END OF THE COACHING AGE 279 



selves greatly honoured by all these attentions, 

 and now 1)eg'an to 2)erceive that they Avere really 

 very fine fellows indeed. It was a proud position 

 they noAY occupied in the public eye, but it had 

 its own peculiar draAvl)acks. Amid all this adula- 

 tion tliey could not l)ut see that they were like the 

 gladiators of ancient times, going fortli to glory, it 

 is true, but to simultaneous extinction ; and as all 

 the plaudits of the multitude must have seemed 

 to them a hollow mockery, so did this latter hero- 

 worship apjiear clieaj^ and unsubstantial to the 

 coaclimen. Some of them assumed a ^^ensive air, 

 Avliich did l)y no means sit well ujion their burly 

 forms and purj)le countenances, and was often, to 

 their disgust, mistaken for indigestion. 



Here, from among a wealth of verse, is a 

 typical ballad of the time, among the best of its 

 kind ; but even so, perhaps not altogether one 

 that Tennyson would have been proud to father : — 



THE DIRGE OF THE DRAGSMEN 



Farewell to the Coach-box, farewell to the Vip ! 

 By Fate most unkindly we're cotch'd on the hip ; 

 Brother Dragsmen, come join in a general chorus, 

 For there's nothing at present but ruin before us. 



Once who were so gay as we trumps of the team ? 

 Now our glory hath vanish'd away, like a dream ; 

 Doom'd to suffer adversity's punishing lash, 

 For the villainous Railroads have settled our hash. 



Patricians no more of our craft will be backers, 

 And our elegant cattle must go to the knackers ; 

 Guards, porters, and stablemen now on a level, 

 And all the load innkeepers book'd for the devil. 



