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baker brutes, and sending them along in perfect style, making each do 

 his own share of the work. Often, too, have I seen him in an awkward 

 fix ; but that was the time to see the man. Cool as if he was driving 

 a pony that had shied at an old woman, would he handle these jibbers 

 and bolter.*', and get them into their collars again. Yet he was not 

 what is termed a fancy or fashionable coachman. 



Never will I forget the run away we had down Cushgam Hill with 

 a heavily top-laden coach. When within fifty yards of the bridge at 

 the bottom, where exists a sharpish turn to the left, the coach was 

 rolling to an extent that, if not steadied, no power on earth could 

 prevent an upset at the turn. Yet this man, by cool and skilful 

 manipulation of his horses, although apparently not under control, 

 brought his coach to a balance and rounded the turn in safety. 



That is what I call driving^ and that is what I call nerve and pluck. 

 Perhaps some of the mighty fine fellows we see tooling a coach to 

 admiration, and cutting figures with a tandem in a show-yard, if 

 caught in a dilemma of the sort, might feel inclined to jump clean off" 

 the box, or if they stuck to it would lose their head and capsize the 

 coach. 



In those days I ofttimes had occasion to visit Dungarvan, and I 

 always took the box-seat. Bates, when he had a fairly handy- 

 team, gave them to me for the stage, and from him I learned lessons 

 in driving four horses which, I am sorry to say, I was never afterwards 

 in a position to put to much practice. 



Starting from Dungarvan one morning at daylight, with no one on 

 the coach but ourselves, he gave me the reins, saying, "Now, sir, let 

 me see how you can handle one of the queer lots." The near-wheeler 

 was a well-known devil, but her vagaries were minimised by cunningly- 

 devised straps and g&gs, so she started right enough. Not so the 

 others. Directly their heads were let go the off- wheeler tried to stand 

 on his head, while one leader danced on his hind legs, the other 

 trying to bolt for the stables. Then, as if suddenly possessed of 

 the information that a duffer was to drive them, and not wishing to 

 take undue advantage, away the four plunged into a gallop. Round 

 the corner of the square, and the still more dangerous turn at 

 the bridge, these incarnate devils tore, I steering them as well as 

 I could. Down with their heads, and away they went for over two 

 miles before I could get a pull at them. How old Bates enjoyed the 

 joke, and the funk that I was in, but anon he cheered me with, 

 " Uon't be afeard, sir ; only keep them in the middle of the road." 

 The latter part of his advice I had not much trouble in following, for 

 the road was straight and level, but I confess to having had some 

 difficulty with the first part ! 



The annals of British coaching do not, I think, record a greater feat 

 with four horses than was that performed by the late James Selby, 

 I shall therefore give a few particulars of it. 



At the Ascot meeting of 1888, a bet of £1,000 to £500 was booked 



