COACH PROPRIETORS iii 



Of the many large coaching establishments in the 

 provinces Costar's and Waddell's of Oxford was among 

 the best known. Old Costar was a noted character and, 

 like Fagg, particular as to his coachmen, for when John 

 Stacey, one of the four brothers of that name, applied 

 to him for a place Costar looked him over critically, 

 remarking to a friend that the young man was too much 

 of a dandy for him. Jack altered his attire but he 

 was never employed by Costar, although his brother, 

 William, for some time drove the Alert in turn with 

 Black Will. 



Costar was a man of resource, and not easy to get the 

 better of. One year when farm produce was scarce and 

 dear, a farmer offered the coach proprietor a hundred 

 quarters of oats for three hundred guineas. Costar bid 

 pounds, but the farmer thinking he would be unable to 

 buy elsewhere refused. Costar was so incensed that 

 he at once ordered out his favourite black mare and 

 drove down to the docks at Gloucester, where he bought 

 a load of Irish oats, of excellent quality and at half the 

 price. The farmer's short-sighted policy lost him his 

 best customer, for Costar never bought from him again. 



Like Chaplin, Costar believed in personal supervision, 

 and did not leave his business in the hands of hirelings, 

 but when things went wrong he looked into the matter 

 himself. At one time John Bayzand, of the Southampton 

 Oxonian, complained that the team from the Chequers 

 Inn at Chilton pond seemed to have no life in them. 

 The horses were good ones, so Costar knew there must be 

 some reason for their being out of condition, and he at 



