THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



of the mechanic, a coach miming over pavement is always 

 alive. In fact, she jumps from stone to stone, whereby her 

 motion is accelerated.' 



Lord Edmonston. — ' As for coaching, as you gentlemen of the 

 whip express yourselves, I know nothing of it practically, and 

 we should not attempt what we do not understand. We have 

 a good hint on this subject in the fable of Icarus, and Persius 

 tells us that, if a ploughman were to take the helm of a ship, 

 the gods would leave him to his fate. I repeat, then, that I 

 know nothing of "coaching," but I see no reason why English 

 gentlemen, who can afford to do it, may not indulge themselves 

 in driving their own coaches.' 



Goodall. — ' It is an old fashion — Lateranus, the Roman consul, 

 drove his own chariot.' 



Lord Edinonxton. — ' Yes, but only by night, until the year of 

 his office was out.' 



Goodall. — ' In Greece it was the amusement of kings : Philip 

 of Macedon had his chariot victories engraved on his coins ; 

 and Alcibiades had as many coach-horses in training as Lord 

 Grosvenor has racers ; and, be it remembered that the fire of 

 Pindar's muse, which dazzled all Greece, shone forth in honour 

 of coachmen, jockeys, wrestlers, and prize-fighters.' 



Sir Jo/m. — ' I remember he tells us that Pelops broke his 

 arm hitting a near leader in his race with G^nomaus. But, 

 jesting apart, we have taken some of our notions on the coach- 

 box from the "old ones," as we called the ancients, at Eton. 

 For example, when I saw Angus the other day, in the park, 

 cutting a figure of eight with his four-in-hand, I was convinced 

 he was thinking of that beautiful passage in the ^neid, where 

 the sudden and artful turns, which the goddess Juturna gave 

 to her brother's chariot to avoid the pursuit of ^neas, are 

 compared to the flight of the swallow, when seeking food for 

 her young.' 



Goodall.—' And you have them again, in the use of the 

 word " artful." When Peyton was complimenting little Joe, as 

 he who drives the Exeter mail out of London is called, on his 

 being so good a coachman, for so small a man, he answered 

 him thus:— "I'll tell you how it is, Sir Harry; wliat the big 

 ones does by strength, I does by ha rtijice" Now did not Nestor 

 say the very same thing when he was giving instructions to his 

 son how to drive his chariot, when contending for the prize at 



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