16 THE CO AC H -HORN : 



require some consideration, but as he still pressed me 

 for an answer, I replied that I thought perhaps £Q00 

 would about compensate me for my absence from 

 business and its inevitable consequences. He burst 

 out laughing, and for once in m}^ life I had the satis- 

 faction of hearing an American say (not that he meant 

 it) that " he couldn't afford it ! " Another American 

 gentleman, too, Mr. Kane, took over the Virginia 

 \\'ater Coach, previously horsed b\' the then Lord 

 Macduft, Captain Dickson, and Mr. Williams, three 

 well-known Coachmen. 



It may be a vulgar expression, but I have often 

 heard it remarked that Americans make money like 

 dirt, and that they spend it likewise, and certainly 

 Mr. Kane spent his with great liberality, his stud at 

 that time consisting of a horse a mile, besides reserves. 



In connection with this subject, I ought to mention 

 with respect Mr. Charles Hoare and his Beckenham 

 Coach, and the one associated with Lord Bective, 

 Colonel Fletcher Hathorne, and Mr. Chaplin, driven 

 through the Garden of England to Tunbridge Wells. 

 There was also the Epsom and Dorking Coach, regu- 

 larh' worked from the White Horse Cellars by Captain 

 Bl3^the, Sir Henry de Bathe, and Mr. Hanke}', another 

 banker, through most pleasant country. 



A series of wet, ver}^ wet, summers then ensued, 

 and although none of the well-known gentlemen I 

 have mentioned ever worked a Coach with an}' idea 

 of profit, still the paucity of passengers, combined 

 with torrents of rain, not only diminished the receipts, 

 but cast what I may truly call such a damper upon 

 Coaching enterprise that it was a wonder to me that 

 it did not collapse altogether. 



