- 
 plated ash shafts being connected with the axle by span-irons. 
 This system of construction and suspension gave comfort to the 
 two occupants of the body, but the shafts being wholly without 
 spring action vibrated terribly when used with a fast horse, and 
 the vibration was mitigated as far as the horse was concerned 
 by a capacious and well-stuffed saddle-pad. With very fast 
 driving, it was almost impossible to keep the iron plates and 
 stays sound for any length of time, even with the utmost care 
 and precaution. When, about fifteen years ago, gigs were 
 again inquired for, the comfortable four-spring arrangement of 
 the old Stanhope gigs was combined with the improved method 
 of using the lancewood fulcrum shafts with elegantly tapered 
 hind ends. By applying neat chains to the axle flaps under the 
 springs, and attaching the splintree in front, an even pull was 
 secured from the axle and wheels. By attaching the shafts to 
 fulcrums near the front step, they were connected with the 
 body, and by supporting the tapered hind end between two 
 cylinders of Indiarubber, free play was permitted without risking 
 a rattling noise. Adding a curved iron to give the appearance 
 of the Stanhope shafts to the elastic ones, the altered con- 
 struction and arrangement was scarcely perceptible. The best 
 points of two systems of construction are combined in the 
 neatest possible manner, giving ease and comfort to the rider 
 as well as the horse. 
 
 The introduction of the game of ' polo ' of late years among 
 officers and civilians has created a demand for gigs of small 
 size, to use with the polo ponies at times when they are not 
 required for saddle-work. 
 
MODERN CARRIAGES. 373 
 
 For some years the young men of fashion have driven a 
 small Stanhope phaeton with compassed rail and sticked body 
 in front, and seat for the groom behind, under the name of 
 ' T carts,' usually drawn by a horse of 15 to 15 J hands. They 
 are now giving place to * Spider Phaetons,' a sort of tilbury 
 body on four wheels, with a neat little seat for the groom 
 behind, supported on branched irons ; most of them have a 
 folding head over the front body. Those first made, although 
 light looking from the substitution of iron stays for solid 
 wood construction, had a trembling and vibrating motion ; but 
 with more solid construction, and the suppression of the vibra- 
 tion, they have become not only comfortable, but with more 
 refined designs and construction, more stylish in appearance. 
 They carry a lady and gentleman on the front seat comfort- 
 ably, and the hind seat is made of such size as to carry 
 only one person, and the groom runs no chance of having his 
 dignity hurt by his master or one of his friends having to sit 
 beside him. 
 
 * Victorias,' 'mi-lords,' and ' dues' were used in continental 
 capitals, especially in Paris, long before they became fashionable 
 in London. Although cab-phaetons had been introduced forty 
 years ago by Mr. David Davies, and more recent attempts 
 had been made with partial success to induce people to 
 use them in England, it was not till H.R.H. the Prince of 
 Wales ordered one for the use of the Princess that English 
 people came to understand their handiness and advantages. 
 Set off by Her Royal Highness they became irresistible, and 
 people at once understood that it was ' the correct thing ' to 
 ride in them. 
 
 It is probable that few people reflect on the causes of 
 changes of fashion, but they are sometimes worth considering. 
 The facts are sometimes singular and unexpected, but seem to 
 follow a regular course, at least in one respect : as soon as a 
 carriage has been developed, improved, perfected, and ap- 
 parently no longer capable of improvement, it falls out of use, 
 being superseded by some invention, change of circumstances, 
 
374 DRIVING. 
 
 or other sufficient and inevitable reason that cannot be turned 
 aside. 
 
 The rough and heavy travelling and other carriages that pre- 
 ceded 1830 fell out of use as the new and better roads of 
 Me A dam were made. The mail and stage coaches had just 
 reached perfection in design, durability, lightness, and handi- 
 ness, when the introduction of railways literally drove them off 
 the high roads that seemed to have been made for them ; so 
 the gigs and phaetons, kept in large numbers by the London 
 bankers and merchants to drive to and from their suburban 
 houses, were driven off the roads by omnibuses, tramcars, and 
 suburban railways. 
 
 The death of the late Prince Consort, and the withdrawal 
 of the Court from London, rendered the dress carriages of the 
 nobility almost useless ; but fortunately not altogether, for the 
 Royal State and dress carriages are still kept up for drawing- 
 rooms, levees, and State ceremonials as suitable appendages of 
 Royalty. Tr.e great nobles have also in many cases retained 
 or renewed theirs, to the delight of sightseers in London, when 
 they make their appearance in St. James's Park on their way 
 to and from drawing-rooms and levees. If the days are fine on 
 such occasions, these works of art are shown to advantage. 
 
 The foreign ambassadors in London have latterly been 
 renewing their ceremonial carriages, notably those of Russia, 
 Germany, and Italy ; and the Royal dress carriages used by 
 Her Majesty and her guests in the procession to Westminster 
 Abbey on the Jubilee Thanksgiving Day were previously re- 
 novated, providing welcome employment to coachmakers and 
 their men after a long spell of trade depression. 
 
 The depression in agriculture in England and Ireland, and 
 the reduction in the profits of trade and manufactures, have 
 also affected the use of carriages, more especially 'barouches.' 
 
 These carnages had, by the firms of Peters & Sons, 
 Hooper & Co., and others, been brought to a perfection 
 hitherto unapproached, but in many cases they required special 
 horses to draw them. Reduced incomes, and the advent of 
 
MODERN CARRIAGES. 375 
 
 ' victorias ' drawn with one horse or a pair of ponies, have almost 
 put an end to the building of such barouches as were redeeming 
 features to the drive in Hyde Park, now usually teeming with 
 second and third rate vehicles very different from the days 
 when there were leaders of fashion who knew a great deal about 
 horses and carriages, and could criticise with sound sense and 
 judgment. With the vast increase in the wealth of the in- 
 habitants of the British Empire, it seems strange that so 
 many people should nowadays begrudge a liberal or even fair 
 expenditure on their horses, carriages, and equipments, while 
 willing to pay lavishly for pictures, sculpture, furniture, pottery, 
 or bric-a-brac. 
 
 Great is the rage and demand for 'shoddy' carriages (fortu- 
 nately for some people, for their sale affords a far larger profit 
 than genuine and conscientiously well-made ones), and the 
 supply naturally keeps pace with the demand. Accidents 
 happen, buyers get bitten, and cry out (when it is too late) 
 after the bill has been paid. 
 
 The system and method of taxing carriages is also very 
 prejudicial to the coach-building business. Like all other taxes 
 on raw products or manufactures, the carnage tax tends to limit 
 the consumption, demand, and use. People will not pay forty- 
 two shillings a year for the privilege of keeping their old 
 carriages for use in rainy weather and for rough work, but 
 prefer to hand them over (instead of cash) to the seller of a 
 new or other second-hand carriage, who has to warehouse them 
 till he can find purchasers. The innkeepers and livery-stable 
 keepers, who would otherwise buy them to let for hire, will not 
 encumber themselves with one more than they absolutely need, 
 as their profits would every year be reduced by the amount 
 of the additional carriage tax. Besides, many of the vehicles 
 could only be let for two or three months each year, although 
 the tax would have to be paid as if they were earning 
 money all the year round, as do omnibuses, tramcars, and 
 town cabs. The capital of the coachmaker is locked up 
 with a large stock of carriages, of which the sale is impeded 
 
376 
 
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378 DRIVING. 
 
 by the method of taxation. It is only in England that 
 such a state of affairs exists, and where coachmakers' ware- 
 houses and factories are encumbered with old carriages. 
 Till this year (1888) the imposition of a duty of fifteen 
 shillings on vehicles weighing less than four hundredweight 
 encouraged the production of such small carriages as enabled 
 people to save twenty-seven shillings per year in the tax 
 hence the demand for small carriages that required but little 
 skilled labour, and material, and compel a pony to draw a 
 load of people that should really be drawn by a large horse. 
 Carriages drawn by one or more horses and subject to a forty- 
 two-shilling tax have been given up by thousands in order 
 to save twenty-seven shillings of yearly tax, and such carriages 
 block up the factories (chiefly in provincial totfns), because 
 the taxation is not only heavy, but continuous, and oppressive, 
 intensifying the trade depression that exists by reducing the 
 quantity of skilled labour that formerly did (and would again) 
 find suitable employment under more fair and just conditions. 
 While other articles of convenience and comfort were taxed, 
 carriages were not exceptionally treated, but now those who 
 find employment and profit in their production are placed 
 on a different footing from the rest of their fellow-countrymen, 
 the products of whose industry have been freed from taxation. 
 By reference to the tabular statement on pages 376, 377, a 
 very fair idea may be formed as to the general character of the 
 carriages mostly in use at the present time, and useful informa- 
 tion obtained by those about to buy carriages for the first time. 
 The columns are arranged as follows : 
 
 1. The names. 
 
 2. The proper size of horses. 
 
 3. The number of wheels. 
 
 4. The number of persons carried. 
 
 5. The amount of shelter provided. 
 
 6. Whether open, closed, or provided with folding leather 
 heads. 
 
 7. The approximate price for various qualities and sizes. 
 
MODERN CARRIAGES. 379 
 
 8. The approximate weight, varying much according to size 
 and the requirements of buyers. 
 
 9. The Government licence payable annually for each sort 
 of carriage. 
 
 A short description of each carriage will probably afford 
 some assistance in the choice of a suitable vehicle. 
 
 And here, en passant, we may mention that carriages of all 
 kinds should really be proportioned both to the size and weight 
 of the persons who use them, and of the horse or horses in- 
 tended to draw them ; proportion and fitness are all-important 
 for a satisfactory result. 
 
 The pony-cart is generally small, is hung low, and carries 
 two, and occasionally four, persons. It is mostly driven by 
 ladies and young people, and more frequently in the country 
 than in London. 
 
 The dog- cart is almost always made to carry four persons ; 
 its hanging varies according to the taste of buyers some pre- 
 ferring high, others low ones ; the balancing is arranged by a 
 screw acting behind, or by the action of a lever, or by simply 
 moving the seats by hand, the body being hung back for carry- 
 ing two persons, and forward for four persons. 
 
 Gigs vary much. The old style of Stanhope gig has four 
 cross springs, and the bent ash shafts are strongly plated with 
 iron. They are sometimes made with folding heads. Many 
 gigs are now made with elastic lancewood shafts with tapered 
 hind ends, and with fulcrum action. Many of the polo ponies 
 are now used in light small gigs made especially to suit these 
 smart little animals. 
 
 Gigs are considered equally suitable for London and country 
 use. 
 
 Mr. C. J. de Murrieta has recently had a very successful gig 
 made for him. By taking the old curricle body, refining the 
 lines, and reducing the proportions, mounting it with a fold- 
 ing head, and suspending it on a Stanhope gig carriage, he has 
 succeeded in producing not only a novelty, but a new type of 
 carriage, not only very comfortable, but very stylish and gentle- 
 
380 DRIVING. 
 
 manlike in appearance, and already the criticisms of those well 
 able to judge have pronounced it a success. It is well to re- 
 member that, unlike dog-carts, gigs seat only two persons, and 
 consequently when a groom is taken he must ride beside his 
 master. 
 
 The hansom cab is so familiar to all Londoners and persons 
 visiting London, that little need be said beyond that it has 
 been greatly reduced in weight,. refined in appearance, and is 
 so comfortable a mode of conveyance that many prefer it to 
 most other carriages. 
 
 Phaetons are carriages on four wheels that carry four persons, 
 who generally all sit looking forward. Their pattern is multi- 
 tudinous, and their style and price equally so. 
 
 Road phaetons and dog-cart phaetons are on four wheels. 
 They are almost always used out in the country. The persons 
 occupying the hind seat generally sit with their backs to the 
 horse. Their style is generally of a somewhat sporting cha- 
 racter. They carry luggage, or dogs inside the body. Many 
 have been made of late years, and merely varnished, not under- 
 going the usual process of painting. The painting, however, 
 adds durability to the carriage by more effectually keeping the 
 moisture from the wood, iron, and steel. 
 
 Of late years the name buggy has been adopted to indicate 
 a low-hung gig with a folding head. H.R.H. the Duchess of 
 Connaught had one specially built for her own driving in 
 India, and this type is now called the Connaught buggy. 
 
 T-carts are phaetons on four wheels ; the front of the body 
 resembles a gig with round-cornered seat. The persons occu- 
 pying the hind seat face the horse. 
 
 Park phaetons are mostly considered ladies' carriages, the 
 principal body being in front, generally provided with a folding 
 head, leather wings to protect the steps from mud, and a seat 
 for one servant behind. 
 
 Victoria phaetons have the body of curved form with a head 
 over the principal seat, which is behind, and carries two persons. 
 -The driving-seat also carries two persons in front. The body 
 
MODERN CARRIAGES. 381 
 
 i provided with four wings, to protect the steps and the occu- 
 pants from the mud thrown by the wheels. It is always 
 entered by a single step ; many are provided with a little seat, 
 for children, which folds into the back part of the front 
 boot. 
 
 Vienna phaetons are in most respects like the victoria, but 
 are of angular form and have higher wheels. 
 
 Of late years many victorias have been suspended on iron 
 perches with under and C springs and leather braces ; they are 
 of various patterns and sizes, and look well when used with 
 a pair of cobs of from fourteen to fifteen hands. 
 
 Double victorias are a combination of a victoria and 
 sociable, rather more like the former as regards size and weight, 
 and like the latter in form and accommodation ; they are made 
 with folding head to the hind part of the body, have a more 
 comfortable seat for the third and fourth persons in the body 
 than a victoria, have no doors, but are provided with wings 
 over the wheels to protect the steps from the mud. They are 
 becoming a favourite carriage, and look well witffH pair of 
 fourteen-hand ponies. 
 
 Stanhope phaetons have a curved panel seat in front 
 provided with a folding head, and railed seat large enough for 
 two persons behind, but generally occupied by one servant. 
 They are hung on four wheels and elliptic springs, are mostly 
 driven in England with one horse, but on the continent of 
 Europe almost always with a pair. 
 
 Mail-phaetons differ from Stanhope phaetons in being 
 always made for pair-horse work, and rather larger and stronger. 
 Some are suspended on under-carriages with perch and mail 
 springs, much in the manner of four- horse coaches, and this 
 mode of construction is much favoured by driving men as the 
 correct thing. Many more, however, are hung on four elliptic 
 springs with an arch cut in the boot to allow the front wheels 
 to pass under and facilitate turning the carriage. 
 
 Those having outside futchels (straight bars of wood to 
 support the splinter-bar) are preferred by connoisseurs, as 
 
382 DRIVING. 
 
 giving a character not possessed by those having merely the 
 iron stay support. 
 
 Wagonettes have one general feature, being suspended on 
 four wheels and carrying four or more people behind, sitting 
 sideways and face to face. Many small ones are made with 
 the hind seat removable, so that they can be readily converted 
 into phaetons, carrying two persons in the principal seat in front 
 and two persons facing the horses in the railed seat behind. 
 
 The wagonette break is of larger size than the one-horse 
 carriages of that type ; it is always made with a high driving- 
 seat, and fitted for two, and sometimes four horses. 
 
 Chars-a-bancs are more various in form than most other 
 carriages ; they are generally high and strongly made, to carry a 
 good many persons. Some have four seats, each carrying three 
 or four persons, on the top of a high and long boot ; the seats 
 are reached by convenient folding and sliding steps concealed in 
 the boot and shut in by a small door. Others have the central 
 seats kept low ; the four persons sit as in a coach, facing one 
 another ; doors and folding steps provide easy access. The 
 front driving-seat is made high in this class of carriage, and fre- 
 quently the hind seat for the grooms is also high, being carried, 
 as in the case of drags, on strong ornamental irons ; at other 
 times this seat is kept low, and the grooms sit with their backs 
 to the horses. Most of the large carriages of this type are used 
 with four horses and are suspended in various ways, some on 
 perch under-carriage with mail springs, others have in addition 
 under-springs, while others again have four ordinary elliptic 
 springs. Some are now made on a smaller scale and go well 
 with a pair of horses. A char-a-bancs is essentially a carriage 
 for a 'grande maison,' and for country use, and it is rarely 
 found where a coach-house has not room for more than four 
 carriages. 
 
 Beaufort phaetons have been made in recent years to meet 
 a special want ; they carry six persons on a compact and strong 
 carriage to hunt-meetings. They are strictly a gentleman's 
 carriage, and, although provided with doors to facilitate reach- 
 
MODERN CARRIAGES. 383 
 
 ing the middle seat, do not profess to provide such accom- 
 modation as ladies expect. 
 
