^Nimrod'' 



nephew to the then proprietor of the White Horse, Fetter 

 Lane, London, but now of the Royal Hotel, Calais ? What 

 would the Devonshire road have been, but for the late Sir 

 Charles Bamfylde, Sir John Rogers, Colonel Prouse, Sir 

 Lawrence Palk, and others ? Have the advice and the 

 practice of such experienced men as Mr. Charles Buxton, 

 Mr. Henry Villebois, Mr. Okeover, Sir Bellingham Graham, 

 Mr. John Walker, Lord Sefton, Sir Felix Agar,^ Mr. Ackers, 

 Mr. Maxse, Hon. Fitzroy Stanhope, Colonel Spicer, Colonel 

 Sibthorpe, cum miiltis aliis, been thrown away upon persons 

 who have looked up to them as protectors } Certainly not : 

 neither would the improvement in carriages — stage-coaches 

 more especially — have arrived at its present height, but for 

 the attention and suggestions of such persons as we have 

 been speaking of. 



Gentlemen-coaching, however, has, as we said, received 

 a check ; and in more ways than one. ' Tampering with the 

 currency,' and low prices, have taken off the leaders ; and 

 the bars and four-horse whips are hung up for the present — 

 very few four-in-hands being visible.^ The ' B.D.C.,' or 

 Benson Driving Club, which still holds its rendezvous at 

 the ' Black Dog,' Bedfont, is the only survivor of those 



1 Perhaps one of the finest specimens of good coachmanship was per- 

 formed by Sir FeUx Agar. He made a bet, which he won, that he would 

 ^rive his own four-horses-in-hand up Grosvenor Place, down the passage, 

 into Tattersalls' Yard, around the pillar, which stands in the centre of it, 

 and back again into Grosvenor Place, without either of his horses going in a 

 slower pace than a trot. 



2 Only ten years back, there were from thirty to forty four-in-hand equi- 

 pages to be seen constantly about town : — one is stared at now ! 



