WASHINGTON IRVING AND AN ENGLISH COACH. 305 commissions to execute. Sometimes he delivers a hare or pheasant, sometimes jerks a small parcel or newspaper to the door of a public-house; and sometimes, with knowing leer and words of sly import, hands to some half-blushing, half-laughing housemaid an oddshaped billet-doux from some rustic admirer. As the coach rattles through the village, every one runs to the window, and you have glances on every side of fresh country faces, and blooming, giggling girls. At the corners are assembled groups of village idlers and wise men, who take their stations there for the important purpose of seeing company pass; but the sagest knot is generally at the blacksmith's, to whom the passing of the coach is an event fruitful of speculation. The smith, with the horse's heel in his lap, pauses as the vehicle whirls by, the Cyclops round the anvil suspend their ringing hammers, and suffer the iron to grow cool; and the sooty spectre in brown-paper cap labouring at the bellows, leans on the handle for a moment, and permits the asthmatic engine to heave a long-drawn sigh, while he glares through the murky smoke and sulphurous gleams of the smithy. "Perhaps the impending holiday might have given a more than usual animation to the country, for it seemed to me as if everybody was in good looks and good. spirits. Game, poultry, and other luxuries of the table were in brisk circulation in the villages; the grocers', butchers', and fruiterers' shops were thronged with customers. The housewives were stirring briskly about, putting their dwellings in order; and the glossy branches of holly, with their bright-red berries, began to appear at the windows. "In the evening we reached a village where I had determined to pass the night. As we drove into the great gateway of the inn, I saw on one side the light of a rousing kitchen fire beaming through a window. I entered, and admired for the hundredth time that picture of old-fashioned comfort and convenience, the kitchen of an English inn. The scene completely realised Poor Robin's' humble idea of the comforts of mid-winter: Now trees their leafy hats do bare Are things this season doth require." But, speaking of coaches, a writer says that "the conveyance which has most interest for us in the annals of English history is that which spread the news of Nelson's victories and Wellington's winning strife-the old mail-coach. Its knell began to toll in 1837, and the final strokes were nearly rung in 1853." We have said elsewhere that gentlemen took a great interest in coaching, but this was not until the pace improved; then a different order of men were attracted by the art of driving four horses. Our cousins across the Atlantic are nearly as keen as ourselves in the art of handling the ribbons. On the 26th of May, 1882, eleven coaches belonging to the New York Coaching Club paraded the Fifth Avenue. This club numbers now twenty-one members, with seventeen drags. What we really want, says a writer, speaking of English amateur coachmen, is a race of young men who, having thoroughly mastered the technical details. * "Poor Robin's Almanack," 1684. VIRGIL ON DRIVING. 307 of driving, shall recognise that too great familiarity with professional guards and coachmen need not form a part of the curriculum. It is quite possible to arrive at the dignity of being a perfect whip without abating one jot of one's character as a gentleman. Those people who believe in nothing but railways and in no coachman except he wear a livery and receive wages, should not be allowed any cause for sneering at those who, with money to spend and disposition and health to enjoy, delight in tooling four well-bred ones over the macadam. The first man to drive four horses, according to Virgil, was Erichthonius, for he remarks: "Primus. Erichthonius currus et quatuor ausus jungerë equos." -Geor. III. 113. Provided that the world continues to exist, notwithstanding the numerous other modes of progression, I am convinced that it will be a very long while yet ere the last coachman will take his seat on the bench of a four-horse coach, or, manipulating his ribbons in a workmanlike style, throws his lash persuasively across the quarters of his near leader, since the love of driving is so strongly implanted in the breast of Englishmen. When this comes to pass, we may then expect to see a New Zealand aboriginal sitting upon Waterloo Bridge in all his war-paint, and viewing, with undisturbed countenance, the oft-foretold destruction of the City of London. CHAPTER VIII. AMATEUR COACHING. Coach-building and harness-making trades-Coaches versus coverthacks-Do foxes like being hunted?-Light coaches-Holland and Holland-All should take their share of work-Amateur coachmen - Mad Mytton - The Four-in-Hand Club - Mr. Morritt, of Rokeby-The Coaching Club-A professional opinion-Randolph Caldecott-Time-bills-Winter coachesThe "Defiance" coach-The Brighton coach-A sale of coachhorses The "Perseverance" The "Old Times " - The "Nonpareil "-The "New Times"-The "Defiance "-The "Wonder"-The Brighton coach-Coaching a luxury. I INCLUDE under the head of amateur coaching all coaching which is not strictly carried on for the purpose of pecuniary profit. Under this heading I denominate coaches placed upon the road for the purpose of reviving, in some measure, the habits of the old coaching days; insomuch as long journeys are undertaken daily by these coaches, seats are booked and paid for, parcels frequently conveyed; whilst the horses. are changed at stated intervals, in exactly the same manner as in the days when coaching was a necessity; and yet it is not for the sake of profit, but for pleasure, since no profit can be made sufficient to cover the outgoing expenses. There is another phase of coaching which I include under the heading of amateur coaching, and this is, the driving of a private coach by gentlemen for the |