When the ambition of the amateur coachman leads him to attempt a tandem or four-in-hand he enters on a much more complex department of the art of driving. In the first place he has now four reins instead of two to Tandem and four-in-hand. manipulate, and the increase of weight on his hand, especially when four horses are being driven, requires considerable strength of wrist to support it without tiring. It is of the first importance, moreover, that he should know instinctively the position in his hand of each of the reins, and be able automatically and instantaneously to lay a finger on any one of them. The driver who has to look at his reins to find the off-side leader’s rein, or who touches the near-side wheeler’s in mistake for it, is in peril of a catastrophe. It is therefore essential that the reins should be correctly disposed between the fingers of the left hand, and that the driver should as quickly as possible accustom himself to handle them automatically. This is somewhat more difficult in driving tandem than in driving four-in-hand, because in the latter case there is greater spread of the reins in front of the hand than with tandem, where the reins lie much more nearly parallel one above the other. The actual holding of the reins is the same in both cases. The coachman should be careful to take the reins in his hand before mounting to the box-seat, as otherwise his team may make a start without his having the means to control them. It is customary to hitch the reins, ready for him to take them, on the outside terret (the ring on the pad through which the rein runs) of the wheeler—the off-side wheeler in four-in-hand. Standing on the ground beside the off-side wheel of his carriage, ready to mount to the box-seat, the coachman, after drawing up his reins till he almost feels the horses’ mouths, must then let out about a foot of slack in his off-side reins, in order that when on his seat he may find all the reins as nearly as possible equal in length in his hand. He mounts with them disposed in his right hand precisely as they will be in his left when ready to start. The leaders’ reins should be separated by the forefinger, and the wheelers’ by the middle finger. The near-leader’s rein will then be uppermost of the four, between the forefinger and thumb; then between the forefinger and middle finger are two reins together—the off-leader’s and the near-wheeler’s in the order named; while at the bottom, between the middle and third fingers, is the off-wheeler’s rein. It will be found that held thus the reins spread immediately in front of the hand in such a way that each several rein, and each pair of reins—two near-side, two off-side, two wheelers’ or two leaders’—can be conveniently manipulated; and the proficient driver can instinctively and instantaneously grasp any of them he chooses with his right hand without having to turn his eyes from the road before him to the reins in his hand. Having seated himself on the box and transferred the reins, thus disposed, from the right to the left hand, the coachman should shorten them till he just feels his wheelers’ mouths and holds back his leaders sufficiently to prevent them quite tightening their traces; then, when he has taken the whip from its socket in his right hand, he is ready to start. This is an operation requiring careful management, to secure that leaders and wheelers start simultaneously; for if the leaders start first they will be drawn up sharp by their bits, or, what is worse, if their reins have not been sufficiently shortened they will jump into their collars and possibly break a swinging bar, and in either case they will be fretted and disconcerted and will possibly in consequence either kick or rear; if the wheelers start before the leaders they will ram the swinging bars under the tails of the latter, with results equally unfortunate. The worst possible method of starting is suddenly to give the horses their heads and use the whip. But no positive rule can be laid down, for it is just one of those points which depend largely on familiarity with the horses forming the team. Horses even moderately accustomed to the work will generally start best in obedience to the voice, and their attention may simultaneously be aroused by gently feeling their mouths. When once started the driver should at once see that his team is going straight. If the leaders and wheelers are not exactly on the same line, this or that rein must be shortened or lengthened as the case may require; and it is to be noticed that as the near-wheeler’s and off-leader’s reins lie together between the same fingers, a simultaneous shortening or lengthening of these two reins will usually produce the desired result. With rare exceptions, reins should be shortened or lengthened by pushing them back or drawing them forward with the right hand from in front of the driving hand, and not from behind it. As soon as the team is in motion the leaders may be let out till they draw their traces taut; but draught should be taken off them on falling ground or while rounding a corner. Good drivers touch the reins as little as possible with the whip-hand, and nothing is less workmanlike than for a coachman to act as if he were an angler continually letting out or reeling in his line. In rounding a corner a loop of an inch or two of the leaders’ rein on the side to which the turn is to be made is taken up by the right hand and placed under the left thumb. This “points the leaders,” who accordingly make the required turn, while at the same time the right hand bears lightly on the wheelers’ rein of the opposite side, to prevent them making the turn too sharply for safety to the coach behind them. As soon as the turn is made—and all this applies equally to the passing of other vehicles or obstacles on the road—the driver’s left thumb releases the loop, which runs out of itself, and the team returns to the straight formation. A circumstance useful to bear in mind is that the swinging bars are wider than the maximum width of the coach; consequently the driver knows that wherever the swinging bars can pass through with safety—and as they are before his eyes the calculation is easy—the coach will safely follow.
