ON ACCIDENTS. 



309 



middle territ ; but allowances must be made for the 

 prejudices of an old coachmaster. If he were to drive 

 his horses a few stages, he would find the benefit, as they 

 are considerably lighter in hand — much power being lost 

 in the increased angle the rein describes, on the old 

 plan. 



I was very near meeting with an accident so lately 

 as last summer by a wheel horse's bridle being pulled off 

 his head, by the operation of the leader's rein passing 

 through a single head-territ, and through the near pad- 

 territ of the wheeler — having no middle territ. I was 

 going to Croydon by a Reigate coach, and, having a seat 

 on the front-roof, had a full command of the horses, 

 which were rum ones, and the coachman, what we call 

 on the road, a ' fresh-catched one.' He had a very 

 raking grey mare before the bar on the off side, who 

 hung off from her partner, and a near wheeler that hung 

 away from the pole. The consequence of this was, that 

 by the strain on the inside coupling-rein — and the near 

 leading rein drawing at a considerable angle through the 

 single head-territ, and no middle-territ — I espied the 

 bridle in the act of slipping over the near wheeler's head 

 as soon as we began to descend Streatham Hill. 'Coach- 

 man,' said I, 'your bridle is coming off your near wheeler.' 

 — 'By the Lord, and so it is— please to jump down,' said 

 he to a gentleman on the box. The gentleman made 

 the attempt ; and instead of putting his foot on the tread 

 of the roller bolt, he put it on the wheel, and got an ugly 

 fall. I was more fortunate in getting down, and reached 

 the mare's head just as the bit was quitting her mouth ; 



