304 HIGHWAYS AND HORSES. 



with the village housewives, who look upon him as a 

 man of great trust and dependence ; and he seems to 

 have a good understanding with every bright-eyed 

 country lass. The moment he arrives where the 

 horses are to be changed, he throws down the reins 

 with something of an air, and abandons the cattle to 

 the care of the ostler ; his duty being merely to drive 

 from one stage to another. When off the box, his 

 hands are thrust into the pockets of his great-coat, 

 and he rolls about the inn-yard with an air of the 

 most absolute lordliness. Here he is generally sur- 

 rounded by an admiring throng of ostlers, stable-boys, 

 shoeblacks, and those nameless hangers-on that infest 

 inns and taverns, and run errands, and do all kinds 

 of odd jobs for the privilege of battening on the 

 drippings of the kitchen and the leaking of the 

 tap-room. These all look up to him as an oracle, 

 treasure up his cant phrases, echo his opinions 

 about horses and other topics of jockey lore, and, 

 above all, endeavour to imitate his air and carriage. 

 Every ragamuffin that has a coat to his back, 

 thrusts his hands in the pockets, rolls in his gait, 

 talks slang, and is an embryo coachey. 



" Perhaps it might be owing to the pleasing serenity 

 that reigned in my own mind, that I fancied I saw 

 cheerfulness in every countenance throughout the 

 journey. A stage-coach, however, carries animation 

 always with it, and puts the world in motion as it 

 whirls along. The horn, sounded at the entrance of a 

 village, produces a general bustle. Some hasten forth 

 to meet friends, some w^ith bundles and band-boxes to 

 secure places, and in the hurry of the moment can 

 hardly take leave of the group that accompanies them. 

 In the meantime the coachman has a world of small 



