COACHING 



The King was deeply interested in coaching, was 

 himself no mean whip, and he set the fashion. 

 It did not last very long. Nimrod, writing in 1835, 

 remarks that about 1825 * thirty to forty four-in- 

 hand equipages were constantly to be seen about 

 town : one is stared at now.' 



The driving clubs held * meets ' in George the 

 Third's time much as they do at present, but the 

 vehicles used were 'barouche landaus,' and the drive 

 taken was much longer than that in vogue to-day. 

 Bedfont beyond Hounslow, and Windsor were 

 favourite places whither the coaches — * barouche 

 landaus' — drove in procession to dine. Very par- 

 ticular attention was paid to dress. This was the 

 costume in which members of the Whip Club, 

 founded in 1808 as a rival to the Benson, mounted 

 their boxes on 6th June 1808, in Park Lane, to 

 drive to Harrow : — 



*A light, drab-colour cloth coat made full, single 

 breast with three tier of pockets, the skirt reach- 

 ing to the ancles ; a mother of pearl button the 

 size of a crown piece ; waistcoat blue and yellow 

 stripe, each stripe an inch in depth ; small clothes 

 corded silk plush made to button over the calf of 



45 