 Private omnibuses are now essential to all large country 
 establishments, and are made of many sizes, and with varied 
 accommodation, from the light one that carries four persons 
 under cover, to the capacious two or four horse carriage. Of 
 late years the proportions and lines have been greatly refined, 
 and the weight reduced, and although they can never aspire to 
 be elegant carriages, they have gradually become much more 
 agreeable to look at than was the case formerly. With high front 
 wheels, low step to enter the body, spring-lock to the door, 
 external side-lamps that light the interior from the outside, ven- 
 tilators, hat and umbrella straps and nets, pockets, cupboard, 
 &c., they now combine the utmost accommodation with the 
 minimum of weight. 
 
 Broughams are of all sorts and sizes, from the smallest 
 miniature which carries two small persons inside and two smaller 
 ones on the driving-seat, and are drawn by a cob of fifteen 
 hands, to the large, roomy, or weighty ones that a~re used in 
 the royal establishment with a pair of coach-horses. 
 
 The medium-size single broughams carry two persons inside 
 and two servants on the driving-seat. 
 
 Circular-fronted broughams carry three inside, the third 
 person being carried in the bow-window that projects from the 
 body over the back part of the boot, and forms a segment of a 
 circle, allowing the bent windows to slide over one another. 
 
 Double broughams carry four persons inside and have 
 straight fronts, generally with one large window, which may be 
 lowered if desired, and two smaller front side windows, which 
 are almost invariably fixed. 
 
 In many establishments of the nobility and gentry, when a 
 brougham is kept, it is suspended on an iron perch, with under 
 and C springs and leather braces, giving greater ease to the 
 motion of the carriage, and suppressing the vibration that is 
 inseparable from carriages hung on elliptic springs. 
 
 Sociables are low- hung carriages of angular form that have 
 
384 DRIVING. 
 
 a well-doorway, entered by a single step ; they carry four persons 
 inside, have a folding head over the hind part of the body, and 
 a low driving-seat in front. They are generally driven with a 
 pair of horses of from 15 to 15*2 hands. This is a favourite 
 type of carriage with H.R.H. the Princess of Wales. 
 
 ' Barouche sociables ' differ from those already described in 
 several important features ; in form they resemble two cabriolet- 
 shaped bodies placed facing one another ; they are entered by 
 two steps, have four long wings over the wheels to protect the 
 occupants from mud, and always have a light driving-box sup- 
 ported on curved irons. They were chiefly used in establish- 
 ments of the first rank ; but for some unexplained reason are 
 gradually going out of use, although elegant and stylish carriages. 
 
 Barouches have for more than fifty years been considered 
 an indispensable open carriage for nearly all first-class esta- 
 blishments. Originally made with full deep panels and sus- 
 pended on wooden perch and C-springs ; afterwards with panels 
 much reduced in depth, and with the front panels scooped 
 away to allow the passage of higher front wheels ; then hung 
 on wooden perch carriages with the addition of under springs 
 to the C-springs ; subsequently on forged iron perches, with 
 very shallow panels, and reduced in size and weight, always 
 with the driving-seat fixed on curved ornamental ironwork, 
 they have reached a refinement and elegance that seems to 
 have almost exhausted the chance of further improvements. 
 
 Many such carriages have been hung on elliptic springs, 
 rendering them available for country as well as London work, 
 for which the C-spring barouches have in recent years been 
 almost exclusively retained. But the taste of the day sets in 
 favour of C-spring victorias rather than of the stately and lordly 
 barouche. 
 
 The old type of family coach has, as an ordinary carriage, 
 gone out of use, but there is still need for close carriages to 
 carry four full-grown persons comfortably inside. This want 
 has been met by a reduction in size, and by a refinement of pro- 
 portions ; cutting through the doorways ; carrying down the 
 
MODERN CARRIAGES. 385 
 
 doors, and providing single steps with covers opening with the 
 doors. The body being hung lower than formerly, enables 
 persons to enter or leave the carriage more rapidly, and when 
 large numbers of carriages are assembled to take persons home 
 from operas, theatres, balls, concerts, or any other assemblies, 
 this facility is of great public advantage, as the company, instead 
 of being detained that mauvais quart d'heure in the lobbies, 
 crush-rooms, and entrances (the ladies generally in light dresses 
 and sometimes in a cold draught or cutting east wind), can be 
 more rapidly dispersed without the tiresome discomfort of 
 former times. They are made with curved and also angular 
 outlines to suit the taste of purchasers. Some have black 
 panels to the whole upper part, while most have windows in 
 the upper side panels. 
 
 Landaus carry four persons inside, have folding heads 
 that protect all from the rain and weather, and are mostly 
 made of two patterns : some with curved lines approaching 
 that of a barouche, others with a well, and angular lines, more 
 like the carriages known as sociables. Those with curved lines 
 are known as ' Sefton ' landaus, from the present Earl of Sefton, 
 who had the first one built for his own use. Those with 
 angular lines are known as ' Shelburne ' landaus, from the late 
 Earl of Shelburne, who had the first of that pattern built. 
 
 No other carriages have had so much care, attention, and 
 inventive talent bestowed on them as landaus, and the agree- 
 able feature in the matter is, that all the important improve- 
 ments that have been effected and permanently adopted are 
 English : they have been made in vast numbers, and have 
 been surpassingly useful in our rainy and damp climate. If 
 the coachmakers of the beginning of the century could but 
 inspect the best landaus of the present day, side by side with 
 their own productions good of their kind as they were they 
 would marvel at the improvements effected by their successors. 
 
 Many of these landaus have been suspended on forged iron 
 perches, with under and C springs and leather braces. The 
 first attempts were heavy and cumbersome, but more elegant 
 
 c c 
 
386 DRIVING. 
 
 and refined types were produced and have held the public 
 favour for years. Latterly Shelburne landaus have been simi- 
 larly suspended, and they offer considerable advantages to 
 elderly or infirm persons. They are open and closed carriages 
 combined. Being hung low, they can be entered with a single 
 step as a brougham, and the mechanism of the heads is so 
 perfect that they can be opened and closed in case of rain 
 almost as readily as an umbrella. If better known, they would 
 be more appreciated. 
 
 The dress-coach carries four persons inside, while the dress- 
 chariot carries only two persons inside. Such carriages, pro- 
 duced under able hands, are not only triumphs of mechanical 
 but also of artistic skill, for they combine more than any other 
 vehicle that is produced the most diverse materials ; the artificers 
 carry on the most varied occupations, and the manufacturer 
 has so to design his work, arrange his materials, and control 
 the whole construction, that in the end they shall produce a 
 result of the utmost harmony, whether mechanical or artistic ; 
 for it is of little use to produce a fine mechanical work and 
 mar it by coarse or inappropriate decoration ; or to ornament 
 with the utmost refinement -and taste a work that is mechani- 
 cally incorrect. All the proportions, the suspension, the equip- 
 ments, and decorations must be in harmony ; but the whole 
 effect of a very perfect work may be marred by a pair of 
 coarse-bred horses, badly-fitted harness, servants of ill-propor- 
 tion as regards figure, or untidy and slovenly bearing, or with 
 incongruous liveries or hats. 
 
 No wonder so few fine equipages are now to be seen. Their 
 production requires a combination of qualities in the owners, 
 producers, coachmen, and all connected with them, that needs 
 to be kept in practice, and they deserve and should receive ap- 
 preciation in those who are critics or even spectators ; for the 
 owners of fine pictures, a fine house, a fine horse, or even a 
 good suit of well -fitted clothes, derive some satisfaction and 
 encouragement from the approval of friends and the out- 
 side world for all are mortal, and moved by somewhat the 
 
MODERN CARRIAGES. 387 
 
 same sentiments and tastes refined or blunted according to 
 surroundings or other circumstances. 
 
 That there is a satisfaction in gazing on such equipages is 
 evidenced by the crowds of critics and sightseers who throng 
 St. James's Park on drawing-room and levee days. Were 
 the elegant ladies, gallant officers, stately nobles, and great 
 statesmen who attend such Court ceremonies conveyed thither 
 in omnibuses or London four-wheel cabs, it is probable that 
 many sightseers would stay away. And what shall we say about 
 the Lord Mayor's procession on each ninth day of November ? 
 His state coach is eagerly looked for as the cutwardand visible 
 sign ot his rank and dignity as chief magistrate of the City of 
 London. The eye of the public has to be pleased and satisfied ; 
 it wants sentiment and glitter to enable it to realise the rank and 
 station of the occupants, for what the handsome uniform is to 
 the officer and soldier, the state carriage is to others who have 
 to take prominent positions in the eyes of their fellow-men. 
 
 Last, but not least, is the mail-coach, or four-in-hand coach, 
 however now best known as a ' drag,' a small coachTBody with 
 large and deep boots, carrying four persons inside, hung on a 
 wooden perch under- carriage, with mail-coach springs, fre- 
 quently with mail-coach axles. Each boot has a high seat, the 
 front one carrying two persons, the driver being on the right or 
 off side, seated on a deep wedge-shape driving cushion. The 
 hind seat is elevated on curved irons, and carries two or three 
 persons ; two seats on the roof, one at each end, carry three 
 or four persons according to the taste or requirements of the 
 owner ; a break, actuated by a long lever handle to the right 
 of the driver's seat, and having two arms provided with wood 
 or India-rubber blocks which are pressed on the tires of the hind 
 wheels to retard the speed of the carnage when descending 
 hills. Such carriages are (or should be always) provided with 
 a strong pole made of the finest and toughest ash from young 
 and well-grown trees, five splintrees for the leaders (three for 
 use, and two spare ones in reserve in case one of the three 
 becomes disabled from any cause). 
 
 c c 2 
 
338 DRIVING. 
 
 Many of these carriages, especially those sent to foreign 
 countries, are provided with numerous additional fittings to 
 carry luncheons and picnic arrangements, but so contrived as 
 to be little observed when in use. 
 
 This list and description might be much extended by de- 
 scribing carriages occasionally made for special purposes, and 
 may be closed with a description of a few carriages used as 
 public conveyances and plying for hire on the streets of London 
 and large provincial towns. 
 
 The hansom cab, as a private carriage, has been already 
 noticed. Those used on the streets much resemble them, and, 
 although of somewhat rougher build, these new vehicles may 
 be favourably compared with those of any other great city. 
 And with improved cabs have come an improved class of 
 drivers, greatly encouraged by the managers of the Cab -Drivers' 
 Benevolent Association and those other benevolent ladies 
 and gentlemen who have latterly provided the cabmen with 
 comfortable shelters, where they are protected from the rain 
 and storms, and obtain wholesome refreshments at moderate 
 rates. 
 
 The four-wheel cabs are small closed carriages holding 
 four persons inside and with a low driving-seat on the boot 
 for the driver, with space for another person at his side, seldom, 
 however, used. They are hung low, are entered with a single 
 step from the ground, and are provided with an iron rail round 
 the roof and a chain to prevent luggage from falling off, or 
 being removed by unauthorised persons. When carrying a full 
 load of luggage on the roof and full complement of passengers, 
 it is a marvel how easily a cab-horse can draw it and take it to 
 a distant destination. 
 
 These vehicles cannot, however, be compared with the 
 hansoms for style, comfort, and finish. A large proportion of 
 them are still coarse, noisy, odoriferous, and jumpy as regards 
 the springs. When, however, it is considered to what uses they 
 are put, some excuse may be offered for their shortcomings. 
 For they take Jack and his mates on their arrival from Sheerness 
 
MODERN CARRIAGES. 389 
 
 or Portsmouth ; Tommy Atkins and his friends, perhaps fresh 
 from camp life at Aldershot or Colchester or Mary Jane and 
 her boxes to her new place in a distant suburb; and as it is often 
 cheaper to hire a cab than a cart to remove goods (other than 
 personal luggage), it is hardly to be wondered at that the varnish 
 is not as brilliant as on the duke's brougham or the countess's 
 victoria. 
 
 The omnibuses of London, whether used with two or 
 three horses, are compact, useful, and handy carriages, carrying 
 from twelve to sixteen persons inside and twelve to sixteen 
 outside. It is probable that, comparing weight of passengers 
 carried with weight of vehicle, there are no carriages used in 
 any part of the world superior to them. They have been greatly 
 improved as regards ventilation, and ease of access, specially 
 to the roof seats ; and many being now provided with lever 
 breaks pressing on the two hind wheels, and actuated by the 
 driver's foot, he is able to ease the horses of much strain 
 otherwise inevitable from the frequent stoppages in taking up 
 and setting down passengers. 
 
 A few words may be added regarding second-hand carnages, 
 for the guidance of persons of moderate means or of economi- 
 cal inclination. 
 
 There are not many articles of manufacture that vary so 
 much in quality, durability, and style as carriages ; for by the 
 judicious use of putty, paint, and varnish, much that is not 
 strictly good, sound, or honest may be made to shine and look 
 attractive to innocent eyes. It is therefore necessary to be 
 cautious in buying smart-looking second-hand carriages. On 
 the other hand, some of the best London carriages are so 
 soundly made that it is difficult to thoroughly wear them out. 
 There are, however, reasons that cause them to change hands 
 from time to time, such as death of owners ; diminution of 
 income through various causes ; departure of temporary resi- 
 dents to colonies or foreign lands ; changes of fashion; and, in 
 addition, the effect of the carriage taxes in England is to keep 
 down carriage establishments, in order to minimise expenditure 
 
590 DRIVING. 
 
 on carriage licences. Thus, year by year, there is a constant 
 flow of a number of first-rate carriages into the hands of the 
 best London carriage-builders ; and by applying to respect- 
 able firms, reliable second-hand carriages can be had on con- 
 tract, or purchased by those who from choice or necessity 
 desire to limit their yearly expenditure. 
 
 There is only one rule for the guidance of would-be pur- 
 chasers of second hand carriages even when a reliable builder's 
 name is plainly seen on the axle-caps. The rule is a negative 
 one, but still is valuable : 'Do not purchase any second hand 
 carriage unless you have implicit faith in the vendor? 
 
 Changes of fashion have this effect that, however good a 
 second-hand carriage may be, if it is even a little out of the 
 fashion, people are unwilling to buy it ; such carriages the 
 coach-builders are generally anxious to sell at almost nominal 
 prices, and to these persons who do not object to what maybe 
 a little out of fashion, such carriages offer an excellent invest- 
 ment ; for many years' use may be had out of them with a 
 very small outlay for repairs. 
 
 We should weary our readers were we to attempt to give 
 descriptions of the various improvements that have been 
 taking place from year to year. The use of concealed hinges, 
 whereby the neatness of the suspension and wider opening of 
 the doors is secured ; spring door locks and improved inside 
 handles, rendering shutting and opening easier ; and the saving 
 of many nice dresses and lace by suppressing the projecting 
 inside lever handles, are among minor improvements. 
 
 Landaus have during the last thirty years had more in- 
 genuity bestowed on them than any other carriage : in extreme 
 reduction of weight and size, and by contrivances to provide 
 available sitting accommodation in bodies of small external 
 dimensions ; in improved arrangements of the folding heads to 
 enable them to fall flatter, and afford more view and air to 
 the occupants of the carriage ; in the concealed and ingenious 
 mechanism which facilitates the closing and opening of the 
 heads, almost as simple in action as the opening and closing of 
 
MODERN CARRIAGES. 391 
 
 an umbrella or parasol ; in the application of single steps, with 
 covers to open with the doors ; in improved weather plates to 
 effectually prevent rain entering through the joint of the roof; 
 in the use of mild steel in place of iron plates, increasing the 
 stiffness and reducing the weight of the body ; in securing the 
 standing pillars on the sides of the solid rockers, instead of fram- 
 ing them into the bottom sides, whereby doorways are rendered 
 much stiffer, and the doors and glasses more easy and certain 
 in action. 
 
 The interiors of carriages have also been much improved 
 by spiral springs of thin steel wire in the cushions and backs, 
 morocco-covered trays, card-case pockets, portable mirrors, 
 whistles and bells to communicate with the coachman ; the lace 
 is better woven, and the interiors have an air of greater com- 
 fort, neatness, and high finish. It is singular to what an extent 
 silk linings for carriages have been abandoned during the last 
 twenty years, in favour of morocco leather with a dull grained 
 surface ; it may be on the score of the greater durability of 
 leather. 
 
