Coaching, with Anecdotes of the RoadLennox, William Pitt, Lord
History
Coaching, with Anecdotes of the Road
Lennox, William Pitt, Lord
Coaching (Transportation)
Mr. Villebois's barouche-landau, four bays.
Mr. Whitmore's barouche-landau, four bays.
Mr. O'Conver's barouche-landau, four bays.
Mr. Pierrepoint's barouche-landau, four bays.
Sir Thomas Mostyn's barouche-landau, four bays.
Lord Foley's barouche-landau, four bays.
Mr. J. Warde's barouche-landau, four bays.
"After dining at Bedford," so writes a chronicler of that day, "they
dashed home in a style of speed and splendour equal to the spirit and
judgment displayed by the noble, honourable, and respective drivers."
Another club, called the "Whip Club," in rivalship with the above,
met once a month in Park Lane, and proceeded thence to dine at
Harrow-on-the-Hill. There were fifteen barouche-landaus, with four
horses; Lord Hawke, the Honourable Lincoln Stanhope, and Mr. Buxton
were among the leaders. Lincoln Stanhope was one of the most popular
men of the day. He was never known to say an unkind word, never known
to do an unkind action. Peace be with him! for he was one in whom the
soldier, the courtier, and the man of honour were so happily blended
that, when a few of his remaining compatriots shall have passed away,
I fear we may long search the fashionable throng in vain to find
another.
The following was the style of the sets-out of the Whip
Club:--Yellow-bodied carriages, with whip springs and dickey
boxes; cattle of a bright bay colour, with silver-plate ornaments
on the harness and rosettes to the ears. The costume of the
drivers consisted of a light drab-coloured cloth coat, made full,
single-breasted, with three tiers of pockets, the skirts reaching to
the ankles, a mother o'pearl button of the size of a crown piece;
waistcoat blue and yellow stripe, each stripe an inch in depth;
small clothes corded silk plush, made to button over the calf of
the leg, with sixteen strings, and rosettes to each knee; the boots
very short, and finished with very broad straps, which hung over the
tops and down to the ankle; a hat three inches and a half deep in
the crown only, and the same depth in the brim; each wore a large
bouquet of flowers at the breast, resembling the coachmen of the
nobility on a drawing-room or levee day. The popular song of the Whip
Club ran as follows, I only remember the first verse:--
"With spirits gay we mount the box, the tits up to the traces,
Our elbows squared, our wrists turned down, dash off at awful paces;
With Buxton bit, bridoon so trim, three chestnuts and a grey--
Well coupled up the wheelers then--Ya, hip! we bowl away."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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