Transcriber's Note: Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible. The errata listed at the end of the book have been fixed. Some minor corrections of puctuation have been made. Italic text has been marked with _underscores_. Bold text has been marked with =equals signs=. OE ligatures have been expanded. [Illustration: "THE DEFIANCE HAS GONE 10 MINUTES!"] ROAD SCRAPINGS: COACHES AND COACHING. [Illustration: THE DEVIL AMONGST THE TAILORS!] LONDON: TINSLEY BROTHERS, 8, CATHERINE STREET, STRAND. 1882. ROAD SCRAPINGS: _COACHES AND COACHING_. BY CAPTAIN M. E. HAWORTH, AUTHOR OF "THE SILVER GREYHOUND." London: TINSLEY BROTHERS, 8, CATHERINE ST., STRAND. 1882. [_All rights reserved._] INTRODUCTION. In offering these pages to the public, my object has been confined to imparting such advice, in matters connected with _coaching_, as has been suggested by long experience; whilst, in order to dissipate as much as possible the "dryness" of being told "what to do" and "how to do it," I have mingled the instruction with illustrative anecdotes and incidents, which may afford amusement to the general reader. If whilst my bars are "whistling" up the hill, and rattling down, I have been able to combine some useful hints with the amusement often to be discovered in what I have termed "Scrapings of the Road," my desire will be amply gratified. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE The revival--Magazine magnificence--Death of coaching--Resurrection--Avoid powder--Does the post pull?--Summering hunters--The "Lawyer's Daughter"--An unexpected guest 1 CHAPTER II. Young coachmen--Save your horses--The ribbons--The whip--A professional Jehu--An amateur--Paralysed fingers 20 CHAPTER III. ANECDOTES: Coachmen (friends and enemies)--Roadside burial--Old John's holiday--How the mail was robbed--Another method--A visit from a well-known character--A wild-beast attack--Carrier's fear of the supernatural--Classical teams--Early practice with the pickaxe--Catechism capsized 34 CHAPTER IV. Opposition--A quick change--How to do it--Accident to the Yeovil mail--A gallop for our lives--Unconscious passengers--Western whips--Parliamentary obstruction 51 CHAPTER V. The "Warwick Crown Prince"--"Spicy Jack"--Poor old Lal!--"Go it, you cripples!"--A model horsekeeper--The coach dines here--Coroner's inquest--The haunted glen--Lal's funeral 65