FOOTNOTES:

Modern Coaching: In the Show Ring (sketch)

Modern Coaching: In the Show RingPainting by G. D. Armour.

Modern Coaching: In the Show Ring (painting)

Nor are modern horse-keepers less ‘nimble fingered’ than those of whom Nimrod wrote. At the International Horse Show of 1908 Miss Brocklebank's grooms won the Hon. Adam Beck's prize for ‘Best coach and appointments and quickest change of teams’: the change was accomplished in forty-eight seconds. During James Selby's Brighton drive horses were changed at Streatham in forty-seven seconds.The road coachmen of the present day do not aim at lightning changes of team: the work is done in leisurely fashion, and passengers enjoy the opportunity afforded them to get down for a few minutes.

The Four-in-Hand Club, founded in 1856, for many years used to meet in the Park at quarter to five in the afternoon, but the hour was changed to half-past twelve in order to avoid the inconvenience inseparable from meeting at the time when carriages are most numerous.

The Coaching Club was founded in 1870, and held its first meet at the Marble Arch in June the following year.

SONG OF THEB.D.C.[13]

You ask me, Gents, to sing a song,Don't think me too encroaching.I won't detain you very long,With one of mine on coaching.No rivalry we have to fear,Nor jealous need we be, Sir,We all are friends who muster here,And in theB.D.C.Sir.Horace declares the Greeks of oldWere once a driving nation;But Shakespeare says ‘The World's a stage’—A cutish observation.The stage he meant, good easy man,Was drawn by nine old Muses;But the Mews for me is theB.D.C.,And that's the stage I chooses.I call this age the Iron AgeOf railways and pretension.And coaching now is in a stageOf horrible declension,The day's gone by when on the flyWe roll'd to Alma Mater,And jovial took the reins in handOf the Times or Regulator.Those were the days when Peyton's graysTo Bedfont led the way, Sir,And Villebois followed with his baysIn beautiful array, Sir.Then Spicer, too, came next in viewTo join the gay procession.Oh! the dust we made—the cavalcadeWas neat beyond expression.No turnpike saw a fancy teamMore neat than Dolphin sported,When o'er the stones with Charley Jones,To Bedfont they resorted.Few graced the box so much as Cox;But there were none, I ween, Sir,Who hold the reins 'twixt here and StainesMore slap up than the Dean, Sir.Those are the men who foremost thenTo coaching gave a tone, Sir,And hold they will to coaching still,Tho' here they stand alone, Sir—Then drink to the coach, theB.D.C.,Sir Henry and his team, Sir,And may all beblowedright off the roadWho wish to go by steam, Sir.

Horace declares the Greeks of oldWere once a driving nation;But Shakespeare says ‘The World's a stage’—A cutish observation.The stage he meant, good easy man,Was drawn by nine old Muses;But the Mews for me is theB.D.C.,And that's the stage I chooses.

I call this age the Iron AgeOf railways and pretension.And coaching now is in a stageOf horrible declension,The day's gone by when on the flyWe roll'd to Alma Mater,And jovial took the reins in handOf the Times or Regulator.

Those were the days when Peyton's graysTo Bedfont led the way, Sir,And Villebois followed with his baysIn beautiful array, Sir.Then Spicer, too, came next in viewTo join the gay procession.Oh! the dust we made—the cavalcadeWas neat beyond expression.

No turnpike saw a fancy teamMore neat than Dolphin sported,When o'er the stones with Charley Jones,To Bedfont they resorted.Few graced the box so much as Cox;But there were none, I ween, Sir,Who hold the reins 'twixt here and StainesMore slap up than the Dean, Sir.

Those are the men who foremost thenTo coaching gave a tone, Sir,And hold they will to coaching still,Tho' here they stand alone, Sir—Then drink to the coach, theB.D.C.,Sir Henry and his team, Sir,And may all beblowedright off the roadWho wish to go by steam, Sir.

