Part 16

A senator of Rome, indeed, says Gibbon, “or even a citizen, conscious of his dignity, would have blushed to expose his person or his horses in a Roman circus. There, the reins were abandoned to servile hands; and, if the profits of a favourite charioteer sometimes exceeded those of an advocate, they were considered as the effect of popular extravagance, and the high wages of a disgraceful profession.” The Romans, with more pride, were far less intellectual than the Greeks; but it must still be borne in mind, that, inconsistently enough, the interest taken in the charioteers of Rome shook the very foundation of the government.

In modern times, notwithstanding the sneers directed against gentlemen-coachmen and driving-clubs, it is to them chiefly that this country is indebted for the present excellent state of the roads, and for safe and expeditious travelling. The taste for driving produced, between men of property and those connected with the road, an intercourse which has been productive of the best results. Road-makers, and those who have the care of roads, if they have not acted under the immediate direction of these amateur drivers, have been greatly benefited by their advice--doubly valuable, as proceeding from knowledge of what a road ought to be. The intercourse also that has lately been carried on between proprietors of inns and of coaches, and gentlemen fond of driving, has greatly tended to direct the attention of the former to the accommodation and comfort of travellers. The improvement in carriages--stage-coaches more especially--would never have arrived at its present height, but for the attention and suggestions of such persons.

Moreover, the notice taken by gentlemen of coachmen, who are at once skilful and who conduct themselves well, has worked the reformation which has been of late years witnessed in that useful part of society.

Gentleman-driving, however, has received a check, very few four-in-hands being visible. The B. D. C., or Benson Driving Club, which now holds its rendezvous at the Black Dog, Bedfont, is the only survivor of those numerous driving associations whose processions used, some twenty years ago, to be among the most imposing, as well as peculiar spectacles in and about the metropolis.[73]

[73] The reader will bear in mind that this is many years after date. The R.D.C., which is now in the “Crescent,” promises an ascendant of no mean effulgence.--ED. Fifth Edition.

THE ROADS.

The excellence of our present mail-coach work reflects the highest credit on the state of our roads. The hills on great roads are now cut triangularly, so that drivers ascend nearly all of them in a trot. Coachmen have found out that they are gainers here, as, in the trot, every horse does his share, whereas, very few teams are all at work together when walking.

As, however, dreadful accidents have occurred to coaches when descending hills, a very simple expedient has been suggested, by which these accidents may be avoided. It is merely a strip of gravel, or broken stone, about one yard wide, and four or five inches deep, left on the near side of the hill, and never suffered to bind or diminish. This would afford that additional friction (technically called a bite) to the two near-side wheels, so that the necessity of a drag-chain (never to be trusted) would be done away with, and even in case of a hame-strap or pole-chain giving way, one wheel-horse would be able to hold back a coach, however heavily laden. No inconvenience to the road, it is observed, could arise from this precaution, as carriages ascending the hills would never be required to touch the loose gravel, it not being on their side of the road. This has been objected to, because some of the loose stones might find their way into the middle of the road. But, admitting this might be the case, a trifling attention on the part of the surveyor would obviate the objection. A man might be employed every second or third day to rake these stones back again. At the same time, it is obvious that the neat appearance of a road is not to be put in the scale against the limbs and lives of the people.--Some more permanent contrivance than loose stones even might be found.

CARRIAGES.

Of carriages, those with two wheels are the cheapest, lightest, and most expeditious; but, however sure-footed the horse, and however skilful the driver, they are comparatively dangerous vehicles.

As to gentlemen’s carriages, in this country, it has justly been observed, that the view at Hyde Park Corner, on any fine afternoon, in the height of the London season, is enough to confound any foreigner, from whatever part of the world he may come. He may there see what no other country can show him. Let him only sit on the rail, near the statue, and in the space of two hours he will see a thousand well-appointed equipages pass before him to the Mall, in all the pomp of aristocratic pride, in which the horses themselves appear to partake. The stream of equipages of all kinds, barouches, chariots, cabriolets, &c., and almost all got up “regardless of expense,” flows on unbroken until it is half-past seven, and people at last begin to think of what they still call dinner. Seneca tells us that such a blaze of splendour was once to be seen on the Appian Way. It might be so--it is now to be seen nowhere but in London.

As to stage-coaches, their form seems to have arrived at perfection. It combines prodigious strength with almost incredible lightness; many of them not weighing more than about 18 cwt., and being kept so much nearer the ground than formerly, they are of course considerably safer. Nothing, indeed, can be more favourable to safety than the build of modern coaches. The boots being let down between the springs, keep the load, and consequently the centre of gravity, low; the wheels of many of them are secured by patent boxes; and in every part of them the best materials are used. The cost of coaches of this description is from £130 to £150; but they are generally hired from the maker at 2½_d._ to 3_d._ per mile.

