92 ANNALS OF THE ROAD. 



but alas ! I can only paint lithographically, slight in 

 touch, wanting light and shade. An Oxford slap-bang, 

 loaded in London; Windsor Blues, freighted at Reading; 

 Reading coaches, chuck full at Dorking ; a Mile-End 

 coach-waggon (parish fashion) full of those who, if justice 

 was done to them, would be left en passant in better 

 keep than by going back to Bow ; German coaches ; 

 Hanoverian cars; Petersburg sledges and Phactonces', 

 St. James's cabs ; ' Bull and Mouth ' barouches, waggoned 

 by Exeter coachmen ; gentlemen's drags adorned with 

 larking blades. Some horsed by themselves and some 

 by their friends, one or two well driven, but the majority 



d d bad ! I only drive two galloways, with reins in 



both hands, and whip over the shoulder ; am therefore, 

 poor in judgment, although bare-faced in opinion, and, 

 John Bull like, will have one ; and what's more, will 

 write it ; and as I am quite an unknown in fashion and 

 coaching, perfectly fearless of pistols. It was both novel 

 and amusing to hear Oxford boys talk. " By G — d ! 



there's Stanhope, Paulett, Jones, Payne, Lord , and, 



damme that lathy chap Stevy — four greys and red roses! 

 You talk of good ones, they're all humbugs in com- 

 parison. Put him behind a scratch team, or watch him 

 on the Defiance, or ask old Thomaso ; he's quite right, 

 depend on't. My stars! did you see him on Tuesday? 

 He would not be said nay to; flying through the park; 

 serving them out right and left, and with a heavy load, 

 made his ground good in great style. They say he had 

 a bit of a scramble from a bull-headed wheeler at Houns- 

 low ; but his hands and his eyes were like lightning, and 