 Lever breaks to retard the speed of carriages descending 
 hills, by pressing a block of iron, wood, or India-rubber on the 
 tires of the hind wheels, were introduced about thirty years 
 ago. Screw breaks had been used on the continent of Europe 
 for some time before, probably necessitated by the require- 
 ments of travelling on the steep gradients of the Alpine ranges 
 of Switzerland and Italy ; their action, at first weak and un- 
 certain, has been greatly improved, but the lever is almost 
 invariably preferred in this country. Some coachmakers 
 cleverly conceal most of the working parts, and thereby pre- 
 vent disfigurement to the outlines of good carriages. The late 
 Prince Consort had a screw break applied to one of his 
 fourgons, in which the screw had so rapid a pitch that one 
 or one and a half turns applied the pressure on the wheels. 
 
 Here it may be not inappropriate to refer to the increasing 
 use of India-rubber tires. Applied to the wheels of the best 
 London carriages (although expensive), they afford ease and 
 
393 DRIVING. 
 
 comfort, and moreover suppress noise, a great consideration to 
 very many persons in delicate health or of nervous tempera- 
 ment ; also, by reducing the concussions on the carriage and 
 springs, these tires tend to curtail the cost of repairs, and to 
 prolong the working life of the carriages to which they are 
 applied. As one improvement often leads to others, this one 
 would only be feasible on roadways with wood or asphalte 
 surfaces such as London now possesses. With hard and rough 
 stones India-rubber tires would fare badly ; but, in view of 
 their extended use in ether towns and countries where roads 
 may be expected to be improved, merchants will do well to 
 encourage the growth and import to this country of large and 
 regular supplies of the raw material. Already there is a great 
 demand for India-rubber mats, which are a modern introduc- 
 tion, and have recently been greatly improved in neatness of 
 pattern and appearance, almost superseding those of cocoa- 
 nut fibre, wool, &c. 
 
 International and home exhibitions have exerted a con- 
 siderable influence in stimulating changes and improvements, 
 the former much more numerous than the latter. They have, 
 however, to be entered on with caution by carriage- builders ; 
 for it sometimes happens that the inviting country retains the 
 best positions for its own manufacturers, and politely places 
 foreign competitors in such a remote position, and with such 
 incongruous surroundings as ploughs, harrows, and farm carts, 
 as to disgust visitors, and lead them to infer that the carriages 
 are in company suited to their deservings. Even a gold medal 
 will not compensate for an unfavourable impression on possible 
 buyers ; and with the pattern and measurements neatly and 
 accurately taken by one or more manufacturers of the country 
 that invites others to send their carriages in competition, and 
 with the customs tariff arranged at a sufficiently high rate, the 
 foreign exhibitor undergoes the process of ' easy shaving,' with 
 little chance of business resulting after all his trouble, expendi- 
 ture, and enterprise. 
 
 One outcome of international exhibitions was probably little 
 
MODERN CARRIAGES. 393 
 
 anticipated on their first being held. The frequent meetings 
 of exhibitors at one of the great international exhibitions led 
 to the establishment of the Master Coachbuilders' Benevolent 
 Institution, which has already collected upwards of 27,0007., 
 chiefly from those engaged in the manufacture. It maintains 
 thirty-five pensioners, has an annual income of 8oo/., and at 
 its monthly committee meetings unfortunate coach-makers, 
 their managers and clerks, are helped in times of trouble and 
 distress. 
 
 Technical schools have been established in London, Man- 
 chester, New York, and Sydney ; and with a little more en- 
 couragement from some of the now worse than wasted old 
 endowments, would rapidly rise in efficiency and importance. 
 Annual examinations in the technology of carriage-building 
 are held under the auspices of the City and Guilds of London 
 Institute ; and it may here be mentioned that when proposed 
 and founded about fourteen years ago by the Council of the 
 Society of Arts, General Donnelly, R.E., was directed to con- 
 sult the writer with the view of including the art of carriage- 
 building in the five subjects (or industries) on which the plan 
 should be tried. After many consultations, a scheme was 
 worked out and organised, and of the total number of candi- 
 dates for the first five examinations, one-half were coach- 
 builders. After holding the office of examiner some seven or 
 eight years, the writer resigned in consequence of impaired 
 health and pressure of other duties. 
 
 These technical classes, and annual examinations of the 
 pupils to test the results of the teaching of carriage drawing 
 and designing, and technology of construction and finish, are 
 exerting a very favourable influence on the industry both in 
 London and in the provinces, inducing a friendly rivalry 
 among the competitors, exciting them to renewed exertions, 
 improving them professionally, morally, and socially, so that 
 they are able to better their position both from a monetary 
 and social point of view a move forward highly to be valued 
 now that so large a proportion of working men are entrusted 
 
394 DRIVING. 
 
 with the government of the country through the votes they 
 exercise at elections. 
 
 The result of the technical classes has been to turn out 
 some hundreds of more or less skilful carnage draughtsmen, 
 who, being able to make full-sized working drawings of car- 
 riages, greatly facilitate the production of more elegant and 
 better proportioned vehicles, and are likely in the near future 
 to exert a favourable influence on the whole trade. But in- 
 stead of passing the apprentices and young workmen through 
 the classes by hundreds, it is to be hoped that at no distant 
 time they will be passed through by thousands, to the benefit 
 of themselves and their country. Some have been instructed 
 in the art of perspective drawing, and a few can produce 
 drawings of carriages in perspective with facility. Already 
 lithographers and printers are able to supply illustrations of 
 carriages in perspective very fairly, an accomplishment that 
 an older generation of coachmakers said was not only difficult 
 but impossible, and never would be done. It has, however, 
 been done in our time, notwithstanding. 
 
 Associations of carriage-builders have existed in England, 
 France, and in the United States for some years, the American 
 being the most active and enterprising, holding its meetings in 
 a different town each year, and numbering about four hundred 
 members at each meeting, some travelling one or two thousaud 
 miles to be present and take part in the proceedings, for mutual 
 aid, support, and protection. The French one consists solely 
 of Paris coachmakers. It has exercised a great .influence in 
 the development of the carriage industry in France, and has 
 been carried on with very considerable skill, intelligence, and 
 patriotism. 
 
 The London Coachmakers' Company holds its charter of 
 incorporation from King Charles II., and in its day has done 
 good service to the industry it was founded to foster and en- 
 courage. From a state of almost entire torpor about twenty 
 years ago, it has been urged and pushed on to a condition of 
 greater influence and usefulness ; but its pace was too slow for 
 
MODERN CARRIAGES. 395 
 
 the times we live and move in, and another establishment, the 
 Institute of British Carriage Manufacturers, had to be founded 
 about six years ago on a popular basis, where all the officers 
 have to undergo an election every year at the annual meeting. 
 It has already done a large amount of work that ought to have 
 been done by the chartered company, which holds ample funds 
 for trade purposes. 
 
 * It may here be mentioned that in one of the rooms of the 
 offices of the royal mews at Berlin formerly occupied by General 
 Willison, Master of the Horse to the late Emperor Frederick 
 William, there was a first-rate collection of about eighty oil 
 paintings of royal carriages of various countries, with their 
 horses and harness, &c. The collection is, in many respects, 
 a valuable one, and it is to be hoped it may be long preserved, 
 where it may be seen and admired by Englishmen visiting the 
 now important capital of the German Empire. 
 
 About fifteen years ago the Science and Art Department 
 at South Kensington, through the British Foreign Office and 
 British ambassadors in foreign capitals, made an excellent 
 collection of photographs of the ancient state carriages of the 
 sovereigns of Europe. The photographs are now the pro- 
 perty of the Coachmakers' Company of London. They were 
 shown at South Kensington in 1873, at Liverpool in 1886, and 
 at Newcastle in 1887. The Institute of British Carriage Manu- 
 facturers (having its head-quarters at the New Town Hall, 
 Westminster) possesses a unique collection of illustrations of 
 ancient carriages, including working designs prepared, some 
 200 years ago, for a former Duke of Saxe-Coburg, an ancestor 
 of the late Prince Consort. 
 
 In relation to carriages, heraldry plays a somewhat impor- 
 tant part in indicating ownership, pictorially and by signs and 
 emblems, sometimes historical, and often otherwise interesting. 
 But its use is much diminished with the reduction of the 
 number of dress and state carriages now kept. At the present 
 day the art of monogram designing and painting gives almost 
 as much employment as heraldic drawing and painting. 
 
396 DRIVING. 
 
 In London there has long existed a system of contracts for 
 the supply of new and second-hand carriages by coachmakers, 
 whereby for a certain yearly payment one or more carriages 
 are supplied, and kept in sound repair and nice order with 
 little or no trouble to the lessee or person hiring. The system 
 would not be so extensively developed had it not many ad- 
 vantages to recommend it to those who keep carriages. 
 
 It is specially convenient to persons enjoying fixed incomes, 
 and who are disinclined to pay a large lump sum to purchase a 
 new carnage : to ladies who prefer a definite annual payment 
 rather than the uncertainty of bills for repairs : to persons who 
 have not paid much attention to the selection of carriages, 
 there is considerable relief of trouble and anxiety: there is 
 also the satisfaction of using a carriage always kept in nice 
 order, as the coachmakers provide a good substitute for tem- 
 porary use, while repairs are being effected, .free of charge. 
 
 Of course the charge varies according to the value of 
 the carriage (whether new or second hand), and the term for 
 which the contract is agreed to run. These contracts are made 
 for one, three, five, seven, and ten years; the yearly rate of 
 hire being proportionately reduced as the term becomes longer ; 
 printed and stamped agreements are generally signed by both 
 parties. 
 
 It is perhaps little known to strangers that many of the 
 best carriages in the London parks are contract carriages, and 
 that many persons of wealth and station, whose carriages are 
 all that can be desired in style and finish, simply pay an annual 
 fixed sum to the family coachbuilder. 
 
 It may be said, this is easy enough for persons living in 
 London all the year round, but not to those who spend the 
 greater part of their time in the country. But to any large 
 London firm it is very rarely difficult to make arrangements 
 with respectable persons in the provincial towns to do such 
 small repairs as are from time to time necessary, whilst for 
 thorough restorations the carriages come to London for a few 
 weeks. 
 
MODERN CARRIAGES. 397 
 
 Thus trade adapts itself to changing circumstances and to 
 the wants and tastes of buyers ; if a reasonable want be made 
 known, and a fair return be in prospect, English carriage 
 manufacturers, studying the course of fashion and trade, still 
 maintain the reputation that they and their predecessors have 
 already acquired. 
 
398 DRIVING. 
 
 THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF DRIVING. 
 
 ON subjects dealing with, or connected with, the horse between 
 four and five thousand books have been written since, circa 
 B.C. 430, Kimon of Athens composed his 'iTTTrotarpiKov 'and 
 'ITTTTOOVCOTTIKW, supposed to be portions of a work 7repl LTTTTLK^. 
 Xenophon's 'iTmap^iKov and 'ITTTTIKT} followed, circa 380, and 
 were first printed in 1516 at Forence. Aristoteles, B.C. 330; 
 Mago of Carthagena ; Varro, B.C. 37 ; Columella, circa A.D. 
 20 ; Plinius Secundus, circa A.D. 50 ; the Emperor Adrian, A.D. 
 120; Sextus Julius Africanus, circa A.D. 220 ; Hippocrates, and 
 others continued the list of treatises on horse lore. The laborious 
 task of collecting the names of books on the horse, together 
 with their authors, the date and place of publication, and so on, 
 was undertaken by Mr. F. H. Huth ; and a large volume con- 
 taining the result of this gentleman's researches was issued in 
 1887. The names of nearly 800 authors are tabulated, and there 
 are 314 large pages, containing on an average descriptions of well 
 over a dozen separate volumes. In comparison with the books 
 on riding, racing, breeding, cavalry and veterinary treatment, 
 the proportion of works on driving is somewhat small. The 
 following list omits few, if any, which are of importance. For 
 information as to some of the foreign treatises the compiler 
 of this bibliography is indebted to Mr. Huth's book. 
 
 Livro de Akueitaria diiridido em duas partes* Na premiera trata 
 das cousas que convem ao cavallo desde que nace, ate que Ihe 
 poem a sella e o freyo ; a segunda trata de todas as enfermidades 
 dos cavallos, e suas curas. Mestre Geraldes. Lisbon, 1318. 
 
 Les Essais de messire Michel de Montaigne. (Part III. ch. 6, ' Des 
 Coches.') Bordeaux, 1580. 
 
THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF DRIVING. 399 
 
 A Proclamation to restrain the abuses of Hackney Coaches in Lon- 
 don and Westminster. 1660; also 1687. 
 
 Lart de monter a cheval, qui monstre la belle et facille methode de 
 se rendre bon homme de cheval. Delcampe. Paris, 1664 ; 1691. 
 
 De Re Vehiculari. Jean Scheffer. Amsterdam, 1671. 
 
 Reasons for suppressing such Stage Coaches and Caravans as are 
 Unnecessary. John Cresset. 1672. 
 
 Traite des Voitures, avec la combinaison d'une berline nouvelte 
 nominee inversable. F. A. de Garsault. Paris, 1756. 
 
 Recherches stir Fepoque de P equitation et de V usage des chars eques- 
 tres chez lez anciens. Gabriel Fabricy. Rome, 1764. 
 
 The History and Art of Horsemanship. Richard Berenger, 
 London, 1771. 
 
 The Structure and Draught of Wheel-Carriages. Jacob. London. 
 
 1773- 
 Description de la Cavalcade, accompagnee de chars de triomphe, qui 
 
 sera executee par les ecoliers du college de la compagnie de Jesus 
 
 a I* occasion du jubile de qtiatre cents ans . . . le \> et le ?.() Juillet 
 
 1790. Brussels, 1790. 
 A Treatise oil Carriages, comprehending Coaches, Chatiots, Phae- 
 
 thons, etc., with their proper harness. 2 vols. William Felton. 
 
 London, 1794-5. Supplement 1796. Edition in 3 voTs. 1805. 
 Der practische Rossartzt oder Handbuch iiber die Erken?itniss ttnd 
 
 Cur der gewohnlichen Pferdekrankheiten. S. v. Tennecker. 
 
 Stuttgart, 1802 ; 1804. 
 
 Observations on Carriage Wheels. Gumming. London, 1 809. 
 The Danger of Travelling in Stage Coaches, and a Remedy pro- 
 posed. William Milton. Reading, 1810. 
 The Traveller's Oracle; with Rules for Purchasing Horses and 
 
 Carriages. By John Jervis, an old coachman. Revised by 
 
 Dr. Kitchener. London, 1827. 
 Essay on Wheel Carriages, with a concise view of their origin. 
 
 Fuller. London, 1828. 
 Remarks on the Early Use of Carriages in England, and on the 
 
 Mode of Travelling adopted by our Ancestors. James Hey wood 
 
 Markland. 1828. 
 Nouveau manuel complet du charron et du carrossier. Lebrun. 
 
 Paris, 1833-1851. 
 British Manly Exercises; in which riding, driving, racing are 
 
 now first described. Donald Walker. London, 1834; other 
 
 editions, 1835, ^47, 1855-6. 
 
400 DRIVING. 
 
 English Pleasure Carriages: their Origin, History, Varieties, 
 Materials, Construction, Defects, Improvements, and Capabilities', 
 with an analysis of the Construction of Common Roads, and 
 the Public Vehicles used on them ; together with Descriptions of 
 New Inventions, illustrated with numerous designs for the use of 
 Carriage Purchasers and Constructors. William Bridges Adams. 
 London, 1837. 
 
 The Chase, the Turf, and the Road. Charles James Apperley 
 ('Nimrod'). London, 1837, 1843, ^Si, 1852, 1870. 
 
 Manuel de Veleveur, ou Methode simplifiee de dressage des chevau.v 
 au montoir et au trait. Le Comte de Louis Edme Montigny. 
 Paris, 1850. 
 
 Le Parfait Charron. Louis Berthaux. Dijon, 1852. 
 
 Precis hygienique sur Veducation des animaux en general, suivi 
 de conseils a MM. les maitres de poste, entrepreneurs de 
 diligences et autres, proprietaires, amateurs de chevaux, etc. 
 F. Dementhou. Lyons, 1853. 
 
 The Equestrian, a Handbook of Horsemanship, co7itaining plain 
 practical rules for Ridiitg, Driving, and the Management of the 
 Horse. London, 1854. 
 
 Public Carriages of Great Britain. London, 1855. 
 
 Le Parfait Carrossier. Louis Berthaux. Dijon, 1855, 1862. 
 
 Traite de Menuiserie, a Ihisage des carrossiers. J. C. Charpentier. 
 Paris, 1856. 
 
 Du moyen le plus propre d' utilizer la chair du cheval, de Vane et du 
 mulet. A. Daunessans. Toulouse, 1856. 
 
 Methode de Varchitecte en voitures. Amable Guellon. Paris, 1856. 
 
