CHAPTER XII.
AMATEUR DRAGSMEN—THE LATE FITZROY STANHOPE—THE OLD DRIVING CLUB OF 1808—THE HON. LINCOLN STANHOPE—THE WHIP CLUB—DESCRIPTION OF THE CARRIAGES—SONG OF THE WHIP CLUB—OUTRÉE DRESS OF THE DRIVERS RIDICULED BY CHARLES MATHEWS AND JOE GRIMALDI—FOUR-IN-HAND CLUB OF THE PRESENT DAY.
CHAPTER XII.
Having dwelt at considerable length upon stage coaches and stage coachmen, I now turn to amateurs who have distinguished themselves on the box, and who were perfectly competent to take the reins in the event of an accident to the regular driver. Here I am reminded that upon one occasion, when Bramble was driving the Chichester coach to London, and was prevented completing the journey from an accident, the present Duke of Richmond, then Earl of March, took his place, and landed his passengers safe and sound at the "White Horse Cellar," Piccadilly.
Among gentlemen coachmen of bygone times may be mentioned the late Lords Clonmel and Sefton, Sir Charles Bamfylde, Sir Lawrence Palk, Sir John Rogers, Sir Felix Agar, Sir Bellingham Graham, Sir Henry Parnell, Sir Thomas Mostyn, Sir John Lade, Sir Henry Peyton, the Honourable Fitzroy Stanhope, the Honourable Charles Finch, the Honourable Thomas Kenyon, Messrs. T. R. and J. Walker, Maddox, Warde (the father of the field and road), Charles Buxton, Henry Villebois, Okeover, Annesley, Harrison, of Shelswell, and last, not least, "Tommy Onslow," immortalised in the well-known lines:—
"What can Tommy Onslow do?
He can drive a phaeton and two.