COACHING 



their stables. On perceiving a fine thorough-bred 

 horse led toward the coach with a twitch fastened 

 tightly to his nose, he exclaimed, ** Holloa, Mr. 

 Horse-keeper ! You are going to put an unruly 

 horse in the coach." *'What! this here 'oss?'* 

 growls the man; *'the quietest hanimal alive, sir!" 

 as he shoves him to the near side of the pole. At 

 this moment, however, the coachman is heard to 

 say in somewhat of an undertone, ** Mind what you 

 are about. Bob ; don't let him touch the roller-bolt." 

 In thirty seconds more they are oflf — ** the staid and 

 steady team," so styled by the proprietor of the 

 coach. **Let 'EM go! and take care of yourselves," 

 says the artist, so soon as he is firmly seated upon 

 his box ; and this is the way they start. The near 

 leader rears right on end ; and if the rein had not 

 been yielded to him at the instant, he would have 

 fallen backwards on the head of the pole. The 

 moment the twitch was taken from the nose of the 

 thorough-bred near-wheeler, he drew himself back 

 to the extent of his pole-chain — his forelegs stretched 

 out before him — and then, like a lion loosened from 

 his toil, made a snatch at the coach that would have 

 broken two pairs of traces of 1742. A steady and 



27 



