MR. MORRITT, OF ROKEBY. 331 



with all the smartest people in London, and Brighton 

 and Lewes races were then most fashionably attended. 

 The Race-course was crowded with handsome carriages ; 

 the Prince of Wales' German waggon (for so barouches 

 were called in those days) was drawn by six bay 

 horses ; w^hen it arrived at the race-course it took up 

 its station close to the grand stand, where it remained 

 the centre of attraction during the day. Sidney says 

 that, " for a time a solitary representative of the 

 coaching interest was a rough-looking man driving 

 every day through the suburbs* in all weathers ; he 

 drove four useful, rough-looking gray horses, harnessed 

 to what had the appearance of a mail-coach, except 

 that there w^ere no names or coat-of-arms on the 

 panels. The omnibus drivers, who were then for 

 the most part broken-down knights of the road, of 

 amazing four-horse fame, declared that this man was 

 bound, under penalties In his father's will, to drive 

 four horses a certain number of miles every day." 



It was in 1856 that the late Mr. Morritt, of Rokeby, 

 succeeded In getting together thirty good men and 

 true, who had a passion for driving, and established 

 the Four-in-Hand Driving Club, of which he became 

 the president ; each member was entitled to wear a 

 brown coat bearing the club buttons. Since then a 

 furious revival has taken place, and the services of 

 the professional survivors of the coaching era have 

 been in constant demand. But the Four-in-Hand 

 Club was, after a time, found to be too exclusive 

 for the increasing taste for the road; and In 1870, 

 Mr. Goddard and a few other gentlemen established 

 the Coaching Club, which, on Its very first appearance 

 in Hyde Park, turned out twenty-two drags, and in 



* Of London. 



