FOX-HUNTING JEHUS 179 



Lord Lonsdale's reputation as a coachman has 

 always stood high, and his splendidly equipped pro- 

 cession of carriages is one of the most striking 

 features of the Leicestershire race meetings. In 

 these days of dull monotony, the gay Hvery of 

 the yellow-jacketed postilions, with same Lowther 

 colouring for the four-wheel chariots, is very pleasing, 

 brightening up the ordinary traffic of the country. 

 Lord Lonsdale is one of the few who has the greater 

 part of his carriage- work done by postilions, and it 

 is a revival of a most interesting period in history. 

 All the harness horses are matched pairs of thorough- 

 bred-looking chestnuts with bang tails, and their 

 appearance on the scene commands the attention 

 of a royal procession. Years ago all his lordship's 

 horses had to pass a weight-and-measure examina- 

 tion ; to go under the 15 hand 2 inch standard of 

 height, and weigh not less than gh cwt. Lord 

 Lonsdale's hunters, too, had to submit to the tape 

 and standard. Not over 16 hands in height, not 

 measuring less than 6 feet round the girth when in 

 hard condition, not less than 8| inches under the 

 knee, were hard-and-fast lines insisted upon. 



Lord Lonsdale's great driving feat against time 

 in the year 1891 is an interesting record in these 

 days of Marathon coaching drives. It will be 

 remembered that the Earl of Lonsdale and the Earl 

 of Shrewsbury, the reputed best whips of the day, 

 were matched for a hundred pounds a-side to drive 

 twenty miles, the order of running being heats of 

 five miles for a single horse, a pair, a team, and a 

 postilion pair. When Lord Shrewsbury scratched, 

 then Lord Lonsdale, sooner than abandon the match, 

 which had attracted enormous attention, decided 

 to drive against time. The first five miles behind 

 War-paint, an ex-steeplechase horse harnessed to 



