COACHING 



deep in the crown only, and the same depth in the brim exactly. 

 Each wore a large bouquet at the breast, thus resembling the 

 coachmen of our nobility who, on His Majesty's birthday, 

 appear in that respect so peculiarly distinguished.' ^ 



Grimaldi the clown, then at the zenith of his fame, 

 burlesqued this get-up so mercilessly that a less conspicuous 

 garb was adopted. 



The fifteen barouche landaus which turned out on this 

 occasion, driven by ' men of known skill in the science of 

 charioteering,' were well calculated to set off the somewhat 

 conspicuous attire of the members : they were ' Yellow-bodied 

 carriages with whip springs and dickey boxes ; cattle of a 

 bright bay colour with silver plate ornaments on the harness 

 and rosettes to the ears.' 



The meets of the driving clubs appear to have roused a 

 spirit of ribaldry in unregenerate youth. One day in March 

 1809 a young Etonian made his appearance in a low phaeton 

 with a four-in-hand of donkeys, with which he brought up 

 the rear of the procession as it drove round Grosvenor and 

 Berkeley Squares. 



The Driving Club was the Benson, which had been founded 

 in 1807. Sir Henry Peyton was the last survivor of the 

 ' noble, honourable, and respectable ' drivers who composed 

 it. Thackeray described him in the last of his papers on The 

 Four Georges as he appeared driving the ' one soUtary four-in- 

 hand ' to be seen in the London parks. He was then (1851) 

 very old, and attracted attention as much by his dress, which 

 was of the fashion of 1825, as by his then unique turn-out. 



The Benson Club came to an end in 1853. The Whip 



1 This refers to the ' mail-coach parade/ which was first held in 1799 and for the last 

 time in 1835. The coaches, to the number of about twenty-five, were either new or newly 

 painted with the Royal Arms on the door, the stars of each of the four Orders of Knight- 

 hood on the upper panel, and the name of the town whither the coach ran on the small 

 panel over each door. Coachmen and guards wore new uniforms and gentlemen used to 

 lend their best teams— often also their coachmen, as appears from the passage quoted. 

 A horseman rode behind each coach to make the procession longer. The 'meet' took 

 place in Lincoln's Inn Fields and the coaches drove to St. James's, there turning to come 

 back to the General Post-Office, then in Lombard Street. 



^7 



