CHAPTER VII COACH PROPRIETORS 



THE men who horsed the coaches were a power 

 in the land in days gone by; especially was this 

 so in London where the coaching contrafts 

 were held by a few men who owned enormous 

 stables, and amassed huge fortunes. 



Mr. William Chaplin, eventually M.P. for SaHsbury, 

 was the largest coach proprietor. His chief yard was at 

 The Swan with Two Necks in Lad Lane, though he also 

 owned The Spread Eagle, The Cross Keys, and The 

 White Horse in Fetter Lane. After the fashion of the 

 time, his coaches bore the symbol of the inn from which 

 they started on their hind boot or door panel, and were 

 in colour red and black. 



Chaplin, being the son of a coach proprietor, in a 

 small way of business, knew all the ins and outs of the 

 road, and especially dangers and temptations which beset 

 the coaching fraternity — a knowledge which proved no 

 inconsiderable asset for a coach proprietor. When things 

 went wrong, he could usually make a shrewd guess at the 

 cause, and so unerringly did he put his finger on their 

 weak spots that his coachmen nicknamed him "Billy bite 

 'em sly," which, though disrespedlful, was a subtle testi- 

 mony to his proficiency. 



Chaplin possessed a bland, suave temperament, and 

 a gift of sarcasm biting and defined; a talent greatly 

 resented by the coachmen, who would have listened 

 serenely to a string of profanities, but writhed uneasily 

 under Chaplin's pointed satire. 



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