St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1894-11-01
A GRAND COACHMAN.
HE is AT THE HEAD OF THE LORD
MAYOR OF LONDON'S STABLE.

spects-The Carriage and Horses-Lord
Mayors May Come and Go, but the
Coachman Is a Fixture.
An antediluvian spectacle was pre-
pared for me in the stables Of the lord
mayor of London. In vast courtyard
an enormous carriage made of gold, to
which were harnessed six magnificent
brown horses; harness Ornamented with
massive copper, chiseled by an artist,
if not with taste at least with great
deal of care, and a multitude of ribbons
and cockades of a cherry color.
On the seat, six feet above the earth,
the coachman, but what a coachman,
my friends! a coachman the breed of
which has been lost since the time of
Louis XIV. He wore wig with a sex
tuple line of curls symmetrically ar
ranged, had bicornered hat on his
head, and be wore his livery as Yelling
ton after Waterloo must have Worn his
uniform. His livery has grand air. It
is black and gold. The frock is too Or
namental. The black velvet of it disap-
pears under thick embroidery of gold
wheat and field flowers of purple silk,
but the chest on which it is opened is
SO ample, and the large epaulets, with
gold fringes, fall with nobility so i'm
posing on arms so fat and so firm, that
one cannot find this exhibition of
wealth excessive.
The carriage is poem. 1t is of the
purest rocco style. Massive in the low
er part, the panels of which are orna-
mented with allegoric paintings, the
box is exclusively formed of looking
glasses held together by light frame
work of gilded wood. Everything is
gilded, from the Cupids which hold the
box to the chimerical figures which Or
nament the platform where the grooms
stand; from the Tritons which hold
with their strong arms the seat where
the corpulent PhaethOn is enthroned to
the shell where he places his feet; from
the hub to the tire of the wheels. Only
the interior of the carriage is not gilt.
It is ornamented with red cushions.
'Have you seen every thing?" asks
the fat man. I say Eyes, and Master
Wright descends from his perch. He
puts aside with sacerdotal slowness one
by one his bicOrnered hat, his wig and
his frock. AS he becomes simple NOR
tai he talks and smiles. l smile, too,
because he strangely resembles Coque-
lin. His trumpet shaped nose is particu-
larly success.
Master Wright is not too proud of
it. He is proud only of his size. He
talks of it with evident conceit
do you know, he says confden-
italy, "that / measure from shoulder
to shoulder AZ inches? To become a
member of the Royal guard, where
there are splendid men, you need only
inohaS Some NJ Thorn 4
There are some who measure A, but
there is not one who measures Al.
In the harness room-in a special
room of which the first coachman alone
has the key-Wright hands to me one
of the sets of harness. It's weight is
fabulous Each horse carries 10
pounds. Add to this the enormous mass
of the car and you may understand
why it is that ordinary horses will not
do for the annual parade. The livery
man who has charge of the stables of
the lord mayor is compelled to search
for two months in advance in order to
find the six horses destined to drag dur
ing this memorable parade the formida-
BILE machine The rest of the year there
are only six horses in the stable. They
are all beautiful, but of a smaller size
Four of them are harnessed to the sec
ond carriage, the lord mayors dress
carriage. Two are harnessed to the semi
state carriage.
The carriages are not the property of
the lord mayor, but of the city of Lon
don They are rented by the year. The
price is very high as the coat Of arms
and the painting ON the panels must be
changed every year. The second car
riage costs $500.
The arms of the city Of London are
of chiseled copper. An elegant and fine
gallery at the top of the wagon is made
of the same metal. There are four beau
tiful octagonal lanterns at the four cor
ners The panels are black and gold.
The coachman's seat is covered with
black and red velvet
The service of the stables is composed |
of head co9chman, of a second coach
man, more especially devoted to the
lady mayoress; of a private coachman,
a footman, groom and two stable boys.
Their total wages are e1O week
Il would wager said Wright, with
a hooking smile, that you will ask
what the cost of my livery is. Well,
this uniform was paid for by the lord
mayor only recently. It's cost was
e1OO.''
Fortunately. 1 said, "you do not
renew it every year. -
You are mistaken. Every lord may
or has a livery different from that
chosen by his predecessor. We change
aivery every year.
And does the lord mayor have to
pay for all this?"
Certainly, sir. 1t is a dignity every
body may not have. But you must re-
member that the most parsimonious of |
lord mayors never spent less than &c. |
600 year. Do you know how much
the city allows him? No? Well, the /
49, o1lo--, L., ~ p1o OoO n WOW