The Sun.
London, England, 1827-04-03 00:00:00

THE COACHMAN.-A SKETCH.

The Cnachrnan's eye, in a fine rhrimzy
Doth glance from right to left, from left to right ;
And as Imagination bodies forth
The distant vehicle, the dexterous Jehu
Keeps his own side, and gives the passer-by
A nod of congratulation or contempt. •
There is something in the nature of a Stage-coachman
it smacks. like his.._comix_whio. of conscious importance.
e is the elect of the road on which. he travelf,--ttukinne:.

trious, imitated of thousands. Talk of the King indeed !
the King, even on his own highway, is bnt " cakes
and ginger-bread " to the Jehu. For him John Boots
whistles welcome—not so much through the goodness of
his disposition, as through his teeth; and the publican
waxes honest in his gin ; for him, Betsey the pretty
bar-maid displays the symmetry of a well-turned ankle,
and the landlady speaks volumes in a squint.
Survey him as he bowls along the road, fenced in coats
numerous as the seven hull-h4les of Ajax. Listen to
the untutored melody of his voice, as he preaches the word
of exhortation to his tits, and enforces his doctrine with
the whip. Hark ! already he is entering a village--the
horn sounds—the leaders rattle along the street, and out
rush the neighbourhood to bid him welcome. Observe his
importance—to•some he gives a grim nod, to others a smile
of recognition, but thrice happy is he who is honoured
with "Go it, Jemmy." Beatified James ! thou halt
lived eternity in a moment. "Felix, hen, nimium felix,
tun si bona noris !"

In the nature of his vocation the Coachman hears no
indistinct resemblance to the Poet. The one gives the
rein to his horses, the other to his imagination ; and,
when either run wild, the consequences are equally ha-
zardous. The poet drives his steed along the high road
to Parnassus ; the coachman, more terrestrial in his calling,
rattles them along the King's highway. The poet is the
child of feeling, ditto the coachman. The one feels what
he writes, the other what he drives—the one gets drunk
with inspiration, the other with gin—and, finally, the one,
gives spur to his Pegasus, the other to his leaders.
Independently of these poetical associations, our hero is
illustrious from his connexion with classical lore. Pelops
was a coachman, and has been immortalized, for his ability
to drive at the rate of fourteen miles an hour, by the first
of Grecian bards. The history of his ivory arm is nothing
more than a metapherical illustration of the merits of his
whip-hand. He fractured it, in driving for a wager against
King Enomaus, a brother whip ; but it was so well set by
Esculapius, the first surgeon and accoucheur of his day,
that popular ignorance, unable to account for the cure,
ascribed it to Ceres. Hippolytus, the amiable Greek dandy,
Hippolytus, with whom Diana herself was detected in a
faux pas, was another notorious coachman ; and kept the
most fashionable curricle of his day. I might quote
divers other instances which, as Valpy's Grammar ex-
presses it, " a familiarity with the best writers will easily
suggest ;" but there would be no end to my essay, for in
good Booth " hills peep o'er hills and Alps on Alps arise,"
when I attempt to enumerate the charioteers whom
my school days I have been taught to reverence.
But in addition to such classical advantages, the Coach-
man is celebrated for the morality with which his name
is associated. " All the world's a stage," says Shak-
speare ; and Time may be considered as the Jehu who
rattles it along the high road of life to eternity. To re-
flective minds this association will appear obvious, and
in his more serious moments, the philo-,Ther will love to
consider a journey to Bath as a type of his journey to
eternity.
Turn we to survey another instance of the importance
of the Coachman, in the tender affections with which his
vocation is connected. He is the winged Mercury of love,
the Cupid- of Valentine's-day, the legal conveyancer of re-
ciprocal esteem from friend to friend. He alone can " speed
the soft intercourse from soul to soul," at the sensible pace
of eight miles an hour, (including stoppages,) and bring
the travelled husband to the anticipative optics of big
wife. Sweet to behold him, in a calm summer evening,
bowling along the village enshrined like Ixion in a cloud—
of dust, with a crew of breechless urchins screaming wel-
come as he passes. A smile is en the face of the hamlet,
and even the school master doffs his hat at his approach.
The maid-servant rashes out in hope of a packet from her
lover ; and the barber, with the weekly newspaper, tossed
down to him from the box, flies pregnant with greatness,
to be delivered at the village ale-house.
With respect to his accomplishments, the Coachman
is deservedly illustrious. If his conversation has not the
copious elegance of Coleridge, it has all the easy copious-
ness of nature, with expletive beauties snore peculiarly its
own. It is at once nervous, flowing, and anecdotal, enforced
entiy con-
trives riY
to with energetic anathemas, and garnished with technical
obscurities. In music he is no mean proficient ; his
school, as Lord Byron said of Christabel, is " wild and sin-
guaand beautiful,"
e n t i
beyond
the re
ful ,''a and noateh of art
unfregu
~,
some,
however,
" prefersnatch original
a ga
the ltalian, others the Irish, others the
i
English—but I prefer the whip school of music; for, like
the instrument from which its name is derived, it is strik-
ing, flexible, and melodious; and I can imagine nothing
more truly touching than to hear a coachman, as 'he
trundles along the road, "warble his native wood notes
wikr. to the pathetic tune of the Lass of Richmond Hill,
or the more. palmed cauzonet of Sally in our Alley. ' .

