no THE COMPLETE SPORTSMAN 



a carriage, wrap a horse-blanket round one's 

 legs (taking care to allow one's feet to protrude 

 below the rug), seize a rein in each hand, and, 

 by alternately jugging their mouths and making 

 noises like a chicken in distress, encourage one's 

 team to proceed in the required direction. 

 Something more than this is demanded of the 

 true horsemaster. Between him and his charge 

 such a complete understanding should be estab- 

 lished that the intelligent beast will instinc- 

 tively anticipate its driver's wishes, almost 

 before they are expressed. It will therefore be 

 quite unnecessary for him to exhibit those acro- 

 batic feats upon the dicky which too often tend to 

 render the amateur whip supremely ridiculous. 

 I have known an inexpert driver to perch 

 himself so precariously upon the box that 

 whenever his horse stumbled he stood (or, 

 rather, sat) in imminent peril of being pulled 

 right off his seat and thrown headlong into the 

 road. I even remember a peculiarly indifferent 

 professional coachman, in the employment of 

 old Lady Blenkinsopp, whose behaviour sug- 

 gested that of an anthropoid ape rather than 

 the conduct of a man with an immortal soul. 

 Once, when the pair of horses he was driving 

 ran away with him in Hyde Park, this wTetched 

 man thrust his feet against the splashboard of 

 the victoria, and leant so far back in his attempt 