FOOTNOTES:[1]Robert Poynter drove the Lewes stage for thirty years without an accident.[2]30 Geo. III., c. 36.[3]The old gentleman's conjecture was not far wrong. At this time, 1835, it is true fewer men of good birth occupied the box than had been the case a few years before—if we rightly interpret Nimrod's own remarks on the point. When the box had been set on springs or made an integral part of the coach-body, when the roads had been made worthy of the name and fast work the rule, coach-driving became popular among men of social position. Some drove for pleasure, horsing the coaches themselves, others took up driving as a profession and made good incomes thereby. These gentlemen coachmen did much to raise the standard of conduct among the professionals of humble origin. Lord AlgernonSt.Maur (Driving, Badminton Library) says that Mr. Stevenson, who was driving the Brighton Age in 1830, was ‘the great reformer who set a good example as regards punctuality, neatness, and sobriety.’[4]Until Macadam was adopted the streets in London were cobbled or paved.[5]John Loudon Macadam was a Scotsman by birth. In 1770, when fourteen years old, he was sent to the care of an uncle in New York, whence he did not return till he was twenty-six years of age; hence the mistake in describing him as ‘an American.’[6]It was not unusual for retired race-horses to end their days ‘on the road.’ A notable instance is that of Mendoza by Javelin. Mendoza won eight races at Newmarket in his three seasons on the turf, 1791-2-3; then the Duke of Leeds bought him as a hunter; and after a few seasons with hounds he made one of a team in the Catterick and Greta Bridge mail-coach. Mendoza was still at work in 1807, but had become blind.[7]The early coaches were equipped with a huge basket slung over the hind axle wherein passengers were carried at lower fares.[8]Only the mail-coach guard carried a horn; stage-coach guards used the key-bugle, and some were very clever performers on it.[9]50 Geo. III., c. 48came into operation in 1810. This enacted that on a four-horse coach baggage might be piled to a height of 2 feet. To encourage low-hung coaches this law allowed baggage to be piled to a height of 10 ft. 9 in.from the ground.[10]The conveyance of ‘trunks, parcels, and other packages’ on the roof of a mail-coach was prohibited in the Postmaster-General's circular to mail contractors of 29th June, 1807. As the mails increased it became impossible to enforce this regulation, and the bags were carried wherever they could be stowed. ‘The Druid’ says of the Edinburgh mail-coach: ‘The heaviest night as regards correspondence was when the American mail had come in. On those occasions the bags have been known to weigh above 16 cwt. They were contained in sacks seven feet long and were laid in three tiers across the top, so high that no guard unless he were a Chang in stature could look over them ... and the waist (the seat behind the coachman) and the hind boot were filled as well.’[11]It must be remembered that the old gentlemanspeaksby the light of his knowledge of nearly a century earlier, when highwayrobberywas very common, and it was not usual for coaches to run at night. At the period to which Nimrod refers highwaymen had not entirely disappeared from the roads (William Rea was hanged for this offence, 4th July, 1828), and not every stage-coach carried a guard. Mail-coaches, all of which carried guards, were, of course, unknown to Nimrod's old gentleman.[12]This refers to the ‘mail-coach parade,’ which was first held in 1799 and for the last time in 1835. The coaches, to the number of about twenty-five, were either new or newly painted with the Royal Arms on the door, the stars of each of the four Orders of Knighthood on the upper panel, and the name of the town whither the coach ran on the small panel over each door. Coachmen and guards wore new uniforms and gentlemen used to lend their best teams—often also their coachmen, as appears from the passage quoted. A horseman rode behind each coach to make the procession longer. The ‘meet’ took place in Lincoln's Inn Fields and the coaches drove toSt.James's, there turning to come back to the General Post Office, then in Lombard Street.[13]Benson Driving Club.

[1]Robert Poynter drove the Lewes stage for thirty years without an accident.

[2]30 Geo. III., c. 36.

[3]The old gentleman's conjecture was not far wrong. At this time, 1835, it is true fewer men of good birth occupied the box than had been the case a few years before—if we rightly interpret Nimrod's own remarks on the point. When the box had been set on springs or made an integral part of the coach-body, when the roads had been made worthy of the name and fast work the rule, coach-driving became popular among men of social position. Some drove for pleasure, horsing the coaches themselves, others took up driving as a profession and made good incomes thereby. These gentlemen coachmen did much to raise the standard of conduct among the professionals of humble origin. Lord AlgernonSt.Maur (Driving, Badminton Library) says that Mr. Stevenson, who was driving the Brighton Age in 1830, was ‘the great reformer who set a good example as regards punctuality, neatness, and sobriety.’

