204 FIELD AND FERN. 



the very zenith of his coaching enthusiasm. Sheriff 

 and Fulton were his saddlers ; and if he ordered or did 

 a thing to-day, it was the fashion all over Edinburgh 

 to-morrow. He had started the Quicksilver against 

 Croall to Newcastle, and the Tallyho from Edin- 

 burgh to Stirling; he had bought up Steeled busi- 

 ness on the Hawick road for something like 4,000; 

 he had built the May-day yard at Stirling, and sta- 

 tioned quite a colony of horses there for the Glasgow 

 Defiance and the Rapid, which also ran from Stirling 

 to Perth, but round by Crieff. At one time he had 

 four pairs of beautiful greys at Forfar, and he would 

 occasionally work the Defiance the whole journey 

 when he was in the humour. The three Cooks, 

 John, Charles, and Alick, came over to the Defiance 

 with Mr. Croall, and Charles, and Davy Troup worked 

 the coach from Cupar Angus to Aberdeen, while James 

 Lambert and (on his death) John Lowden, another 

 Union man, and little George Price, with his natty, 

 blue bird's-eye and pin, took the rest of the journey. 

 Lambert had a great knack with his whip, and if he 

 passed any pigeons or chickens on the road, he would 

 turn round and ask a passenger which he would 

 prefer for lunch, and as quick as thought whip it up 

 on to the coach with his thong. The liveries were 

 red coats with yellow vests, white hats, and silver- 

 plated " Defiance Aberdeen and Edinburgh" but- 

 tons ; and all the guards had patent time-pieces. 



Neither John nor Alick Cook was such a musician 

 as Tom Godwin, who was on the Glasgow Defiance. 



