294 THROUGH STABLE AND SADDLE-ROOM. 



avoid any possibility of being laughed at or thought 

 vulgar. 



If your means and establishment, generally, 

 warrant it, special livery may and should be worn, 

 otherwise a plain black or dark-blue coat is the most 

 suitable, and without facings or fancy collars of any 

 kind. For the country or on any but a full dress 

 occasion, what can possibly look worse than servants 

 with gold lace on their hats ? It bespeaks either 

 ignorance or vulgarity, or both. Nothing further 

 should be worn than a plain black hat with a cockade, 

 if the owner is entitled to wear it by reason of actual 

 military or naval rank, or civil official position, and in 

 these cases only. Why try to ape a rank which you 

 have no right to ? I have before me now the 

 spectacle presented by the servants of a nouveau 

 riche in a certain county, dressed up in all the 

 magnificence of drab coats, magenta facings, and 

 silver lace wherever lace can be put ; and this is 

 sported on all occasions. 



Very frequently a gold-lace band, too often 

 adorning a hat fit only for a scarecrow, is but the 

 crowning glory to an ill-fitting and badly cleaned 

 pair of breeches and gaiters, and the harness, horses, 

 and whole turn-out generally are of a similar descrip- 

 tion. A carriage servant, i.e., a coachman, should 

 always be dressed in breeches and top-boots, and 



