To look after these hackney carriages there were five commissioners, at a salary each of 200l., and their office was in Surrey Street, Strand. The fares were not very heavy, even taking the difference of the value of money into consideration, and the fact that they had two horses.
| s. | d. | |
| For one day of 12 Hours | 10 | — |
| For one Hour | 1 | 6 |
| For every hour after the first | 1 | — |
| From any of the Inns of Court to any part of St. James's or City of Westminster, except beyond Tuttle Street | 1 | — |
| From the Inns of Court, or thereabouts, to the Royal Exchange | 1 | — |
| From any of the Inns of Court, to the Tower, Aldgate, Bishopsgate Street or thereabouts | 1 | 6 |
| And the same Rates back again, or to any Place of the like Distance. | ||
| And, if any Coachman shall refuse to go at, or exact more, for Hire, than the Rates hereby limited, he shall for every such Offence forfeit 40 Shillings | ||
In 1710 the number of coaches was increased to 800 by the 9 Anne, cap. 23, which also provided that they were to pay five shillings weekly, and were to go a mile and a half for one shilling, two miles for one shilling and sixpence, above two miles two shillings, and greater distances in the same proportion.
The hackney coachmen petitioned against the tax, and said they were willing to pay the old one. One petition was entitled 'Some Reasons most humbly Offered to the Consideration of the Right Honourable the House of LORDS and the Honourable the House of Commons; by all the 700 Hackney Coachmen and their Widows to Enable them to pay the Great Tax laid upon them;' and another was 'The Hackney Coachmen's case. Humbly presented to the Right Honourable House of Commons, with a proposal to raise for her Majesty 200,000l. per annum.' This was proposed, very coolly, to be done by laying a tax on all coaches and carriages not licensed, on passengers going by stage coaches, and on goods carried by waggons and packhorses.
The coaches were numbered, although I can only find one notice of it: 'So that, rather than to stand a Vapulation, one of them took Notice of his Number;'[598] and the coachmen were noted for their incivility. Of course they did not come from a very high class, and the habits and language of the lower class of that time were extremely coarse. 'We discharged our Grumbling Coachman, who Mutter'd heavily, according to their old Custome, for t'other Sixpence; till at last moving us a little beyond our Patience, we gave an Angry Positive Denial to his Unreasonable Importunities; for we found, like the rest of his Fraternity, he had taken up the Miserly Immoral rule, viz. Never to be Satisfied.'
Gay gently hints at their incivility:—
If Wheels bar up the Road, where Streets are Crost,
With gentle Words the Coachman's Ear accost:
He ne'er the Threat, or harsh Command obeys,
But with Contempt the spatter'd Shoe surveys.
And, according to him, they were not only surly but pugnacious.
Now Oaths grow loud, with Coaches, Coaches jar,
And the smart Blow provokes the sturdy War;
From the high Box they whirl the Thong around,
And with the twining Lash their Shins resound:
Their Rage ferments, more dang'rous Wounds they try,
And the Blood gushes down their painful Eye.
And now on Foot the frowning Warriors light,
And with their pond'rous Fists renew the Fight;
Blow answers Blow, their Cheeks are 'smeared with Blood
'Till down they fall, and grappling, roll in Mud.
