AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 



A FEW EXPLANATORY WORDS seem advisable in issuing 

 the present volume the eleventh of the Badminton 

 Library. 



The task of writing the book on Driving was origi- 

 nally undertaken by the late Major Henry Dixon, 

 whose lamented death occurred when he had only 

 written or sketched out a comparatively few pages. 

 It was not an easy matter to select another author 

 possessed of the necessary qualifications, among which 

 I deemed essential an experience of the road in the 

 old coaching days, together with a knowledge of modern 

 developments and practice ; and, finally, I decided to 

 write myself such reminiscences of former days and 

 comments on the coachmanship of to-day as seemed 

 to further the object of the book, and to ask those of 

 my friends who had special knowledge of particular 

 subjects to contribute chapters on matters which they 

 were peculiarly competent to treat. 



I may anticipate a possible criticism that, in the 

 ' Hints to Beginners ' and in one or two other places, 



