210 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 



horses. Those of the London brewers especially — 

 the twelve Beer Kings, as they used to be called — 

 have a world-wide reputation. Formerly, each brewer 

 had an equine color of his own ; and they were " as 

 particular," says a recent writer, " about the colors 

 and matchings of their dray horses as of their own 

 four-in-hands, or the court chariot pairs of their titled 

 wives. One was celebrated for a black, the original 

 dray horse color ; another, for a brown, a roan, a gray, 

 or chestnut team. But at present, such is the de- 

 mand for horses of this class that they are compelled 

 to be content with any color, and to moderate the 

 old standard of height." The brewers' horses, it 

 may be remarked parenthetically, are fond of beer, 

 but they are allowed to have it only when recovering 

 from illness ; at such times it is of service as a tonic. 

 Horses take naturally to intoxicating liquors , beer, 

 spirits, and more frequently wine, are often adminis- 

 tered to trotters in a long-drawn contest, and with 

 excellent results. Champagne and soda-water, as I 

 have stated in a previous chapter, is the pleasant 

 draught which one famous driver employs on these 

 occasions. 



The " city horses " of Boston, used to carry off 

 ashes and garbage, have long enjoyed a high repu- 

 tation for strength and beauty, and the excellent con- 

 dition which they almost invariably show testifies to 

 the horsemanship of the official, whoever he may be, 

 having them in charge. There is in the same city a 

 noted patent-medicine house, whose stalwart four-in- 

 hands may be supposed to symbolize the strength of 

 their drugs. Twenty years ago there used to be a 

 cigar and candy pedler traversing the mountainous 



