COACHMEN 107 



Will, as he was called, who drove the " Cambridofe 

 Telegraph," drily averred, as a fact, that when my 

 father's predecessor in the London establishment first 

 started the Lynn coach, he took a man out of Newgate 

 (the debtors' side) to drive it, and before he had been on 

 it six months he asked the Cambridge proprietor if he 

 had any objection to go halves Avith him in a pipe of 

 port wine, as a whole pipe was more than he well 

 knew what to do with — leaving me to draw the in- 

 ference. 



From all this I was to gather that my situation 

 would be a lucrative one ; but the result soon falsified 

 all their pleasing predictions. In the first place, my 

 drag; was not known as a Cambridge coach — or if 

 known, known only to be avoided, for reasons I have 

 before stated ; therefore, if a gownsman did travel with 

 us it was by accident or necessity, not from choice. 

 And, again, it was apparent that here, as at Oxford, 

 the lowest description of professionals was most in 

 favour with undergraduates — though I Avas pleased to 

 find that among them there was not so distinguished 

 a character as Monops, or the friend whose antecedents 

 I have touched upon in the last chapter. 



Indeed they were all, with one or two palpable 

 exceptions, men of character and conduct, highly re- 

 spected in their profession — a profession, it should be 

 remembered, to whom the community were at that 

 time much indebted, when the responsibility of having 

 so many of His Majesty's lieges daily committed to 

 their care is considered — and the estimation they were 

 held in by many of the leading members of society was 