A necessary part of driving four horses or tandem is the proper use of the whip. The novice, before beginning to drive, should acquire the knack—which can only be learnt by practical instruction and experiment—of catching The use of the whip. up the thong of the whip on to the stick by a flick of the wrist. With practice this is done almost automatically and without looking at the whip. It is not merely an ornamental accomplishment, but a necessary one; for in no other way can the whip be kept in constant readiness for use either on wheelers or leaders as the need of the moment may dictate. The point of the thong is confined in the whip-hand when striking the wheelers (which should be done in front of the pad), and is released for reaching the leaders. Considerable dexterity is required in using the whip on the leaders without at the same time touching, or at all events alarming or fretting, the wheelers. The thong of the whip should reach the leaders from beneath the swinging bar; and proficient “whips” can unerringly strike even the near leader from under the off-side bar without disturbing the equanimity of any other member of the team. This demands great skill and accuracy; but no coachman is competent to drive four horses until he is able to touch with the whip any particular horse that may require it, and no other.
Essential as is proficiency in the use of the whip when driving four horses, it is even more imperative for the driver of tandem. For in four-in-hand the leaders act in some measure as a restraint upon each other’s freedom of action, whereas the leader in tandem is entirely independent and therefore more difficult to control. If he takes it into his head to turn completely round and face the driver, there is no effectual means of preventing him. It is here that a prompt and accurate use of the whip is important. A sharp cut with the thong of the whip on the side to which he is turning will often drive the leader back into his place. But it must be done instantaneously, and the driver who has got his thong coiled round the stick of his whip, or who cannot make certain of striking the horse on precisely the desired spot, will miss the opportunity and may find his team in a sad mess, possibly with disastrous results. If the leader, in spite of a stroke from the whip at the right moment and on the right spot, still persists in turning, the only thing to be done is to turn the wheeler also; and then when the tandem has been straightened, to turn the horses back once more to their original direction. For this reason it is never safe to harness a tandem to a four-wheeled vehicle; because if it should be necessary to turn the wheeler sharply round, the fore-carriage would probably lock and the trap be overturned. Of comparatively recent years a great improvement has been effected in the harnessing of a tandem by the introduction of swinging bars similar to those used in four-in-hand. Formerly the leading traces in tandem drew direct from tugs on the wheeler’s hames, or less frequently from the stops on the shafts. This left a considerable length of trace which, when draught was taken off the leader, hung slack between the two horses; with the result that either of them might get a leg over the leading trace, with dangerous consequences. In the more modern arrangement short traces attached to the wheeler’s tugs hold a bar, which is kept in place by a few inches of chain from the kidney-link on the wheeler’s collar. This bar is connected by short traces or chains with a second bar to which the leader’s true traces are hooked in the usual way, allowing him a comfortable distance clear of the bar precisely as in four-in-hand. The leader thus draws as before from the wheeler’s tugs; but the length of trace is broken up by the two swinging bars, and as these are prevented from falling low by their attachment to the wheeler’s collar, the danger from a too slack leading trace is reduced to a minimum; though care is needed when the leader is not pulling to prevent the bar falling on his hocks.
Expert tandem driving, owing to the greater freedom of the leader from control, is a more difficult art than the driving of four horses, in spite of the fact that the weight on the hand is much less severe; but the general principles of the two are the same. In Great Britain, however, the coach-and-four is the more popular. It is more showy than tandem; it keeps alive the romantic associations of the days when the stagecoach was the ordinary means of locomotion; and a coach, or “drag,” accommodates a larger party of passengers to a race-meeting or other expedition for pleasure than a dogcart. But for those whose means do not permit the more costly luxury of a four-horse team, a tandem will be found to make all the demand on skill and nerve which, in combination with the taste for horses, makes the art of driving a source of enjoyment.
See Donald Walker, British Manly Exercises: in which Riding, Driving, Racing are now first described (London, 1834); Fuller, Essay on Wheel Carriages (London, 1828); William Bridges Adams, English Pleasure Carriages: their Origin, History, Materials, Construction (London, 1837); The Equestrian: A Handbook of Horsemanship, containing Plain Rules for Riding, Driving and the Management of the Horse (London, 1854); a Cavalry Officer, The Handy Horse Book; or Practical Instruction in Driving and the Management of the Horse (London, 1865-1867, 1871-1881); H. J. Helm, American Roadsters and Trotting Horses (Chicago, 1878); E. M. Stratton, The World on Wheels (New York, 1878); J. H. Walsh (“Stonehenge”), Riding and Driving (London, 1863); James A. Garland, The Private Stable (2nd ed., Boston, 1902); the Duke of Beaufort, Driving (The Badminton Library, London, 1889), containing a bibliography; F. H. Huth, Works on Horses and Equitation: A Bibliographical Record of Hippology (London, 1887).
(R. J. M.)
