The traveller's oracle; or, maxims for locomotion, part 2 (of 2)

1 The Expense of King George the Third’s State Coach which was made in the year 1762, was—

	£	s.	d.
Coachmaker	1,637	15	0
Carver	2,500	0	0
Gilder	935	14	0
Painter	315	0	0
Laceman	737	10	7
Chaser	665	4	6
Harness Maker	385	15	0
Mercer	202	5	10½
Belt Maker	99	6	6
Milliner	31	3	4
Sadler	10	16	6
Woollen Draper	4	3	6
Cover Maker	3	9	6
	7,562	4	3½

2 There are 36 Trusses in a Load of Hay, and the same in a Load of Straw; 40 Trusses of each, 1 Ton.

3 These were by Chief Justice Mansfield called “Bankrupt Carts,” because they were, and are, frequently driven by those who could neither afford the Money to support them, nor the Time spent in using them, the want of which, in their Business, brought them to Bankruptcy.

4 Do not give unusually high standing Wages. These should neither exceed nor fall short of the Rates which Custom has established; or, in the former case, you will make your own servants idle and extravagant, and those of your neighbours unhappy and discontented. If you do not pay the customary compensation for the service you receive, you will excite a continually rankling discontent in the minds of your Domestics, and will be harassed with those continual changes in your establishment, which will soon render Good Servants shy of engaging in it.

The best way to encourage Servants is to give them “Occasional Presents and Indulgences.” These I would not bestow in Money, but give him a pair of Good Boots or Shoes, or an Umbrella, or a Watch, according to his Diligence and Long Service: confer these Rewards, rather as given for general Good Conduct, than as for any particular occurrence, or they may be received as merited payment for an insulated piece of service.

5 The price charged by Mr. Williams, Button Manufacturer, No. 103, St. Martin’s Lane, for a pair of Button Dies, is £2. 2s.

Buttons are not always stamped so carefully as they ought to be:—caution your Button Maker, that you will not take any impressions that are imperfect: you may be charged a trifle more per Dozen, if you will have every Button as perfect as the Proof Specimen. Let the Letters of the Motto, which is generally put round the Crest, be large enough to be legible—they are generally too small.

6

	s.	d.
Letting the Horses wash their Mouths, which is comfortable to them in very hot weather. If you are Travelling a long Journey, it will refresh them much more, if you at the same time give them a little bit of Hay; for these you are generally charged, for a Pair of Horses	0	6
For a Short Bait, i. e. if you go out for Ten Miles, and the Horses are put up for an hour or two, a feed, a Quartern of Corn each, including 6d. to the Hostler, is about	1	6

See more of the Estimates of Expenses in Travelling, in Part I. of the “Traveller’s Oracle.”

7 The Strap for pulling up the Step, and the Inside Handle, are great conveniences to those who do not take a Footman out with them. See “Dumb Footman,” in the Index.

8 The Ancient Equestrian who read the MS. of this Work, wrote the following note:—

“Those who keep Horses should occasionally look into the Mews early in the morning; and if a man is there with a Sack, or Donkey and Panniers, immediately think of their Corn and Hay, &c.”—A. E.

9 Pens, Parchment, and Wax.

10 Cook’s Patent Life Preserver for Carriages may be viewed at the Manufactory, No. 127, Long Acre. Its object is to stop horses when running away: the contrivance is extremely simple, and a Lady may, with the greatest facility, apply its force against the power of the horses, thereby gradually but irresistibly arresting their progress. Should the coachman leave the box, this invention will enable him to prevent the possibility of the horses starting off in his absence; or should he be thrown from his seat, or fall off in a fit, or from any other cause, an infirm person or even a Child in the carriage, has the power of stopping a pair, or four horses, with ease and certainty.

11 Carriage, in the usual meaning of the word among Coachmakers, signifies the lower system, on which the Body containing the Passengers is suspended, and to which the Wheels are attached: though speaking generally of Coaches, Chariots, &c. they are properly called Carriages of such descriptions; but as the word Carriage will be frequently used in both senses, when it signifies the lower system only, it will be printed in Italics: when used in the general meaning of the word, in common letters.

12 The Timbers of the Under Carriage, in which the Pole is placed.

13 The long leaver by which the Carriage is conducted.

14 A compassed timber, fixed on the Futchells, which keeps the fore Carriage steady.

15 The Leathers by which the Body is hung or checked.

The Main Braces are what the Body hangs by.

The Collar Braces are those which go round the Perch or crane, and are buckled through a Ring fixed to bottom of the Body, to check its motion sideways, and to confine it from striking against the Wheels.

The Check Braces are for the purpose of checking the motion of the Body endways, and are placed at the four Corners.

The Braces should be occasionally shifted from their bearing, as that part on which the weight rests is deprived of the moisture of grease, which preserves the Leather, and the Brace becomes dry and susceptible of the Wet, and soon Cracks and Breaks;—therefore, once in a month let the situation of the Braces be changed a little, and they will last three times as long.

