THE ROAD. 
rence Palk, and others ? Have the advice and the 
practice of such experienced men as Mr. Charles Bux- 
ton, Mr. Henry Villebois, Mr. Okeover, Sir Bellingham 
Graham, Mr. John Walker, Lord Sefton, Sir Felix 
Agar,* Mr. Ackers, Mr. Maxse, Hon. Fitzroy Stan- 
hope, Colonel Spicer, Colonel Sibthorpe, cum multis aliis, 
been thrown away upon persons who have looked up to 
them as protectors ? Certainly not : neither would the 
improvement in carriages stage-coaches more especially 
have arrived at its present height, but for the atten- 
tion and suggestions of such persons as we have been 
speaking of. 
Gentleman - coaching, however, has, as we said, 
received a check ; and in more ways than one. "Tam- 
pering with the currency," and low prices, have taken 
off the leaders ; and the bars and four-horse whips 
are hung up for the present very few four-in-hands 
being visible, f The " B. D. C.," or Benson Driv- 
ing Club, which still holds its rendezvous at the 
" Black Dog," Bedfont, is the only survivor of 
those numerous driving associations whose processions 
used, some twenty years ago, to be among the most 
* Perhaps one of the finest specimens of good coachmanship was per- 
formed by Sir Felix Agar. He made a bet, which he won, that he would 
drive his own four-horses-in-hand, up Grosvenor Place, down the passage 
into Tattersall's Yard, around the pillar which stands in the centre of it, 
and back again into Grosvenor Place, without either of his horses going in 
a slower pace than a trot. 
f Only ten years back, there were from thirty to forty four-in-hand 
equipages to be seen constantly about town : one is stared at now ! 
110 
