402 THE COACHING AGE. 



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however, he expressed himself dissatisfied, thinking 

 no doubt the young gentleman was so unused to 

 travelling that, by a little pressure, he would be 

 induced to give more rather than appear mean. I 

 am happy to say this is the only instance I have 

 ever heard of such disgraceful conduct. Many men 

 were very independent, and considered themselves 

 great swells, but such was far from being the ' cha- 

 racter of the general body of coachmen or guards ; 

 and speaking from a somewhat extensive knowledge 

 of them, I have never personally met with any 

 unpleasantness or want of courtesy and civility. 



So confident were they, up to shortly within the 

 time when the coaches began to be put on the 

 railway-trucks out of London, that nothing could 

 ever supersede road-travelling, that they failed to 

 make any provision for a rainy day ; and when their 

 coaches stopped, they hung about the old coaching- 

 inns doing nothing, some from want of qualifications, 

 others from an unwillingness to accept positions they 

 considered derogatory. Some of these men, being 

 unable to get employment, dwindled down into a 

 most deplorable condition, as happened with John 

 Peer, a noted coachman and first-rate hand on the 

 London and Southampton ' Telegraph.' He got down 

 to driving a 'bus, and ultimately into a workhouse 

 in London, when his case being made public in a 



