DIRECTIONS FOR DRIVING. 343 



time afterwards ; and in the course of the week I was 

 eyewitness to their performing their twelve miles stage 

 — and a very severe one — quite within their time. The 

 moment they heard the voice that had made such an im- 

 pression on them in the stable, they mended their pace 

 almost to the top of it, and no doubt they had been 

 whipped to a stand-still by their former driver. In the 

 Old School the voice was much resorted to, and often 

 with good effect ; and I have been much amused with 

 hearing Dan Herbert (of whom I have before spoken) 

 speaking to his horses in a peculiar tone and language, 

 as much as to tell them what he should do to them if 

 they did not mend their pace. 1 



It is not every man who knows when a coach horse 

 is at work. He may keep a tight trace, and yet be 

 doing little. There is a certain increased tension of the 

 frame when a horse is taking weight with him, which is 

 the surest criterion to judge by, and which never escapes 

 a quick and experienced eye. What are called lobbing 

 goers take a greater weight with them than horses of 

 finer action — that is, provided they are equally close 

 workers. Heavy draught shortens the stride of horses, 

 after having been a few years at work. 



A most material point in driving four horses is to keep 

 them well in hand — not merely as regards their work, 

 but also for the safety of the coach. The track which a 



1 The classical reader will recollect the speeches of Antilochus and Mene- 

 laus to their horses, in the 23rd book of Homer's ' Iliad,' and the good effect 

 they had upon them in the race. Even a whistle is thought slow at the 

 present day by our first-raters. 