It is said to be the intention of Government[74] to substitute light carriages with two horses for the present mail-coaches drawn by four. On this, a writer in the _Quarterly Review_ observes, that when the mail-coach of the present day starts from London for Edinburgh, a man may safely bet a hundred to one that she arrives to her time; but let a light two-horse vehicle set out on the same errand, and the betting would strangely alter. It is quite a mistaken notion that a carriage is less liable to accidents for being light. On the contrary, she is more liable to them than one that is laden in proportion to her sustaining powders. In the latter case, she runs steadily along, and is but little disturbed by any obstacle or jerk she may meet on the road: in the former, she is constantly on “the jump,” as coachmen call it, and her iron parts are very liable to snap.

[74] The era of rail-roads has however now arrived, and there remains no need for such an experiment.--ED. Fifth Edition.

It may in this place be observed, that no stage-coach should be permitted to travel the road with wheels secured only by the common linchpin. It is in consequence of this that innumerable accidents have happened to coaches from wheels coming off; and in these improving and fast times, such chances should not be allowed to exist. It may not be uninteresting to the uninitiated to learn from the same clever and experienced writer how a coach is worked. Suppose a number of persons to enter into a contract to horse a coach eighty miles, each proprietor having twenty miles; in which case he is said to cover both sides of the ground, or to and fro. At the expiration of twenty-eight days a settlement takes place, and if the gross earnings of the coach be £10 per mile, there will be £800 to divide between the four proprietors, after the following charges have been deducted, viz., tolls, duty to government, mileage (or hire of the coach to the coach-makers), two coachmen’s wages, porters’ wages, rent or charge of booking-offices at each end, and washing the coaches. These charges may amount to £150, which leaves £650 to keep eighty horses, and to pay the horse-keepers for a period of twenty-eight days, or nearly £160 to each proprietor for the expenses of his twenty horses, being £2 per week per horse. Thus it appears that a fast coach properly appointed cannot pay, unless its gross receipts amount to £10 per double mile; and that even then the proprietor’s profits depend on the luck he has with his stock.

COACH-HORSES.

A great change has lately taken place as to the English coach-horse; and this is the foundation of many other accompanying changes. Fifty years ago, the putting a thorough-bred horse into harness would have been deemed preposterous. In the carriages of gentlemen, the long-tailed black, or Cleveland bay--each one remove from the cart-horse--was the prevailing sort; and six miles an hour was the extent of the pace. Now, however, this clumsy-barrelled, cloddy-shouldered, round-legged animal, something between a coach and a dray horse, as fat as an ox, and, with all his prancing at first starting, not capable of more than six miles an hour, and rendered useless by a day’s hard work, is no more seen; and, instead of him, we find a horse as tall, deep-chested, rising in the withers, slanting in the shoulders, flat in the legs, with more strength, and with treble the speed.

The animal formerly in use cost from 30_l._ to 50_l._-- Two hundred guineas is now an every-day price for a cabriolet horse; and 150 guineas for a coach-horse, for a private gentleman’s work. A pair of handsome coach-horses, fit for London, and well broken and bitted, cannot be purchased under 200 guineas; and even job-masters often give much more for them to let out to their customers. The origin of this superior kind of coach-horse is still, however, the Cleveland bay, confined principally to Yorkshire and Durham, with perhaps Lincolnshire on one side, and Northumberland on the other, but difficult to be met with pure in either county. Cleveland indeed, and the Vale of Pickering, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, are the best breeding counties in England for coach-horses, hunters, and hackneys.

When the Cleveland mare is crossed by a three-fourth or thorough-bred horse of sufficient substance and height, the produce is the coach-horse most in repute, with his arched crest and high action. From the same mare and the thorough-bred of sufficient height, but not of so much substance, we obtain the four-in-hand, and superior curricle horse. From less height and more substance, we derive the hunter, and better sort of hackney. From the half-bred, we have the machiner, the poster, and the common carriage-horse.

The best coach-horse is a tall, strong, over-sized hunter. The hackney has many of the qualities of the hunter on a small scale. There is some deception, however, even as to the best of these improved coach-horses. They prance nobly through the streets, and they are capable of more work than the old clumsy, sluggish breed, but still they have not the endurance that is desirable; and a pair of poor post-horses, at the end of the second day, would beat them hollow.

In this carriage-horse, the bending of the upper joints, and the consequent high lifting of the feet, are deemed an excellence, because they add to the grandeur of his appearance; but this is necessarily accompanied by much wear and tear of the legs and feet, the effect of which is very soon apparent. The most desirable points in the coach-horse are--substance well placed, a deep and well-proportioned body, bone under the knee, and sound, open, tough feet.

