THE ROAD. 
I 
imposing, as well as peculiar, spectacles in and about 
the metropolis. 
The fashion, however, was not one of venerable 
standing among us gentlemen-coachmen not having 
been known in England for more than about half a 
century. We believe we ourselves remember the Anglo- 
Ericthonius the late Hon. Charles Finch, brother to 
the late Earl of Aylesford, who used to drive his 
own coach-and-four, disguised in a livery great coat. 
Soon after his debut, however, the already celebrated 
" Tommy Onslow," Sir John Lade, and others, mounted 
the box in their own character. Sir John was esteemed 
a renowned judge of coach-horses and carriages, and a 
good coachman of the old school ; but everything con- 
nected with the coach-box has undergone such a change 
in the last twenty-five years, that the Nestors of the 
art are no longer to be quoted. Mr. Warde, the father 
of the field, may now, we believe, be called the father 
of the road also ; and if the old heavy Gloucester, " six 
insides, and sixteen out, with two tons of luggage," 
were to re-appear on the road, no man's advice would 
be better than his. 
Count Pecchio, whose little volume on England lately 
appeared, has a luculent chapter on the astonishing 
convenience of our public conveyances, and the finished 
elegance of our private ones. We hardly, indeed, 
know which of the two things is more likely to strike 
the imagination of a foreigner, no matter from what 
part of the world he may come. Any one who has 
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