304 ANNALS OF THE ROAD. 



called a hill. There is a term which coachmen have for 

 this species of road. They call it ' pushing ground,' and 

 if the fall be a long one, it is astonishing how the force 

 of a loaded coach, upon the wheel-horses, is increased, 

 before she eets to the bottom of it ; and how difficult it 

 would be to pull her up short, if any accident should 

 happen — that is to say with wheelers of not the very 

 best stamp. I never saw but one coachman quite awake 

 to this — so much so, that he said if he once let his horses 

 exceed a very gentle trot, not exceeding five miles an 

 hour, he should never be able to pull them up until some 

 accident had happened. He was on a coach from 

 Manchester to Lancaster. He had a pair of wheelers 

 that had never been at wheel before, with a very heavy 

 load, and a fall of at least a mile before him, on a paved 

 road, which was of course all against him ; though the 

 fall was little more than an inclined plane. I was once 

 in a similar situation with this coachman ; but I had not 

 his foresight. I had got a pair of leaders at wheel which 

 were never in that place before, and to mend the matter, 

 they were put on their wrong sides. I had a fall of 

 about half a mile before me, with a turnpike gate at the 

 bottom of it ; and not having the precaution to check l 

 my coach in time, the accelerated force was such that 

 when I attempted to do so, I found the attempt was 

 vain. I had nothing for it but to whip my wheel-horses 

 up to the pole to keep the coach in the middle of the 



1 I do not like to tell tales, but I could mention four bad accidents 

 within the last twelve months only, from the want of this single precaution. 

 The newspapers, indeed, have enumerated a few. 



