THE LIFE OF A SPORTSMAN 



in all that concerns what is called the road, by men of fortune 

 and judgment. Men of" mathematical and classical education, 

 indeed, of refined manners, and possessing humane feelings, 

 have made the working of a coach, drawn by four horses, 

 their study, as well as their amusement ; and although grave 

 old codgers have laughed at them, editors of newspapers pitied 

 them, and fine ladies felt shocked at them, the public have 

 reason to thank them, travellers to pray for them, and the 

 noblest of the brute creation, had they the faculty of speech, 

 might pour out their gratitude for the benefits they have 

 received at their hands. In the first place, they pointed out 

 the cruelty of enforcing, in the low-bred horse, the speed and 

 powers peculiar only to those possessing a certain portion of 

 high blood. Secondly, harness, if ill-constructed, indepen- 

 dently of being unsafe, is more tormentingly punishing to 

 horses than all the whipping that can be applied to them. 

 The members of these clubs improved this in many particulars^ 

 of which, without practical experience of the defects, they 

 never could have been judges, and of which, in too many 

 instances, coach proprietors and their servants were too care- 

 less or too ignorant to be informed. In short, to the amateur 

 coachmen of England Englishmen are greatly indebted. To 

 them we owe the improved manners as well as morals of 

 modern road coachmen, amongst whom they have excited a 

 wholesome spirit of emulation, a creditable style of dress and 

 address, as well as honest pride in the condition of their 

 horses, cleanliness of their harness, and so forth. Coach 

 travelling is, as it were, metamorphosed into something 

 approaching to luxury, from a tedious and disgusting labour ; 

 and a modern stage-coach is become a beautiful object on our 

 roads, in the place of an unwieldy machine, at variance with 

 mathematical principles. There is an increase of speed with 

 a diminution of danger — a great point gained, and to the 

 accomplishment of which the improvement in axle-trees and 

 wheels has most materially tended. " Dry wheels make wet 

 horsed," is a proverb on the road ; and independently of the 

 safety of the patent box, in which the arm of the axle-tree 

 rests, the lubrication of it by the constant How of oil, by 

 reducing friction, is nearly equal to lialf a horse's draught. 

 I am (juite sure, then, that it adds much to the pleasure of 

 the members of those clubs, and to other amateurs of the 



320 



