To the person who is intrusted with so important a concern as the management of your Carriage and Horses you will do wisely to give proper encouragement: on his Honesty and Judgment greatly depend the safety of the Rider and the Expense of the Equipage—therefore, it is as much your Interest to be kind, as it is his Duty to be Careful.
It will be well, therefore, to put your Coachman beyond any petty temptations from Hackneymen, Horsedealers, Farriers, Coachmakers, et id genus omne, and pay him cheerfully all such reasonable Perquisites as will make it His Interest to take care of Yours.
People are often biassed by their Coachman in what is to be done in the Repair or alteration of their Carriage and Horses, and from interested motives, or capricious whims, the Knights of the Whip, it is said, sometimes have gone to extravagant lengths, and the Carriage has become rather the Property of the Coachman and Coachmaker, than of the Proprietor.
A careful Coachman is a valuable Servant. “A Coachman,” says the Sieur Soleysell, “should be skilful, Nimble, Hardy, and Honest, should love Horses, and have a desire to perform all his work well:—when a Master findeth a Lad with these qualities, he should not easily part with him; for this Merchandise, although Clownish, is hard enough to be found.”—See his Complete Horseman, folio, p. 145, 1717.
To the above Qualifications, must be added, that of Reading and Writing; and if you reside in London, that of “knowing Town well,” i. e. be well acquainted with the situation, the distance, and the best Roads, (as they may now be called) to the various parts of that amazing Labyrinth of Lanes called London.
Before you permit him to mount the Box—ask him how far it is to half a dozen different places in opposite directions, and which Way he would go, and how Long he would be in driving you thither.
The best Age for a Coachman is between 30 and 40—before the former, they are perfunctory, and soon after the latter, they lack Activity.
The following maxim, which I gave for hiring a Cook, applies as aptly to engaging Coachmen.
Before the age of Thirty, however comfortable you may endeavour to make them, their want of experience, and the Hope of something still better, prevents their being content with their present state.
After they have had the benefit of Experience, if they are tolerably comfortable, they will endeavour to deserve the approbation of even a moderately kind Master, for Fear they may change for the worse.