54 ANNALS OF THE ROAD. 



pace is not to exceed ten miles an hour. The order for 

 starting is arranged by lot ; Hyde Park is the starting 

 point. The club is limited to thirty members, and should 

 a member be absent from the club for a whole year, he 

 ceases to be a member. 



' Recreation,' says the great Mr. Locke, 1 ' is not being 

 idle ; and he who thinks it is must forget the early rising, 

 the hard riding, the heat, cold, and hunger, which sports- 

 men endure. The life of a sportsman is congenial to plea- 

 sure, for it is passed amidst those scenes of nature which 

 excite the most generous emotions ; and the character of a 

 sportsman is generally liberal and benevolent, and if he 

 reap no other benefit than health from his sports he is 

 well paid. Whatever may be the object he has in view, 

 he should pursue it con amore, or it is flat and insipid.' 



Some such noble thoughts as these, coupled with the 

 growing taste for the road, and the exclusiveness of the 

 Four-in-Hand Club, probably occurred to those gentle- 

 men who in 1870 became the promoters of a new driv- 

 ing club called the ' Coaching Club,' which started under 

 the best auspices. Its first public appearance was most 

 promising, for I saw twenty-two coaches drawn up in 

 Hyde Park on that occasion. As was expected, it 

 flourished. 



1 ' Sports and Pastimes.' 



