226 ANNALS OF THE ROAD. 



his ground by the excess of the power which his 

 partner acquires by being so much before him. The 

 leader, therefore, must be always more or less eased 

 of his draught, when he is to make his turn, if it be 

 a short one, or it cannot be done handsomely, or with 

 safety. 



I have been very much amused with Oxford men and 

 their tandems, some of which I have seen turned out in a 

 very dragsmanlike style. I remember hearing the fol- 

 lowing remark made upon one of them, by that well- 

 known coachman Mr. Annesley, of Bletchington, at the 

 Cottisford Heath races : — ' Now,' says he, ' I have par- 

 ticularly noticed that tandem, and no less than six times 

 has it been around this race-course, through six fallow 

 fields ; and by the time it gets back to Oxford — six-and- 

 thirty miles by the mile-stones — it shan't be a bad day's 

 work ! ' One of the unfortunate horses, whose name I 

 cannot now recollect, had been a capital hunter in his 

 time, and it was lamentable to think that he should come 

 to such an end at last. 



On another occasion, I saw an Oxford tandem set out 

 one wet, dark, and blowing night from Chapel House, 

 and the start was rather good. The coachman and his 

 friend were both well sprung ; and on the latter not being 

 quite so quick at loading himself as he had been in the 

 morning, the other called to him, and said, ' Come, make 

 haste and get up ! You know this mare won't stop much 



longer.' 'Let her o-o, and be d d, then,' said the 



other, as he was creeping up the step, ' for you know / 

 had 7'athcr be upset than not.' 



