136 RIDING, DRIVING AND KINDRED SPORTS 



behind to the amateur, and this was thoroughly 

 sound. Direcdy you try to pull up four gallop- 

 ing horses on a slope the coach begins to rock 

 and an- upset is probable. The road in the case 

 I am speaking of was straight and fairly wide, 

 and the coachman, who was young, strong, 

 active, and plucky, kept the team straight until 

 in the natural course of things they were 

 checked by coming into their collars on the 

 opposite slope. 



If your nerves are out of order, don't try 

 to drive four horses on a country road. In 

 London it is much easier, as omnibus drivers 

 and others are generally willing to give way 

 to a coach. If you follow the stream, drive 

 steadily, and do not get too close to the vehicle 

 in front, you will find yourself in far less 

 danger in the streets of London than on an 

 open country road. All the same, on wood 

 pavement or asphalte it is as well to remember 

 that a coach runs very lightly, and that you 

 have scarcely any weight wherewith to check 

 your horses, the whole strain consequently 

 coming on your arms. Any one who has 

 steered a coach, say, to Ranelagh with a fresh 

 team must have felt the relief, after crossing 

 Hammersmith Bridoe, when he oot on the 

 macadam, generally rather rough, of the 

 Castelnau Road. 



