264 ANNALS OF THE ROAD. 



coachman, 1 and it only fails from having- been written by 

 a foreigner who is not quite conversant with the peculiar 

 language of the road. The description also would rather 

 apply to coachmen of a day now gone by, as for the 

 most part their appearance is much changed for the 

 better ; and however appropriate the language — ' the 

 broad full-face, curiously mottled with red, as if the blood 

 had been forced by hard-feeding and frequent potations 

 of malt liquors, into every vessel of the skin,' it is not the 

 present characteristic. The coachman of the present 

 time, generally speaking, drinks nothing on the road ; is 

 a very natty, spruce fellow, meaning nothing less than to 

 imitate his superiors in his dress, and now and then 

 rather too much disregarding the costume (when well 

 appointed, a very becoming one) of his profession. 

 Nothing, however, can be altogether more agreeable 

 than the change ; as with it we have not only a surety 

 for our lives, but passengers are not liable to have 

 their ears molested by any improper language, or 

 obscene jokes, which were rather too prevalent in the 

 Old School. 



Were I to get my bread by the sweat of my brow 

 I would certainly be a coachman. Generally speaking 

 (and where is the rose without the thorn ?) his occu- 

 pation is a pleasant one. He is most commonly well 

 paid ; he knows his hours of work, and when he has 

 accomplished them he can enjoy himself in comfort. But 

 this is not all. From the coachman to the waggoner 



1 See Chap. XVI. p. 84. 



