AN E VERY-DAY OCCURRENCE. 57 



offers of extra whips, a shoulder to each wheel, and 

 the late coachman presented his successor with a 

 stout ash-wattle by way of an apprentice. Coachee 

 took it all in good part, got on his box, and waited 

 the signal. " Right," cries the guard ; then at one 

 word from the well-remembered voice, to the perfect 

 astonishment of every one, oiF each horse bolted like 

 a snipe just flushed. The secret afterwards came out. 

 I do not mean to assert that this kind of thing was 

 practised on the pony; but I do say, that a voice 

 that had often been followed by a severe stroke of the 

 whip would have been quite sufficient (as the event 

 proved) for so high spirited an animal. 



Let me remind my Readers, there is also a way 

 of punishing a horse by his mouth, to get him along 

 — a vile and uncoachmanlike practice, I allow, but 

 sometimes resorted to. If a snatch at (or rather on) 

 a horse's mouth by means of the reins is alwaj^'S 

 followed by a few strokes of the whip, the horse very 

 soon learns that the one is as much a signal to go on 

 as the other ; and both being a punishment, he 

 accelerates his speed in both cases to avoid it. Thus 

 we see that driving without a whip is no proof that 

 a horse is not forced to cruel and unnatural exertion 

 if a Qood one, and bad ones are never selected for 

 such performances. 



We are told that Burke on ordinary occasions 

 treats his horses kindly. I am not prepared to 

 gainsay this, not being conversant with his general 

 habits; nor ever having had the opportunity of seeing 

 his stable management, should I be justified in giving 

 any opinion of how his horses arc treated : in that 

 respect probably very well, as it is his interest to have 

 them at all times prepared in a certain degree for 