 La Locomotion : Histoire des chars, carrosses, ojnnibus et voitures 
 de tons genres. D. Ramee. Paris, 1856 
 
 Manuel du roulage et des messageries, a Vusage des voituriers, 
 rotiliers, charre tiers, ejitrepreneurs de transport par terre et par 
 eaux, etc. Vuillermedemand. 1856. 
 
 Die regelrechte Fahrkunst, oder : Griindliche Anleitung zttm 
 praktischen Fahren und Einfahren junger Pferde, soivohl fiir 
 Herrschaften und Equipagen-Besitzer, die sich selbst dafiir 
 interessiren, ivie auchfiir Kutscher, die es griindlich erlernen und 
 sich darin vervollkommnen wollen. Nach englischen Grund- 
 satzen und englischer Methode, so wie nach 2i-jahriger Er- 
 fahrung. Johann Friedrich Witte. Berlin, 1857. 
 
 Carriage Builder's and Harness Maker's Art Journal. London, 
 1859-61. 
 
THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF DRIVING. 401 
 
 Guide complet du peintre en voitures. Arlot. Paris, 1860. 
 
 Construction of Horse Railways. Burn. 1860. 
 
 Chevaux de selle, de chasse, de course et d'attelage. Manuel complet 
 de 1'eleveur et du proprietaire de chevaux. H. Robinson. Paris, 
 1861. 
 
 Riding and Driving. J. H. Walsh (Stonehenge). London, 1863. 
 
 Manuel du Cocker. Jean Andre. Paris, 1864. 
 
 The Handy Horse Book ; or, Practical Instruction in Driving, 
 Riding, and the general Care and Management of Horses. A 
 Cavalry Officer (Magenta). London, 1865-7 ; 1871-81. 
 
 Rollwagenbilchlein. J. Wickram. Leipzig, 1865. 
 
 Conseils en Action donnes aux cockers et aux charre tiers, et suivis 
 dune conference sur le cheval, son kistoire naturelle, ses travaux 
 etc. B. de Beaupre. 1865. 
 
 Le Carnet du peintre en voitures. Brice Thomas et Gastellier. 
 Paris, 1869. 
 
 Traite de memtiserie en voitures. Brice Thomas. Paris, 1870. 
 
 77/(? Hub. A Monthly Magazine for Carriage Builders. New York, 
 1871-76. 
 
 Accidents to Horses on Carriage-way Pavements. William Hay- 
 wood. London, 1873. 
 
 The Perfect Horse : How to know him, how to breed him, how to 
 train him, how to shoe him, how to drive him. W. H. Murray. 
 Boston, 1873. 
 
 Down the Road \ or, Reminiscences of a Gentleman Coachman. 
 C. T. S. Birch Reynardson. London, 1874-5 ; 1887. 
 
 The Book of the Horse : Saddle and Harness, British and Foreign ; 
 Hints on Horsemanship, the Management of the Stable, Breed- 
 ing, Breaking, and Training for the Road, the Park, and the 
 Field. S. Sidney. London, 1874-81. 
 
 Rapport au General Morin, directeur du Conservatoire des arts et 
 metiers, sur Venseignement technique de la construction des voi- 
 tures. Brice Thomas. Paris, 1874. 
 
 Pferd und Fahrer ; oder die Fahrkunde in ihremganzen Umfange, 
 mit besonderer Beriicksichtigung von Geschirren, Wagen und 
 Scklitten. Th. Heinze. Leipzig, 1876. 
 
 Notes, Jury Reports, Lectures on the Carriages of the International 
 Exhibitions, &*c., including : 
 
 1855. Paris Exhibition: 'On the Construction of Private 
 Carriages in England, and the Carriage Department of the 
 Paris Exhibition.' 
 
 D D 
 
402 DRIVING. 
 
 1862. London International Exhibition : 'Jury Report on Car- 
 riages not connected with Rail or Tram Roads.' 
 
 1865. Dublin Exhibition : 'Jury Report on Road Carriages.' 
 
 (Secretary and Reporter.) 
 1 Jury Report on Saddlery and Harness.' 
 
 1867. Paris : 'Jury Report.' 
 
 1873. London : 'Report on Carriages.' 
 
 1877. St. Mark's Technical Class for Carriage-builders First 
 technical lecture : ' On the Principles to be observed in 
 Designing Carriages,' before the Teachers and Students of 
 the St. Mark's Technical Class for Coachmakers. London. 
 
 1878. Paris Universal Exhibition : 'Survey of the Carriage 
 Department.' 
 
 1884. London Health and Education Exhibition : Paper on 
 ' The Methods and Results of Technical Teaching as 
 applied to the British Carriage Industry,' read before the 
 Members of the Institute of British Carriage Manufac- 
 turers, at the City and Guilds of London Institute, South 
 Kensington, October u, 1884. 
 
 1885. London Inventions Exhibition : Paper 'On the Inven- 
 tions and Improvements in Road Carriages since the last 
 great Exhibition in London, as illustrated in the Carriage 
 Department of the Inventions Exhibition, South Kensing- 
 ton, 1885,' read before the Members' of the Institute of 
 British Carriage Manufacturers at the City and Guilds of 
 London Institute, South Kensington. 
 
 1886. London, Indian, and Colonial Exhibition : Paper ' On 
 the Carriages shown at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, 
 South Kensington,' read before the Members of the Insti- 
 tute of British Carriage Manufacturers, November 2, 1886- 
 
 1888. Scheme of 'School and Technical Education' for all 
 Grades employed in Carriage Construction, issued by the 
 Institute of British Carriage Manufacturers. 
 
 George Norgate Hooper. London. 
 Coaching; with Anecdotes of the Road. Lord William Pitt 
 
 Lennox. London, 1876. 
 Annals of the Road', or, Notes on Mail and Stage Coaching in 
 
 Great Britain. Harold Esdaile Malet. London, 1876. 
 Draft-Book of Centennial Carriages displayed in Philadelphia, 
 
 1870. New York, 1877. 
 Horses and Harness. E. F. Flower. London, 1877. 
 
THE BIBLIOGRAPHY OF DRIVING. 403 
 
 Das Pferd : Erfahrungen aus meinem Leben fiber den Einkauf, 
 
 die PJlege, den Hufbeschlag, das Reiten des Pferdes tmd die 
 
 Fahrkunst. J. S. Trautvetter. Dresden, 1877. 
 American Roadsters and Trotting Horses. H. T. Helm. Chicago, 
 
 1878. 
 Skizzen zur Geschichte des Pferdes des Reit- tmd Fahrwesens. 
 
 Zusammengestellt nach den neuesten und besten Quellen. Gust. 
 
 Pokorny. Prague, 1878. 
 
 The World on Wheels. E. M. Stratton. New York, 1878. 
 The Centaur. A Weekly Record of the Road. London, 1879. 
 Rapport sur la Carrosserie. N. Belvallette. Paris, 1880. 
 Coach Builders' Art Journal. London, 1880. 
 Carriage Painters' 1 Manual. F. B. Gardner. New York, 1883. 
 Annuaire de la Carrosserie. Paris, 1881. 
 Practical Treatise on Coach-building. J. W. Burgess. London, 
 
 1881. 
 An Essay on the Breeding and Management of Draught-Horses. 
 
 R. S. Reynolds. London, 1882. 
 
 Carriages, Roads, and Coaches. S. Berdmore. London, 1883. 
 Half-bred Horses for Field or Road. Earl Cathcart. (Journal of 
 
 A.R.S.E.) 1883. 
 Compagnie Generale des Voitures. Etudes experimentales sur 
 
 1'alimentation du cheval de trait. L. N. Grandeau et A. 
 
 Leclerc. Paris, 1882-3. 
 Carriage Builder's Tour in America. H. Mulliner. Leamington, 
 
 1883. 
 Harness as it has been, as it is, and as it should be. With remarks 
 
 on Traction and the use of the Cape Cart. John Philipson 
 
 ' Nimshivick.' Newcastle-upon-Tyne, 1883. 
 The Harness Maker's Illustrated Manual. A practical Guide for 
 
 Manufacturers of Harness, Pads, Gig-saddles, &c. W. N. Fitz- 
 gerald. London, 1884. 
 Carriage Trimmer's Manual, Guide-book, and Illustrated Technical 
 
 Dictionary. A practical treatise for the Carriage Trimmer. 
 
 W. N. Fitzgerald. London, 1884. 
 The Hackney Stud Book. Prepared under the direction of the 
 
 Editing Committee of the Hackney Stud Book Society, with an 
 
 Historical Introduction by H. F. Eason, Secretary. Norwich, 
 
 1884. 
 
 Hackney Carriage Guardian. London, 1884. 
 Comment il faut choisir un cheval. Connaissances pratiques sur 
 
 D D 2 
 
404 DRIVING. 
 
 1'anatomie, 1'exterieur, les races. Principes pour essayer les 
 
 chevaux de selle et d'attelage. Comte de Montigny. Paris, 
 
 1885. 
 Draught. The Worshipful Company of Coach Harness Makers' 
 
 First Prize Essay. William Philipson. Newcastle-on-Tyne 
 
 and London, 1885, 
 
 The Technicalities of the Art of Coach-body Making. John Philip- 
 son. London, 1885. 
 
 Old Coaching Days. Stanley Harris. London, 1886. 
 Nouveau Manuel du Cocher^ contenant une etude sur Its principles 
 
 races de chevaux, des notiotis d^hygiene^ de dressage^ etc. 
 
 E. Court. Paris, 1886. 
 The Practical Horse Keeper. George Fleming, LL.D., F.R.C.V.S. 
 
 London, 1886. 
 Works on Horses and Equitation. A Bibliographical Record of 
 
 Hippology. F. H. Huth. London, 1887. 
 Coaching Days and Coachi7ig Ways. Outram Tristram. London, 
 
 1887-8. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 ACC 
 
 ACCIDENTS, common cause of, 
 1 1 ; to Henry IV. of France, 
 29 ; to Major Lawes's drag, 
 87; to Shirley, 140; Ned 
 Poulton's mishap near Whit- 
 church, 146 ; Ringrose and 
 the donkey, 173; on Hen- 
 ley Hill, 177; the Sud bury 
 barrow, 182; to the Edin- 
 burgh mail, 189 ; in North- 
 amptonshire, 189 ; near Bag- 
 shot, 189; on the Southamp- 
 ton road, 190 ; in the New 
 Forest, 190, 191 ; between 
 Egham and Staines, 191 ; to 
 the Brighton coach, 200 ; near 
 Stonehenge, 203 ; to the 
 Exeter mail, 209 ; between 
 Bath and Devonport, 211 ; to 
 Devonport mail, 220; a run- 
 away mail, 221 ; Jack Adams 
 and the axletrees, 22 1 ; at Hart- 
 ford Bridge Flat, 224 ; to the 
 Quicksilver at Brighton, 231 ; 
 to Oliver Cromwell, in Hyde 
 Park, 248 ; to the Westerham 
 coach, 283 ; to Cooper's coach 
 at Boxhill, 289 ; to the Brigh- 
 ton coach on Banstead Downs, 
 296 ; to York and Liverpool 
 
 AUT 
 
 coach, 303 ; the Marquis of 
 Worcester's adventure, 307 
 Advertisements of horses for 
 
 sale, 60 
 
 Age of horse, signs of, 68 
 Agreement between a jobmaster 
 and a gentleman in 1718, 57 
 Aldridg^'s, 61, 79, 192 
 Alpha air horse-collars, 94 
 American vehicles, 50 ; harness- 
 horses, 59 ; stage-coaches, 361 
 Aprons, 131 
 Auctions, buying at, 61 
 Authorities cited : Adams, W. 
 B., 40-44, 46; Anglesey, ist 
 Marquis of, 41 ; Bealson, 
 Robert, 37 ; Birch-Reynard- 
 son, 102 ; Birkenhead, Sir 
 John, 249 ; Brougham, Lord, 
 46, 47 ; Carter, Philip, 198 ; 
 Chambers, Sir William, 34 ; 
 Chesterfield, Earl of, 48 ; 
 Cleveland, 248 ; Coates, 41 ; 
 Cook, Dutton, 41 ; Curzon, 
 Lord, 48 ; Dickens, Charles, 
 198 ; D'Orsay, Count, 43 ; 
 Felton, W., 39, George IV., 
 48 ; Hansom, Joseph, 44, 45 ; 
 Markham, 72 ; McAdam, 26, 
 37 ; Nimrod,' 250, 254, 256 ; 
 
4 o6 
 
 DRIVING. 
 
 AUT 
 
 Pepys, 30, 31 ; Prince Con- 
 sort, 48 ; Prince of Wales, 32; 
 the Queen, 48 ; Quin, Dr., 
 41 ; Sala, George Augustus, 
 50; Stanhope, Hon. Fitzroy, 
 44 ; Stephen, Sir George, 60 ; 
 Stephenson, George, 198 ; 
 Surtees, 257 ; Taylor, John, 
 the Water Poet, 29, 30, 73 ; 
 Tellier, Jean, 38 ; Thackeray, 
 259 ; Tollemache, Lord, 41 ; 
 Ward, Charles, 204 ; Welling- 
 ton, Duke of, 41 ; Whyte- 
 Melville, Major, 64 ; William 
 IV., 48 
 Axles, 24, 87 
 
 BADMINTON CLUB, 272 
 
 Barley straw, 74 
 
 Barouches, 37, 49, 113, 384 
 
 Bars, 161 
 
 Bate (the Fenman), his theory 
 of shooting, 174 
 
 Bath road, the, 175, 242 
 
 Bearing-reins, 6, 90, 136, 144, 
 146, 185 
 
 Beaufort phaetons, 382 
 
 Bedding, horses', 74 
 
 Bedfont Driving Club, 175, 255 
 
 Beginners in driving the late 
 Major Henry Dixon's hints 
 to, 116; putting the team 
 together, 116; position of 
 leaders and wheelers to poles 
 and bars, 117; dealing with 
 harness, 118; harnessing to 
 vehicle, 118 ; length of reins, 
 120; breadth of reins, 121 ; 
 mounting to box, 122 ; the 
 start, 124, 127; management 
 of reins, 124 ; looping a rein, 
 125; pointing the leaders, 
 125 ; manipulating the break, 
 
 BIB 
 
 127 ; education in the proper 
 use of the whip, 127 ; when the 
 leader's tail is over the reins, 
 129 ; how to keep the hands 
 warm, 130; gloves and shoes, 
 130 
 
 Beginners in driving Colonel 
 Hugh Smith-Baillie's hints to, 
 131 ; reins and seat, 131, 134, 
 135 ; position of hands and 
 arms, 131 ; pulling up, 132 ; 
 practical tuition, 132 ; the 
 break, 132 ; acquaintance 
 with harness, 133, 136 ; bit 
 and curb-chain, 133, 137 ; 
 traces and pole-chains, 133; 
 coupling-reins, 133; shying 
 horses, 134 ; the whip, 134 ; 
 the leaders, 135 ; driving 
 with a light hand, 136; the 
 pole, 136 ; bearing-reins, 136; 
 side reins, 137 ; see also 192- 
 194, and Driving 
 Belle Sauvage, Ludgate Hill, 199 
 Bells, communicating, 47 
 Benevolent Whip Club, 251 
 Bensington Driving Club. 250 
 Bibliography : A Treatise on 
 Carriages and Harness, 39 ; 
 Adventures of a Gentleman 
 in search of a Horse, 60 ; 
 Chaunt of Achilles, 257 ; 
 Down the Road, 102 ; Fall, 
 the, 249 ; Four Georges, 259 ; 
 Fyne Morrison's Itinerary, 
 29 ; Genesis, 25 ; Hit and 
 Miss, 253 ; Notes and Queries, 
 57 ; On the Stage, 41 ; 
 Sporting Magazine, 251 ; The 
 Squyr of Low Degree, 26 ; 
 The Way to Wealth, 72 ; 
 The World on Wheels, 34, 
 50 ; The World runnes on 
 Wheeles; or, Oddes betwixt 
 
INDEX. 
 
 40? 
 
