THE COACH-HOUSE, HARNESS-ROOM, ETC. 103 



inclined to do, after they had done their ten miles an hour, 

 with " twelve out and four in " and luggage in proportion.' Why 

 the invention of the patent break should not have been received 

 with a shout of universal approval, it is difficult to tell, unless 

 indeed it was that English coachmen would not take kindly to 

 a French invention. The oldest of the old school would not 

 object to using well-fitting harness and easy bits in order that 

 the horses might go with comfort to themselves ; nor would 

 they, when going uphill, add needlessly to the draught by 

 picking out all the soft, broken, or stony parts of the road. 

 That being so, why on earth should they affect to deride a 

 mechanical contrivance which lessens the strain on a horse's 

 limbs when descending a hill ? 



It has been said, and truly, that in inexperienced hands they 

 are made a great deal too much use of, and generally at the 

 wrong time ; for nothing looks so bad, or uncoachmanlike, as 

 to put on the break at every little decline on the road, or when 

 pulling up at the end of the stage, which performance may be 

 too often seen at Hatchett's. This, however, is scarcely a fair 

 argument against the break. That it can be abused is unques- 

 tionable, and it is equally a fact that the continual abuse of it 

 has manufactured more bad coachmen, and more wheelers that 

 won't even try to stop a coach, than can possibly be believed. 

 But whips and curb-bits are also open to abuse ; yet no one 

 has advised that all coachmen should drive their horses in 

 snaffles, or, like a famous tandem-driver who could never 

 master the use of a whip, leave that implement behind, and 

 employ a pea-shooter instead 1 Moreover, a break may come 

 in useful in the event of a pole breaking, or on some unlooked- 

 for emergency. 



So far as can be ascertained, the earliest form of skid was 

 that which required some one to alight to put it on and take it 

 off ; the next step was the skid which, by means of a line and 

 crank, the coachman could himself put on and take off ; and 

 some got so clever at taking it off that they would drive over 

 any little unevenness and jerk the skid off when the coach 



