^Nimrod ' 



to his nose, he exclaims, ' Holloa, Mr. Horse-keeper ! You 

 are going to put an unruly horse in the coach.' ' What ! 

 this here oss ? ' growls the man ; ' the quietest hanimal alive, 

 sir ! ' as he shoves him to the near side of the pole. At this 

 moment, however, the coachman is heard to say in some- 

 what of an undertone, ' Mind what you are about. Bob ; 

 don't let him touch the roller-bolt.' In thirty seconds more, 

 they are off — ' the staid and steady team,' so styled by the 

 proprietor, in the coach. * Let 'em go, and take care of 

 yourselves,' says the artist, so soon as he is firmly seated 

 upon his box ; and this is the way in which they start. The 

 near leader rears right on end, and if the rein had not been 

 yielded to him at the instant, he would have fallen backwards 

 on the head of the pole. The moment the twitch was taken 

 from the nose of the thorough-bred near-wheeler, he drew 

 himself back to the extent of his pole-chain — his forelegs 

 stretched out before him — and then like a lion loosened from 

 his toil, made a snatch at the coach that would have broken 

 two pairs of traces of 1742. A steady and good- whipped 

 horse, however, his partner, started the coach himself, with 

 a gentle touch of the thong, and away they went off together. 

 But the thorough-bred one was very far from being comfort- 

 able ; it was in vain that the coachman tried to soothe him 

 with his voice, or stroked him with the crop of his whip. 

 He drew three parts of the coach, and cantered for the first 

 mile ; and when he did settle down to his trot, his snorting 

 could be heard by the passengers, being as much as to say, 

 * I was not born to be a slave.' In fact, as the proprietor 



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