THE HORSE. 197 



appearance of the old leaven is far from uncommon ; 

 and many fatal accidents, from mere foolhardiness 

 and negligence have occurred, are indeed periodically 

 occurring, as though they were the order of the day 

 and necessary to our glorious system. The very idea 

 of stage coaches racing on the high road savours 

 strongly of out door Bedlam; more impressively in 

 the travellers ; yet I have lately seen two stage 

 coaches of the very first class, following each other 

 upon the gallop, at the rate of sixteen or seventeen 

 miles an hour, from the turnpike down and up the 

 hill to Piccadilly. After all the threats and fuss 

 which have been made about this coach racing, there 

 is now full enough of it to be witnessed ; and, as the 

 present law in the case is somewhat like a dead letter, 

 were some of these drag competitors and jockeys pre- 

 ferred to a box in Botany Bay, I can predicate no 

 possible harm in it. A coach, last year, was upset 

 from no other cause or obstruction than the swing 

 round a well known sharp corner; and other acci- 

 dents occurred, which obviously required legal inter- 

 ference, though they had none. Now stage coach 

 travellers are in a rare predicament, if their necks 

 require insurance against turning corners. The adept 

 who achieved this feat, I believe, escaped the annoy- 

 ance even of a remonstrance. But what is to be said 

 about excessive, heavy, and high loads, with which, 

 descent of steep hills and inequality of surface on the 

 road, render it even betting up or down ? Why, that 

 it is a race, but not at even weights, between the pe- 

 cuniary interests of the coach proprietors and the life 



