312 DRIVING. 



the public-house, in the stables of which his horses were put 

 up, with his mouth fall of bread and cheese, wiping his lips 

 with the back of his hand, to dispose of the froth from his last 

 swig at his pot of beer. 



Postboys were very neatly dressed. The few that one 

 sees now-a-days are very different from the old boys ; their 

 boots and breeches are badly made and put on ; they wear 

 velvet caps with a large flopping fringe of gold or silver lace at 

 the top, perhaps a band of the same round the cap ; jackets 

 with three or five rows of buttons and made of dark blue 

 cloth. In the old days to begin at the top they all wore 

 hats made of beaver real flu fly beaver ; generally white hats, 

 but sometimes black ones. Their jackets were light blue or 

 yellow at some of the houses they were scarlet cloth made 

 of a sort of moleskin stuff, with only the one row of buttons ; 

 their breeches were of the whitest corduroy, and their boots 

 brown-topped. Some of the boys had four or five buttons 

 (generally mother-o'-pearl) on the breeches, but many of the 

 old hands had five or nine buttons, so that if it had not rained 

 and their boots were only wet from the splashing, they could 

 unbutton their breeches at the knees high up, and put on dry 

 stockings and a dry pair of boots, or shoes and gaiters. The 

 jacket always had three snicks about three-quarters of an inch 

 wide at the bottom in the back ; their greatcoats they put on 

 the dickey, or strapped on to the front Cee-spring of the car- 

 riage. They were made slit up to the waist with long tails. 

 The front part was tucked under the knees, and the hinder 

 part doubled under over the thigh, exposing the white breeches 

 underneath, so as neither to heat the riding horse nor to spoil 

 the coat with his sweat. A postboy was like a soldier of 

 those days. Everything he had, his pocket-handkerchief and 

 anything else he wanted, went into his hat. The boys were 

 always at least the first three or four turns ready dressed, 

 booted and spurred, excepting their jackets, which were hung 

 up in the saddle-room, and to keep themselves clean and 

 smart they put on over all white smocks buttoned up to their 



