THE HORSE. 209 



which the list is considerable. Many coachmen, in 

 fast work, like to have their horses pull at them, con- 

 sidering it safer, and therefore cheek their horses to 

 enable them to do so. I have seen Peer with all his 

 horses to the cheek, over what is considered his 

 fastest stage, from Hounslow to Egham, but it is a 

 rare occurrence. 



" Although there are rules for passing and meeting 

 other carriages on the road, yet there are times when 

 they need not to be strictly adhered to, and a little 

 mutual civility and accommodation between coach- 

 men is pleasing. Thus, if I have the hill in my 

 favour, that is to say, if I am going down it, and a 

 loaded coach is coming up it at the same time, I 

 ought, if I can do it with safety, to give the hardest 

 side of the road to the other coach. Nothing; can be 

 lost by a little civility when it costs nothing." 



The following remarks are of considerable import. 

 I have always imagined that a horse in harness 

 cannot apply so forcible a pressure, or carry up so 

 much weight in the canter as in the trot, from the 

 curvetting and irregularity of the former, and the 

 steadiness of the latter pace : thence the greater value 

 of trotters in harness. I have mentioned this, how- 

 ever, to two or three eminent dragsmen, who made 

 little account of it, observing, that when the traces 

 are even, each horse must take an equal weight, 

 though one may canter to his partner's trot. I am 

 not convinced. Nimrod says, " It is not every man 

 who knows when a coachhorse is at work. He may 

 keep a tight trace, and yet be doing little. There is 

 a certain increased tension of the frame when a horse 



