Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia

254BOY COACHMEN.

Neapolitans and the Russians are the first coachmen in the world; the best among them are old men and children : the children especially surprise me. The first time that I saw my carriage and my life about to be entrusted to the care of an infant of ten years old, I protested against such imprudence; but my feldjäger assured me it was the custom, and as his person was exposed as much as mine, I believed him. Our four horses, whose fiery eagerness and wild appearance were by no means adapted to re-assure me, set off at a gallop. The experienced child knew better than to endeavour to stop them; on the contrary, he urged them to their utmost speed, and the carriage followed as it best might. This pace, which accorded better with the temperament of the animals than the qualities of the calèche, was kept up throughout the stage, although at the end of the first verst the breathless horses began to tire, and the coachman to become the most impatient. Each time they relaxed their pace he applied the whip until they resumed their former speed. The emulation which easily establishes itself between four spirited animals, harnessed abreast, soon brought us to the end of the stage. These horses would rather die than give in. After observing their character, and that of the men who drive them, I soon perceived that the word tisch?iê, which I had learned to pronounce with so much care, was utterly useless in this journey, and that I should even expose myself to accident if I persisted in checking the ordinary rate of driving. The Russians have the gift of equilibration; men and horses would lose their perpendicular in a slow trot. Their mode