THE ROAD. 
so styled by the proprietor, in 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 
in which 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 fore-legs 
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 
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 
one 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 plate 
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 w r as 
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 
66 
