COACHMEN 49 



strong personalities, and very distinct ideas of their own 

 importance. 



George Borrow, who detested them, wrote thus with 

 exceeding bitterness: 



"The stage-coachmen of England, at the time of 

 which I am speaking, considered themselves mighty fine 

 gentry, nay, I verily believe the most important per- 

 sonages of the realm, and their entertaining this high 

 opinion of themselves can scarcely be wondered at; 

 they were low fellows, but masters at driving; driving 

 was in fashion, and sprigs of nobility used to dress as 

 coachmen and imitate the slang and behaviour of the 

 coachmen, from whom they would occasionally take 

 lessons in driving as they sat beside them on the box, 

 which post of honour any sprig of nobility, who hap- 

 pened to take a place on a coach, claimed as his un- 

 questionable right; and these sprigs would smoke cigars 

 and drink sherry with the coachmen in bar-rooms, and 

 on the road, and when bidding them farewell would 

 give them a guinea or half a guinea, and shake them by 

 the hand, so that these fellows, being low fellows, very 

 naturally thought no small liquor of themselves, but 

 would talk familiarly of their friends. Lord So-and-So, 

 the Honourable Mister So-and-So, and Sir Harry and 

 Sir Charles, and be wonderfully saucy to anyone who 

 was not a lord, or something of the kind; and this high 

 opinion of themselves received daily augmentation from 

 the servile homage paid them by the generality of the 

 untitled male passengers, especially those on the fore- 

 part of the coach who used to contend for the honour of 

 sitting on the box with the coachman when no ^rig was 

 nigh to put in his claim. Oh! what servile homage these 

 craven creatures did pay these same coach fellows, more 

 especially after witnessing this or t'other adl of brutality 



4 



