[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 Algernon St. 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. 48 came 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 gentleman speaks by the light
of his knowledge of nearly a century earlier, when highway robbery was
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 to St. James's, there turning to come back
to the General Post Office, then in Lombard Street.
[13] Benson Driving Club.