The print from which the engraving on next page is taken, is one of a set published by Overton, at the sign of the "White Horse" without Newgate; and its similarity to the figures given by Francis Barlow in his _AEsop's Fables_, and particularly in a most curious sheet-print etched by that artist, exhibiting Charles the Second, the Duke of York, &c., viewing the Races on Dorset Ferry, near Windsor, in 1687, sufficiently proves this Hackney Coachman to have been of the reign of that monarch. The early Hackney Coachman did not sit upon the box as the present drivers do, but upon the horse, like a postillion; his whip is short for that purpose; his boots, which have large open broad tops, must have been much in his way, and exposed to the weight of the rain. His coat was not according to the fashion of the present drivers as to the numerous capes, which certainly are most rational appendages, as the shoulders never get wet; the front of the coat has not the advantage of the present folding one, as it is single breasted. His hat was pretty broad, and so far he was screened from the weather. Another convincing proof that he rode as a postillion is, that his boots are spurred. In that truly curious print representing the very interesting Palace of Nonsuch, engraved by Hoefnagle, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, the coachman who drives the royal carriage in which the Queen is seated, is placed on a low seat behind the horses, and has a long whip to command those he guides. How soon, after Charles the Second's time, the Hackney Coachmen rode on a box we have not been able to learn, but in all the prints of King William's time the coachmen are represented upon the box, though by no means so high as at present; nor was it the fashion at the time of Queen Anne to be so elevated as to deprive the persons in the carriage of the pleasure of looking over their shoulders. In 1637, the number of Hackney Coaches in London was confined to 50, in 1652 to 200, in 1654 to 300, in 1662 to 400, in 1694 to 700, in 1710 to 800, in 1771 to 1,000, and in 1802 to 1,100. In imitation of our Hackney Coaches, Nicholas Sauvage introduced the Fiacres at Paris, in the year 1650. The hammer-cloth is an ornamental covering of the coach-box. Mr. S. Pegge says, "The coachman formerly used to carry a hammer, pincers, a few nails, &c., in a leather pouch hanging to his box, and this cloth was devised for the hiding of them from public view." [Illustration [++] Hackney Coachman.] It is said that the sum of L1,500, arising from the duty on Hackney Coaches, was applied to part of the expense in rebuilding Temple Bar. A LONDON WATER-CARRIER IN OLDEN TIMES.