220 THE HORSE. 



out every year, for us to slight the humane and just 

 observation, that " such punishment should never be 

 inflicted but for vice." 



It always gratifies me to be able to agree with 

 Nimrod. I have stated my frequent observations to 

 different coachmen, on the great risk of putting raw 

 horses to immediate work, the almost universal prac- 

 tice. Nimrod says, " If it can be avoided, a coach- 

 horse should not be broken in a fast coach, as there 

 is no time to try his temper and humour him. Many 

 horses, by being put at first in too quick work, get 

 a habit of cantering, and never settle to trot well 

 afterwards." Again (p. 163), " Coach proprietors, 

 at least all those who do business on a large scale, 

 should be in possession of a break, into which they 

 should put their young horses previous to their 

 going into regular work. The practice of putting a 

 young horse, never accustomed to harness, into a 

 coach laden with passengers, the lives of whom, put- 

 ting their individual selves out of the question, may 

 be most valuable to their families and their coun- 

 try, is most reprehensible ; and one, that when injury 

 is sustained by it, should be visited by the severest 

 penalty the law can inflict." 



The last three or four pages of Nimrod's letter are 

 particularly amusing, and full of good practical stuff. 

 They relate to the wages, perquisites, and profits 

 of coachmen, to travelling dress, and to the meta- 

 phorical slang or lingo of the road, of which he gives 

 a vocabulary. His imposing the denomination of 

 proper humbug on a certain subject will be adverted 

 to in its proper place, when that subject shall come 



