NEW DRAG. 277 



the Portsmouth and Chichester coaches, 

 had taken up the quarrel, and was deter- 

 mined, as the phrase was, to run the other 

 off the road. 



I had been out when, one evening, my 

 Father sent to my lodgings in St. Martin's 

 Lane, to ask me to go down to Cobham 

 with him on the Sunday morning. It 

 was Easter Sunday, the second anniver- 

 sary of the one that had already influ- 

 enced my fortunes. My Father drove me 

 down in his buggy. We dined with the 

 disputatious old gentleman, and partook 

 of some of his excellent port. The coach- 

 maker from Guildford had brought the 

 new drag, which, with the four horses 

 and harness, stood already at the "White 

 Lion," to which place we repaired after 

 dinner. After taking some more wine, the 

 horses, which had all been purchased in- 

 discriminately but the Friday preceding at 

 the repository in Barbican, were put to, 



