I02 SJ'AGE-COACH AND MAIL IN DAYS OF YORE 



and Avas so very often alloAved l)y tlie complaisant 

 professional coachmen to " take the ribbons " that 

 he at last fell into the habit of taking them almost 

 as a matter of right. Of conrse, the jarveys Avho 

 had relinquished the reins to him were always 

 well remembered for their so doing ; but there 

 were those to Avhom money was not everything, 

 and in whose minds the sporting instinct was less 

 develojied than a wholesome and ever-jiresent 

 fear of the j)cnalties to which coachmen were 

 liable if they permitted other persons to drive. 

 There could have been no objection on the score 

 of coachmanshi]:), for the Marquis was an able 

 Avhip ; but the fact remained that he could not 

 get the reins when he wanted them, and so in 

 revenge set uj) two coaches on the Brighton lload, 

 in alliance Avith a Jew named Israel Alexander. 

 A paltry fellow, this Marquis, afterwards seventh 

 Duke of Eeaufort, to enter into comjietition Avitli 

 professional coachmen in order to satisfy a 

 childish spite ; not, at any rate, tlie high-souled 

 sportsman that toadies Avould liaA^e one believe. 



The coaches put on the road by this alliance 

 AA^ere the "Wonder" and the " Quicksilver," both 

 Avith intent to run Goodman, the proprietor of the 

 " Times " coaches, off the route. The coachmen 

 Avho tooled these ucav conveyances Avere, of course, 

 alAvays to give up the reins Avhen my lord thought 

 proper to drive, and so the revenge Avas com- 

 plete. ]5ut the "Quicksilver," a fast coach 

 timed to do the 52 miles in ij hours, had 

 not been lonu' on the road before it met Avith 



