256 DRIVING. 



you ? ' On being told that he was, the King remarked, ' Ah ! 

 I thought I knew his holloa.' ' Nimrod,' who relates the 

 story, tells another about a Mr. Prouse, whose name seems 

 to have been a household word on the Great Western road. 

 In his own proper person good coachmanship, good fellowship, 

 a marvellous capacity for liquor, and the skill of the juggler 

 would seem to have been happily combined. 



After five bottles of hock (says the narrator) which he could 

 put under his waistcoat at a sitting without the smallest inconveni- 

 ence, he has often been seen to fill a bumper, and place the glass on 

 his head, during the time he would sing a song, in which not only 

 every coachman's, but every innkeeper's, name between London 

 and Plymouth was introduced. At the same time also he would go 

 through the manoeuvres of hitting wheeler and leader, without 

 spilling a drop of his wine ; and, after he had drunk it off, he 

 would run the empty glass up and down the large silver buttons on 

 his coat with very singular effect. 



In more ways than one, probably, worthy Mr. Prouse would 

 be more than a match for most coachmen of to-day. 



To return to the history of driving clubs, however, the 

 B.D.C. was without a rival from the time of the break-up of 

 the Four-Horse Club until the year 1838, when the Richmond 

 Driving Club was founded by Lord Chesterfield ' the magnifi- 

 cent,' who was its president. No longer was it the correct 

 thing to ape the manners and dress of stage-coachmen ; for 

 'Ches,' as the originator of the club was familiarly called, 

 insisted on his followers * driving like coachmen, but looking 

 like gentlemen ; ' and his lordship's standard of both qualifica- 

 tions was a high one. 1 At the outset the club consisted of the 

 following members, their names and the description of their 

 equipages being as given by Lord William Lennox : President, 

 Earl of Chesterfield, blue and red coach, four bays ; Marquis 

 of Waterford, brown and red coach, four greys ; Earl of 

 Waldegrave, blue and red open barouche, bay team ; Earl of 

 Sefton, dark coloured barouche, bay team ; Earl of Rosslyn, 



1 No better coachman ever drove four horses. B. 