One part of the old system, however, remains--namely, that although little horses, well bred, are the fashion, large horses are still employed in heavy work. It must indeed be so. Horses draw by their weight, and not by the force of their muscles, although these, by carrying forward the centre of gravity, assist the application of that weight. It is the weight of the animal which produces the draught, and the power of the muscles serves to direct it. The hind feet form the fulcrum of the lever by which this weight acts against a load, and the power exerted is in proportion to the length of the lever, if the weight remains the same. Large animals, therefore, draw more than small ones, though they may have less muscular power, and are unable to carry weight so well. Nothing can better show that horses draw by their weight than the frequent occurrence that a horse is unable to draw a cart out of a slough until a sack of corn is thrown on his back, when he has little difficulty in doing it. Thus it is, that what are technically called lobbing-goers take more weight with them than horses of better action.

As the application of the weight or force proceeds from the fulcrum formed by the hind feet, good hind legs and well-spread gaskins are essential points in a coach-horse. We even sometimes see that a waggon-horse, when brought to pull, will not touch the ground at all with his fore feet. Another reason why little horses are unfit for heavy work is, that they will seldom walk and draw at the same time; for if they walk, they catch at their collars, and do but little. They never take anything like an even share of draught.

By calculations as to the mean strength of animals, it appears that a horse drawing horizontally, and at the rate of two miles and a half in an hour, can work for eight hours in succession against a resistance of 200 pounds. If that pace be quadrupled, he finds an eighth part of the time sufficient. Thus we can pretty nearly measure a horse’s power in harness. Whether we are carrying supposed improvement too far, and sacrificing strength and endurance to speed, is a question not difficult to be resolved.

A horse at a pull is enabled, by the power and direction of his muscles, to throw a certain weight against the collar. If he walk four miles in the hour, part of the muscular energy is expended in the act of walking; and consequently, the power of drawing must be proportionally diminished. If he trot eight miles in the hour, more of that energy is expended in the trot, and less remains for the draught; but the draught continues the same, and, to enable him to accomplish his work, he must exert his energies in a degree so severe and cruel, that it must speedily wear him out. Hence, there is no truth so easily proved, or so painfully felt by the postmaster, as that it is the pace that kills. Moreover, many a horse used on our public roads is unable to employ all his natural power, or to throw his weight into the collar, in consequence of being tender-footed, or lame. Being bought, however, at little price, he is worked on the brutal principle that he may be “whipped sound!”--and so he is apparently. At first he sadly halts; but, urged by the torture of the lash, he acquires a peculiar mode of going. The faulty limb keeps pace with the others, but no stress or labour is thrown upon it; and he gradually contrives to make the sound limbs perform among them all the duties of the unsound one. Thus he is barbarously “whipped sound,” and cruelty is for the time undeservedly rewarded. After all, however, what is done? Three legs are made to do that which was almost too much for four. Of course, they are most injuriously strained, and quickly worn out; the general power of the animal is rapidly exhausted; and, at no remote time, death releases him from his merciless persecutors.

Happily, art is doing what humanity refuses. Railroads are rendering draught comparatively easy. An instance has been described of the power of a horse when assisted by art, as exhibited near Croydon. The Surrey iron railway being completed, a wager was laid that a common horse could draw thirty-six tons for six miles along the road, drawing his weight from a dead pull, and turning it round the occasional windings of the road. A numerous party assembled near Merstham to see this. Twelve waggons loaded with stones, each waggon weighing above three tons, were chained together, and a horse taken promiscuously from a timber cart, was yoked to the train. He started from a house near Merstham, and drew the chain of waggons with apparent ease almost to the turnpike at Croydon, a distance of six miles, in one hour and forty-one minutes, which is nearly at the rate of four miles an hour. In the course of the journey he stopped four times, to show that it was not by any advantage of descent that his power was facilitated; and, after each stoppage, he again drew off the chain of waggons with great ease. A person who had wagered on the power of the horse then desired that four more loaded waggons should be added to the cavalcade, and with these the same horse set off again with undiminished pace. Still further to show the effect of the railway in facilitating motion, the attending workmen, to the number of fifty, were directed to mount on the waggons, and the horse proceeded without the least distress. Indeed, there appeared to be scarcely any limit to the power of his draught. After this trial, the waggons were taken to the weighing-machine, and it appeared that the whole weight was as follows:--

tons. cwt. qrs. 12 waggons first linked together 38 4 2 4 ditto, afterwards attached 13 2 0 Supposed weight of fifty labourers 4 0 0 ------------ 55 6 2 ------------

It is fortunate for breeders of horses that a perfect form is not necessary to a good coach-horse. Some of those, indeed, which the London dealers sell at high prices for gentlemen’s work, are such brutes, when out of harness, that no man would ride them for their worth. The strong and lengthy shoulder, with well-bent hind legs, are not absolutely necessary; and a good head and tail, with a little high action, are all that is essential.

