216 



CHAPTER Xlir. 



DRIVING. 



A Horsemau— A Coacliman— An Irish Turn-out— Fanerals— An Iri^li Servant's Hat— Whip 

 —Boots and Breeches— Dubliners v. Yorkshiremea— " The Tantivy " — English Traps — 

 Irish Jarveys — Irish Drivers — London v. DubUn — Fun in the Streets— Wilson's Posting 

 Kbtablishment — Ten miles an Hour — Not Driving — Larry Doolan — Irish Wit— Fairy 

 House and Baldoyle v. Epsom and Sandown— Exceptions- Dublin Horse Show— 

 Dimdalk Traps— English Haoknej^ Traps— Taste v. Money— A Money-made Turn-out 

 —Taste— To Fit— To Balance— A Description— Tuition— Tlie OM Waterford Traps- 

 Wilson's of Liverpool— An Object Lesson— Driving at Dublin Horse Show— Wilson's 

 Turns-out— Hodgson's Driving — Great Improvement— Table of Driving Prizes— Pull 

 and Put Ourselves Together — Good Irish Drivers — Sailing a Boat v. Driving Horses — 

 John Bates— Dungarvan Coach Horses— A liuna.v,a.y— D rivinn— 'Nerve and Pluck— 

 A Comparison— Aurhor's Experience of a Queer Lot— Selby's Drive— Two Good 

 Reproductions. 



One glance at a man getting into his saddle, sitting down in it, 

 and taking hold of his horse's mouth will generally show whether he is 

 a horseman or not. Half a glance, however, is sufficient to show, by 

 the way he gets into a trap, settles himself, and takes up his reins 

 and whip, whether a man is a coachman or not. 



All the world knows that we Irish can breed a horse, train him, 

 and ride him as well as any other men under the sun ; in fact, we 

 are born horsemen. To Irish-bred horses England owes the best 

 strains in the Stud-book, and Irish-trained racers, everyone knows, 

 have beaten the best that England could pull out against them over 

 nearly every course, long or short, flat or flagged. Nor can England 

 produce any man who can beat our good men to a pack of hounds, 

 even over his own country ; no more can she produce better finished 

 gentlemen jockeys than we can. 



It is altogether another part of speech when we come to a trap and 

 driving it. In turning it out properly, and driving it in workmanlike 

 style, we are not in it with the Saxon. 



If we have a w^ell-matched pair of horses — and seldom we have — either 

 the harness or the trap they are tackled to is unsuitable ; or if by 

 chance there happens to be a fairly harmonious combination, all will 

 be spoiled by the coachman's want of skill, bad seat on his box, or 

 ill-fitting livery. 



Any man who understands the subject may easily satisfy himself of 

 the truth of this by standing for a short time in any fashionable street 

 of Dublin or in our provincial towns. A really perfectly put together 

 turn-out, properly driven by a smart-looking and smartly got-up coachman, 

 will not be seen in a week in Ireland. Something is sure to be wrong. 



