350 The Book of tiif. Horse. 



would be very bad to beat, and for reckless pace in single harness who can excel the butcher- 

 boys and drivers of mail carts ? But none of them have the style a gentleman would 

 like to see in his four-in-hand coachman or mail phaeton groom, still less in his wife or 

 daughter. 



There is no more legitimate luxury for a young lady of fortune, whose tastes lie that 

 way, than a well-appointed phaeton and pair ; none which excites more legitimate admiration 

 \vhen driven in the manner which shows perfect command over the horses ; none which 

 excites more pity, if not contempt, than a nervous, awkward, or bold awkward driver of a 

 pair of ill-matched, ill-groomed, ill-harnessed horses. 



Given the sort of horses a lady should drive, and the nerve that most healthy young 

 ladies possess, nothing more is needed than a few weeks' instruction from a really good 

 coachman, and a few months' practice in quiet streets or lanes under the eyes of a steady 

 groom on the back seat, who may be a very good, without being a skilful and elegant driver. 



There are two accepted styles of driving : — The English, which is the only style that 

 ladies — for whom this chapter is particularly written — can adopt, and the Russian, which is 

 also the American. 



The English coachman drives with his elbows near his hips and his hands near his body. 

 The Russian and American extend their arms to their full length, and when trotting often 

 make the horses almost draw by the reins instead of the traces. 



With American drivers speed is the great object, and to pace everything is sacrificed I 

 with the English the object is a good style. In fact, pace with an English horse in a 

 gentleman's gig or mail phaeton ends when an American begins to trot in earnest. 



Fourteen mile? an hour is quite the outside pace of an English pair in a private carriage 

 of any kind, and ninety per cent, of the best appointed harness teams in and out of London 

 never exceed ten rriiles an hour. 



If the wheelers in the thousand-guinea team of a four-in-hand drag can trot fourteen 

 miles an hour, returning from an expedition into the country, from races, a garden party, or 

 pic-nic, they do all that is likely to be required of them in the way of pace. 



But no young gentleman in the United States of horsey tastes is satisfied with a trotter 

 not able to do his "2.40" — that is, a mile in two minutes and forty seconds, or at the rate 

 of twenty-two miles an hour. His ordinary pace in driving out of town, with other friends 

 competing, will be about seventeen miles an hour. 



In the following pages, noted down from the lips of some of the most acco-mplished 

 coachmen of the day, an attempt will be made to teach as much as can be taught in writing 

 on a purely practical art, with the view of enabling an aspirant to a first, second, or third class 

 degree in coachmanship to profit as much as possible from the vivd voce lectures of a pro- 

 fessional instructor. 



No amount of instruction will stand in the stead of courage, of " nerve," as it is popularly 

 called, but many of those who are very nervous on first taking the reins in hand will, if 

 they have any natural aptitude, acquire confidence after a reasonable amount of practice, 

 in the same way that experienced drivers, who have lost their nerve from illness and long 

 absence from the road, soon re-acquire it when once fairly settled behind a team of good 

 horses. 



It is assumed, for the purposes of this chapter, that the pupils are in a position to obtain 

 well-broken, free-moving horses, suitable carriages, harness, and well-trained servants. 



To drive one or a pair of the sort of horses a Lnl\' should dri\c. or even four perfectly- 



