THE COACH-HOUSE, HARNESS-ROOM, ETC. 89 



necessarily expensive. To hang a saddle upon a tenpenny 

 nail to force a crupper over a great wooden arm, merely 

 because it happens to be there ; or to hang bits and stirrup- 

 irons over a gas bracket, because no proper convenience 

 is at hand, is false economy. Such makeshifts are never seen 

 in well-regulated establishments. The harness-room should 

 be provided with a fireplace or stove of some kind, and bits, 

 stirrup-irons, &c., should be kept in a wooden case, lined 

 with green baize, and placed in a dry part of the room over 

 the mantelshelf is as good as anywhere. Several firms now 

 make the fitting up of harness-rooms a speciality, and no 

 difficulty need be experienced in procuring suitable brackets, 

 pegs, &c., at a moderate cost, if economy be an object. The 

 manner in which bits are turned out is, to a great extent, an 

 index of the pains bestowed upon the equipage at large ; they 

 should be kept scrupulously clean, free from the slightest speck 

 of rust, and should be carefully burnished, for which a burnisher 

 is required. 



Bits are, to a great extent, matters of fancy, and are also 

 very often the most difficult things to get suited with, as it is 

 not only the horse's mouth, but the coachman's hands, which 

 have to be considered. There are one or two persons well known 

 in the Park who, on the strength of possessing fairly good 

 hands, drive with bits of the greatest severity. A bit that exactly 

 does for one horse may drive another mad, which sometimes 

 makes it awkward when you have to drive a pair, and all the 

 more so when you have to put a team together. The Liverpool 

 bits are very fashionable ; neat and useful for single harness, or 

 tandem-driving, but in double harness, or with a team, they 

 are apt to hurt the sides of the horses' mouths, for which there 

 is no prevention except to use a circular cheek-leather, which 

 fits on either or both sides of the bit, but which is far from 

 being ornamental. The old-fashioned elbow-bits are probably 

 the best for heavy coach-work ; though some men prefer the 

 ' Buxton ' pattern, with a bar at the bottom, to prevent the bit 

 from becoming entangled in the pole-chain's, or coupling-rein 



