is surely permissible, if only to save the coachman's arms. It may be granted that bad bitting and worse driving may have originally conduced to the horse's mouthless state ; it may also be true that the man called upon to drive him may not possess the skill of a Sir St. Vincent Cotton ; but we hold that a proper use of any mechanical appliance is allowable when other means fail. The well-meaning faddists who inveigh so bitterly against bearing reins are not above using curb bits ; and, on the whole, horses perhaps suffer much less from bearing reins than from heavy hands and curb bits. In double harness, however, the employment of loose bearing reins has saved many an accident. If a pair of horses, or four, are driven straight away for, say, ten miles, baited, and driven home again, bearing reins are often, it may be admitted, not wanted ; but it is different with horses driven in the park and those which have to stand outside shops or private houses while the occupants of the carriage are shopping or visiting. Horses soon get warm under the bridle, and when they are pulled up it is to the moist spot that the flies are attracted ; they cause a certain amount of irritation, and the horse naturally enough scratches himself, or at least he would do so had he a hand for the purpose. He drops his head to the pole, and possibly gets the bit fast. Out comes the proprietor of the carriage, or perhaps the

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