1 86. DRIVING. 



which they had kept between them for some years, stating that 

 they could no longer afford to keep it, and that they were both 

 going on to the turf to make fortunes. I begged them to 

 reconsider their decision, adding that if they really intended to 

 leave the road for the turf I thought it quite likely that I should 

 see them 'both out,' which I regret to say has long since come 

 to pass, nor did I ever hear of those fortunes to which they 

 then looked forward. 



I bought their coach, however, which proved to be an old 

 mail. These mails, made by Ward about 1835, ran better than 

 any coaches that I have ever driven ; they travelled very steadily, 

 followed well, galloped without rocking, and I have never 

 heard of any one of them being upset. 



Having bought a coach, I had no team ; in fact, I never 

 really had a team, as I was always driving odds and ends, per- 

 haps a cabriolet horse and a hunter at wheel, and two buggy or 

 gig horses as leaders, or some equally eccentric combination. 

 Occasionally this was not all pleasure, but it was grand practice, 

 nor can I ever forget the kindness of my friends in lending me 

 all sorts of horses, and sending them on with servants and helpers, 

 when I wished to drive twenty or thirty miles ; one of the best 

 and pleasantest teams that I ever drove consisted of four gig 

 horses, each belonging to a different owner. I soon began to 

 drive large parties of friends to Greenwich, Richmond, Windsor 

 Henley, Hampton Court, and Virginia Water ; also to Epsom, 

 Ascot and Goodwood, and the latter, as we arranged it, made a 

 most enjoyable outing. We were generally a party often ; we left 

 London on Monday morning, sent horses on, had four teams 

 in all, stayed the whole week with a kind friend about twelve 

 miles from the course, so that we had a twenty-four-mile drive 

 every day, and drove back to London, some sixty or seventy 

 miles, on Saturday. We also used to attend the races at the 

 Hoo, then held in the park, some six miles below Welwyn, and 

 thirty-three from London. 



I cannot help regretting that there should have been a sort of 

 interregnum between the stage-coaches and pleasure-coaches. 



