COACHING 



his double thong or his " apprentice," and the point of his 

 lash told terribly upon his leaders. He Ukewise applied it 

 scientifically ; it was directed iinder the bar to the flank, and 

 after the third hit he brought it up to his hand by the draw, 

 so that it never got entangled in the pole-chains, or in any 

 part of the harness. He could untie a knot -with his teeth and 

 tie another with his tongue, as well as he could with his hands ; 

 and if his thong broke off in the middle, he could splice it with 

 dexterity and even with neatness as his coach was proceeding 

 on its journey. In short, he could do what coachmen of the 

 present day cannot do, because they have not been called upon 

 to do it ; and he like^vise could do what they never try to do^ 

 namely, he could drive when he was drunk nearly as well as 

 when he was sober. He was very frequently a faithful servant 

 to his employers ; considered trustworthy by bankers and 

 others in the country through which he passed ; and as hmnane 

 to his horses, perhaps, as the adverse circumstances he was 

 placed in by his masters would admit.' 



Time has dealt kindly wdth the reputation of the old stage 

 coachman, and popular tradition holds him, as Nimrod 

 portrayed him, a whip of unrivalled skill. That there were 

 such men is perfectly true ; ^ but not every stage coachman was 

 an expert : not all were skilful or even careful, and not all were 

 ci\il : and if, as Nimrod says, they could drive as well when 

 drunk as when sober, the cold light of contemporary record 

 shows that there was ample room for improvement. Take 

 the following : — On the 18th May 1808 the coachman of the 

 Portsmouth coach to London was intoxicated, and " when he 

 came to the foot of the hill on Wimbledon Common, instead 

 of keeping straight on, turned to left, and found himself in 

 Putney Lane, where, turning the corner of Mr. Kensington's 

 wall in order to get again into the road at Wandsworth, the 

 coach was overturned." He appears to have driven on to the 

 bank by the roadside. The ten outside passengers were all 

 more or less hurt, one dpng from her injuries, and the coach- 



' Robert Poynter drove the Lewes stage for thirty years without an accident. 



125 



