THE BRIGHTON ROAD 203 



Sam Goodman, of the Times. Yet it were profanity to 

 compare him to the incomparable Mr. Snow, whose per- 

 fect ease and elegant attitude on his box in turning the 

 Dart out of the Spread Eagle Yard in Gracechurch 

 Street was a sight for gods and coachmen. Gray, on 

 the Regent, was " fair — inclining to stead)'," as the 

 meteorologists might say ; Ned Russel, when once started 

 over London Bridge, not worse than some of his neigh- 

 bours. Mr. Steven, of the Age, had the reputation of 

 being a good coachman, which is all that Viator will say 

 for him, except to wish him success ; but young Cook, 

 formerly of the Magnet, but afterwards of the Rcgulator 

 (having changed his coaches, from sickness, at being 

 bandied about between Hell and Hackney, as he graphi- 

 cally expresses it), young Cook, was not only a first- 

 rate coachman but one of the pleasantcst fellows to travel 

 with that could be met on the road. From this bead- 

 roll of distinguished professionals (to make an end of 

 coachmen) can the distinguished amateurs of the 

 Brighton Road be with any justice excluded ? Certainly 

 not ! For the Brighton Road, to keep up its distinctive 

 flavour of what I call " Corinthianism," has ever been 

 distinguished and fortunate in its choice of aristocratic 

 whips. And of these no selection could be complete 

 which wanted the names of Sir Vincent Cotton, who 

 drove the Age ; of the Marquis of Worcester, father of 

 the present Duke of Beaufort, who drove the Beaufort ; 

 of the Hon. Fred. Jerningham, a son of Lord Stafford, 

 who drove the Brighton Day Mail — who were all 

 artists to the tips of their fingers, who never solicited 

 fees, and yet pocketed them when offered, with as much 

 readiness and relish as could be shown by the poorest 

 " knights of the whip." 



And what of the travellers on the Brighton Road in 

 the days of its prime ? They are as the sands of the 

 sea for multitude, and pass before my mind's eye in a 

 long line, beginning with the Regent and ending with 

 Tom Cribb— if indeed the prince should be put before 