 BIB 
 
 Carts and Coaches, 29 ; 
 Under the Sun, 50 ; see also 
 Bibliography, 398-404 
 
 ' Big legs,' 66 
 
 Bird's-nest built in coach, 266 
 
 ' Bishoping,' 69 
 
 Bits, 89, 102, 117, 133, 146 
 
 Bitting, 2 
 
 Blindness, 66 
 
 Blinkers, 97 
 
 Blistering, 66 
 
 Blue Coach Office, Brighton, 237 
 
 Bog-spavin, 66 
 
 Bone-spavin, 66 
 
 Box-seat, formation of the, 9 
 
 Box-seat, observations from the, 
 218 ; pleasures of travelling 
 by stage-coaches, 219 ; cha- 
 racters of coachmen, 219 ; 
 boyish reminiscenses, 219 ; 
 accident with the Devonport 
 mail, 220 ; the lioness at 
 Winterslow Hut, 220 ; the 
 runaway mail and the French- 
 man, 221 ; accident to Jack 
 Adams on the Oxford De- 
 fiance, 221 ; well-known 
 coachmen, 223 ; accident to 
 Luke Tabor, 224 ; unlucky 
 Johnson, 224 ; suicide of 
 Charles Holmes, 225 ; Ned 
 Mountain's bedtime, 226 ; 
 Billy Barrett's politeness, 226 ; 
 Saunders's rheumatism, 227 ; 
 how Tommy Waters missed 
 the mail, 228 
 
 Breaks, 6, 7, 102-104, 127, 132, 
 
 35 6 391 
 
 Breaking-in, 138, 152 
 
 Breeches, 312 
 
 Breechings, 92, 97, 154 
 
 Brighton road the coach 
 offices in Castle Square, 
 Brighton, 229 ; Goodman's 
 
 BRU 
 
 Times, 229, 230; the late 
 Duke of Beaufort's tiff with 
 Goodman, 230 ; an old-style 
 hotel coffee-room, 230 ; the 
 Duke and Alexander's oppo- 
 sition to Goodman, 230 ; the 
 Wonder and Quicksilver, 231 ; 
 accident to the Quicksilver, 
 231 ; the Criterion, 232 ; Bob 
 Pointer's one infirmity, 232 ; 
 a flogging schoolmaster, 232- 
 
 236 ; a flight from school and 
 recapture, 234 ; Stephenson's 
 Age, 236 ; various routes to 
 Brighton, 236 ; the old Blue 
 Coach office, 237 ; the White 
 Coach office, 237 ; the Red 
 Rover, 237 ; a gale of wind, 
 
 237 ; James Adlam's venture, 
 
 238 ; George Clark and the 
 Age, 238 ; a young coach- 
 man's tips, 239, 240; stages 
 of the Age to and from 
 Brighton, 240 ; Captain Ha- 
 worth and the New Times, 
 241 ; other coaches, 241 ; see 
 Roads 
 
 Bristol and Bath road to Lon- 
 don, 242 ; the York House 
 coach, 242 ; qualities of 
 Ad lam and Sprawson as 
 coachmen, 242 ; routes to 
 Bath, 243 ; the Quicksilver, 
 Em< raid, and Regulator, 243 ; 
 rigours of coach-travelling, 
 243 ; deficiencies in travelling 
 coats and comforts, 244 ; 
 Mrs. Botham, of the Pelican 
 hotel, Speenhamland, 244 
 
 Britzskas, 46 
 
 Broken- wind, 65 
 
 Broughams, 46, 106, 110-112, 
 
 364, 383 
 Brushes, 84, 107 
 
408 
 
 DRIVING. 
 
 BUG 
 
 Buggies, 380 
 
 Burnishers, 89 
 
 Buxton and Peyton Association, 
 
 254 
 
 Buxton bits, 89 
 Buying a horse, 60 
 
 CAB-DRIVERS' Benevolent Asso- 
 ciation, 388 
 
 Cab-phaetons, 373 
 
 Cabriolets, 42, 369 
 
 Cabs, 364, 388 
 
 Cads, 308, 311 
 
 Carriages, origin of, 21 ; evolu- 
 tion of the wheel, 22-24 '> the 
 axle-tree, 24 ; chariots, 24, 
 25 ; four-wheeled wagons, 
 25 ; wheeled vehicles in the 
 middle ages, 26 ; the ' chare,' 
 27 ; Bill to restrain excessive 
 use of, 27 ; taxing, 28 ; in- 
 stitution of public stages, 28 ; 
 early staje-coach, 28 ; satire 
 on coaches by Taylor, the 
 Water-Poet, 29; the horse- 
 litter, 30; invention of springs, 
 30 ; Colonel Blount's spring- 
 carriage, 30 ; an odd device, 
 
 31 ; the driver's place, 31, 32, 
 34, 44; seventeenth-century 
 carriages, 31 ; the sedan cart, 
 
 32 ; the gig, 32, 44 ; list of 
 English vehicles, 33 ; the 
 mail -phaeton, 33, 46; the 
 steel spring, 33; the high- 
 flierphaeton, 34 ; Georgelll.'s 
 state-carriage, 35 ; the ba- 
 rouche, 37 ; controversy on 
 cylindrical and conical wheels, 
 37 ; Mr. Robert Bealson's 
 roller, 37, 38 ; Mr. Jean 
 Tellier's rods to prevent up- 
 set, 38, 39; the S or whip- 
 
 CAU 
 
 spring, 39 ; the landau and 
 lanclaulet, 39 ; the sulky, 39 ; 
 pony-phaeton, 40 ; curricle, 
 40; the 'whisky,' 41 ; cab- 
 riolet, 42 ; the Stanhope, 43 ; 
 the Tilbury and Dennett, 44 ; 
 dog-carts, 44 ; the hansom, 
 44 ; britzska, 46 ; broughams, 
 47 ; wagonettes, 48 ; the 
 Victoria, 48; sociable landau 
 and barouche, 49 ; American, 
 50 ; Norwegian and Russian, 
 51 ; preservation of, 84; wash- 
 ing, 85 ; examination of, 86 ; 
 cost of, 105-115 376-379; 
 see also Modern Carriages 
 
 Carriage-builders, London, 109 ; 
 see Makers 
 
 Carriage -horses, 53 ; points for 
 selection, 54 ; for cabriolet, 
 55 ; for chariot, 55 ; foreign, 
 55 ; prices, 55, 62-4; jobbing, 
 57 ; prices in 1718 and 1889, 
 57 ; for phaeton, 58 ; ' a good 
 trapper,' 58 ; high action, 58 ; 
 trotters,. 59 ; advertisement of 
 sale, 60 ; tricks of copers, 60 ; 
 buying, 60-4 ; examination by 
 Royal Veterinary College, 63 ; 
 dealer's form of sale, 63 ; hire, 
 64 ; modern dealers and old- 
 fashioned copers, 64 ; physical 
 ailments, 65-67 ; vices, 67 ; 
 kickers and jibbers, 67 ; fallen, 
 68 ; marks of age, 68 ; daily 
 work, 70-74; feeding, 74; 
 bedding, 74 ; pairs, 75 ; a 
 suitable establishment, 75 ; 
 fitting with bits, 89 ; bearing- 
 reins, 90 ; collars, 93-5 ; kick- 
 ing-straps, 96 ; cost of, in 
 
 Carrioles, 51, 359, 367 
 
 Carts, 149 
 
 Caucasus, winter- riding in the, 335 
 
INDEX. 
 
 409 
 
 CHA 
 
 Chariot races, 24 
 
 Chariots, 24, 25 
 
 Chars-a-bancs, 368, 383 
 
 Chars-a-cote, 358 
 
 City and Guilds of London 
 Institute, 393 
 
 Clarence, the, 367 
 
 Clocks, coach, 151 
 
 Clothing for horses, 115 
 
 Clubs, 248 ; Oliver Cromwell on 
 the box, 248 ; contemporary 
 satire on his failure as a coach- 
 man, 248 ; advent of Me Adam 
 and road improvement, 249 ; 
 advertisement of the London to 
 York coach, 250 ; founding of 
 the Bensington Driving Club, 
 
 250 ; its colloquial name, 251 ; 
 the Benevolent Whip Club, 
 25 1 ; its modern representative, 
 
 251 ; the Four-Horse Club, 
 251 ; the Vis landau, 252 ; 
 dress of the F.-H. C, 252; 
 Mathews and Grimaldi's 
 caricatures of it, 253 ; meet- 
 ings of the F.-H. C, 253 ; 
 rival hotels at Salt Hill, 253, 
 
 254 ; a critical detail in cater- 
 ing, 254 ; charge of furious 
 driving against members of 
 F.-H. C., 254 ; proposed new 
 club, the Defiance, 254 ; dis- 
 solution of the F.-H. C., 255 ; 
 the B. D. C. changes its name 
 to Bedfont, 255 ; the King 
 thought he knew his 'holloa,' 
 
 255 ; the bacchic and terpsi- 
 chorean displays of Mr. 
 Prouse, 256 ; the Richmond 
 Driving Club founded by Lord 
 Chesterfield ' the magnificent,' 
 
 256 ; members and coaches of 
 R. D. C. , 256 ; contemporary 
 satire of the R. D. C., 257; 
 
 COA 
 
 Charley Sheridan, 258 ; reck- 
 less Angerstein, 258 ; break- 
 up of the R. D. C., 259 ; and 
 of the B. D. C., 259 ; George 
 the Fourth, 259 ; Sir Henry 
 Peyton, ' the solitary chario- 
 teer,' 259 ; formation of the 
 Four-in-Hand, 260 ; its mem- 
 bers, 260 ; its rules, 260, 264 ; 
 club-day rules, 261 ; meetings, 
 261, 262 ; Count Munster a 
 member, 263 ; change of hour 
 of meeting, 263 ; list of mem- 
 bers in 1888, 264 ; the Blues 
 old coach, 265 ; establishment 
 of the Coaching Club, 266 ; 
 its uniform, 267 ; its rules and 
 regulations, 267 ; list of mem- 
 bers, 268 ; regimental coaches, 
 270 ; clubs at Ascot, Sandown, 
 Kempton, and Lord's, 270 ; 
 in Hyde Park, 271 ; the Road 
 Club, 271, 287 ; the Badmin- 
 ton Club, 272 ; New York 
 Four-in-Hand Club, 272 
 
 Coaches, 49 ; cost of, 114, 115 ; 
 build of, 195 
 
 Coach-box, 9, 31 
 
 Coach-horses, 77 ; kind pre- 
 ferred, 77 ; heights of wheelers 
 and leaders, 78 ; buying, 79 ; 
 throroughbreds, 79 ; appor- 
 tioning exercise, 80 ; groom- 
 ing, 8 1 ; strapping, 82 ; supply 
 of water, 82 ; best sizes, 192 ; 
 prices, 300, 301 
 
 Coach-houses, 83 ; importance 
 of dryness, 84 ; airing and 
 dusting, 85 ; pole supports, 
 84 ; washing carriages, 86 ; 
 examination of carriage gear, 
 
 87 
 
 Coaching Club, 266-70 
 Coaching songs, 187, 188 
 
4io 
 
 DRIVIXG. 
 
 COA 
 
 Coachmen, 219, 223 
 
 Coats, 131 
 
 Cobs, 72 
 
 Coffee-rooms, old, in the 
 Borough, 230 
 
 Collars, 357 
 
 Collinge's carriage-boxes, 87 
 
 Concord waggon, 5 
 
 Connaught buggy, 380 
 
 Contract carriages, 396 
 
 Copers, 60 
 
 C.orns, 66 
 
 Cost of a carriage and its main- 
 tenance, 105 115 
 
 Coupling-reins, 6, 7, 98, 117, 
 120, 133, 136 
 
 Couriers, 323, 353 
 
 Cox's, Mrs., adventure in the 
 Bath mail, 21 1 
 
 Crib-biters, 69 
 
 Cromwell, Oliver, as an amateur 
 coachman, 247, 248 
 
 Crupper-straps, 120 
 
 C spring, 39, 42 
 
 Cuban carriages, 50 
 
 Curbs, 66 
 
 Curb-bits, 91 
 
 Curb-chain, 133 
 
 Curricles, 40, 368 
 
 DEADWOOD (coach), Colonel 
 
 Cody's, 361 
 Dealers, 79 ; a form of sale, 
 
 63 
 
 Dennett, the, 44 
 Diet for horses, 73 
 Diligences, French, 328, 355 
 Disguising the age of a horse, 
 
 69 
 Dog-carts, 44, 114, 169, 371, 
 
 379 
 
 Double Victorias, 381 
 Drag, the pressure, 183, 194 
 
 EST 
 
 Drags (vehicles), meaning of, 
 33 note, 387 
 
 Dress, 358 
 
 Dress of members of F.-H.C., 
 252 ; of the Coaching Club, 
 267 
 
 Driving, hints concerning, I ; 
 inspecting harness, 2 ; bitting, 
 2; one horse : the start, 3 ; 
 handling reins, 3-5, 16 ; 
 movementsof hands, 5 ; whip, 
 5 ; bearing-reins, 6 ; a pair r 
 poling, 6 ; application of break, 
 6 ; coupling-reins, 6, 7 ; the 
 whip, 8; four-horses : mount- 
 ing, 8 ; the box-seat, 9 ; shape 
 and nt of coach-box, 9 ; posi- 
 tion of arms, 9; starting, 10; 
 management of pace, 11-13; 
 galloping, II, 14; working 
 long stages, 13 ; shortening 
 off-wheel rein, 14; catching 
 thong of whip, 14 ; when it is 
 safest to increase pace, 15 ; 
 proper application of whip, 
 15, 16; the incline to right 
 or left, 16, 17; putting horses 
 to carriage, 17 ; place of the. 
 groom when horses are stand- 
 ing, 20; see also Hints td 
 Beginners 
 
 Driving-seat, 133, 149 
 
 Droschkis, 51 
 
 EILWAGEN, the, 357 
 
 Elastic horse-collars, 95 
 
 Elbow-bits, 89 
 
 Electric anti-crib biting manger, 
 
 102 
 English pleasure carriages, 40, 
 
 42 
 Establishment of horses, kind 
 
 recommended, 75 
 
INDEX. 
 
 411 
 
 EXE 
 
 Exercise, horse, 81 
 Exhibitions, influence of, 392 
 
 FALSE collars, 93 
 
 Feeding horses, 73 
 
 Firing, 66 
 
 Flies, 92, 121 
 
 Fourgons, 353 
 
 Four-Horse Club, 251 
 
 Four-in-Hand Driving Club, 
 
 114, 260-264 
 
 Frederick III.'s carriage, 27 
 French posting, 320 ; travelling 
 
 coaches, 356 
 
 GEORGE III.'s state carriage, 
 cost of, 35 
 
 George IV., 48, 259, 347, 370 
 
 German posting, 325 ; travel- 
 ling coaches, 356 
 
 Gigs, 32, 114, 362, 372, 378 
 
 Gloves, 3, 130 
 
 Greatcoats, 244, 312 
 
 Green forage, 75 
 
 Grimaldi, Joey, and the F.- 
 H.C., 253 
 
 Grooming, 8 1 
 
 Grooms, 17, 18; wages of, 108; 
 cost of, 113 
 
 Gruel, 74 
 
 Guards, 178, 227 
 
 HACKNEY-coaches, 363 
 Hammer, coach, 151 
 Hansoms, 366, 380, 388 
 Harness, 2, 88 98, in, 133, 
 
 154-156 
 
 Harness-room, 88 ; to be cut off 
 from the stable, 88 ; fittings, 
 89 ; bits, 89 ; bearing reins, 
 90 ; breechiqgs, 92 ; collars, 
 
 ITA 
 
 93 ; false collars, 93 ; horse- 
 collar measurers, 93 ; zinc 
 collar 7 pad, 94; Alpha air 
 horse-collar, 94 ; elastic 
 horse-collars, 95 ; kicking- 
 straps, 96 ; blinkers, 97 ; 
 characteristics of good har- 
 ness, 97 ; pads, 98 ; whips, 
 98 
 
 Hatchett's White Horse Cellar, 
 103, 273 
 
 Hats, 312 
 
 Hay, 74 
 
 Henry IV. of France's coach 
 accident, 29 
 
 Heraldry, 395 
 
 High action in horses, 58 
 
 High-flier phaeton, the, 34 
 
 Hiring, 64 
 
 Hogarth s ' Country Inn Yard,' 
 
 33 
 
 Horns, 151, 357 
 Horse-collars, 93-96 
 Horse-collar measurers, 93 
 Horse-copers, 60 
 Horse-dealer's, a, opinion on 
 
 tandem-driving, 165 
 Horse's food, 73 ; keep, cost of, 
 
 1 08 
 
 Horse-litters, 30 
 Horse-subjugator, the, 102 
 Hyderabad Coaching Club, 266 
 
 INNKEEPERS, 375 
 
 Inns, 363 
 
 Institute of British Carriage 
 
 Manufacturers, 395 
 Instruction in driving, I- 20, 
 
 116-137, 192-194 
 Irish cars, 76, 360 
 Irish car-horses, 74 
 Isvostschiks, 342 
 Italy, posting in, 325 
 
412 
 
 JAC 
 
 JACKETS, 312 
 
 Jibbers, 67 
 
 Jobbing carriages, cost of, 112 
 
 Job-horses, 57, 72 
 
 Job coachmen, cost of, 112 
 
 Jobmasters, 70, 72 
 
 Journey by coach in 1647, 73 
 
 KIBITKAS, 359 
 Kickers, 67, 136 
 Kicking-straps, 96 
 Kingston to Dorking, 274 
 Kitten (gelding), 166 
 
 LAMENESS, 65 
 Lamps, 151 
 Landaulets, 39 
 
 Landaus, 39, 49, 385, 390; 
 cost of single and two horse, 
 
 112 
 
 Langets, 99 
 
 Lawes, Major, accident to his 
 
 drag, 87 
 Leaders, 152 
 Leather-punch, 151 
 Liberator roller and trace-bolt, 
 
 101 
 
 Litters, 30 
 Liverpool bits, 89 
 Liverpool flying machine,' 249 
 Livery stable costs, III 
 London carriage-builders, 109 
 London Coachmakers' Company, 
 
 346, 394, 395 
 
 London dealers, -64 
 
 London to Brighton ; see Brigh- 
 ton road 
 
 London to Dover, first journey, 
 245, 249 ; Rickman and his 
 fate, 245 ; the three brothers 
 Wright, 245 
 
 London to Edinburgh, 249 
 
 DRIVING. 
 
