168 PRECEPT AND PRACTICE. 



coachmanship, some half century behind the English 

 artistes. The Irish coachmen have, or had, a habit 

 of constantly urging on their horses in the intervals 

 of using the whip, by caUing out, 'Hup, hup !' and 

 I assure you I do not exaggerate when I say that, 

 when the wind set the right way, I could hear the 

 * Hup, hup ' of old Denny, a coachman on that road, 

 a good quarter of a mile before his coach came up. 

 Travelhng per coach in Wales, I found a somewhat 

 curious specimen of a Knight of the Toeboard. He 

 had a most extraordinary and monotonous sound, 

 (for I know not by what other name to call it), which 

 he constantly grunted forth for the acceleration of 

 his team, who took as much notice of it as they 

 would have done had he treated them with *God 

 save the Queen.' Whether they would have stopped 

 altogether had the accustomed ejaculation ceased, I 

 cannot say. He called it * spiriting 'em up a bit ;' but 

 his thong, that fell like a flail, seemed to me the only 

 effective accelerator. There was a time, I believe, 

 when coachmen of the first class used the voice a 

 good deal to their horses ; but not since I noticed 



