Of late years, a superior class of men form our coachmen; and for this we are mainly indebted, first, to the driving clubs, and the notice taken of coachmen by men of fortune; and, secondly, to the boxes being placed on springs. The latter renders it a common practice for passengers to pay an extra shilling for the box-place, whereas formerly a man would have given something to be any where else. We are told that good coachmen are becoming, in proportion to their number, more scarce every year, because, owing to the fine state of the roads, the condition of the cattle, and the improved method of road-work, coach-horses are so above their work, that the assistance of the driver is seldom required. When in town, says a writer in the _Sporting Magazine_, “I sometimes take a peep at the mails coming up to the Gloucester Coffee-house; and such a set of spoons are, I should hope, difficult to be found: they are all legs and wings; not one of them has his horses in hand; and they sit on their boxes--as if they were sitting on something else.” Certain it is that coach-work in perfection is not to be seen a hundred miles from the metropolis--seldom so far. The build of coaches, the manufacture of harness, and the stamp and condition of horses are greatly inferior in the northern counties; and as to the coachmen, few that at all deserve the appellation. There are few things in which knowledge of an art without execution is of less value than in driving four-in-hand; for, although a coachman may have knowledge, it is possible that, from natural awkwardness, he may be unable to put it into practical effect with a neat and appropriate movement of his arms and hands; and seldom is a certain propriety and neatness more required than in handling the reins and whip. To make a man a good driver, there is one requisite, and that is, what are called on the roads “hands”--a nice faculty of touch. No man with a hard, heavy hand can ever make a good horseman or driver. Neither will a nervous man ever be safe on a coach-box, for presence of mind and strong nerve are there very often called into action.