1 84 ANNALS OF THE ROAD. 



no one but himself Xo instruct him in the art of coachman- 

 ship, though he left his other exercises to his masters. 



To drive the chariot, and with steady skill 



To turn, and yet not break the bending wheel, 



Amphitrion kindly did instruct his son, 



Great in the art ; — -for he himself had won 



Vast precious prizes on the Argive plains, 



And still the chariot which he drove remains 



Ne'er hurt in the course, tho' time has broke the falling reins. 



I have only one other observation to make, which is 

 that these chariots must have been more like waggons 

 than carriages, and very near to the ground, or they 

 could not have preserved their equilibrium, when going 

 around the pillars at the pace they are represented to 

 have been driven. 



ON HARNESSING. 



So much for classical and celestial coachmanship. 

 We must now descend to the humble road, where the 

 modern performers are, certainly, unlike any god but 

 one. 1 Socrates was asked what was necessary to make 

 a man a good musician ? His answer was, ' to become a 

 good musician.' So it is with a coachman. The sceptre 

 does not make the king ; neither does dressing, nor 

 looking like a coachman, make a coachman. As a cele- 

 brated performer 2 says, ' driving four horses is a pretty 



1 Bacchus. 



3 Mr. Williams, better known by the name of Chester Billy (more of him 

 hereafter). 