[4]Until Macadam was adopted the streets in London were cobbled or paved.

[5]John Loudon Macadam was a Scotsman by birth. In 1770, when fourteen years old, he was sent to the care of an uncle in New York, whence he did not return till he was twenty-six years of age; hence the mistake in describing him as ‘an American.’

[6]It was not unusual for retired race-horses to end their days ‘on the road.’ A notable instance is that of Mendoza by Javelin. Mendoza won eight races at Newmarket in his three seasons on the turf, 1791-2-3; then the Duke of Leeds bought him as a hunter; and after a few seasons with hounds he made one of a team in the Catterick and Greta Bridge mail-coach. Mendoza was still at work in 1807, but had become blind.

[7]The early coaches were equipped with a huge basket slung over the hind axle wherein passengers were carried at lower fares.

[8]Only the mail-coach guard carried a horn; stage-coach guards used the key-bugle, and some were very clever performers on it.

[9]50 Geo. III., c. 48came into operation in 1810. This enacted that on a four-horse coach baggage might be piled to a height of 2 feet. To encourage low-hung coaches this law allowed baggage to be piled to a height of 10 ft. 9 in.from the ground.

[10]The conveyance of ‘trunks, parcels, and other packages’ on the roof of a mail-coach was prohibited in the Postmaster-General's circular to mail contractors of 29th June, 1807. As the mails increased it became impossible to enforce this regulation, and the bags were carried wherever they could be stowed. ‘The Druid’ says of the Edinburgh mail-coach: ‘The heaviest night as regards correspondence was when the American mail had come in. On those occasions the bags have been known to weigh above 16 cwt. They were contained in sacks seven feet long and were laid in three tiers across the top, so high that no guard unless he were a Chang in stature could look over them ... and the waist (the seat behind the coachman) and the hind boot were filled as well.’

[11]It must be remembered that the old gentlemanspeaksby the light of his knowledge of nearly a century earlier, when highwayrobberywas very common, and it was not usual for coaches to run at night. At the period to which Nimrod refers highwaymen had not entirely disappeared from the roads (William Rea was hanged for this offence, 4th July, 1828), and not every stage-coach carried a guard. Mail-coaches, all of which carried guards, were, of course, unknown to Nimrod's old gentleman.

[12]This refers to the ‘mail-coach parade,’ which was first held in 1799 and for the last time in 1835. The coaches, to the number of about twenty-five, were either new or newly painted with the Royal Arms on the door, the stars of each of the four Orders of Knighthood on the upper panel, and the name of the town whither the coach ran on the small panel over each door. Coachmen and guards wore new uniforms and gentlemen used to lend their best teams—often also their coachmen, as appears from the passage quoted. A horseman rode behind each coach to make the procession longer. The ‘meet’ took place in Lincoln's Inn Fields and the coaches drove toSt.James's, there turning to come back to the General Post Office, then in Lombard Street.

[13]Benson Driving Club.

Tandem (sketch)

TandemPainting by G. D. Armour.

Tandem (painting)

It is said, but I must confess failure to trace authority for the statement, that tandem driving was invented as a convenient and sporting method of taking the hunter to the meet. History has not handed down to fame the name of the man who first hit upon the idea of driving tandem; it was in vogue over a century ago, and at Cambridge ranked as a grave offence: witness the following edict dated 10th March 1807:—

‘We, the Vice-Chancellor and Heads of Colleges, do hereby order and decree that if any person or personsin statu pupillarishall be found driving any tandem and shall be duly convicted thereof before the Vice-Chancellor, such person or persons so offending shall for the first offence be suspended from taking his degree for one whole year, or be rusticated, according to the circumstances of the case; and for the second offence be liable to such further punishment as it may appear to deserve, or be expelled the university.’

Extravagantly high gigs were much in favour among the ‘bloods’ of the day, and these wereoften used for tandem driving, a purpose for which they were by no means unsuitable, always provided the road was fairly level.

