318 DRIVING. 



threatened to brain, with the butt of his heavy whip, anyone 

 who touched him. However, in the course of the conversation 

 the writer managed to sidle up to him, and slipping his left 

 hand quietly up, got hold of the thong of the whip, and at the 

 same moment getting a grip of the collar of the boy's jacket, 

 had him off the horse and in the road before he could say 

 ' knife ' ; the wheel-reins were quickly put on, and we drove 

 through the county-town with the old boy up behind weeping 

 salt tears, and found our next team waiting us some miles 

 further on. The other instance occurred fifty years ago at 

 Stoke-upon-Trent. Horses were ordered a capital team ; two 

 smart boys turned out ready mounted, there being no symptom 

 of anything wrong. There is a very steep hill out of the town, 

 and the wheel-boy, who was drunk, began to gallop at the top 

 of the hill, the leading boy having to flog and gallop for his 

 life. This lasted for some three or four miles, when the 

 drunkard got sleepy, and the leading boy, who drove admirably, 

 gradually slackened speed, and eventually stopped all four 

 horses, who by that time were nothing loth to stop. With a 

 very heavy travelling carriage, it was a marvellous escape of a 

 bad accident. It is so long ago that I forget how we got on 

 after, but know that our destination was safely reached, thanks 

 to the sagacity and efficiency of the leading boy. 



I once witnessed a most laughable scene with a sulky post- 

 boy, who could drive very well but would not go along. It was 

 posting through Oxfordshire on a mail-phaeton in the year 

 1834. The owner of the phaeton, a very fine coachman, had 

 driven his own horses the first stage, and was going to drive 

 others further on in the journey. The post-horses were good 

 and the gentleman was in a hurry, but nothing would induce 

 the boy to go on. The gentleman's driving whip was in the 

 bucket, so he took it out, laid into the horses, put them into a 

 gallop, and kept them in it till they got to the town where they 

 were to change. The postboy was furious, and invited the 

 gentleman to get out and have his head punched, which he 

 immediately did ; but when the boy saw six feet one, as upright 



