The Merry Past 



finding himself by old Wise on the coachbox, was 

 interrogated as follows : 



" Well, Mr. John, so you be got into orders." 



" Why, yes, I am." 



" All right : I am glad to hear it, for they tells me 

 that's not quite so easy a job as it used to be. Now 

 I've known your father many years, and have drove 

 you many a mile, and I want to ask you a bit of a 

 favour : Will you be so good as to explain to me a 

 little bit about that there Trinity ? " 



'' Why, that is not exactly a subject for a coachbox. 

 Wise : and perhaps I might not make you compre- 

 hend it clearly without entering more fully into it." 



" Why, to tell you the truth, sir, I have thought a 

 good deal myself about that there Trinity, and never 

 could understand it : but I don't know how it is — I 

 never meets three in a gig that I don't think of it ! " 



The language of stage-coachmen was not unnatur- 

 ally singularly bluff and direct ; they had indeed a 

 peculiar method of expressing themselves which was 

 essentially British in style. 



The following is a description of a wedding banquet 

 given to a favourite stage-coachman by a sporting 

 baronet, very fond of the road. On this occasion a 

 brother whip, who had been invited to the festivities, 

 spoke as follows : 



" I walks in as free as air. Hangs up my hat upon a 

 peg behind the door. Sits myself down by the side 

 of a young woman they calls a lady's maid, and gets 

 as well acquainted with her in five minutes as if I 

 had known her for seven year. When we goes to 



130 