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

ROLLS COURT, APRIL 2.
41:1Dc31.ENT.—ROBSOli V. WESTiRN.

His HONOUR, the Master of the Rolls, proceeded to
give judgment in this case. It was a bill for an account
against the defendants, Messrs. Western, Wakefield, and
others, as trustees of the marriage-settlement of Edward
Gibbon Wakefield. It appeared that Mr. Chas. Pattel,
in 1815, was possessed of property to the amount of
70,000/. which he bequeathed, by will, to his father, his
widow, and his daughter, Frances Pattel. In 1816, the
testator being then dead, Miss Frances Pattel married Mr.
Edward Gibbon Wakefield, and, upon their marriage, a
settlement was made, under the direction of the Court of
Chancery, by which the sum of 70,0001. was vested in
trustees, to pay to the testator's father 1,0001. a-year ;
another 1,0001. a-year to the testator's widow, during the
father's life; and 2,0001. a-year after his death; a certain
sum, as pin-money, to Mrs. E. G. Wakefield, and the
residue to her husband, Mr. E. G. Wakefield. The
70.0001._ was laid out in Three per Cents. in 1818, and
continued in the trustees till 1826, when an. order was
made by the Court of Chancery to transfer the money into
the name of the accountant-general of the Court, on trust,
for the trusts of the settlement. In 1816, Mrs. Pattel, now
Mrs. Robson, the plaint►ff, went to the Continent, where
she' continued for three years, 'during which time, the divi-
dends upon the stock were received by Mr. Wakefield, who
applied the produce, under the authority of the other trus-
tees, in payment of draughts made by Mrs. R. Mrs. Rob-
soli prayed an account against the defendants as trustees.
It had been stated, that Mrs. Robson resided in the house
of Mr. Wakefield, where she had access to the book in
which the accounts were kept, 'and that she never made
any objections to the accounts which had been so submitted
to her inspection. There was, however, no evidence to
prove that the book, when submitted to her inspection, was
in the same state as it appeared at present. His Honour
thought that the fiat was the reverse, and that the book,
when submitted to Mrs. Robson, exhibited a different ap-,
pearance from that which it did at present. His Honour
was, therefore, of opinion, that there was no settlement of
account up to January, 1820. It was now said, that in
October of that year, Mrs. Robson had written to Mr.
Wakefield, requesting the balance of her annuity for the
last half year, and it was contended, that a claim, in that
shape, virtually admitted that all previous accounts' up to
that half year had been settled. This letter, if produced,
would certainly have made an end of the case, but it was
most extraordinary that this letter, of which the very words
were set forth in the defendant's answer, should not have been
sent to him (the Master of the Rolls) amongst the exhibits.
He had thought this so extraordinary, that he sent to in-
quire the reason, and was informed the letter was lost.'
His Honour was, therefore, of opinion, that the answer
had not been supported, and that there must be a decree
for an account against Mr. Wakefield. The bill, 'how-
ever, prayed something more, namely, that Mr. Wake-
field, ,having been guilty of misconduct, might be re-
moved from the trust. His Honour thought that no suffi-
cient evidence had been adduced to support this charge,
and, with tile exception of that part which prayed the ac-
count, he'distnissed all the other parts of the bill with costs.
Mr. GARRxr, for the plaintiff, made some attempt to
change the intention of the Court in respect to the ques-
tion of costs.

however, eipressed very strongly his cen-
sure of the course which the plaintiff had z..doi)td. Theie
was nothing which had been attempted to be done by this
bill, which might not have been done at one twentieth of
the expense, either by a petition in the cause at present
before the Court of Chancery; or by a supplemental bill.
As Mrs. Robson had, without any necessity, obliged the
other parties to incur such enormous expenses, ahe must
abide by the consequences of her own conduct, and pay
the costs of the proceeding.