 MAK 
 London to York, first coach 
 
 journey, 249 ; advertisement, 
 
 250 
 Looping a rein, 125 
 
 MAIL-PHAETONS, 33, 46, 370, 
 
 38i 
 
 Makers : Adams, 34; Adams 
 & Hooper, 347 ; Andrews, 
 48 ; Barker & Co., 346, 
 369 ; Baxter & Pearce, 346 ; 
 Bezer & Thomas, 100 ; 
 Birch & Co., 346, 347 ; 
 Booker, 347 ; Coates & 
 Blizard, 347 ; Collinge, John, 
 347 ; Collingridge, Cook, & 
 Co., 346; Cook, William, 
 347; Courtney, 369; Cowlard, 
 299; Craddock, 100 ; Curtis 
 Brothers, 202 ; Curtis, Dex- 
 ter, 94 ; Davies, David, 347, 
 367 ; Elliott, Obadiah, 347 ; 
 Forder, 367 ; Fuller, 371 ; 
 Harvey, 366 ; Hatchett & Co. , 
 346; Hayman, George, 371 ; 
 Hobson & Co. , 347 ; Holland 
 & Holland, 265, 275-277, 
 299 ; Holmes, 48 ; Hooper, 
 George, 48, 369; Hooper & 
 Co., 21, 372, 374J Hopkins, 
 347 ; Houlditch & Co., 347 ; 
 Howard & Parker, 347 ; 
 Lacey, F., 100 ; Laurie & 
 Marner, 285, 367 ; Lovell, 
 48 ; Messer & Co. , 347 ; 
 Onslow-Secker, E., 104 ; Pal- 
 mer, 347 ; Peters, 285, 374 ; 
 Robinson, 47 ; Robinson & 
 Cook, 347, 365; Sharp& Bland, 
 365 ; Shiilibeer, 365 ; Spence 
 & Storrars, 93 ; Thrupp & 
 Glover, 347 ; Tilbury, 347 ; 
 Ventham, 284 ; Waller, J. S., 
 
INDEX. 
 
 413 
 
 MAK 
 
 101 ;Wand, 284 ; Ward, 1 86 ; 
 Waucle, 347 ; Williams, 347 ; 
 Windus, 347 ; Winsor & 
 Co., 346; Woolnough, 101 ; 
 Wright, 284 
 Malle-poste, the, in France, 
 
 327 
 
 Master Coachbuilders' Benevo- 
 lent Institution, 393 
 
 Matches, 151 
 
 Mathews, Charles, and the 
 F.-H.C., 253 
 
 McAdam and the improvement 
 of roads, 249 
 
 Modern Carriages, 345 ; adapta- 
 tion of carriages to roads, 
 345 ; Charles II. 's charter 
 to Coachmakers' Company 
 of London, 346 ; London 
 carriage-builders, 346 ; Col- 
 linge's axles, 347; Elliott's 
 introduction of elliptic springs, 
 347 ; Birch's landau-heads, 
 347 ; Thrupp & Glover's 
 springs, 347 ; Prince Regent's 
 influence, 347 ; Palmer's im- 
 provements in stage-coaches, 
 347 ; procession of mail- 
 coaches, 348 ; Hobson's gig 
 and Tilbury's invention, 349 ; 
 overhauling the Queen's car- 
 riages, 349 ; Napoleon III.'s 
 carriages, 350 ; the dor- 
 meuse, 351 ; King's mes- 
 sengers' carriages, 351 ; con- 
 tinental travelling carriages, 
 353 ; couriers, 353 ; the 
 fourgon, 353 ; posting and 
 coaching here and on the con- 
 tinent, 354 ; the diligence and 
 its appointments, 356 ; Eng- 
 lish and continental use of 
 the whip, 357 ; travelling in 
 Switzerland, 358 ; the char-a- 
 
 MOD 
 
 cote, 358 ; Swiss and Austrian 
 roads, 359 ; the Irish car, 360 ; 
 Bianconi's enterprise, 360 ; 
 American stage-coaches, 361 ; 
 country inns, 363 ; hackney- 
 coaches, 363 ; cabs, 364, 388 ; 
 the brougham, 364, 383 ; 
 Shillibeer 'bus, 365 ; omni- 
 buses, 365, 383 ; the ' slice of 
 an omnibus,' 366; Harvey's 
 improvement, 366 ; Hansom's 
 idea, 366, 388 ; the Clarence, 
 367 ; char-a-bancs, 368, 382 ; 
 Prince Consort's improve- 
 ments, 368 ; the wagonette, 
 368, 382 ; the curricle, 368 ; 
 cabriolets, 369 ; C-springs, 
 3^9, 383 ; London carriages, 
 
 370 ; mail -phaetons, 370 ; 
 park or pony phaetons, 370 ; 
 dogcarts, 371 ; fulcrum shafts, 
 
 371 ; gigs, 362, 372 ; T-carts, 
 373 ; spider-phaetons, 373 ; 
 cab-phaetons, 373 ; causes of 
 changes of fashion, 373 ; state 
 carriages, 374; 'shoddy,' 375 ; 
 taxation, 375-379; list of 
 fashionable carriages used in 
 1888, 376-379; construction 
 of the chief forms of carriages, 
 379-39 > Beaufort phaetons, 
 382 ; sociables, 383 ; ba- 
 rouches, 384 ; landaus, 385, 
 
 390 ; dress coach and chariot, 
 386 ; drags, 387 ; second- 
 hand carriages, 389 ; interiors, 
 
 391 ; breaks, 391 ; india- 
 rubber tires, 391 ; influence 
 of exhibitions, 392 ; technical 
 schools, 393 ; builders' asso- 
 ciations, 394 ; Institute of 
 British Carriage Manufac- 
 turers, 395 ; paintings of 
 carriages, 395 ; heraldry, 395 ; 
 
414 
 
 DRIVING. 
 
 MOD 
 
 contract carriages, 396 , see 
 also Carriages 
 Monogram designing, 395 
 
 NEAPOLITAN calesso, the, 52 
 New Rochelle waggon, 50 
 New York Four-in-Hand Club, 
 
 272 
 
 North Road, the old, 196 
 Norwegian cariole, 51 
 Notabilities, amateur and pro- 
 fessional, connected with 
 driving : 
 
 Abingdon, Earl of, 265 
 
 Acworth, John, 227 
 
 Adams, J., 179, 221, 222, 
 224, 291 
 
 Adams, W. B., 369 
 
 Adlam, James, 225, 238, 242 
 
 Agar- Ellis, Hon. Leo, 260, 
 261, 265 
 
 Aikman, Colonel F., 268 
 
 Alexander, 230, 231 
 
 Alford, Lord, 257 
 
 Allfrey, Major Goodrich, 268 
 
 Angell, B. J., 241, 275, 276, 
 
 279, 280, 283, 286 
 Angerstein, J., 257, 258 
 Anglesey, Marquis of, 268 
 Annesley, 252 
 
 Armitage, Colonel, 267, 268, 
 
 275 
 
 Ashton, Captain S. T. , 268 
 Aston, A. W. Hervey, 257 
 Atherley, Capt. Evelyn, 265 
 Aveland, Lord, 262, 265, 
 
 280, 291 
 
 Aylesford, Lord, 303 
 Bailey, Crawshay, 266 
 Bailey, 287, 289, 291, 296 
 Baillie, Captain Hugh Smith, 
 
 260, 261, 262, 302 
 Baird, Alexander, 268 
 
 NOT 
 
 Notabilities (cont. ) : 
 Baker, 289 
 Balding, 297 
 Baldwin, John Loraine, 260, 
 
 261, 265 
 
 Banbury, Frederick G., 268 
 Banks, J., 294 
 Barclay, Captain, 200 
 Barrett, Billy, 226 
 Batthyany, Count, 175, 257 
 Baynes, W., 250 
 Bean, Bill, 139 
 Beaufort, Dukes of, 172, 175, 
 
 191, 230, 257-261, 264- 
 
 268, 273, 275, 278, 287, 
 
 300,309 
 
 Beckett, 215, 297, 299 
 Bective, Lord, 214, 265, 268, 
 
 281, 282, 285, 287, 288, 
 
 290 
 
 Belcher, 302 
 Belhouse, C., 302 
 Beresford, Lord Charles, 
 
 265, 269 
 
 Beresford, Lord William, 270 
 Berkeley, Rowland, 225 
 Bernard, T., 257 
 Best, 252 
 Bianconi, 360 
 Bill, Captain Charles, 268 
 Bischoffsheim, Ferdinand, 269 
 Blackburne, 290, 294 
 Black ett, L., 291 
 Blackmore, 225 
 Blandford, Marquis of, 286, 
 
 287, 288 
 Blight, 223 
 Blyth, Carleton, 215, 289, 
 
 291-294, 299, 300, 302, 303 
 Bollin, 189 
 
 Botham, Brothers, 242 
 Botham, Mrs., 242, 244, 310 
 Boulter, Stanley C. , 269 
 Bowers, W., 217, 244 
 
INDEX. 
 
 NOT 
 
 Notabilities (cont.) : 
 Brackenbury, 236 
 Brackenbury, Bob, 191 
 Brackenbury, Dick, 172 
 Brand, 289 
 Brand, Andrew, 269 
 Brand, James, 269 
 Brassey, Albert, 269 
 Brassey, Henry A., 268, 269 
 Broad bent, 290 
 Broadwood, Alfred, 215, 279, 
 
 299 
 
 Brocklehurst, Major, 265 
 Brougham, Lord, 364 
 Brown, 283 
 
 Brown, of Bridgnorth, 223 
 Bruce, James, 269 
 Bunbury, 175 
 Burdett, Sir Francis, 173 
 Burns, James, 269 
 Butler, 252 
 
 Buxton, Charles, 251-253 
 Byass, Arthur, 269 
 By ford, 285 
 Byng, 290 
 
 Cambridge, Duke of, 263 
 Campson, Jack, 225 
 Candy, 267 
 
 Candy, Captain, 280, 293 
 Capps, 231, 234 
 Carew, Frank H., 269 
 Carew, Sir Walter, 180, 191 
 Carpenter, Dick, 274 
 Carrington, George, 139 
 Carrington, Lord, 265, 267, 
 
 270, 279 
 
 Carter, Philip, 198-202 
 Carter, Tim, 191, 225 
 Castle, James, 216 
 Castlereagh, Lord, 263, 290 
 Chaine, Captain, 215 
 Chandos-Pole, Edward Sach- 
 
 everell, 241 
 Chaplin, 174, 205 
 
 415 
 NOT 
 
 Notabilities (cont, ) : 
 Chaplin, Billy, 179 
 Chaplin, Colonel, 214, 280, 
 
 282, 288-290 
 Chaplin, H., 265 
 Chapman, Robert, 303 
 Chesterfield, Lord, 43, 172, 
 
 175, 191, 256-258, 270 
 Cheylesmore, Lord, 265 
 Chichester, Captain, 288 
 Cholmondeley, Marquis of, 
 
 265 
 
 Clark, 273, 274 
 Clark, George, 238, 239, 240, 
 
 241 
 
 Clark, Sam, 296 
 Clarke, 225 
 Clifford Constable, Sir Talbot, 
 
 Bart., 269 
 Clitherow, Col. Stracey, 265, 
 
 278, 280, 289 
 Cole, Lord, 267, 290 
 Collings, Paul, 104 
 Colston, Edward, 269 
 Comley, 277 
 
 Connaught, Duke of, 264 
 Cook, Frederick L., 269 
 Cook, William, 371 
 Cooke, Nat., 302 
 Cooper, W. H., 278, 281, 
 
 282, 284, 286-289, 292 
 Cooper, Richard, 205 
 Cooper, W., 260 
 Copeland, Colonel, 257 
 Cosier, E., 304 
 
 Cosier, W. P., 215 
 
 Cotton, Sir St. Vincent, 91, 
 
 172,236, 274 
 Coupland, J., 269 
 Crab, Bill, 228 
 Cracknell, E., 241, 277, 282, 
 
 283, 285, 286, 288, 293 
 Cracknell, H., 289, 302 
 Craven, Augustus, 294, 303 
 
4i6 
 
 DRIVING. 
 
 NOT 
 
 Notabilities (cont.} : 
 
 Craven, Captain W. G. , 260, 
 
 262, 265, 372 
 Craven, J. A., 269 
 Crawshay, William, 269, 
 
 302 
 
 Crompton-Roberts, 266, 269 
 Cropper, Captain, 214 
 Dackombe, George, 275, 276, 
 
 279 
 
 Darell, Edward, 269 
 Darell, Sir Lionel, 269 
 Davis, Bob, 173 
 Davis, F., 295, 296, 298 
 Davis, Gentleman, 223 
 Dawnay, 173 
 De Bathe, Sir H., 214, 281- 
 
 283, 285, 291, 292, 293, 
 
 297, 300 
 De Broke, Lord Willoughby, 
 
 1 80, 262 
 Deichmann, Baron, 265, 
 
 269 
 Dickson, General, 265, 280, 
 
 286-289, 293, 299 
 Dickson, W., 299 
 Dixon, Major, 214, 292 
 Dixon, Walter, 215 
 Donegall, Marquis of, 369 
 Donnelly, General R. E., 
 
 393 
 
 D'Orsay, Count, 175, 347, 
 
 369 
 
 Dove, W., 225 
 Downs, 210 
 
 Downshire, Marquis of, 267 
 Drakes, 260 
 Eden, 273 
 
 Eden, John, 280, 285, 289 
 Eden, Sir William, 269 
 Ecllington, W., 225 
 Edwardes, 302 
 Edwards, 225, 243 
 Edwards, Captain, 295 
 
 NOT 
 
 Notabilities (cont. ) : 
 Edwards, Charles, 269 
 Elliot, 223 
 Elston, E., 280 
 Emery, Bill, 226, 227 
 Enniskillen, Earl of, 265, 
 
 269 
 
 Ewart, Col. Sir H. P., 265 
 Fane, Colonel, 167, 168, 176, 
 
 201, 224 
 Fenn, Jem, 225 
 Ferguson, Colonel, 297 
 Ferguson, Victor, 269 
 Fernie, C.W., 269 
 Fife, Captain, 303 
 Fife, Earl of, 263, 265, 269 
 Fitzhardinge, Lord, 292 
 Flack, Jem, 225 
 Flower, Arthur, 269 
 Footman, 224 
 Forbes, Morgan W., 304 
 Foreman, 199, 224 
 Foster, James, 267, 269 
 Fownes, Arthur, 289, 290, 
 
 298, 300 
 Fownes, Edwin, 276, 284, 
 
 288, 289, 290, 292, 294, 
 
 296, 297, 300, 304 
 Freeman, Stewart, 288, 289, 
 
 291, 296, 297, 298 
 French, George, 191 
 Fulcher, Arthur W. , 269 
 Furnivall, Major, 271, 283, 
 
 287, 289, 291 
 Gambier, 209, 225 
 Gassiott, Charles, 269 
 Goddard, George, 266 
 Godsell, E., 282, 287, 290 
 Goodchild, Thomas, 225 
 Goodden, Captain J. R. P., 
 
 303 
 Goodman, Samuel, 229, 230, 
 
 232 
 
 Graham, E., 296 
 Graham, R., 304 
 
INDEX. 
 
