CH. XVIII DRESS OF THE WHIP CLUB 425 



weather, a drab box-coat with large pearl, or ivory 

 buttons, on which a coaching device is engraved. 



In wet weather, an apron which can be buckled 

 round the waist, reaching to the ankles and meet- 

 ing behind, is a good protection, and if the coat or 

 cape is put on over it, it is hardly possible for the 

 rain to penetrate ; it must be confessed that in this 

 garb, the coachman, when on the ground, looks 

 somewhat like an old woman. 



In the early part of this century in England, 

 when ' the road' was the fashion, not only the pro- 

 fessional coachmen but the amateurs who imitated 

 them, affected many eccentricities of dress. Coats 

 of many capes, very low broad-brimmed hats, and 

 voluminous wrappings about the neck were the 

 rage, and Lord William Lennox {Coaching, p. 

 202) gives the following description of the dress 

 of a member of ' The Whip Club' : ' A light drab- 

 4 coloured cloth coat, made full, single-breasted, with 

 ' three tiers of pockets, the skirts reaching to the 

 1 ankles, a mother-o'-pearl button of the size of a 

 4 crown-piece ; waiscoat blue and yellow stripe, each 

 ' stripe an inch in depth ; smallclothes, corded silk 

 4 plush, made to button over the calf of the leg, with 

 ' sixteen strings, and rosettes to each knee ; the 

 ' boots very short, and finished with very broad 

 ' straps, which hung over the tops and down to the 

 4 ankle ; a hat three inches and a half deep in the 

 4 crown only, and the same depth in the brim. Each 

 4 wore a large bouquet of flowers at the breast, 



