Very few of these amateurs have been considered worthy of biographical treatment, but among them Sir St. Vincent Cotton is one. Let us just see what the outline of his life was:--“Cotton, Sir St. Vincent, 6th Baronet, son of Admiral Sir Charles Cotton. Born at Madingley Hall, Cambs., October 6th, 1801; succeeded, February 24th, 1812; educated at Westminster and Christ Church, Oxford. Cornet 10th Light Dragoons, May 13th, 1827; Lieutenant, December 13th, 1827, to November 19th, 1830, when placed on half-pay. Distinguished himself in the hunting, skating, racing, and pugilistic world. Played in Marylebone Cricket Matches, 1830–35. A great player at hazard. Dissipated all his property. Drove the ‘Age’ coach from Brighton to London and back for some years from 1836. Died at 5, Hyde Park Terrace, January 25th, 1863.” It is possible to largely supplement this skeleton biography from the _Sporting Magazine_ and other sources. “The Cottons of Madingley and Landwade,” said that classic authority, “are no ‘soft goods’ of recent manufacture, but have held high rank among the gentry of Cambridgeshire since the reign of Edward I. Sir John Cotton, the first baronet of the family, was advanced to that honour in 1641, by Charles I., to whose cause he was firmly attached. Sir St. Vincent used to ride in the first flight with the crack men of Leicestershire, mounted on his favourite mare, ‘Lark.’ The honourable baronet has, however, left both the Army and the Chase to devote himself exclusively to the public service on the ‘Road,’ where he performs the duties of a coachman very much to his own pleasure, and the great satisfaction of all His Majesty’s lieges who travel by the Brighton ‘Age’; and we are of opinion that an English baronet is much better employed in driving a coach than in endeavouring--like a certain mole-eyed wiseacre of the West, who also displays the Red Hand on his scutcheon--to saw off the branch that he is sitting on. “We believe that the late Mr. H. Stevenson, who drove the ‘Age’ a few years ago, was one of the first gentleman-whips who took a _bob_ and returned a _bow_--_i.e._, if you popped a shilling into his hand at the end of a stage, he ducked his head and said, ‘Thank you.’ The example thus set has been followed by the Baronet, who receives a ‘hog’ as courteously as his predecessor. When a noble Marquis, now in the enjoyment of an hereditary dukedom, drove the ‘Criterion,’ and afterwards the ‘Wonder,’ also on the Brighton Road, he did not take ‘civility money,’ we believe, but did the thing for pure love.