298 ANNALS OF THE ROAD. 



state of intoxication. I was obliged to get a passenger 

 to hold him on his box whilst I drove his horses to Ox- 

 ford. Being by lamp-light I could not exactly time the 

 coach, and we were a quarter of an hour too soon ; so, 

 putting down the slides of the lamps, I pulled up under 

 a wall, and seeing he was getting sober, I addressed 



my brother whip thus : ' Now B , you are a pretty 



coachman, but this will not do. You have a large family, 

 and I fear but ill provided for ; let me advise you to 

 keep that right-hand down, 1 or you'll kill somebody one 

 of these nights. Go in and kick your passengers, but 

 say nothing to them, and never let anyone see or hear 



of you in this state again.' B thanked me for my 



advice, though he did not take it, and in six weeks he 

 was killed from his box. 



To return to accidents on the road. Several very 

 bad ones have happened (although perhaps not stated in 

 the papers, as, for obvious reasons, they are suppressed) 

 within my own knowledge in the last twelve months to 

 coaches descending hills — either by some part of the 

 harness giving way, or by the horses being overpowered 

 by their load. Although it is my intention to enter 

 more fully into this part of my subject before I conclude, 

 yet I think it right here to observe, that accidents of 

 this nature would be much less frequent than they are, if 

 coachmen would take the precaution of pulling up their 

 horses short when on the point of descending a hill. 

 This precaution is doubly useful in night work, because 



1 Technical for keeping sober. 



