OX ACCIDEXTS. 145 



it is acted upon more horizontally by the breeching. 

 It must be allowed, however, that the above-mentioned 

 risks are lessened when the lock wheel is locked in going 

 down hill. But at the present day this precaution is 

 seldom or never observed, except the hill be as steep 

 as the roof of a house ; the practice of these twelve-miles- 

 an-hour gentlemen being to gallop down one hill that 

 they may have the advantage of momentum of the 

 carriage in ascending another. It is true, that where 

 the roads are deep and heavy, the wheels make so deep 

 an impression as to decrease the velocity in descending 

 a hill sufficiently to prevent the necessity of locking, but 

 the present state of the roads is almost universally so 

 sound and good as to keep the wheels upon the nail, 

 and thus the danger is evidently increased. It is no 

 uncommon circumstance, though a very reprehensible 

 one, to use harness (in the middle stages of the road at 

 night) that is so old and imperfect (especially the reins), 

 as to be in constant danger of being broken. This un- 

 pardonable practice arises from there being no proba- 

 bility of its being detected by the passengers in the dark ; 

 and hence the proprietor, paying more attention to his 

 own pocket than to the safety of the passengers, cares 

 very little about the condition of those articles, which 

 form so essential a part of the undertaking. In addition 

 to this evil, it often happens, that these midway pro- 

 prietors make no scruple of using a horse in the middle 

 of the night that has never been in harness before, at the 

 risk of his kicking, or jibbing, or running the coach out 

 of the road ; inconveniences which, it is manifest, must 



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