37^ The Book of the Horse. 



for either as a point of distinction, or, as Charles Grcville cynically hints, to make the task 

 easier, the team of his barouche consisted of six horses, four of them in hand. The leaders 

 were conducted by a postillion, an arrangement still perpetuated in the Lord Mayor's state 

 coach. 



" In those days," says Tom Raikes, " the Prince made Brighton and Lewes races the 

 gayest scene of the year in England. The Pavilion was full of guests ; the Steyne was 

 crowded with all the rank and fashion from London, and the racecourse was crowded with 

 the handsomest equipages. About half an hour before the signal of departure for the hill 

 the Prince himself would make his appearance to the crowd. I think I see him now in a 

 green jacket, a white hat, tight nankeen pantaloons, and shoes (!) distinguished by his high- 

 bred manner and handsome person. The Prince's German wagon [so barouches were then 

 called] and six bay horses — the coachman on the box being replaced by Sir John Lade — 

 issued out of the gates of the Pavilion, and, gliding up the green ascent, was stationed close 

 to the grand stand, where it remained the centre of attraction for the day." 



When the " Tantivy " and " Tally ho's " were running on our main roads, broken-down 

 dandies took to the coach-box, as they do now to the betting-ring and horse market, and did 

 not disdain to receive the e.xtra half-crowns middle-class passengers of horsey tastes were 

 only happy to bestow for the pleasure of sitting alongside a scion of aristocracy, a ci-droant 

 swell of the first water. 



Besides those who were compelled by their necessities to do for a living what they 

 had previously done for their amusement, there were a number of country squires, noblemen, 

 and persons of less degree, who took shares in horsing fast coaches for the privilege of 

 occasionally driving. Some, like the celebrated Captain Barclay of Ury, as may be read 

 in the pages of " Nimrod " and " The Druid," went seriously into coaching speculations, not 

 to make money, but for the fun of the thing. The captain once drove from Edinburgh to 

 Aberdeen for a wager, and, after a hot bath, offered to drive back ! 



The result of coaching competition and the alliance of gentlemen, as a matter of sport 

 and a matter of business, was a great improvement in every department — in the roads, the 

 harness, the coachmen, and also the formation of a school of coachmen amongst the aristocracy 

 and gentry, whose four-in-hand coaches and barouches were turned out in a number, and 

 driven with a skill of which this generation had very little idea, until the sudden revival of 

 the taste, which, after many failures, burst out suddenly about the year 1870. 



The gala.Ky of dandies mentioned in the sketch of Rotten Row, of course, went into 

 four-in-hands, and joined a club under the presidency of the Earl of Chesterfield, and the 

 instructions, for those who condescended to be taught, of that good whip. Lord Sefton.* 



In 1839, the year of the queen's coronation, the performances of this driving club are 

 sketched in anything but flattering terms by the satiric laureate of Hyde Park, whose verses 

 have already been quoted in Chapter XI. 



"Following his track [Lord Chesterfield's] succeeds a numerous band, 

 Who vainly strive to work their fours-in-hand, 

 For Richmond bound. 1 view them passing by, 

 Their whips unsteady and their reins awry. 

 Some chip their panels, some their horses' knees ; 

 Beaufort and Payne, I class yon not with these, 



* I have a capital colnurod caricature of Lord .Soflim, enlillcil " h Good Whip," by (Jih-.iy. 



