COACHING DAYS AND WAYS 



good-whipped horse, however, his partner, started the 

 coach himself, with a gentle touch of the thong, and 

 away they went off together. But the thorough-bred 

 was very far from being comfortable ; it was in vain 

 that the coachman tried to soothe him with his voice, 

 or stroked him with the crop of his whip. He drew 

 three parts of the coach, and cantered for the first 

 mile, and when he did settle down to his trot, his 

 snorting could be heard by the passengers, being as 

 much as to say, *' I was not born to be a slave." 

 In fact, as the proprietor now observed, *'he had 

 been a fair pHte horse in his time, but his temper 

 was always queer." 



' After the first shock was over, the Conservative 

 of the eighteenth century felt comfortable. The 

 pace was considerably slower than it had been over 

 the last stage, but he was unconscious of the reason 

 for its being diminished. It was to accommodate 

 the queer temper of the race-horse,^ who, if he had 

 not been humoured at starting, would never have 



1 It was not unusual for retired race-horses to end their days 'on the road.' A 

 notable instance Is that of Mendoza by Javelin. Mendoza won eight races at 

 Newmarket In his three seasons on the turf, 1791-2-3 ; then the Duke of Leeda 

 bought hJm as a hunter ; and after a few seasons with hounds he made one of a 

 team In the Catterick and Greta Bridge mail-coach. Mendoza was still at work 

 in 1807, but had become blind. 



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