Having now, I think, said enough on the subject of harness, we are ready to proceed to mounting the box. Nimrod has somewhere said that a good coachman could almost be perceived by the manner in which he put his gloves on, or words to that effect; but without going so far as that, I believe the way in which he mounts his box is no bad criterion. How different to see a practised hand approach his team with confidence, and the almost mechanical way in which he handles the reins, from the hesitation and fumbling so often apparent in a tyro. Let us picture him to ourselves as he approaches his horses, how easily he catches his whip, the crop held well up so as not to run the chance of the thong being entangled in the wheeler's ears, and there are no festoons of the thong. Then taking hold with the left hand of the leading reins, nearly up at the territs, beginning with the near side, he gives them a pull sufficient to satisfy himself that no impediment exists to their free running, and passes them to the centre finger of the right hand; after which, doing the same with the wheel reins, he places them on the forefinger of the right hand, in which position they are ready to be transferred to the left hand, only reversing the fingers. This will prevent any necessity for sorting the reins after having mounted the box, and thus enabling him to start without a moment's delay. The other two fingers should be tightly pressed upon the reins to prevent them slipping. I should not have entered into all this minutiæ if I had not seen, on one or two occasions, the reins divided by placing one finger between the two nearside reins, and the other between the off-side ones. Then there is another form to be equally deprecated, which, though seldom seen in double reins, is far too common with those driving a pair, or in single harness. I mean the thumb pressed down upon the reins and pointing to the front, a position which must inevitably pin the elbow to the side, and be destructive of all strength. [Illustration: A NEAT MEETING.] [Illustration: A MUFFISH MEETING.] But I have seen what is even worse. I once beheld a gentleman performing in Hyde Park, who, finding himself seriously incommoded with the slack of his reins, stretched out his right hand over the left, seizing the reins in front of it, and then, like sailors hauling a rope hand over hand, proceeding to pass his left hand to the front and take hold of them in front of the right hand. I have frequently seen this manoeuvre practised by coachmen driving one, or a pair, but only this once did I see the trick played on a four-horse box, and I should think, when it was completed, that the reins must have very much resembled a pack of cards well shuffled, and admirably calculated to land the coach in a ditch after dark.