The Merry Past 



being here and I not knowing it 1 Here, waiter ! I 

 hope your lordship left all the family well at Long- 

 leat." 



In solemn silence the patrician driver ate his 

 supper comfortably, and after taking his " allowance '* 

 resumed the box, and drove as far as his coachman 

 went. To keep up the joke, he opened the coach 

 door as was usual for coachmen to do in order to 

 obtain their tips, when the old lady, as if wishing to 

 atone for her folly, put five shillings into his hand ! 



Though gentlemen often drove coaches for pleasure 

 without attracting unfavourable comment, driving 

 for remuneration was looked upon in a very different 

 light. The difference between an amateur and an 

 operative coachman was well exemplified in the case 

 of poor Harry Stevenson, at one time proprietor 

 and driver of the Age on the Brighton road. Not 

 only was he a gentleman by birth and education, but 

 his appearance and manner bespoke him one : and 

 yet, though he was intimate with several of the first 

 noblemen and gentlemen in England of that day, 

 the colonel of a crack Hussar regiment read a lecture to 

 the officers for having invited " a coachman '' to dine 

 at the mess. 



Certain drivers were celebrated for their originality. 

 Such a one was Wise of the Southampton Union, 

 a coachman renowned for his quaintness of speech. 

 His conversation with a young clergyman, the son of 

 one of his respected clients, was typical. 



The youthful deacon, who, in the language of that 

 day, had just been " japanned," that is to say ordained, 



K 129 



