The Merry Past 



him he knew as I could drive, and so I be come to take 

 hee's place, but we have a ' rum 'un ' coming in a day 

 or two, one who is up to most things, and will have 

 his way." 



Drinking and bad company were the principal 

 causes of ruin to many a stage-coachman ; some were 

 corrupted by rascals who travelled merely for pre- 

 datory reasons, and in return for " lifts " gave the 

 drivers surreptitious presents of game and pilfered 

 articles as a means of ensuring their silence. 



Other stage-coachmen were irascible, and given to 

 bursts of unbridled temper. On one occasion the 

 driver of the Bath coach, who had been indulging in 

 an altercation with some men on the road, alighted 

 from his box, and after pouring forth a volley of 

 invective indiscriminately, interlarded with horrid 

 oaths and execrations, offered to fight any passen- 

 ger, to use his own words, " inside or outside, gentle 

 or simple, for a one-pound note." 



A celebrated coachman, notorious for his hot 

 temper, having four " rum 'uns " to deal with, and 

 unable to make them work to please him, threw the 

 reins on the footboard and exclaimed : " Now, d — n 

 your eyes, divide it among you, for I will be troubled 

 with you no longer." 



The lowest class of drivers were exceedingly apt to 

 become intoxicated, when their insolence to passen- 

 gers was often very offensive. A man of this sort was 

 once well served out one Derby day by a dashing 

 young officer, who having sent on his hack to Epsom 

 had taken advantage of one of those " occasion 



137 