 NOT 
 Notabilities (cont. ) : 
 
 Greenall, Colonel, 288, 289, 
 
 291, 295 
 
 Guilford, Lord, 284, 285 
 Guinness, Sir Edward, 265 
 Hainsford, H., 250 
 Hamilton, 266 
 Hamilton, Charles E., 269 
 Hamilton, Pryce B., 268, 269, 
 
 3 2 303 
 
 Hanbury, Charles, 269 
 Hanbury, John, 269 
 Harbridge, Bill, 191, 206 
 Harden, Anthony, 223 
 Hargreaves, Captain, 295, 302 
 Hargreaves, C. R., 269, 290, 
 
 291, 295, 296, 302 
 Hargreaves, John, 269 
 Harrison, J., 267 
 Harter, Hatfeild J. F. , 269 
 Harter, James C., 269 
 Hartopp, Captain, 293 
 Hastings, Lord, 265 
 Hathorn, Colonel, 280, 282, 
 
 285-300 
 
 Hawke, Hon. M., 252 
 Hawke, Lord, 252 
 Haworth, Captain, 241, 275, 
 
 283, 286 
 Helmsley, Lord, 214, 290, 
 
 292 
 
 Hennessy, Jem, 223, 225 
 Herbert, Reginald, 254, 266, 
 
 267, 285 
 
 Hesketh, Sir Thomas G., 269 
 Hills, Tom, 163 
 Hoare, C. A. R., 224, 269, 
 
 276, 277, 279, 280, 282, 
 
 291 
 
 Hobson, F. G., 288, 289 
 Holmes, Christopher, 199 
 Holtley, Tom, 225 
 Hope, Adrian, 265 
 Hothfield, Lord, 265, 268,269 
 
 NOT 
 
 Notabilities (cont. ) : 
 Hubble, B., 288, 293 
 Hudson, R. S., 303 
 Hunt, F. Seager, 268, 269, 
 
 293 
 
 Hurman, 271, 272, 286-289 
 
 Jacobson, Captain, 293 
 
 Jary, Major, 269 
 
 Jerningham, Frank, 172 
 
 Johnson, Isaac, 223, 224, 243 
 
 Jones, Charles, 172, 175, 191 
 
 Jones, Gerwyn, 269 
 
 Jones, J. Inglis, 260 
 
 Kane, Colonel de Lancey, 241 , 
 288, 290, 293 
 
 Kaye, Sir John Lister, 265, 
 269 
 
 Kelso, Captain, 260 
 
 Kenlis, Lord, 280 
 
 Kenyon, 175 
 
 Kershaw, 274 
 
 Killingley, 227 
 
 King, 297 
 
 Kingman, B. , 250 
 
 Lade, Sir John, 347 
 
 Lawrie, Charles, 274, 275, 284 
 
 Leach, George, 225 
 
 Leigh, H. Gerard, 265 
 
 Lennox, Lord Algernon Gor- 
 don, 269, 291 
 
 Leslie, Colonel, 260, 262 
 
 Lichfield, Earl of, 175 
 
 Londesborough, Lord, 262- 
 264, 278 
 
 Londonderry, Marquis of, 265 
 
 Long, Walter, 265 
 
 Lonsdale, Earl of, 265 
 
 Louis, George, 175 
 
 Lovegrove, 176, 262, 265, 
 268 
 
 Lowther, 302 
 
 Lumm, 225 
 
 Luxmore, 289, 291 
 
 Lyley, C., 275 
 
 E E 
 
4 i8 
 
 DRIVING. 
 
 NOT 
 
 Notabilities (cont. ) : 
 M'Adam, A., 297, 299 
 M'Calmont, 298 
 Macclesfield, Earl of, 263, 
 
 265 
 
 Macdonald, Lord, 257 
 Macduff, Lord, 282, 285, 286 
 Mclntyre, 280, 288 
 Mackenzie, Austen, 269 
 Magic, Bob, 223 
 Mansell, 290 
 Marton, George B., 269 
 Matcham, 225 
 Mayo, Lord, 302 
 Meek, G., 277, 278, 280, 
 
 282, 283, 287 
 Melville, Lord, 173 
 Mewburn, 302 
 Meysey -Thompson, Sir H., 
 
 265, 269 
 
 Milton, Mat, 176 
 Mitchell, John, 269 
 Monteith, John, 269 
 Moon, F., 281, 283 
 Morley, Robert, 269 
 Morne, Bob, 227 
 Morritt, William, 260, 261, 
 
 262 
 
 Mountain, Ned, 226 
 Muncaster, Lord, 265, 282 
 Munday, 297 
 Miinster, Count, 263, 265, 
 
 270 
 Murray, Colonel C. E. Gost- 
 
 ling, 269 
 
 Murrieta, A. de, 267, 269 
 Murrieta, C. J. de, 269, 379 
 Nelson, 242 
 Nelson, Mrs., 181 
 Nelson, Robert, 199, 202 
 Nickalls, Patteson, 269 
 Noble, 295 
 
 Noel, Right Hon. Gerard, 263 
 Norreys, Lord, 281, 283 
 
 NOT 
 
 Notabilities (cont.} : 
 
 Oakeley, W. E., 265, 268, 269 
 O'Grady, Major, 238 
 Onslow, Earl of, 265, 269 
 Oppenheim, Baron, 296 
 Osborn, 139 
 Oswald, R. A., 265 
 Otway, Captain Waller, 285, 
 
 286, 287, 302, 303 
 Padelford, 304 
 Page, F., 293, 302 
 Page, Tom, 225 
 Paget, Lord Alfred, 257, 258 
 Palk, Sir Lawrence, 174, 1 80 
 Palmer, Sir C. M., 269 
 Palmer, Sir Roger, 265 
 Parsons, 289, 290, 291, 303 
 Parsons, Jack, 225 
 Paulet, George, 269 
 Pawley, W. , 279, 299 
 Payne, George, 257 
 Peer, Jack, 225 
 Penny, 189 
 Percival, Captain, 282 
 Perrin, 224 
 
 Perrin, Arthur, 290, 291 
 Peyton, Sir Henry, 174, 175, 
 
 216, 225, 252, 259, 260 
 Peyton, Sir Thomas, 214, 295 
 Phillips, S. H., 269, 275, 
 
 277 
 
 Phil potts, Toby, 223 
 Pitt (Earl Rivers), 258 
 Pitt, Hon. Horace, 257 
 Platt, 302, 300 
 Pointer, Bob, 212, 231 
 Pole, Reginald Chandos, 265, 
 
 275-280, 282, 290, 294, 296, 
 
 300 
 Pole-Gell, Chandos, 275, 276, 
 
 277, 278, 280 
 Poltimore, Lord, 265 
 Pope, 288 
 Portland, Duke of, 263-265 
 
INDEX. 
 
 419 
 
 NOT 
 Notabilities (com, ) : 
 
 Poulett, Earl, 267, 269 
 
 Powerscourt, Viscount, 257 
 
 Praed, W. M., 261, 286, 288, 
 289 
 
 Pratt, 241 
 
 Pratt, William, 275, 277 
 
 Preedy, Tom, 227 
 
 Probyn, 191 
 
 Prouse, 256 
 
 Purcell, 302 
 
 Raglan, Lord, 266 
 
 Ramsay, Captain, 288 
 
 Reade, Colonel Colquhoun, 
 269 
 
 Rear, Bob, 288 
 
 Reilly, 242 
 
 Reynardson, C. Birch, 265 
 Ricardo, Lewis, 257 
 Rickman, 245 
 Ridgway, H., 304 
 Ringrose, 173, 225 
 Rivers-Bulkeley, Colonel C., 
 
 303 
 
 Robinson, 225, 293, 294 
 Robinson, Sydney, 189 
 Rogers, Sir John, 180 
 Rolls, Major Alec, 266 
 Rosher, T., 302 
 Rosslyn, Earl of, 256 
 Rothschild, Alfred de, 269 
 Rumney, 296 
 Rymill, 79 
 
 Sandeman, Albert, 269 
 Sangster, 95 
 Sassoon, Edward, 269 
 Saunders, 226, 227, 283 
 Saye and Sele, Lord, 252 
 Schroder, Baron William, 293 
 Scott, Arthur Guillum, 279, 
 
 281, 284, 285, 288, 292 
 Scott, Charles Tollemache, 269 
 Scott, John, 240 
 Seeker, E. Onslow, 304 
 
 NOT 
 Notabilities (cont. ) : 
 
 Sedgwick, 283, 286, 289 
 Sefton, Lord, 175, 252, 256, 
 
 262, 265, 385 
 Selby, James, 213-216, 241, 
 
 282, 285, 286, 288-292, 
 
 298-300 
 Shaw, 296 
 
 Sheather, W., 280, 291, 297 
 Shelburne, Earl of, 385 
 Sheridan, Charley, 258 
 Sherman, 201 
 Shirley, 139, 140 
 Shoolbred, W., 289, 291 
 Shrewsbury and Talbot, Earl 
 
 of, 265 
 Shuttleworth, Major Frank, 
 
 268, 269 
 Simmons, Ike, 277, 281, 282, 
 
 290, 293, 294, 302 
 Simpson, Harry, 220, 223, 224 
 Slater, 303 
 Smith, C., 281 
 Smythe, Sir E., 257 
 Snowden, Dick, 215, 216, 224 
 Somerset, Colonel Alfred, 269, 
 
 302, 303 
 Somerset, Lord Arthur, 214, 
 
 268, 269, 291, 293, 302 
 Somerset, Lord FitzRoy, 308, 
 
 309 
 
 Southgate, George, 227 
 Southgate, Sam, 227 
 Speller, Sam, 225 
 Spencer, E., 283, 288, 289, 
 
 294 
 
 Spencer, Lord, 173 
 Spicer, 175 
 Spicer, Captain John, 265, 
 
 289, 291, 295 
 Sprawson, Jack, 225, 242 
 St. -Antonio, Count, 173 
 Stafford, Marquis of, 260, 
 
 261 
 
 EE 2 
 
420 
 
 DRIVING, 
 
 NOT 
 
 Notabilities (cont.} : 
 Stapylton, Major, 269 
 Starkie, Colonel le Gendre, 
 
 269 
 
 Steed, Captain, 304 
 Stephenson, 236 
 Stevens, 244 
 Stevenson, 172 
 Stern, Sydney, 269 
 Stewart, Sir M. Shaw, 265 
 Sullivan, J., 297 
 Simmer, 175 
 
 Sutherland, Duke of, 263 
 Swan, John, 269 
 Tabor, Luke, 224 
 Talbot, Captain, 289 
 Talon, Marquis de, 269 
 Tedder, Alfred, 241, 275-278, 
 
 280, 281, 283 
 Tedder, Charles, 223, 224 
 Tew, Jack, 227 
 Thetford, Jack, 227 
 Thorogood, Harry, 285, 288, 
 
 297 
 Thorogood, John, 288, 290, 
 
 294, 296, 297 
 
 Thorogood, Tom, 289, 290 
 Throckmorton, Sir William, 
 
 269 
 
 Thornhill, W. P., 260-262 
 Thumwood, Henry, 225 
 Thursby, Sir John, 268, 
 
 269 
 Thynne, Lord Edward, 260, 
 
 264 
 Thynne, Lord Henry, 260, 
 
 261, 275 
 
 Tiffany, 241, 285 
 Timms, 281, 283, 288 
 Tippoo, 308, 309 
 Tollit, George, 215, 224 
 Tollit, Joe, 215-217, 224 
 Tollit, John, 215 
 Tollit, William, 215 
 
 NOT 
 
 Notabilities (cont. ) : 
 Tredegar, Lord, 265 
 Trew, J. P., 269 
 Trotter, Henry J., 262 
 Turbett, James, 304 
 Tumor, Captain Wyatt, 269, 
 
 303 
 Tyrwhitt, Colonel, 281, 283, 
 
 287 
 
 Valentia, Viscount, 267, 270 
 Vane, Earl, 260-262 
 Villebois, H., 175, 191, 
 
 257 
 Villiers, Frederick E., 265, 
 
 270 
 
 Waldegrave, Earl of, 256 
 Ward, Charles, 172, 191, 204, 
 
 223, 224, 285, 303 
 Ward, Henry, 223, 224, 293, 
 
 294 
 
 Warde, John, 247, 255 
 Waterford, Marquis of, 256, 
 
 258, 265 
 
 Waters, Tommy, 227 
 Watson, 304 
 Watts, Dick, 227 
 Webb, Jack, 189, 227 
 Webling, Charles, 297, 298 
 Wenlock, Lord, 263 
 Wheble, Lieut. -Colonel, 270 
 White, A., 225 
 White, Jack, 223, 224 
 Whitmore, Capt., 265, 270 
 Wiggins, Joe, 225 
 Wiggins, Tom, 225 
 Wignell, 190, 225 
 Willan, Jack, 172, 236 
 Williams, 191 
 
 Williams, Captain, 285, 286 
 Williams, Maj.-Gen. Owen, 
 
 265 
 
 Willis, 280, 290 
 Willison, General, 395 
 Winnington, Sir Francis, 270 
 
INDEX. 
 
 421 
 
 NOT 
 
 Notabilities (cont. ) : 
 
 Witherington, Jimmy, 191, 
 
 224 
 
 Withers, H., 297 
 Withington, Colonel, 281, 
 
 282, 285-288 
 
 Wombwell, Capt. H., 265 
 Wombwell, Sir George, 273, 
 
 274 
 
 Wood, Joseph Carter, 270 
 Wood, Thomas, 270 
 Wormald, H. , 290-292 
 Worcester, Marquis of, 265, 
 
 37 
 
 Wright, 245, 277, 284 
 Wright, C. B. E., 303 
 Wyndham, 302 
 Wyndhain, Wadham, 180, 
 
 191 
 Wynn, Sir Watkin Williams, 
 
 223, 260 
 Wynne, L. M., 270 
 
 OATS, 74 
 
 Oat straw, 74 
 
 Old Coaching Days, 171 ; the 
 most fashionable road and 
 the drivers, 172 ; from Frome 
 to London, 172 ; runaway 
 coaches, 172, 173; Mr. 
 Dawnay's four-horse coach, 
 173 ; Ringrose's accident, 
 173 ; procession of mail 
 coaches, 174; 'shouldering,' 
 1 74 ; the Bedfont Driving 
 Club, 175 ; the Bath road, 
 175; coaches, 175; opposi- 
 tion between the Age and 
 the Royal William on the 
 Oxford road, 176 ; driving by 
 night, 176 ; on the Gloucester 
 road, 177; the Exeter mail, 
 177, 178, 1 80, 181 ; smart 
 
 OLD 
 
 guards, 178; imitation not 
 always excellence, 178; the 
 calf in the boot, 179; practice 
 in variety of teams, 179 ; the 
 Basingstoke coach, 179, 180 ; 
 an eyeless team, 180; cele- 
 brated amateurs, 180; the 
 parson in the boot, 180 ; 
 judgment of pace, 181 ; the 
 Sud bury barrow, 182 ; the 
 patent pressure drag, 183- 
 185, 194 ; Brighton day mail, 
 185 ; pleasure drives, 186 ; 
 end of the road, 187 ; the new 
 coaches, 187 ; coaching songs, 
 187, 1 88 ; accidents on the 
 road, 188-191 ; the best 
 coachmen between 1830-40, 
 191 ; starting in coach-driv- 
 ing, 192 ; advice to beginners 
 in coaching, 192-194; build 
 of a coach, 195 ; driving in 
 the streets, 195 ; on the old 
 North Road, 196-198; the 
 Bull and Mouth Inn, 196 ; 
 advent of railways, 197 ; story 
 of the two brothers, 198 ; 
 requisites for driving, 198 ; 
 Philip Carter's reminiscences, 
 198-204; ' swearing ' at 
 Highgate, 199; accident to 
 the Brighton coach, 200 ; 
 awkward incident near Stone- 
 henge, 203 ; Charles Ward's 
 sketch of his coaching career, 
 204-212 ; racing of rival 
 coaches between Exeter and 
 Plymouth, 206 ; some nar- 
 row escapes in driving, 208 ; 
 difficulties in foggy weather, 
 209 ; accident to the Exeter 
 mail, 209 ; a good plan for 
 driving on a foggy night, 209 
 note ; on the wrong road in 
 
422 
 
 DRIVING, 
 
 OLD 
 
 the fog, 210; Mrs. Cox and 
 the runaway coach, 21 1 ; Bob 
 Pointer's ideas on coaching, 
 212 ; James Selby's coaching 
 career, 213-216; Selby's 
 record of London to Brighton 
 and back, 215 ; Joe Tollit's 
 coaching feats, 216 
 
