back again
Posted by Laura W on June 01, 1998 at 13:15:43:
In response to Hey! You cut off my question!, written by P. Bingham on May 21, 1998 at 00:25:56
] But I did have a little question way way down at the corner end (I mean deep!) for Laura. I asked if she could tell us (since she had a book on the subject of the Royal Mews or soemthing like that) how the royals changed horses. Did they do it the same way everyone else did? Could a Lord Davenport, who just happened to be travelling on to Brighton, have a run-in with Prinny? I doubt she ever noticed my question. It has been there for sometime now. It was anyway. I was just curious to know.
Hi, Patricia, what a marvelous job you did on that summary! Wow!
I haven't visited Pemberley for a while-- been busy. You know how it is.
Anyway, I just reviewed your summary and I missed your question. But since you posted it here I'll try to answer it.
The book doesn't have anything specific about how the royals changed horses. (It assumes that one already has knowledge about post-chaises and such things.) But I feel certain that, like other very rich men, Prinny would have kept his own horses stabled at posting inns along the road to Brighton. He would have used the nicest posting inns which catered only to the Quality. Less wealthy persons would hire the horses even if they could afford to keep their own post-chaise, but those who could afford such extravagance often preferred also to use their own horses. They might keep them permanently stabled along a frequently-travelled road (which is probably what Prinny did on the Brighton Road), or they might send their own horses ahead of them to be ready for them when they needed to change horses. I am certain I have read about this somewhere-- perhaps one of Georgette Heyer's fabulously wealthy heros kept his own horses stabled along the Brighton Road-- Robert Beaumaris, perhaps?
Actually I just read an account of the death of Queen Elizabeth which says: "after Elizabeth had fallen ill, [Robert] Carey had taken the precaution of setting a chain of post horses along the main route to Scotland so he could be sure of delivering the news of her death to the King before anyone else, and now, dusty and dishevelled byt still triumphant, he saluted James by his title of King of England, Scotland, France and Ireland." By this means he was able to reach James in only two full days of hard riding.
Anyway, I think your Lord Davenport could easily encounter Prinny changing horses on the Brighton Road. You could even provide a marvelous description of the magnificent livery and harnesses of his postillions, outriders, coachmen, and horses. I am sure it would have been the type of thing you wouldn't see just every day-- perhaps even the inn's ostlers, who after all see it regularly (if not every day), cannot help but be awed by the spectacle.
I'll check some sources and see if I can come up with anything concrete. Maybe there's something in Tristam's section on the Brighton Road.
- I was about to give up on you! P. Bingham 17:34:24 6/03/98
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