CH. XII BUCKLING THE REINS 27 1 



may slip out of the fingers and drop off of the foot- 

 board beyond recovery, in which case a serious ac- 

 cident is almost inevitable. It is also suggested 

 that the catching of the lead-reins in the pad-terrets 

 might check the leaders sufficiently to permit the 

 guard or the servants to get to their heads and stop 

 them, and that, moreover, a coachman has no right, 

 if he can prevent it, to let two frightened horses, 

 with the bars at their heels, run down the road to 

 the danger of the public. 



To this it may be answered, that should the reins 

 pull the harness off of the wheelers, there would be 

 four frightened and unmanageable horses instead of 

 two. It seems hardly possible, however, that the 

 reins could tear off the pads and still remain buckled, 

 so as to tear off the bridles, and the loss of the pads 

 would not render the wheelers unmanageable. 



As to authorities in print : all appear to prefer 

 buckling, except Corbett, who in An Old CoacJi- 

 maris Chatter, p. 245, after discussing the matter, 

 says : ' And now, gentle readers, I leave you to 

 ' take your choice, premising that, for myself, I lean 

 ' to unpinned ribbons.' 



Reynardson [Down the Road, p. 186) says: ' For- 

 1 merly [that is up to about 1825] all reins were buck- 

 ' led. Gradually it became the fashion not to buckle, 

 'and then to have no buckles, on fast coaches.' He 

 ends by saying, ' it is a safe plan to buckle.' 



' NiMROD,' in his Essay, The Road, printed in 

 1832, objects strongly to the practice of not buckling, 



