168 SPOXTS AND ANECDOTES. 



looking chestnut mare, would not have it at any 

 price, and ran back upon the pole, and set to to mill 

 in grand style. This happened two or three times, 

 and it seemed rather uncertain whether the noble 

 coachman, who stuck to his work well, would get his 

 coach off at all. He did, however, achieve this at last, 

 and away they went down the Via Babuina, as they 

 term it, " hells bells." I thought that the coach must 

 have gone over, for the motion was somewhat oscil- 

 lating, but they managed to get through the Porta del 

 Popolo, and I was happy to find that they returned 

 in the evening alive and well. Had the coachman 

 not known his business, and had he not managed his 

 horses as he did, no doubt he would have come to 

 grief. It was, however, a somewhat touch-and-go 

 affair, and would not give any one a very pleasant 

 notion of what is called " a scratch team." 



What is the meaning of a scratch team ? What 

 is it composed of ? and how shall I define it ? I 

 have consulted all the authorities likely to be able 

 to give me any information : the Latin and Greek 

 dictionaries, Gradus ad Parnassum, Bradshaw, and 

 even Mogg on Roads, and I can find nothing really 

 reliable, and therefore I must have recourse to my 

 own experience, such as it is. A scratch team 



