Ii8 DRIVING. 



a little towards the pole, and this brings greater pressure on the 

 outside trace. Great difficulty is often experienced, in even the 

 best-regulated establishments, in ensuring the shortest trace 

 being always put on the inside ; but by the use of French eyes 

 at the end of the wheel-traces, instead of the usual running 

 loop, the difficulty is at once overcome, the unsightliness of the 

 hanging end used to loosen the loop to take it off the roller- 

 bolt done away with, and the matter reduced to a certainty, 

 simply by having the French eye of the inside traces made too 

 small to go over the outside roller-bolt, which being in all 

 coaches, both public and private, and nearly all large carriages 

 of every description, made oblong in shape, is consequently 

 much larger than the perfectly round inside one, and it is there- 

 fore simply impossible to have the traces wrongly put on. 



Most young coachmen having got together a good team, 

 bought a new coach and set of harness, having also mastered 

 the rudiments of driving four horses, catching the thong, &c., 

 consider that they have now nothing more to do than to jump 

 on the box and drive away ; but this is a great mistake. A 

 coachman, before he can be a good coachman, either amateur 

 or professional, should be able, not only to put his team 

 together, but to put the harness, although it had all been com- 

 pletely taken to pieces, properly together again. The latter 

 task is long and difficult for a beginner, who will be materially 

 assisted in the ultimate successful performance of it if he will 

 take notice of every strap and buckle, as he is driving along by 

 the side of his mentor in his preparatory lessons. To be able 

 to put the team in after the harness has been properly put on 

 the horses will be found a far less arduous business, although 

 it is an equally necessary accomplishment. 



The first thing to do is to put the wheelers alongside the 

 pole. Their heads being close up to the pole-hook, fasten the 

 hook of the pole-chain into the ring of the kidney-link 1 to 



1 I prefer running the pole-chain through the ring on the kidney-link, the 

 man at the horses' heads holding the pole-hook in his hand, the other hand 

 being at liberty to pull forward the horse that runs back. B. 



