COACHING 



the modern era was not a very long one : indeed, taking the 

 country as a whole, and accepting the coach as subsidiary to 

 the railway, the old and the new overlap. Modern road 

 coaching dates from the later 'sixties, when the late Duke of 

 Beaufort, with some others, started the Brighton coach. 

 This was the first of several private ventures of the same kind ; 

 their primary object was to enable the owners to enjoy the 

 pleasure of driving a team, and the financial side of the business 

 was not much regarded. The subscription coach was a later 

 development, with the same object in view, pleasure rather 

 than money-making, and the large majority of the coaches 

 which run from London to Brighton, St. Albans, Guildford, 

 and other places within an easy day's journey are maintained 

 by small syndicates of subscribers, who take turns on the box. 

 American visitors patronise these vehicles extensively, and 

 no doubt to their support may be traced Mr. Vanderbilt's 

 venture on the Brighton road. 



The modern coach travels quite as fast as its predecessor 

 when required : as witness James Selby's famous performance 

 on 13th July 1888. He left the White Horse Cellar at 10 a.m. ; 

 arrived at the Old Ship, Brighton, 1.56 p.m. ; turned and 

 reached town at 5.50 ; the journey out and home again being 

 accomplished in 7 hours 50 minutes : part of the way 

 between Earlswood and Horley he travelled at a rate of twenty 

 miles an hour. 



Nor are modern horse-keepers less ' nimble fingered ' 

 than those of whom Nimrod wrote. At the International 

 Horse Show of 1908 Miss Brocklebank's grooms won the 

 Hon. Adam Beck's prize for ' Best coach and appointments 

 and quickest change of teams ' : the change was accomplished 

 in forty-eight seconds. During James Selby's Brighton drive 

 horses were changed at Streatham in forty-seven seconds. 



The road coachmen of the present day do not aim at 

 lightning changes of team : the work is done in leisurely 

 fashion, and passengers enjoy the opportunity afforded them to 

 get down for a few minutes. 



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