GENTLEMEN COACHMEN. 387 



because no one could drive him ; and as he had broken 

 two carriages, he was the terror of the neighbourhood. 

 I moped him, and could drive him, with the greatest 

 safety, either leader or at wheel. 



I have one more hint to offer. When all four horses 

 are to be restrained at once, almost all coachmen draw all 

 the reins through their finders at the same moment. 

 This is not the way to do it ; for here your horses mouths 

 are lost. The coachman should change his hands thus : 

 he should open the fingers of his right hand and put 

 the reins into them, about two inches in front of his left 

 hand, and then catch them again with his left by passing 

 it beyond his right. By this plan, his horses' mouths, as 

 I said before, are not lost, which they would otherwise 

 be. I am indebted to Jack Peer for this wrinkle, which 

 I briefly noticed in my last. 



I have never met with more than one coachman who 

 drives with a full hand, and that is Mr. Hunt, who 

 horses and drives an Epsom coach. With a full hand, 

 every rein passes singly through the fingers, which is not 

 the case on the general plan. There is one advantage 

 (with long wheel reins) in this method — the near wheeler s 

 rein is not covered by the off leader s ; but this is more 

 than counterbalanced by the comparatively trifling power 

 a man has in his little finger, which must mainly resist 

 the operation of the off leader's rein. Were it not for 

 this, an advantage would attend it. On my asking Mr. 

 Hunt why he drove in this way, he replied, that he had 

 a very fat round hand, and he felt it more convenient. 



c c 2 



