POSTILLIONS. 225 



without being made to support the additional burden of 

 a man's weight. Another thing against mounting a pos- 

 tilHon on a wheel-horse is this : although the horse he 

 rides may be held fairly well, and an equal tension be 

 made to bear on either rein, yet, in the case of the 

 horse he is leading, it is very different ; the animal's 

 head is pulled aside continuously, which prevents his 

 seeing where he is going and renders his progress a 

 matter of some danger. At the present day, postillions 

 are used very rarely ; post-boys not at all, since the 

 system of posting has entirely ceased throughout the 

 United Kingdom. Postillions are employed to ride 

 horses attached to carriages when going to race meet- 

 ings, and occasionally at weddings, but there is no 

 advantage in it, and it is merely done for the sake of 

 display. 



The Queen is very fond of employing postillions, 

 and, in her case, there is this advantage : as she takes 

 long country drives, a coachman and footman on the 

 box-seat would obstruct the view; besides which, it 

 would be out of character were four horses driven in a 

 landau, and were there only two it would not be an 

 arrangement appropriate or befitting the style in which 

 the Oueen of Eng^land should be seen drivino- on the 

 public roads. 



In the coaching days posting was of equal import- 

 ance with the more public modes of travelling. A 

 prince of the blood royal, or a duke, bound on a 

 journey, would post with four horses, so would all 

 ladies of rank, if they could afford to do so ; the lady's- 

 maid and footman sitting in the rumble. On these 

 occasions they used their own carriages ; but if they 

 j)OSsessed none of their own, they could ahvays hire. 

 People who posted were apt to think themselves far 



Q 



