

FOUR IN HAND. G9 



mcnt, or a show of exertion, or even attention yet never 

 losing his feel of every horse s mouth, and having each in 

 such perfect command, and guiding and governing them all so 

 easily and gracefully, that it seemed as if the reins were a 

 part of him and he moved them by instinct ; just as a good 

 helmsman will bring up his boat to &quot; meet&quot; a surging sea, 

 without knowing it, and even when half asleep. He never 

 lifted a whip from the socket, except to punish a horse for 

 indulging in some trick, or for neglect to obey the signal of 

 his voice, which was hardly ever more than a short chirrup 

 no whistling, shouting, and calling by name. The speed, with 

 a heavy load, was excellent, averaging nearly eleven miles 

 an hour. 



The gentleman upon the box, between whom and the 

 coachman I was allowed to wedge myself, discovering that I 

 was an American, put me many questions, intended to be 

 hard, with regard to our country, which I answered as well as 

 I could. He was a tall, well-dressed, reflective Englishman, 

 slightly inclined to be sarcastic and supercilious, but studi 

 ously courteous in his manners, and speaking from half way 

 down his throat, with a gasping utterance, as is a fashion 

 with some clergymen and very elegant people here. He 

 got at length, from more general conversation, into a discus 

 sion upon the character of women, and the customs of our two 

 countries with regard to them. He thought our way of treat 

 ing women was an unreasonable petting of them, and the 

 tendency of it must be to spoil them, make them mere chil 

 dren, delicacies, unfit to encounter in a manly way the inevita 

 ble trials of life, and unworthy of true respect. He thought, 

 too, our customs, with regard to them, were absurd and un 

 just ; and told how a friend of his had been obliged to lose 

 his seat in a stage-coach and go outside, in a rainy day, be 

 cause a girl that was picked up on the road wanted it. His 



