390 The Travellers Oracle. [OcT. 



There is no much better method of buying carriage or gig horses than 

 to have them on a job for a time first. It may cost a little more money ; 

 but it is a cheap expense in the end : you lose more by having to resell one 

 horse, alter having bought him, than it would cost you, by jobbing, to try 

 half a dozen. The ordinary horse-dealers' "trial" a trial of a few hours, 

 or even of a day is worth nothing: you can neither judge of the temper 

 of a horse, of his bottom, nor of what is of still more consequence his 

 feeding and his health. It is no pleasant thing to have paid a hundred 

 guineas for a horse who behaved excellently well on trial in Hyde Park, 

 and, the first time that you drive him forty miles on end, see him smell to 

 his corn, and turn away from it, at the end of the journey. 



The chapter upon the Construction of a Carriage, with the dangers of 

 trying such appliances second-hand, ought to be read by every man who 

 keeps even a buggy ; but its length compels us to refer our readers for it 

 entirely to the volume. The travellers in stage-coaches, however, as well as 

 those who use their own vehicles, are held worthy of our author's care ; and 

 rules are given, with great care and consideration, for their guidance. 



" Secure a Place a Day or two before you set off; in which case, if you are at 

 the Inn at the Time appointed, and the Coachman is gone before, you may take 

 a Post Chaise and go after him, and the Proprietors must pay the Expense of 

 your Ride. 



" It is necessary to be at the place in due Time; for, as the saying is, " Time 

 and Tide," and it may be added, " Stage Coaches, stay for no man." As Clocks 

 vary, you will do wisely to be there full Five minutes before what you believe to be 

 true Time. 



" If the Coach sets off very early, order the Watchman to call at your house 

 half an hour before you wish to have your breakfast : if you wish to ride to the 

 Inn the evening before, give the Waterman at the Coach Stand next your House 

 a Shilling for his trouble, and desire him to provide you a Hackney Coach, which 

 order to come half-an-hour before the time you wish to start, that in case of a 

 Coach not coming, you may have time to walk there. 



" On your arrival at the Coach Office, give your Trunks, &c. in charge to the 

 Coachman, and see them placed safely where they may not be rubbed, &c. In 

 long Journeys, the Horses are not only changed, but the Coach also, when the 

 wary traveller will see his Luggage taken out of the one, and safely stowed in the 

 other Coach. 



"Persons have their choice of Places in the order that they get into the Coach 

 first, a Place so taken remaining with the Possessor the whole of the Journey. 



" People are generally anxious to secure Front Places, either because they 

 cannot ride backwards ; but if they travel at Night, the Wind and Rain, while 

 sitting in front, will beat into their faces, the only remedy for which is to draw 

 up the Glasses (a privilege vested by travelling etiquette in the occupiers of those 

 places), and thus must they sit the remainder of the Night in an Atmosphere too 

 impure for any Gentleman who has not previously served an apprenticeship in 

 the exhausted receiver of an Air Pump. 



" When persons travel in a Stage Coach, Time is often idly wasted : and just 

 \vhen the Passengers are set down to enjoy a comfortable repast, Notice is giveji 

 that the Coach is going to start. To prevent this evil, previously inquire of the 

 Guard or Coachman how Long the Coach is allowed to stop, and regulate matters 

 accordingly. 



" * If the Driver of a Stage Coach quit his Horses or the Box until a proper 

 person can be procured to hold them, or permit any other person, without con- 

 sent of the Proprietor, or against the consent of the Passengers, to Drive the 

 same, he is subject to a penalty of not less than 10*. nor more than 5.' 



" ' By stat. 50 Geo. III. c. 48. 12. in case the driver or guard of any such 

 Coach or other Carriage shall use abusive or insulting language to any passengers, 

 or shall insist on or exact more than the sum to which he is legally entitled, then 

 and in every such case the driver or guard (as the case may be) so offending, and 