DROGHEDA, a municipal borough, seaport and market town, on the southern border of Co. Louth, Ireland, in the south parliamentary division, on the river Boyne, about 4 m. from its mouth in Drogheda Bay, and 31½ m. N. by W. from Dublin on the Great Northern main line. Pop. (1901) 12,760. It occupies both banks of the river; but the northern division is the larger of the two, and has received greater attention in modern times. The ancient fortifications, still extant in the beginning of the 19th century, have disappeared almost entirely, but of the four gateways one named after St Lawrence remains nearly perfect, consisting of two loopholed circular towers; and there are considerable ruins of another, the West or Butler Gate. Among the public buildings are a mansion-house or mayoralty, with a suite of assembly rooms attached; and the Tholsel, a square building with a cupola. St Peter’s chapel formerly served as the cathedral of the Roman Catholic archbishopric of Armagh; and in the abbey of the Dominican nuns there is still preserved the head of Oliver Plunkett, the archbishop who was executed at Tyburn in 1681 on an unfounded charge of treason. There was formerly an archiepiscopal palace in the town, built by Archbishop Hampton about 1620; and the Dominicans, the Franciscans, the Augustinians, the Carmelites and the knights of St John have monastic establishments. Of the Dominican monastery (1224) there still exists the stately Magdalen tower; while of the Augustinian abbey of St Mary d’Urso (1206) there are the tower and a fine pointed arch. At the head of the educational institutions there is a classical school endowed by Erasmus Smith. There is also a blue-coat school, founded about 1727 for the education of freemen’s sons. The present building was erected in 1870. Benjamin Whitworth, M.P., was a generous benefactor to the town, who built the Whitworth Hall, furnished half the funds for the construction of waterworks, established a cotton factory, and is commemorated by a statue in the Mall. The industrial establishments comprise cotton, flax and flour mills, sawmills, tanneries, salt and soap works, breweries, chemical manure and engineering works. The town is the headquarters of the valuable Boyne salmon-fishery. A brisk trade is carried on mainly in agricultural produce, especially with Liverpool (which is distant 135 m. due E.) and with Glasgow. Many works of improvement have been effected from time to time in the harbour, the quays of which occupy both sides of the river, the principal, 1000 yds. in length, being on the north side. Here is a depth of 21 ft. at the highest and 14 ft. at the lowest tides. The tide reaches 2½ m. above the town to Oldbridge; and barges of 50 tons burden can proceed 19 m. inland to Navan. The river is crossed by a bridge for ordinary traffic, and by a fine railway viaduct. The town is governed by a mayor, 6 aldermen and 18 councillors.
In the earliest notices the town of Drogheda is called Inver-Colpa or the Port of Colpa; the present name signifies “The Bridge over the Ford.” In 1152 the place is mentioned as the seat of a synod convened by the papal legate, Cardinal Paparo; in 1224 it was chosen by Lucas de Netterville, archbishop of Armagh, for the foundation of the Dominican friary of which there are still remains; and in 1228 the two divisions of the town received separate incorporation from Henry III. But there grew up a strong feeling of hostility between Drogheda versus Uriel and Drogheda versus Midiam, in consequence of trading vessels lading their cargoes in the latter or southern town, to avoid the pontage duty levied in the former or northern town. At length, after much blood had been shed in the dispute, Philip Bennett, a monk residing in the town, succeeded by his eloquence, on the festival of Corpus Christi, 1412, in persuading the authorities of the two corporations to send to Henry IV. for a new charter sanctioning their combination, and this was granted on the 1st of November. Drogheda was always considered by the English a place of much importance. In the reign of Edward III. it was classed along with Dublin, Waterford and Kilkenny as one of the four staple towns of Ireland. Richard II. received in its Dominican monastery the submissions of O’Neal, O’Donnell and other chieftains of Ulster and Leinster. The right of coining money was bestowed on the town, and parliaments were several times held within its walls. In the reign of Edward IV. the mayor received a sword of state and an annuity of £20, in recognition of the services rendered by the inhabitants at Malpus Bridge against O’Reilly; the still greater honour of having a university with the same privileges as that of Oxford remained a mere paper distinction, owing to the poverty of the town and the unsettled state of the country; and an attempt made by the corporation in modern times to resuscitate their rights proved unsuccessful. In 1495 Poyning’s laws were enacted by a parliament held in the town. In the civil wars of 1641 the place was besieged by O’Neal and the Northern Irish forces; but it was gallantly defended by Sir Henry Tichbourne, and after a long blockade was relieved by the Marquess of Ormond. The same nobleman relieved it a second time, when it was invested by the Parliamentary army under Colonel Jones. In 1649 it was captured by Cromwell, after a short though spirited defence; and nearly every individual within its walls, without distinction of age or sex, was put to the sword. Thirty only escaped, who were afterwards transported as slaves to Barbados. In 1690 it was garrisoned by King James’s army; but after the decisive battle of the Boyne (q.v.) it surrendered to the conqueror without a struggle, in consequence of a threat that quarter would not be granted if the town were taken by storm.
Drogheda ceased to be a parliamentary borough in 1885, and a county of a town in 1898. Before 1885 it returned one member, and before the Union in 1800 it returned four members to the Irish parliament.