16 Mr. Jarvis assures us that none of the plans for rendering Clothes Water Proof have answered his expectations.

17 We were amused, and perhaps the Reader may, with the following definition of the word “Genteel.”

Q. Has any Body called (said Mr. Thin) while I have been out?

A. Yes, Sir, a Gentleman called, about Two o’Clock.

Q. What kind of a Person?

A. A Genteel Man, Sir—an extremely Genteel Man, Sir; for I think he was Taller and Thinner than You!!!

18 “Those who regard Health will not frequent crowded rooms and assemblies. When I was at Bath, about to publish an Essay on the effects of Noxious Air, one of my brethren waggishly said, ‘Let them alone, Doctor; for how else will 26 Physicians be able to exist here?’”—Dr. Adair on Diet, &c. 8vo. p. 93. 1812.

19 “To what an unfortunate change the present fashions are conforming Mankind! The Country-houses of our Nobility and Gentry are empty in July. Thus the Spring months, the season of Joy throughout creation, pass unobserved by the affluent and gay. The souls of human beings, in this Age of Art, would seem to wish the Sun to be darkened; they find no pleasure but in the light of a Lamp.—I feel for the rising generation, when I consider the effects of these overgrown follies upon Inexperienced minds.”—Dr. Trotter on the Nervous Temperament, 8vo. p. 245. 1807.

20 “There is an ordinary trick at common Inns of Stealing the Horse’s Oats, where, although the Masters be in good condition and honest, yet their Servants rob one another of the Oats committed to their charge, and then make a piece of Gallantry and Jest of it.”—Sollysell’s Compleat Horseman, fol. p. 108. 1717.

21 It should have been within Five Miles!

22 The best Map we have seen of this Ground, as it was in 1805, i. e. just before the Improvements, as it is the fashion to call the Piles of Bricks and Mortar which now stand where we used to walk and enjoy the Fresh Air, was published by Bowles and Carver, in St. Paul’s Churchyard, where it may still be had, and is entitled “A Map of London and its Environs, Three Miles round St. Paul’s, in 1805.”

23 Bolts and Nuts are the machinery by which the Timber and Iron work is fixed together.

24 To tell the Reader exactly what class of persons was meant to be designated by the word Gentleman, in the year 1757, would be as difficult a task as to define it now. The last time we heard it, was on visiting a Stable to look at a Horse, when, on inquiring for the Coachman, his Stable Keeper replied, “He is just stepped to the Public House along with another Gentleman.”

The following is the Negro’s definition of a Gentleman:—“Massa make de black Man workee—make de Horse workee—make de Ox workee—make every ting workee, only de Hog: he, de Hog, no workee; he eat, he drink, he walk about, he go to sleep when he please, he liff like a Gentleman.”—European Mag. January, 1811, p. 17.

I have never forgotten Sir Richard Steele’s Observation, which struck my mind with happy force in my boyish days:—“A Christian and a Gentleman are become inconsistent Appellations of the same person. You cannot expect Eternal Life, if you do not forgive Injuries: the Weak and the Wicked will do their utmost to make your Mortal Life uncomfortable, if you are not ready to commit a Murder in Resentment for an Affront.”—From No. 20 of the Guardian.

Sir Richard has very properly applied to the Duellist what Dr. South has said of the Liar: “He is a Coward to Man, and a Bravo to God!”

The most ridiculous circumstance respecting Duelling, is, that the Man who has suffered the Injury must submit himself to the same Peril with him who inflicted it, so that the Punishment is entirely accidental, and as likely to fall upon the Innocent as the Guilty.

25 So called by “The Oracle,” from the furious sacrifice of the comfort of the Interior of our Modern Houses to the paltry plaister patchwork of (what the Vulgar pronounce) “a pretty Elevation.” Aye!—pretty may be for part of a Palace—but as inconvenient as it is impertinent for a Private Dwelling.

26 “The longer his Taile be, hee shall the better defend himself therewith in summer season from the flies; and therefore Cameranus doth not a little marvel at those which use to curtail their Horses.”—Blundevill on Horses, 1609. p. 13.

27 The attentive and obliging Surveyor to the Board of Hackney Coaches in Essex Street, Strand.

The Hackney Coach Office is open from 10 till 3 o’Clock every day; and no person belonging to the Office is allowed to make any demand or charge for Expenses, or to receive any Fee or Gratuity, under any pretence whatever.

28 “In Paris, Hackney Coaches are hired either by the course (à la course), i. e. as often as the vehicle is stopped, or by the hour (à l’heure). The fare is 30 sous (1s. 3d.) per course, whether it be a quarter of a Mile or three Miles; or two francs (1s. 8d.) for the first hour, and 30 sous (1s. 3d.) per hour afterwards.

“From midnight to 6 o’clock in the morning, the fare is doubled.

“These coaches are not obliged to carry more than four persons and a child, nor to take any heavy luggage.

“If the Coach be hired by Time, the first hour must be paid for, whether it is entirely occupied or not; but it is not necessary to pay for more of the second, or of any succeeding hour, than has actually elapsed.

“If a coach is engaged to go to the Theatres, or to any place of public amusement, it is customary to pay the coachman at the time of starting, in order to avoid delay at alighting.”—Planta’s Picture of Paris, 16mo. 1825, p. 408.