CHAPTER IX 



THE EARLY COACHMEN 



When stage- coaclimen are mentionedj the mind at 

 once flies to Mr. Tony Weller, a stout man Avitli a 

 red face and a hoarse voice proceeding from the 

 depths of capacious shawls in which his throat is 

 muffled. Such Avas the typical coachman at any 

 time between the introduction of coaches and 1820, 

 when a leaven of smartness and gentility began to 

 be noticeable, and the time-honoured type to fade 

 aAvay. 



Coachmen were generally fat for the same 

 reason that postboys were thin : it Avas a necessity 

 of their occupation. The postboys bumped their 

 flesh aAvay on horseback, but the coachman's 

 sedentary occupation, and still more a tremendous 

 capacity for drinking induced by the open-air life, 

 caused him to accumulate fat to an immoderate 

 degree. The typical coachman is pictured in 

 Hood's ballad of John Day, Avho Avas 



the biggest man, 

 Of all the coachman kind, 

 With back too broad to be conceived 

 By any narrow mind. 



But Avhile it Avould j^robably be safe to declare, 

 cti( 



221 



Avitliout fear of contradiction, that there never Avas 



