THE SCRATCH TEAM. 335 



him from having any further transactions with mem- 

 bers of the Green family. 



Had railways been in existence in those days pro- 

 bably the Eev. Very Green would have travelled about 

 a little more, and become better acquainted with the 

 world and its ways ; but his journey up to London 

 by coach was, I believe, the last he performed. At 

 all events, he never had such an expensive one 

 again. 



As there is not much connected with coaching in 

 the preceding narrative, perhaps it comes in appro- 

 priately in a scratch team. The next is a strictly 

 coaching one, being a short biographical sketch of 

 a man who was somewhat notorious in coaching- 

 days. 



The following account of him was given me by a 

 man connected with coaching who knew hirn well, 

 and on the accuracy of whose information I can 

 rely: 



Frederick Benson, at one time better known as 

 ' Benson Tagg,' was a good singer and capital 

 ventriloquist, and was engaged in that capacity 

 at the Eagle Tavern, in the City Road, kept by a 

 man named Eouse, from whom was derived the ex- 

 pression common about London at that time of 

 ' Bravo, Eouse I' Probably when he got the engage- 

 ment at the Eagle, Benson assumed the name of Tagg 



