MODERN FARlRIEItc 277 



much must the danger be increased when the weight 

 of three tons is pressing against them down a hill 

 covered with loose gravel, or uneven in its surface ! 

 But independently of the danger of the animal be- 

 ing thrown down, all the weight before mentioned 

 is resisted only by a small leather strap, which 

 buckles the harness together at the upper part of 

 the collar, and which, in case of its breaking or be- 

 coming loose, would let the hames fly asunder, and 

 the horse would be immediately overrun by the 

 carriage, and the consequences of such an accident 

 may very easily be calculated. But, strange as it 

 may appear, all this danger is incurred every day, 

 merely because the coachman considers a brichin to 

 be old-fashioned, and beneath his taste and dignity. 

 In stage-coaches, the swingle- tree bars, as a judi- 

 cious writer remarks, are fixed in the middle, and 

 are moveable in all directions; but some of the sa- 

 pient coachmen who drive them seem determined 

 to counteract this benefit, by fixing the inside traces 

 of the two leaders across each other, and attaching 

 them to tlie opposite bars, so as to prevent .their 

 lateral motion altogether. The danger of driving 

 «tage-coach horses without brichins has been before 

 observed ; and the legislature would do well to en- 

 force die use of them, in regard to those vehicles, by 

 inflicting a heavy penalty for the omission. The 

 circumstance of fixing the swingle-tree bars to the 

 end of the pole is also not without danger ; for the 

 pole is set so horizontal and low at that end to 

 whidi the bars are attached (for the purpose of its 

 being in the same line as the traces of the leaders), 

 that when the wheel-horses are in tiie act of stop- 

 ping the carriage, or of resisting its pressure when 

 going down hill, they must pull the end of the pole 

 upwards, at the great risk of loosening it or break- 

 ing it in the socket; and the consequences of such 

 an accident may be easily calculated, when the 

 horses would be overrun by the carriage without 



