STAGE-COACH GUARDS 275 



the eccentric kind, sporting an odd kind of 

 headgear which went by the name of the "Hadley 

 Tile," and was as well knoAvn in his circle as 

 the " D'Orsay Hat " was in fashionable London. 

 "It resembles," said a contemporary, "an um- 

 brella in extent, and Bob, as he luxuriates under 

 its broad leaf, looks like an ouransj-outano* under 

 a banyan-tree. Some of his contemporaries having 

 adopted his taste too closely, he has been under 

 the necessity of extending its brim about four 

 inches, which puts all competition at defiance, 

 and he now presents an unique specimen. To 

 put himself still further beyond the reach of 

 envious competition, he has enclosed his delicate 

 person in a complete suit of plaid, from his 

 thorax to his trotters, and is now as complete 

 an original as is to be found in any zoological 

 collection in the Kingdom." 



It was in the very nature of their work that 

 the " up " and " down " coachmen and guards 

 should never meet, save in that moment of 

 passing one another on the road. Like the little 

 man and woman of the old-fashioned weather- 

 gauge — the one coming out and the other going 

 in, as fine or wet weather willed it — they could 

 not, in the ordinary routine, possibly enjoy one 

 another's society. An exception was annually 

 made on the Holyhead Eoad, when a hundred 

 coachmen and guards were bidden to a feast at 

 the " Green Man," Dunchurch. They managed 

 to find substitutes for their j^laces on the box, 

 or on the guard's seat, for the occasion, and 



