viii PREFACE. 



course there are coachmen and coachmen ; but to those 

 who would become real coachmen, I would earnestly 

 recommend the study of the origin of wheeled convey- 

 ances, in the excellent treatise on draught by William 

 Youatt, appended to his work on ' The Horse.' In that 

 treatise will be found most useful and necessary hints, 

 due attention to which would prevent many an accident 

 which might otherwise be caused by ignorance of the 

 simplest mechanical principles. In truth, the properties 

 of carriages are seldom thoroughly understood by those 

 who build them. ' Yet nothing,' it has been well said, 

 ' is more essential for gentlemen who keep a carriage 

 to know, than the various principles on which they may 

 be built to suit their convenience ; ' 1 it might have been 

 added — ' and that of their horses.' 



To become a practical coachman, it is necessary to 

 understand thoroughly the subject of draught by animal 

 power. Direct practical information respecting this will 

 be found in Youatt's treatise. The coachman should care- 

 fully peruse, and stow away in his knowledge-boot, the in- 

 structions there given regarding the angle of inclination 

 of the line of traction. He will thus learn how to put his 

 horses to, and how to make the most of his moving 

 power. The necessity of acquiring this knowledge will 

 be sufficiently obvious to justify my insisting on the 

 primary importance of mastering the theories of draught 

 and coachbuilding. 



Perfection in the practice of driving, too, is only to be 



1 Felton on Carriages, 1796. 



