20 DRIVING AS I FOUND IT. 



If a man from inclination or circumstances is des- 

 tined to drive only one description of vehicle and one 

 description of liorse it would be sufficient for Ms pur- 

 pose that he drives that vehicle well and safely. The 

 private servant avIio diiAes a brougham or a landau or 

 any description of one horse or pair-horse carriage, may 

 do very well for tliis, and doubtless flatters himself he 

 could do very well for any other description of coach- 

 manship. He would, however, find himself, or at all 

 events, others would find him, woefully deficient when 

 put to the test. The different description of knowledge 

 and practice required in driving different descriptions of 

 carriages, different descriptions of horses, and those in 

 different descriptions of situations, is much more varied 

 than people are apt to imagine. The finished coachman 

 can di-i\e anything, and drive it well, but he will not, nor 

 cannot drive anything equally well. There can be no 

 doubt but the stage coachman requires, and fortunately 

 acquires, generally speaking, more diversified knowl- 

 edge in coachmanshii) than any other votary of the 

 whip, particularly when driving sixty or seventy miles 

 across a country. Here he will have perhaps nine or ten 

 teams to drive, and to learn how to manage the tem- 

 pers of from forty to fifty different horses, independent 

 of the chances of these horses becoming lame or ill 

 from accidents and various other cii'cumstances which 



