If a Carriage is driven on uneven ground, it requires great Attention, or it will receive more injury during a journey of a Mile, than it would by a Month’s moderate use on an even Road; therefore,
The Pace in Driving should be accommodated to the roughness of the Road.
The Turnings should be regulated by the Room. If a Carriage is not wheeled fairly across a channel, the Perch is twisted according to the descent, as the one Wheel falls, in proportion as the other at the opposite angle rises; and frequently by such a wrench the main or Perch Bolt is broken, and every part strained, especially when going fast. Desire your Coachman to avoid all short sharp Turnings; it is much wiser to go on a few poles further, where another Street will allow plenty of room.
Hard-Driving, especially on the Stones, exposes a Carriage to many mischiefs, either by running against other Vehicles, or breaking by the violence of its own motion.
Some fidgety Coachmen are continually whipping, or, as it is technically termed, “fanning” their Horses—this frets the poor creatures, and puts them into a state of irritation extremely injurious to them, and your Carriage moves in a “hop, skip, and jump” style:—Forbid all use of the Whip, but in cases of inevitable necessity.
Tell your Coachman that your motto for Drivers is
“Slow and Sure;”
that the First time he presumes to attempt to display his Dexterity in any place by what is termed driving to an Inch, shall be the last time that you will trouble him to wear your Livery.—Five Miles in an Hour is quite fast enough for Crowded Streets; especially when turning Corners, and in Streets which have many other Streets leading into them, as Oxford Street, Cheapside, &c.—Better wait Five minutes quietly, or follow a Hackney Coach for Ten paces, than cut and dash along at the risk of your Wheels, your Pannels, and your Neck, &c.: however, you must give him a license to drive a little “ad libitum” in some situations; a rapid movement is sometimes really requisite, in order to escape out of the way of Carts and Waggons, &c.
An experienced Whip, who has a sharp sight, may calculate pretty nearly what space will be sufficient to pass between two bodies which are at rest—but as he will unavoidably meet many Carriages, guided by inexperienced, and often drunken Drivers, which do not for half a minute together move in a precisely direct line, and his good Coachmanship cannot protect him against such Blunderers, unless he proceeds with extreme care, and allows them plenty of room.
A cautious Coachman is ever unremittingly upon the look out, keeping both his Eyes open; employing One to guide his own Horses, and the Other to watch how those who are coming guide theirs; or, as a Wag might say, an Accomplis’d Coachman ought to Squint! He depends entirely upon his own Attention to keep so completely out of their way, that it may be next to impossible for them to run against him.