72 ANNALS OF THE ROAD. 



thigh, the arm without constraint, steady, and with a 

 holding" command that keeps his horses like clockwork, 

 yet to a superficial observer quite with loose reins. So 

 firm and compact is he, that you seldom observe any 

 shifting ; only, I may say, to take a shorter purchase for 

 a run down hill, which he accomplishes with greater 

 confidence and skill than any man I ever saw, untinctured 

 with imprudence. His right hand and whip (now I want 

 Nimrod) are beautifully in unison : the cross, if not in 

 direct line with the box, over the near wheel, raised 

 gracefully up, ready, as it were, to reward the near-side 

 horse ; the thong, after three twists (just enough sus- 

 pended for the necessary purpose), which appear in his 

 hand to have been placed by the maker, never to be 

 altered or improved, and if the off-side horse becomes 

 slack, to see the turn of his arm to reduce a twist, or to 

 reverse it, if necessary, is exquisite, and after being 

 placed under the rib, or upon the shoulder point, up 

 comes the arm, and with it the thong returns to the 

 elegant position upon the cross. I say elegant — the stick 

 highly polished yew, rather light, not too taper, yet 

 elastic, a thong in clean order, pliable, — with this man it 

 really is elegance, the direction of the thong over the 

 cross without effort, simply a turn of the wrist. 1 



' This refinement in the management of the whip is 

 not of many years' birth. I remember when it was not 

 known as a luxury in driving ; even now it belongs only 

 to a rare few to execute the accomplishment effectively 



1 The length of your whip should be 5 ft. i^ins. from the butt to holder, 

 and 12 ft. 5 in. or 6 in. from the holder to the end of your point. 



