DRIVING 151 



and safe in harness,' bnt he appeared to me to show a g^reat 

 deal of work, and therefore I wished to see the stanhope 

 that he had been accustomed to draw. * It was at the 

 coachmaker's.' I offered to go there, and proposed that we 

 should drive to the shop. * It was a long way off, on the 

 other side of the water.' I replied that my time was of no 

 consequence ; for whenever I perceive hesitation, I always 

 feel distrust. * It was taken to pieces to be fresh painted.' 

 In short, I found that the chaise was not to be seen ; and 

 therefore see it I would. When we returned to the stables, 

 I took an opportunity of saying privately to the ostler that 

 I thought the horse had been over-weighted, and I wished 

 to compare his owner's stanhope with mine — ' When would 

 it be at home again ? ' He could not tell, but at once 

 referred me to the coachmaker's ; this was all I wanted. I 

 proceeded there without delay, and anticipated his customer 

 by only ten minutes ; this was enough, however, to apprise 

 myself by ocular inspection that the dashing iron had been 

 kicked av^ay, only the week before, by the horse warranted 

 ' safe in harness ' ! About a month after, not having yet 

 found what I wanted, I read an advertisement in the paper 

 of 'a horse, stanhope, and harness to be sold together; the 

 stanhope, almost new, and very recently from the coach- 

 maker's shop ; the horse possessing the grandest action 

 imaginable, and making, altogether, the most elegant turn- 

 out in London ; hond fide the property of a gentleman who 

 might be referred to.' I went to the place, and at once 

 recognised my old acquaintance, whose action, d posteriori^ 

 at least, had been as ' grand ' as could reasonably be desired ; 

 and as for the stanhope, the most practised eye in Long 

 Acre could scarcely have discovered the true cause of its 

 having so recently quitted the coachmaker's lol't ! Another 

 striking specimen of gentility in horse-dealing transactions ! " 

 The horse is "put to" for going in shafts in an entirely 

 different manner than if to be driven with a pole. If 

 single harness, the shafts are tilted up and held there by 

 one man, while another backs the horse until he is under 

 them, when they are dropped down, and the tugs slipped 

 under or over the ends of the shafts, according to the 

 formation of the tugs, some being hooks, and others leather 

 loops. Care must be taken that they do not slip beyond 

 the pins on the shafts. The traces are now attached to the 

 drawing-bar, the breeching or kicking- strap buckled, and 



