PREFACE. xi 



endeavouring to lie down ; if their horses were to stumble, 

 how could they possibly save them from falling, since they 

 have not got them properly in hand ? You cannot persuade 

 these gentry to keep their hands low, their elbows down to 

 their sides, their reins firmly grasped in the left hand, whilst 

 the right hand, that holds the whip, is ready to help the left 

 hand by drawing the reins through it in order to shorten 

 them, or to assist in guiding the horses. No, they must 

 behave like mountebanks, separating their reins, and then 

 when they wish to pull up, suddenly bringing up their hands 

 in close proximity to their noses, or when desiring to touch 

 up their horses with the whip, doing so with the right hand 

 holding both the whip and the reins at the same moment, 

 thereby giving a painful jerk to the horses' mouths, in addition 

 to the cut of the lash. A pair of horses can be guided with 

 one hand only, and with one hand be pulled up and made to 

 turn round ; of course this is a difficult matter, but as I have 

 done it m}-self several times, I know it to be perfectly 

 feasible. 



Some people will never submit to be taught. It is 

 not because they are not conscious of their deficiency, 

 but because they are too narrow-minded to admit that 

 they are deficient in the knowledge you are willing to 

 impart. They cherish a feeling of false pride, which 

 envelops their minds as in a mantle. I am not now 

 speaking of servants, but of all people who ride and drive 

 badly. I know doctors in the country who drive every 

 day of their lives, and all day from morning to night, and yet 

 they are shocking bad coachmen, with hands and arms all 

 over the place. 



I think that all the great men who have raised themselves to 

 eminence from small beginnings must have been men whom it 

 was exceedingly difficult to off"end by giving them advice. Their 

 minds must have been continually yearningfor additional know- 

 ledge, and if the advice they received did not coincide with 

 their opinion, or struck them as being worthless, I feel certain 

 they received it in good part notwithstanding. That they 



