THE ROAD. 
new, and it is a mere piece of affectation, and should be 
put a stop to ; for surely if a coachman fancies he has 
not time to "pin his ribbons" before mounting the box, 
he can do so after having proceeded a short distance on 
his stage ; and he cannot say he has not time to un- 
buckle them before he comes to the end of it. It is 
evident, that with reins unbuckled at the ends, should 
either of them drop out of his hand, all command over 
his team is gone. Moreover, in the hands of the best 
coachman, a wheel-horse will now and then drop, and 
should he not fortunately in this case be dragged on the 
ground so as to stop the coach, up he jumps, and, 
expecting the whip, rushes forward with his head 
loose, his rein having been drawn through the coach- 
man's hand. Had it been buckled at the end, such 
an occurrence could not have happened ; and if, after 
our warning, damages are sought for on this score, 
coach-proprietors may depend on it they must be pre- 
pared to smart. It is also now become fashionable to 
have no bearing reins to the harness, which, with horses 
having good mouths, may be, perhaps, dispensed with ; 
but the absence of the pad and crupper cannot be 
unattended with danger.* 
* A false notion has lately got abroad, that horses are less apt to fall 
clown with their heads quite at liberty, as those on the Continent are 
generally driven. Physically speaking, this must be false ; forasmuch as 
the weight being in this case thrown more forward, the centre of gravity is 
more difficult to be recovered when disturbed. A short time since, the 
author saw ten horses out of eleven, in two Boulogne and Paris diligences, 
with broken knees, and called a respectable inhabitant of the first-named 
