SOME MEMORABLE MATCHES 339 



back in 7 hours 50 minutes the four-horse coach 

 ' Old Times,' for a wager of ^1,000 to ^500 that 

 it could not be done under 8 hours. Stoppages 

 to change, of which there were sixteen, and only 

 one exceeded i minute, were included. 



A.D. 1891 : Lord Lonsdale drove 20 miles in 

 56 minutes 55* seconds. 



A.D. 1891 : About January 25, Prince Benjamin 

 de Rohan, for a bet of 25 louis (a French 

 ' pony '), drove a four-horse coach, improvised out 

 of one of the hackney carriages and two pairs of 

 the hackney-carriage horses that ply at Monte 

 Carlo, up and down the flight of steps leading 

 from the port of Monaco to the gardens of the 

 palace, a stipulation being that the Prince should 

 have no assistance. The steps, composed of 

 slabs of stone, with a drop of about 4 inches, are 

 carried up the side of the rock upon which 

 Monaco stands, and there are two bends at right 

 angles over a high precipice. The wager was 

 brought off at three a.m. by the light of the 

 carriage-lamps, and ' as at one or two points 

 on the road the slabs were very slippery, the 

 Prince threw down rugs in front of the horses to 

 give them a better foothold.' The carriage, of 



