THE EARLY COACHMEN 22^ 



and the difference betAveen them and the later 

 ornaments of the box can only he understood 

 by comparing a modern van-driver Avith the 

 coachman of an aristocratic carriage — and then Ave 

 should be doing injustice to the van-man. 



As coaching progressed and twenty-mile stages 

 replaced the day-long toil of the horses, not only 

 did the six-horse give place to four-horse teams, 

 but coachmen improA^ed. There a\ as need for such 

 improvement, and all the science and resource of 

 Avhich they Avere capal)le Avere put to the proof. 

 Mud, stones, ruts, sandy places to plough through, 

 steej) hills to lash his horses up to, and dangerous 

 descents to hold them in, AA^ere the commonjilaces 

 of the coachman's career up to the daAvning of the 

 nineteenth century. The coaches, too, AA^ere heavy 

 and clumsy, and harness noAV really Avas rotten, 

 and had ever}^ noAv and again to be mended Avhile 

 the passengers Avaited Avith Avliat patience they 

 could command. Happily, time AVas not " of the 

 essence of the contract," as the laAvyers say, and 

 half a day late Avas no matter at that jieriod. But 

 all these difficulties made the coachman of those 

 times an expert in many things. He Avas not of 

 that later kind, finicking in manner and dandies 

 upon the box, but a great, Aveather-beaten, blulf 

 and gruff creature, mummified in Avraps ; an expert 

 in getting the last ounce out of his cattle, and 

 ready Avitli his Avhi]!, not ahvays because he Avas 

 brutal by nature, but because he had to thrash the 

 A\a'etched animals to get his coach along at all. 

 The coachmen of those days Avore their Avhips out 



VOL. I. 15 



