Public and private conveyances in Austria and Hungary--An English
dragsman posed--The Vienna race-meeting--Gentleman "Jocks"--A moral
exemplified.
All matters connected with the management and treatment of horses are
better understood in Austria and Hungary than in any other part of the
Continent; but even there they have not arrived at the completeness
so familiar here. The public conveyances still partake of the genus
diligence, though they have the advantage of being divided into two
classes--first and second. In the latter smoking is allowed.
The horses are yoked much in the same manner as in France--three at
wheel, and any number in pairs before them, as the nature of the road
may require. The travelling pace is about eight English miles per
hour, and to this they adhere. The length of the posts, or stages,
makes a journey more tedious than it would otherwise be, as it always
conveys the impression that the last four or five miles of the sixteen
or eighteen has to be performed by jaded cattle, which must use them
up more quickly, in the long run, than letting them work in more
reasonable distances. If economy be the object, it must certainly be
negatived in the end by the last four or five miles which are tacked on
to every post.
The conductor, or guard, goes through the whole journey, be it long or
short; but the driver is changed at every stage, with the horses. The
public conveyances at Vienna and Pesth are excellent, very superior
to anything we have in London. The carriages for hire in the streets
consist of open britzskas and landaus, with pairs of horses, which
are of a very good class. The drivers are very respectable men, and
excellent coachmen. They drive very fast, and, though the streets are
narrow and tortuous, collisions are very rare. There are also close
carriages (broughams) with one horse or a pair, the former being called
_coupés_, and not held in much favour with the _élite_.
The tariff is not excessive, and a wrangle is rarely heard.
With reference to private equipages, although they imitate as much
as possible the English style, they invariably fail in some little
particular, which, to an English critic, stamps the turn-out as
continental. For instance, the coachman sits low, with his knees bent,
having one rein in each hand; the horses are so coupled that their
heads touch each other; the pole-pieces are so tight as to destroy any
action which the horses might otherwise display.
Some years ago I made the acquaintance of a noble prince in Hungary,
who owned a large stud of horses of all descriptions--racers, hunters,
harness-horses, and hacks. He invited me to stay with him during the
race-week at Vienna, asking me at the same time if I would drive his
drag each day to the course, assuring me that it was appointed quite in
the English style, and that I should feel myself entirely at home.
The first day of the meeting having arrived, my host introduced me to
various other noble persons, descanting loudly, as I could not avoid
hearing, on my talent as a coachman; after which, and having partaken
of a sumptuous _déjeûner_, we walked round to the stables. Here my
anticipations were somewhat damped, as my noble host, pointing to a
very long low _char-à-banc_, much upon the principle of an elongated
Croydon basket, exclaimed: "Ah, ecco a qui chè la carozza. Heer ees my
drarg." And, seizing a long pig-whip from the socket of the carriage,
he said: "You can make ze weep, ah yes?" Suiting the action to the
word, he began cracking it backwards and forwards over his head with
wonderful proficiency, after the manner of the French postilions. My
heart sank within me; if this was expected of me, I felt I should
signally fail--I who had been brought up to learn that to _hear_
the whip at all was a fault. To be expected to flourish out of the
courtyard with a succession of reports like an eighteen-pounder, was
rather too severe a test of my knowledge of "making ze weep."
After walking round the stables, which were very complete and in fine
order, the team was brought out. It was composed of four Hungarian
horses with very long manes and tails, smacking rather of the circus
than the road.
I did not at all approve of the way in which they were being strung
together, but an English stud-groom in the prince's service advised my
making no alteration "at present," as they had always been driven in
that way, and they could be very awkward if they liked.
All being ready, and the party having taken their seats, I took mine,
and found myself--with a mere apology for a footboard--seated pretty
nearly on a level with the wheelers' backs.
The prince, who had continued to "make ze weep" (albeit of this the
animals took not the slightest notice), now handed it to me, and we
started, or rather the whole affair went jumping out of the courtyard
in a succession of terrible bounds. The horses were, however, very
highly bitted, and I had no difficulty in holding them in on our
passage through the town; but, when we got to the open "prater," they
became very restless and impatient, a phenomenon explained in a
whisper from my host: "Heer I make ze gallop. You not?"
Upon this I slacked my hand, and they went away like four demons;
dashing past everything on the road at the rate of fifty miles an hour!
The prince, who expressed his surprise that I had not "knocked"
anything in our wild career, was less astonished than myself,
especially as when, nearing the course, the track became crowded with
every description of vehicle, while the rules of the road were entirely
set at defiance!
We managed, however, to reach the grandstand in safety. It was a
brilliant day, and the glowing colours of female costume, from the
royal family downwards, produced a magnificent effect.
But if the colours worn by the ladies were dazzling and gorgeous,
what shall we say of the hues selected for the silk jackets of the
gentlemen riders, who, in order to proclaim to the multitude the
part they were about to take, hovered about amongst the crowd, like
tropical butterflies who had lost their way? Indeed, so much importance
is attached to the privilege of sporting silk, that it is no uncommon
thing for a noble owner to carry a stone over his weight, in order to
display jacket and boots on the course, rather than "give a leg up" to
a lighter man.
The events of the day were contended for principally by gentlemen
"jocks;" and bets of a few guldens produced as much interest as if
thousands of pounds had been staked.
After passing an agreeable day (the larger portion of which was
occupied in getting the amateur jocks to the post) I proceeded to find
my team; and took a sly opportunity of making many alterations in
the _attelage_, giving them all more room in their couplings and in
their pole-pieces, middle bar instead of lower, and cheek to those
I thought would bear it, buckling the traces (as near as I could) at
even lengths, slacking all the curbs, and lengthening some of the
head-stalls. The effect was marvellous; instead of the wild impetuous
team I had brought up from the city, I had now four horses working
evenly and pleasantly together, and, after the first quarter of a mile,
not pulling an ounce more than they ought. Here let me repeat the
maxim: "A team properly put together is half driven."