no THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



least half a ton of Birmingham shillings in the front 

 boot.' All the better for the way-bill, said I ; and as 

 for the bad shillings, as Jack observed, that's nothing to 

 nobody ; all trades must live, and we are all honest men 

 till we are found out." 



At this moment the door opened, and in walked Frank 

 Baby. 



Sir John. " Frank ! my boy, how are you 1 glad to 

 see you once more ; let me introduce you to Mr. Webber, 

 an old Etonian and Christchurch man ; like ourselves, 

 devilish fond of the road, a right good coachman, but not 

 much of a foxhunter." 



Webber. " Happy to make your acquaintance, Mr. 

 Raby. Inkleton tells me you are one of us ; fond of the 

 ribbons, eh ? Bailey says you were one of his best pupils 

 when at Eton, and Jack Hale says there are few better 

 out of Oxford gownsmen, of course." 



Frank. "I am very fond of driving four horses, but 

 do not pretend to call myself a coachman. If I make 

 one in Jive years from this time, I shall think myself very 

 fortunate." 



Webber. " It cost me ten, and as many hundreds of 

 pounds as well. My bill, with old Mother Jones, at 

 Oxford, for box-coats for guards and coachmen, was never 

 under a hundred per annum, for many years ; and I am 

 afraid to say what it has cost me in four-horse whips, also 

 given away. Then my scores at public-houses, on different 

 roads, was something approaching fifty pounds a year for 

 what coachmen and guards call their 'allowance.' For 

 example, that at the ' Magpies,' on Hounslow Heath, for 

 rum-and-milk to the mail coaches, up and down, was 

 no joke generally exceeding twenty pounds. No house 

 on the road makes such capital rum-and-milk as the 

 * Magpies' does ; the coachmen call it ' milking the bull.' 

 But I don't regret the money I spent in this way, for 

 many reasons. It gave me an insight into all sorts of 

 life ; it made me a coachman, which nothing but road- 

 work will do ; it gave me an opportunity of doing many 

 a kind act towards persons who were not so fortunately 

 cast in life as myself ; and last, though not least for I 

 never encouraged what I considered a worthless fellow, 

 or a blackguard I have reason to believe I have con- 

 tributed, with others, equally fond of the ribbons as 

 myself, towards the commencement of a new era amongst 



