300 DRIVING. 



and like the sea fisherman's 'marks,' the right and wrong way 

 of driving four horses has hitherto been handed down orally. 

 Few old coachmen, either amateurs or professionals, are alive, 

 and those interested in the preservation of road traditions 

 would regret to see the links with the past snapped at last. So 

 far as what may be called the business coaches are concerned, 

 the incorporation of * subscribers ' takes the place of the 

 partnerships, in which the Duke of Beaufort, Sir H. de Bathe, 

 Mr. Chandos Pole, Colonel Hathorn, and others, whose names 

 have been mentioned, bore their share. The positions, how- 

 ever, of partners and subscribers are not identical ; for, whereas 

 the former share profits or losses as the case may be, sub- 

 scribers pay a fixed sum for the privilege of driving one or 

 more days a week. It is on this principle that Selby's and 

 Fownes's coaches are run, so that if no passengers be carried, 

 the working expenses are paid wholly or in part, and this 

 accounts for the fact that both the Defiance and the Vivid 

 will run through the winter. 



A notice of modern coaching would perhaps be incomplete 

 without a passing reference to the value of the horses em- 

 ployed, especially at a time when public attention is strongly 

 directed towards the demand for and production of the general 

 utility horse. It appears that, as coaching increased in popu- 

 larity, and competition became more keen, better horses have 

 been used, or it may be that purchasers have by degrees come 

 to recognise the wisdom of buying animals whose daily work 

 is some sort of guarantee for their soundness and condition. 

 In 1870 the Brighton horses realised just over 307. each ; but 

 in 1876 the St. Albans horses, 30 in number, realised 1,065 

 guineas, giving an average of 35^ guineas ; a roan team brought 

 1 60 guineas, and four bays 210 guineas. In the same year 

 the average for the Tunbridge Wells horses was 41 guineas, 

 while the horses which had been working on the Brighton 

 road averaged 88/. 4^. ; the Guildford horses, 56 \ guineas ; the 

 Wycombe 39^ guineas, and Mr. Carleton Blyth's Oxford horses 

 88 guineas. In 1877 the Brighton average was the capital one 



