PREFACE. ix 



attained by attending at the same time to the theory. It 

 is only by being well up in his work, and knowing what 

 he is at, that the tyro can be put on the same footing 

 as ' one of us,' as the old coachman has it. 



The name of Nimrod, and the masterly style of his 

 writings on all sporting subjects, are well known ; and 

 his essays on ' The Road,' which originally appeared in 

 the form of letters to the ' Sporting Magazine,' and are 

 now reproduced in this volume, will be read with delight 

 by both old and young hands. A careful study of them 

 will enable the tyro to perfect himself in the theory of 

 the art of coachmanship ; and the dragsman may learn 

 ' a thing or two ' by the perusal of these truly unique 

 essays, now for the first time collected and published in 

 a separate form. 



To be a coachman, says Nimrod, you must take your 

 degree ; for driving four horses is an art, ' and a very 

 pretty //art,' as was said by that excellent coachman 

 ' Chester Billy.' The knowledge necessary to qualify a 

 man for his degree will be found in Nimrod, and by 

 acquiring it the theory of driving will be mastered. 



The fact of my residence in India increases in many 

 ways the difficulty of compiling a work of this sort 

 There comes, moreover, the terrible thought that pos- 

 sibly an opposition coach may have entered on the road 

 at home, and have taken up all the passengers. Still I 

 hope that those of my own ' yard ' will be with me, and 

 should the coaching lore which I ' put to ' so interest 

 and amuse the reader as to make those drive now who 

 never drove before, and those who always drove now 



