The Merry Past 



In after years he was seriously wounded in some street 

 row in Lisbon, where his regiment (the loth Hussars) 

 was quartered. 



A great Oxford amateur of stage-coaches was 

 " Student " Atterbury, a lineal descendant of the cele- 

 brated bishop of that name. Possessing great talents, 

 and not badly connected, he remained a student to 

 the last, refusing all college livings. His great hobby 

 was seeing the various coaches through Oxford arrive 

 and start. From early in the morning till nearly mid- 

 night he was to be seen at the " Star," *' Mitre," or 

 " Angel " inns, on the look-out for the coaches. He 

 lost his Hfe on his way to London (as Graham once 

 said he would) by the upsetting of his favourite 

 opposition coach. 



In all probability the best workman who ever sat 

 behind four horses was John Richardson — " Sailor 

 Jack " — a coachman well known to every northern 

 disciple of the road on account of his extraordinary 

 skill in managing any kind of team. 



Like so many others, his fame was but the herald 

 of his fall, and indirectly, owing to his peculiar talents 

 as a driver. Sailor Jack eventually met with an accident 

 which deprived the Northern Road of its most accom- 

 plished workman. Was there a kicker, jibber, bolter, 

 or runaway within the precincts of any stage on which 

 he worked, the understood order was, " Turn him over 

 to Jack." " I used to have nice games with them, sir," 

 he told an enquirer : " sometimes all down, one half 

 under the coach, and the other on top of her. Coach- 

 ing was not then what it is now : if I had two in a 



L 145 



