296 DRIVING. 



to Virginia Water till the winter came round, when it ran its 

 original route to St. Albans, which road during the summer 

 was taken by Messrs. Jones and Shaw. The Hurlingham 

 and Ranelagh was again a convenience for the members of 

 those clubs and their friends, and in August E. Fownes put 

 on the Age to Brighton for a short season. At the end of the 

 summer the Old Times stopped short at Oatlands Park. 



Mr. Chandos Pole quitted the Brighton road in 1882, and 

 on Baron Oppenheim joining Mr. Freeman, the coach was 

 again a double one, horsed by Woodlands ; for after the first 

 few years Mr. Freeman preferred this system to that of buying 

 his own cattle. E. Fownes and John Thorogood were the 

 coachmen ; E. Graham and E. Fownes, junior, were the guards. 

 On one occasion when nearly opposite the Asylum on Banstead 

 Downs a mishap occurred ; and while the passengers and pro- 

 fessionals were in painful confusion, a pedestrian on the road 

 laughingly observed, ' What a capital picture this would make ! ' 

 A Surbiton coach also ran in connection with the Brighton. 

 The Dorking ran as usual, and so did the Old Times to 

 Virginia Water ; the Windsor, and New Times to Guildford ; 

 the Rapid worked between Esher and London ; Mr. C. R. Har- 

 greaves again ran the Rocket to Portsmouth, and the Wonder, 

 Mr. Rumney's, went to St. Albans. The Maidenhead coach 

 did not appear, nor did the Box Hill. 



Hitherto the coaching revival had apparently been popular ; 

 but the year 1882 showed a falling off in the number of coaches, 

 and 1883 was of less promise than the year before a state 

 of things for which it is not altogether easy to account. The 

 wave of depression which affected every branch of sport and 

 pastime doubtless had some connection with the waning of 

 coaching ; but there were possibly other causes, which it is not 

 necessary to specify, at work. When the season of 1883 began 

 the Perseverance still kept on to Dorking and Box Hill ; Mr. 

 Bailey and Mr. F. Davis stuck to the Windsor, the Old Times 

 carried passengers to Virginia Water, and Mr. Rumney ran the 

 Wonder to St. Albans, Sam Clark being the professional, as 



