THE B. D. C, AND FOUR-HORSE CLUB. 285 



horse had dropped into a walk, the wager would have 

 been lost; and it is wonderful this had not happened, 

 when we consider the small space allowed the horses to 

 turn in. Sir Felix did it with the short wheel-rein and 

 no breechinQf- Sir Bellino'ham Graham was also one of 

 this Club, as was Sir Godfrey Webster ; and Mr. Martin 

 Hawke, clever at anything he undertook ; Mr. M'Ouin ; 

 Mr. Humphrey Butler — the latter very fair on the box, 

 and capital over the mahogany — chanting in the best style, 

 and the evening never too long for himself or his com- 

 pany. Mr. Ackers is a coachman of great experience for 

 his years, having never been without a team since he 

 started in life. I have travelled some thousands of miles 

 with him, and never saw him in a scrape. He is capitally 

 horsed at this time, and has just taken Sir FrancisBurdett's 

 fine place at Ramsbury, for the purpose of being near the 

 Bath road. Mr. Ackers is a good judge of a carriage, 

 and showed me an excellent improvement the other day 

 in his coach. His sway bar is made to turn in a groove, 

 so that in case of his perch-bolt wearing smaller — which 

 it will do on gravel roads, by the friction of the gritty 

 substances that get into the bolt-bole — the fore-bed does 

 not feel the effects of it, and therefore the pole is quite 

 steady in the futchells, which cannot be the case when 

 the perch-bolt wears. 



Mr. M'Ouin, Captain Murray, Mr. Sherrard, Major 

 Pellew, Lord Clinton, Mr. Paul Methuen, Sir John John- 

 stone, Mr. Harrison, Sir John Broughton, Sir Charles 

 Bamfylde, Mr. Osbaldeston, Mr. Morgan, and Mr. 

 Stephen Atkinson were also members of this Club, but 



