3i8 THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



host, and who was one of the party. " In my younger 

 days I was always an inside passenger whenever I chanced 

 to travel by a stage-coach ; but now I pay extra for the 

 box-place, or a front seat on the roof, for the purpose of 

 hearing the shrewd and often witty remarks of the 

 coachman to those whom he has occasion to address, either 

 in his calling or otherwise. But a friend of mine thus 

 accounts for this shrewdness, as well as quickness and 

 suitableness of reply : ' It is the pace that does it,' said he 

 ' the increased pace at which they travel, and quickness 

 of their changes of horses on the road, which are every 

 day becoming more extraordinary. Philosophers tell us,' 

 added he, ' that wit consists in quickly assembling our 

 ideas, and putting them together in an instant.' 1 Now, as 

 analogy is but the resemblance between things, with 

 regard to circumstances or effects, may there not be 

 something akin to analogy betwixt putting ideas together 

 quickly, and taking one set of horses from, and putting 

 another set to a coach in little more than sixty seconds of 

 time ? Certainly, as far as my experience has gone, the 

 faster the coach, the more sharp and ready has been its 

 coachman with all his remarks and replies, and compress- 

 ing what they have to say in as small a space as possible ; 

 and I witnessed, a short time back, one very laughable 

 instance of it. At the first change out of London, after 

 the coach had stopped, perhaps three-fourths of a minute, 

 a passenger put his head out of the window, and asked 

 the coachman if he could have some breakfast. ' Yes, sir,' 

 he replied (he was at that moment in the act of gathering 

 the reins into his hand, the fresh horses having been put 

 to the coach), ' if you can eat it whilst I can count twenty ' ; 

 and, springing on to his box, he was off, leaving his 

 passenger to his meditations." 



It was in the course of this summer that our hero first 

 attended the renowned Bibury race-meeting, then in the 

 zenith of its glory, and he was elected one of its members 

 nemine contradicente. In fact, he was exactly the sort of 

 person calculated for it. In the first place, there was no 

 lack of means ; in the next, he had purchased a horse in 

 training, said to be likely to win what is called the 

 " Welter Stakes," the best of the meeting, and so called 

 because the weight carried was thirteen stone for all ages. 

 And he had a twofold object in view, with respect to this 

 horse. If he did not win the stakes, he was convinced he 