As a matter of course, when tandems became numerous and drivers clever in handling them, races against time came into fashion. Matches on the road, whether trotting in saddle or driving, were usually ‘against time’ for obvious reasons. On April 14th 1819 the famous whip, Mr. Buxton, backed himself to drive tandem without letting his horses break their trot, from Hounslow to Hare Hatch, distance twenty-four miles, in two hours. His horses, however, were not well matched, and ‘broke’ before they had gone six miles. As breaking involved the penalty of turning the equipage round and starting afresh, and breaks were frequent, Mr. Buxton occupied over an hour in going ten miles and gave up, forfeiting the hundred guineas he had staked on the task.

On 19th May 1824 a match was thus recorded in theSporting Magazine:—

‘Captain Swann undertook a tandem match from Ilford, seven miles over a part of Epping Forest. He engaged to drive 12 miles at a trot and toback his wheels if he broke into a gallop. This happened only once in the seventh mile, which he nevertheless completed in 33 minutes. On his return the pacing of the horses was a picture. The match was won fairly with two minutes and six seconds to spare.’

A Mr. Houlston in the same year drove his tandem twelve miles on the Winchester Road in one minute thirty-nine seconds under the hour allowed. By this time tandem drivers had come to the reasonable conclusion that the turning penalty (proper enough in trotting matches, whether in shafts or saddle) was excessive for their sport, and ‘backing’ had been substituted therefor. Any one who has had occasion to turn a tandem on the road without assistance will admit that the abolition was wise.

Long journeys against time were sometimes undertaken. In 1824

‘Captain Bethel Ramsden undertook to drive tandem from Theale to London, 43 miles, in 3 hours and 40 minutes. The start took place at four o'clock in the morning, and in the first hour the captain did 12½ miles to between Twyford and Hare Hatch. He did in the next hour 12 milesand upwards, and got the horses' mouths cleaned at Slough. He had 5½ miles to do in the last forty minutes, and performed it easily with eleven minutes to spare.’

The cult of the trotting horse stood high in those days when so much travelling was done in the saddle: there are innumerable records of trotters doing their fifteen and sixteen miles on the road within the hour, sometimes under very heavy weights. Mr. Charles Herbert's horse, in 1791, trotted 17 miles in 58 minutes 40 seconds on the Highgate Road, starting fromSt.Giles' Church. The road is by no means a level one, and the only advantage the horse had was the hour selected—between six and seven in the morning, when the traffic was not heavy.

A famous whip of the 'thirties was Mr. Burke of Hereford—he was also an amateur pugilist of renown, but that does not concern us here. In June 1839 he made his thirty-fifth trotting match, whereby he undertook to drive tandem forty-five miles in three hours. The course was from the Staines end of Sinebury Common to the fifth milestone towards Hampton: he did it with four and a half minutesto spare. The horses used in this match were both extraordinary trotters: the wheeler, Tommy, had covered 20 miles in 1 hour 18 minutes two months earlier, and the leader, Gustavus, twenty-four years old, had done his 20 miles in 1 hour 14 minutes.

Though not a tandem performance in the strict sense of the term, Mr. Thanes' feat on 12th July 1819 is worth mention. He undertook 'to drive three horses in a gig, tandem fashion, eleven miles within the hour on the trot, and to turn if either horse broke.' Fortunately none of the three did break, and he did the eleven miles, on the road near Maidenhead, with three minutes to spare.

Tandem driving seems to have gone out of fashion to a certain extent about 1840, though some young men ‘still delighted in it.’ The re-establishment of the Tandem Club, soon after the close of the Crimean War, marked a revival which made itself felt at Cambridge; for on 22nd February 1866 the Senate passed another edict, this time forbidding livery-stable keepers to let out on hire tandems or four-in-hands to undergraduates. This was confirmed in 1870.

Transcriber's NoteThe illustrations which were plates in the book have been moved near to the text they illustrate.Footnotes in the Coaching chapter have been moved to the end of the chapter.This book contains inconsistent hyphenations. No spellings have been changed, but apparent printers' errors have been corrected.Changes that have been made are:Footnote 11“s peks” changed to “speaks”,Footnote 11“robaery” changed to “robbery”,Page 33Quotation mark added to start of “and take care of yourselves”.

The illustrations which were plates in the book have been moved near to the text they illustrate.

Footnotes in the Coaching chapter have been moved to the end of the chapter.

This book contains inconsistent hyphenations. No spellings have been changed, but apparent printers' errors have been corrected.

Changes that have been made are:

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