COACHING DAYS AND WAYS 



or two, of a lower order than those who had 

 gone forward with the Comet ; nor, perhaps, is 

 the coachman quite so refined as the one we have 

 just taken leave of. He has not the neat white 

 hat, the clean doeskin gloves, the well-cut trousers, 

 and dapper frock ; but still his appearance is 

 respectable, and perhaps, in the eyes of many, 

 more in character with his calling. Neither has he 

 the agility of the artist on the Comet, for he is 

 nearly double his size ; but he is a strong powerful 

 man, and might be called a pattern card of the 

 heavy coachman of the present day — in other words, 

 of a man who drives a coach which carries sixteen 

 passengers instead of fourteen, and is rated at eight 

 miles an hour instead of ten. **What room in the 

 Regulator ? " says our friend to the waiter, as he 

 comes to announce its arrival. ** Full inside, sir, 

 and in front ; but you'll have the gammon board 

 all to yourself, and your luggage is in the hind 

 boot." *' Gammon board! Pray, what's that? Do 

 you not mean the basket?"^ ** Oh no, sir," says 

 John, smiling ; " no such thing on the road now. 

 It is the hind-dickey, as some call it ; where you'll 



^ The early coaches were equipped with a huge basket slung over the hind 

 axle wherein passengers were carried at lower fares. 



34 