The following are useful hints for purchasers of coach-horses:

No gentleman should purchase a horse without a good trial of his mouth and temper. To be perfect in the first respect, he should be what is called on the road “a cheek horse,”--that is, should require very little curb, should always be at play with his bit. and yet not afraid of it, and should have each side of his mouth alike. To a gentleman’s leader, a good mouth is most essential, and then, the higher his courage, the safer he is to drive. With stage-coach horses, mouth is not of so much consequence, because they are always running home, and there is no turning and twisting, as in gentlemen’s work, which is often in a crowd. A whistle, or a click with the tongue, should make a gentleman’s leader spring to his collar in an instant: one that requires the whip should be discharged.

With wheel horses which are steady, and hold well, a coachman may almost set his leaders at defiance; but if they are otherwise, danger is at hand. It is not a bad plan to purchase wheelers out of coaches, after they have been about six months in regular work. For from sixty to eighty guineas, the best of any man’s stock may be picked; and a sound, well-broke coach-horse is not dear at that price. The coach-horses of gentlemen should be high in flesh, as it enhances their appearance, and is no obstacle to pace. A sound five-year-old horse, with good legs and feet, and driven only in harness, will last, on an average, from six to ten years in gentlemen’s work, and will afterwards be very useful for other purposes.

The average price of horses for fast stages is about 23_l._ Fancy teams, and those working out of London, may be rated considerably higher; but, taking a hundred miles of ground, well horsed, this is about the mark. The average period of each horse’s service does not exceed four years in a fast coach--perhaps scarcely so much. In a slow one, it may extend to seven. In both cases, horses are supposed to be put to the work at five or six years old. The price named as the average may appear a low one; but blemished horses find their way into coaches, as do those of bad temper, &c. As no labour, while it lasts, is harder than that of coach-horses in fast work, it is wrong to purchase those which are infirm, as many proprietors do. Generally speaking, such horses are out of their work half their time, and are certain to die in their owner’s debt. As the roads now are, blind horses are less objectionable than infirm ones. A blind horse that goes up to his bit is both pleasanter and safer to drive than one with good eyes that hangs away from his work. Blind horses, however, work best in the night.

A horse cannot be called a coach-horse unless he has good legs and feet. As a wheel-horse, he is never to be depended upon down hill, if he has not sound limbs. He cannot resist weight, if he be weak in his joints. To bad legs and feet are owing numerous accidents to coaches, many of which the public hear nothing of. If horses, on the contrary, have good legs and feet, they will last, even in the fastest work, many years, provided they are shod with care, and well looked after. Proprietors of coaches have at length found out that it is their interest to be humane and liberal to their horses, because the hay and corn market is not so expensive as the horse market. They have, therefore, one horse in four always at rest; in other words, each horse lies still on the fourth day. Generally considered, perhaps, no animal toiling solely for the profit of man, leads so comfortable a life as the English coach-horse: he is sumptuously fed, kindly treated, and if he does suffer a little in his work, he has mostly twenty-three hours in the twenty-four of perfect ease; he is now almost a stranger to the lash, nor do we ever see him with a broken skin. No horse lives so high as a coach-horse. Hunters, in the hunting season, do not eat the quantity of corn that coach-horses do; for the former are feverish after their work, which is not the case with the latter, as they become accustomed to this almost daily excitement. In the language of the road, the coach-horse’s stomach is the measure of his corn--he is fed _ad libitum_[75]. The effect of this is that he soon gathers flesh, even in this severe work,--for there is none more severe while it lasts; and good flesh is no obstacle to speed, but the contrary.

[75] Some coachmasters give their horses all manger-meat; but this is wrong, as it often produces indigestion and disease. A certain portion of long hay is necessary.

It is not found, however, that (barring contagious diseases) where their owners are good judges of condition, coach-horses are much subject to disease. After a hot summer, coach-horses are most liable to derangement; and the month of October is the worst in the year for them, in consequence of it being their moulting season. Coach-horses, indeed, are certain to sweat three days out of four, which keeps their blood pure, and renders almost unnecessary medicine, of which, in general, they have but a small portion--perhaps less than they should have. It is a mistake, however, that fleshy horses cannot go fast in harness; they are more powerful in draught than thin ones; and, having only themselves to carry, flesh does not injure their legs, as in riding. In a fast coach, then, a horse ought not to work more than four days without rest, as he becomes leg-weary, and wears out the sooner; and he becomes also too highly excited. A horse a mile, reckoning only one side of the ground, is about the proportion. Thus we may suppose that ten horses work the coach up and down a ten-mile stage, which gives eight at work, and two at rest. Every horse, then, rests the fourth day. In slow, heavy work, however, coach-horses will do their ground every day, barring accidents or illness.