176 GOOD SPORT 



little parish by the side of the Great North Road in 

 the Cottesmore country. Mr. Reynardson would 

 talk by the hour about his coaching experiences 

 seen in the twenties and thirties, and my father, 

 who was better known as ('uthbert Bede, author 

 of " Verdant Green," persuaded him to put them 

 on paper. The result was an interesting volume 

 " Down the Road, or Reminiscences of a Gentle- 

 man Coachman," a title which my father invented 

 after revising the manuscript. The book was illus- 

 trated by coloured plates from Aiken's coaching, 

 pictures, which adorned the walls of Holywell Hall, 

 and the old squire to the last resented " the tea- 

 kettle with its steam taking the place of four 

 bright bays." In his opinion the greatest pleasure 

 in the way of " sport " was as a gentleman coach- 

 man to drive a real mail or genuine passenger 

 four-wheeler of the olden time, by night and by 

 day, in summer and winter, tempest and snow- 

 storm, as though earning a livelihood by the work. 



He further relates that his instructors were first 

 old John Barker, driver of the " Regent " coach, 

 from Stamford to Huntingdon in 1823, afterwards 

 Tom Hennesy, coachman to the " Regent " between 

 Huntingdon and London ; others being Dick Vickers 

 of the Shrewsbury Mail, Sam Hayward of the 

 Shifnall Coach, Charlie Harper of the Chester Mail, 

 Peter Hilton of the " Hirondelle," Jack Wilhams, 

 Harry Vyse, Will Jones, Shaw of the '' Nettle," and 

 some others, '' noted whips." 



" Down the Road " possesses an historical value 

 as a volume, being the faithful reflex of a system of 

 things that have now had their day, but have not 

 lost their interest for the present generation. 



Amongst a large collection of whips, walking- 

 sticks, and alpenstocks which the old squire had in 



