WASHINGTON IRVING AND AN ENGLISH COACH. 303 



business, but he is particularly so during this season, 

 having so many commissions to execute in conse- 

 quence of the great interchange of presents. And 

 here, perhaps, it may not be unacceptable to my un- 

 travelled readers to have a sketch that may serve as 

 a general representation of this very numerous and 

 important class of functionaries, who have a dress, a 

 manner, a language, an air, peculiar to themselves, 

 and prevalent throughout the fraternity ; so that 

 wherever an English stage-coachman may be seen, 

 he cannot be mistaken for one of any other craft. 

 He has commonly a broad, full face, curiously mottled 

 with red, as if the blood had been forced by hard 

 feeding into every vessel of the skin ; he is swelled 

 into jolly dimensions by frequent potations of malt 

 liquors, and his bulk is still further increased by a 

 multiplicity of coats in which he is buried like a cauli- 

 flower, the upper one reaching to his heels. He 

 wears a broad-brimmed, low-crowned hat, a huge roll 

 of coloured handkerchief about his neck, knowingly 

 knotted and tucked in at the bosom, and has in 

 summer-time a large bouquet of flowers in his button- 

 hole — the present, most probably, of some enamoured 

 country lass. His waistcoat is commonly of some 

 bright colour, striped ; and his small-clothes extend 

 far below the knees to meet a pair of jockey-boots 

 which reach about halfway up his legs. 



" All this costume is maintained with much preci- 

 sion ; he has a pride in having his clothes of^ excellent 

 materials, and, notwithstanding the seeming grossness 

 of his appearance, there is still discernible that neat- 

 ness and propriety of person which is almost inherent 

 in an Englishman. He enjoys great confidence and 

 consideration along the road ; has frequent conferences 



