Note 547 — NEW ENGLISH CANAAN OR NEW CANAAN. (continued 3)

The reference here is apparently to the running footmen much in use in the eighteenth century, and also, judging by the text, as early as the reign of Charles I. Their duty was to run before and alongside the cumbrous coaches then in use, to notify innkeepers of the coming guests. They carried long poles to assist them in clearing obstacles, and to help pry the carriages out of the sloughs in which they frequently got stuck. (Brewer’s Dict. of Phrase and Fable, p. 773; Macaulay’s England, vol. i. pp. 374-8.)