COACHING 



his luggage is in the hind boot, and twice three times denied 

 having ocular demonstration of the fact. 



' However, he is now seated ; and " What gentleman is going 

 to drive us ? " is his first question to his fellow-passengers. " He 

 is no gentleman, sir," says a person who sits opposite to him, 

 and who happens to be a proprietor of the coach. " He has 

 been on the Comet ever since she started, and is a very steady 

 young man." " Pardon my ignorance," replies the regener- 

 ated ; " from the cleanliness of his person, the neatness of his 

 apparel, and the language he made use of, I mistook him for 

 some enthusiastic bachelor of arts, wishing to become a 

 charioteer after the manner of the illustrious ancients." ^ 

 " You must have been long in foreign parts, sir," observes the 

 proprietor. In five minutes, or less, after this parley com- 

 menced, the wheels went round, and in another five the coach 

 arrived at Hyde Park gate ; but long before it got there, the 

 worthy gentleman of 1742 (set down by his fellow-travellers 

 for either a little cracked or an emigrant from the backwoods 

 of America) exclaimed, " What ! off the stones already ? " 

 " You have never been on the stones," observes his neighbour 

 on his right ; "no stones in London now, sir." ^ 



' In five minutes under the hour the Comet arrives at 

 Hounslow, to the great delight of our friend, who by this time 

 waxed hungry, not having broken his fast before starting. 

 " Just fifty-five minutes and thirty-seven seconds," says he, 

 " from the time we left London ! — wonderful travelling, 



^ The old geutleman's conjecture was not far wrong. At this time, 1835, it is true 

 fewer men of good birth occupied the box than had been the case a few years before — if 

 we rightly interpret Nimrod's own remarks on the point. When the box had been set 

 on springs or made an integral part of the coach-body, when the roads had been made 

 worthy of the name and fast work the rule, coach-driving became popular among men of 

 social position. Some drove for pleasure, horsing the coaches themselves, others took 

 up driving as a profession and made good incomes thereby. These gentlemen coachmen 

 did much to raise the standard of conduct among the professionals of humble origin. 

 Lord Algernon St. Maur (Driving, Badminton Library) says that Mr. Stevenson, who 

 was driving the Brighton Age in 1830, was 'the great reformer who set a good example 

 a$ regards punctuality, neatness, and sobriety.' 



* Until Macadam was adopted the streets in London were cobbled or paved. 

 K 73 