 Omnibuses, 365, 383, 389 
 
 Orleans Club, 291 
 
 PACK-HORSES, 26 
 
 Pads, 98 ; Craddock's invention, 
 IQI 
 
 Paintings, photographs, and il- 
 lustrations of carriages, 395 
 
 Park -phaetons, 48, 380, 381 
 
 Peat-moss, 74 
 
 Perth dogcart, 76 
 
 Phaetons, cost of, 112, 114; 
 
 370, 373. 3 8 
 
 Phoenix Metal Die Company, 
 100 
 
 Pickford, Messrs., carriers, 95 
 
 Pocket-knife, 151 
 
 Poles, carriage, 84, 99, 136 
 
 Pole-chains, 99, 117, 133 
 
 Pole-head slip, Lacey's, loo 
 
 Pole-pieces, Craddock's inven- 
 tion, 100 
 
 Poling, 6 
 
 Polo-gigs, cost of, 114 
 
 Ponies, 149 
 
 Pony- carriages, four-wheeled, 
 cost of, 114 
 
 Pony-cart, cost of, 113 ; 379 
 
 Pony-gigs, cost of, 114 
 
 Pony-phaeton, 40, 48 
 
 Postboys, 308-319; French, 
 323 ; Italian, 52 n 
 
 Post-horses, 29, 70, 80 
 
 Postilions, 322, 326, 357, 358 
 
 Posting in England, 306 ; the 
 
 REL 
 
 Marquis of Worcester's ad- 
 venture, 307 ; postboys, 308 ; 
 old Tippoo, 308 ; long stages, 
 308 ; Mrs. Botham, of the 
 Pelican, 310 ; cads, 308, 
 311; baiting stables, 311; 
 postboys' dress, 312 ; over- 
 work in the saddle, 313 ; 
 putting horses to a carriage 
 for riding, 314; characters of 
 postboys, 314; driving from 
 the saddle, 314 ; their average 
 excellence, 315; their sobriety, 
 316; an obstinate boy, 317; 
 a drunken wheel boy, 318 ; a 
 sulky postboy, 318; bounders, 
 
 319 
 
 Posting in France ; 320, Eng- 
 lish versus French, 320 ; the 
 pavee and high-roads, 321 ; 
 horses and ostlers, 321 ; 
 English carriages fitted for 
 foreign travel, 322 ; dress of 
 the postilion, 322 ; jackboots, 
 323 ; the courier, 323 ; the 
 dormeuse, 324 ; the fourgon, 
 325 ; in Germany and Italy, 
 
 325 ; names of horses, 326 ; 
 personality of the postilion, 
 
 326 ; the malle-poste, 327 ; 
 the diligence, 328 
 
 Posting-houses, 310 
 
 Pressure-drag, 194 
 
 Prices of coach-horses, 300, 301 
 
 RAILWAYS versus coaching, 197 
 Raising fallen horses, 67 
 Regimental coaches, 270 
 Reins, management of, 3-8, 10, 
 13, 14, 18-20, 90, 120, 121, 
 124, 125, 129, 131, 133-137, 
 
 157, 194 
 
 Reliance slip link, 100 
 
INDEX. 
 
 423 
 
 REP 
 
 Repairs, cost of, 109, in 
 Revival, coaching, 273 ; Clark's 
 Brighton Age, 273 ; paintings 
 of the Age, 274 ; coaching in 
 1867, 275 ; the Old Times 
 started, 275 ; a new Brighton 
 venture, 275 ; the Beckenham 
 and Sevenoaks coach, 276 ; 
 coaching in 1868, 276; on 
 the Brighton road, 277, 278; 
 London to Sevenoaks, 277 ; 
 an old mail coach, 277 ; 
 Cooper's coach, 278, 284 ; 
 coaching in 1869, 278 ; 
 abolition of shouldering, 
 278 ; death of Tedder, 283 ; 
 season of 1873, 283 ; the 
 Tantivy to Watford, 283, 
 286 ; the Guildford coach, 
 
 283, 286, 288 ; Wester- 
 ham, 284, 286 ; Rochester 
 and Aldershot coaches, 284 ; 
 starting of the Dorking coach, 
 
 284, 286, 288 ; Mr. Tiffany 
 works the Brighton road, 
 285 ; Sunbury and Weybridge, 
 
 285 ; Tunbridge Wells, 285, 
 286; High Wycombe, 285, 
 
 286 ; Reigate,- 285 ; season of 
 1874, 285 ; death of ' Cherry ' 
 Angell, 286 ; Captain Ha- 
 worth on the Brighton road, 
 286 ; Windsor, 286, 288 ; St. 
 Albans, 287, 289 ; winter 
 coaching, 287 ; the Road 
 Club, 287 j coaching of 1875, 
 288; death of Colonel 
 Withington, 288; Box Hill, 
 286, 288 ; advent of Hubble, 
 208 ; Virginia Water, 288 ; 
 Maidenhead, 288 ; accident 
 to Cooper's coach at Box 
 Hill, 289 ; season of 1876, 
 289 ; changes in roads and in 
 
 ROA 
 
 proprietors, 289 ; deaths of 
 Messrs. Willis, Byng, Eden, 
 and Godsell, 290 ; events in 
 the season of 1877, 290 ; 
 starting of the Rocket to 
 Portsmouth, 290 ; the Perse- 
 verance at Dorking, 291 ; 
 West Wickham, 291 ; Oxford, 
 291 ; Ranelagh and Hurling - 
 ham, 292, 293 ; Old Times to 
 St. Albans, 292, 293 ; death 
 of Mr. W. H. Cooper, 292 ; 
 coaching changes in 1879, 
 293 ; Defiance from Oxford 
 to Cambridge, 293 ; Defiance 
 from London to Brighton, 
 294 ; features of season 1880, 
 294; seasons 1881-1882, 
 '295, 296 ; accident to Brighton 
 coach on Bansford Downs, 
 296 ; depression in 1883, 296 ; 
 season 1884, 297 ; Bentley 
 Priory, 297; changes in 1885- 
 1887, 297 ; Vivid to Hampton 
 Court, 297 ; season 1888, 298 ; 
 death of James Selby, 298 ; 
 prices of coach-horses, 300 ; 
 coaching in the provinces, 
 301-304 ; accident to the 
 York and Liverpool coach, 
 303 ; ventures on the Conti- 
 nent, 304 ; in Ireland, 304 
 Richmond Driving Club, 256 
 Rigours of coach-travelling, 243, 
 
 244 
 
 Road Club, the, 271, 287 
 Roads, chief coaching, 175, 241, 
 242 ; Bentley Priory, 297, 298 ; 
 Biarritz, 304 ; Box Hill, 289, 
 293 ; Brighton, 172, 159,215, 
 229-241, 273, 275, 277, 278, 
 280, 282, 286, 294, 297, 298 ; 
 Bath and Bristol, 210, 242; 
 Cambridge, 173 ; Devonpoit, 
 
424 
 
 DRIVING. 
 
 ROA 
 
 205, 211, 220, 223 ; Dcrking, 
 274, 278, 281, 282, 284, 291, 
 297 ; Dover, 245, 249 ; Edin- 
 burgh, 189, 225, 249; Exeter, 
 1 80, 20 1, 202, 205, 206, 210, 
 226; Guildford, 283; High 
 Wycombe, 280, 285, 286 ; in 
 Ireland, 304; Oxford, 176, 
 
 199, 201, 212, 2l6, 222, 224, 
 
 280 ; Pau, 304 ; Portsmouth, 
 225 ; provincial, 302 ; Ro- 
 chester, 284 ; St. Albans, 287, 
 289, 292, 293 ; Salisbury, 178, 
 190 ; Sevenoaks, 276 ; South- 
 ampton, 190 ; Truro, 207 ; 
 Tunbridge Wells, 279, 280, 
 286, 288, 289 ; Watford, 283, 
 289 ; Welsh, 303 ; Windsor, 
 214, 279, 280, 286, 288, 289, 
 295 ; York, 250 ; see Revival, 
 Coaching 
 
 Roads, character of, 26, 72 
 
 Roarers, 82 
 
 Rods to prevent carriages up- 
 setting, 38 
 
 Royal Veterinary College, 
 Camden Town, membership 
 of, 63 
 
 Russian droschki, 51 
 
 S SPRING, 39 
 
 St. Petersburg, sleighing at, 341 
 Schnellwagen, the, 357 
 Science and Art Department, 
 
 South Kensington, 395 
 Screw-breaks, 356 
 Sedan carts, 32 
 Selby, James, sketch of his 
 
 career, 213-216 
 Shafts, 2 
 Sherman's Bull and Mouth Inn, 
 
 196, 201 
 Shoes, 130 
 
 SPI 
 
 Shouldering, 174, 278 
 
 Shying, 134 
 
 Side-reins, 122, 137 
 
 Single harness, cost of, 107 ; 
 breaking in, 138; accident to 
 Shirley, 140 ; a violent horse, 
 
 141 ; a dislike to the human 
 voice, 142 ; rather too fresh, 
 
 142 ; a steeplechase mare in 
 harness, 143 ; an effectual 
 stop, 144 ; well-bred horses, 
 144 ; two sets of reins for 
 violent horses, 144 ; bearing- 
 reins, 144 
 
 Skids, 103 
 
 Sleighing, origin of, 330 ; in 
 Armenia, 331 ; from Kars to 
 Erzroom, 332 ; from Tiflis to 
 Moscow, 333 ; travelling by 
 tarantass, 334 ; a metamor- 
 phosed tarantass, 335 ; pas- 
 sage of the Caucasus, 335 ; 
 swearing as a stimulant to 
 cattle, 336 ; up the mountain 
 with bullocks, 336 ; rigours of 
 the way, 337 ; life at a stan- 
 itza, 337 ; a primitive sleigh, 
 338 ; down the mountain on 
 runners, 339 ; at St. Peters- 
 burg, 341 ; Don Cossack 
 horses, 341 ; troikas, 341 ; 
 amongthe jeunesse doree,342; 
 the Russian Master of the 
 Horse's sleighing party, 343 
 
 Sleighs, 330-343, 368 
 
 Sociables, 383 
 
 Sociable landau, 49 
 
 Society for the Prevention of 
 Cruelty to Animals, 90, 96 
 
 Society of Arts, 367, 393 
 
 Sore necks, cure of, 94 
 
 Sovereign (carriage), 367 
 
 Speaking-tubes, 47 
 
 Spider phaetons, 373 
 
INDEX. 
 
 425 
 
 SPL 
 
 Splints, 65, 68 
 Springs, 26, 30, 33, 35, 39, 47, 
 
 369 
 
 Stable, the, 80 
 Stable requisites, cost of, 107 
 Stage-coaches, names of cele- 
 brated : Age, 172, 176, 193, 
 215, 216, 224, 225, 236, 238, 
 273, 274, 296; Alert, 224, 
 225; Berkeley Hunt, 175; 
 Box Hill, 172 ; Brighton, 
 297 ; Comet, 298 ; Cooper's 
 coach, 278 ; Courier, 199 ; 
 Criterion, 232, 236, 290 ; De- 
 fiance, 181, 199, 221, 224- 
 226, 293, 294, 297, 298, 300, 
 303 ; Dorking, 282; Emerald, 
 243 ; Express, 298, 305 ; Ex- 
 quisite, 276 ; Forester, 190 ; 
 Hirondelle, 302 ; Hope, 201 ; 
 Jenny Lind, 50 ; Light Salis- 
 bury, 146, 191 ; Magnet, 180, 
 225; New Times, 241, 289, 
 294, 296, 297, 301 ; Nimrod, 
 201 ; Nonpareil, 205, 206, 
 226; Old Blenheim, 216, 224, 
 225, 294, 303 ; Old Stager, 
 281; Old Times, 129,214, 241, 
 275, 282, 292, 293-299 ; 
 Paul Pry, 146 ; Perseverance, 
 291, 294-298 ; Phenomenon, 
 181 ; Prince of Wales, 280; 
 Quicksilver, 177, 178, 187, 
 199, 204, 210, 220, 223, 227, 
 231, 232, 243, 304; Rapid, 
 291, 296; Red Rover, 199, 
 237 ; Regent, 173, 230; Re- 
 gulator, 243 ; Rockaway, 50 ; 
 Rocket, 290, 296, 301, 304 ; 
 Royal, 297 ; Royal Sove- 
 reign, 274 ; Royal William, 
 176, 215, 216, 224, 225 ; 
 Stag, 201 ; Star, 305 ; Tag- 
 lioni, 175, 236; Tally Ho! 
 
 TAN 
 
 206, 207, 283, 293 ; Tantivy, 
 175, 282, 283, 286, 305; 
 Telegraph, 1 77, 1 78, 187, 191, 
 201, 205-207, 225, 226, 227, 
 284; Times, 172, 229, 230, 
 231, 236, 285 ; Vivid, 297, 
 2 98> 300 ; Windsor, 296, 297; 
 Wonder, 176, 201, 231, 233, 
 234, 236, 296, 298, 304, 305; 
 York House, 175, 225, 238, 
 242, 243 
 
 Stanhope, the, 43 ; cost of, 
 114 
 
 Stanhope phaetons, 381 
 
 State carriages, 374 
 
 Stick-basket, 151 
 
 Starting, 3, 10 
 
 Strains, 66 
 
 Strapping, 82 
 
 Straw, 74 
 
 String-halt, 65 
 
 Sulky, the, 39 
 
 Swiss travelling coaches, 358 
 
 TANDEM CLUB, 163 ; opinion 
 of a horse-dealer on tandem- 
 driving, 165; origination of 
 the Club, 165 ; eccentricities 
 of Kitten (tandem leader), 
 1 66 ; formation of the Club, 
 1 66 ; installation of Colonel 
 Fane, 167 ; minutes of pro- 
 ceedings, 1 68 
 Tandem-carts, cost of, 114 
 Tandem-driving, 147 ; causes of 
 danger, 148 ; ponies more 
 suitable than horses, 149, 
 151, 152 ; weight, height and 
 width of cart, 149 ; driving- 
 box, 149 ; proper balance of 
 carriage, 150; stick-basket, 
 151 ; horn, 151 ; lamps, 151 ; 
 minor necessaries, 151 ; qua- 
 
426 
 
 DRIVING. 
 
 TAN 
 
 lilies of the leader and the 
 wheeler, 152 ; breaking in, 
 152 ; temper in horses, 153 ; 
 harness and harnessing, 1 54 ; 
 the start, 157 ; keeping horses 
 straight, 157 ; dealing with 
 sharp curves in the road, 158 ; 
 cautions for hills, 159 ; turn- 
 ing team round, 160 ; dimen- 
 sions and use of whip, 160 ; 
 value of bars, 161 
 Tantivy Trot (song), 188 
 Tarantass, Russian, 354, 359 
 Tattersall's, 56, 61, 62, 79, 192, 
 
 275 
 
 Taxation of carriages, 28, 375 
 T-carts, 373, 380 
 Technical schools, 393 
 Teeth, horse's, 68 
 Terms of sale of a dealer, 63 
 Terrets, 18, 19, 120 
 Thong, whip, 14, 15, 98 
 Thoroughpin, 66 
 Thrush, 66 
 Tigers, 369 
 
 Tilburies, 43 ; cost of, 114 
 Tires, 391 
 
 Traces, 2, 18, 117-119, 154 
 Trace- bolts, 101 
 Troikas, 341 
 Trotting races, 59 
 
 VICES of a horse, how to deal 
 with, 67 
 
 ZIN 
 
 Victoria, the, 45, no, 112 
 Victoria phaetons, 114, 380 
 Vienna phaetons, 381 
 Vis landau, 252 
 
 Visscher's engraving of stage- 
 coach, 28 
 Volante (Cuban carriage), 50 
 
 WAGONETTES, 48, 106, 107, 
 
 1 10, 112, 368, 382 
 Wagonette break, 382 
 Warranty, 63 
 Washing carriages, 85 
 Water, 74, 82 
 Watermen, opposition of, to 
 
 carriages, 28, 29 
 Waterproofs, 131 
 Wheelers, 152 
 Wheels, 21-23, 37 
 Whips, use of, 3, 5, 8, 14-16, 
 
 37, 98, 127-129, 134, 157, 
 
 160, 193, 194, 357 
 Whisky, the, 41 
 White Coach Office, Brighton, 
 
 237 
 
 Whittlesea Mere, 174 
 Wimbledon Park, 173 
 Wind-galls, 65 
 
 YOUNG DUTCH SAM (prize- 
 fighter), 141 
 
 ZINC collar-pad, 94 
 
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