THE ROAD. 
by one horse with four persons in it with ease, for a 
limited number of miles. Descending still lower in the 
scale, and only one remove from the donkey-cart, is what 
is called the pony-chaise, out of which more people have 
been killed than we should like to enumerate here. 
These vehicles, by far the most dangerous carriages of 
the whole family they belong to, are so light that an 
animal even of little power can do what he pleases with 
them ; they are also obliged to be made so short in the 
carriage, that the least thing upsets them, while the 
persons in them are not out of reach of heels. Should 
the animal be alarmed and endeavour to run away, the 
lowness and lightness of the vehicle nearly destroy all 
power of resistance ; indeed, if he have much power, a 
carriage of this description may be compared to a canister 
tied to a dog's tail.* 
The taste for the whip has undoubtedly declined ; 
and at one time, perhaps, it occupied more attention 
among the higher classes of society than we ever wish to 
* Accidents by these carriages frequently arise from apparently an 
unknown cause ; it is by no means generally known that horses frequently 
begin kicking or plunging in consequence of some part of their harness 
pinching them, but which their drivers are quite unconscious of at the time. 
Thus a coach-horse is frequently set kicking by merely a twist in his trace. 
Many accidents, however, arise from using horses not properly broken to 
harness, as well as from the inexperience of drivers. We have all heard 
of the young Oxonian, who prevailed on his uncle to accompany him 
in his gig to Oxford. In passing through Kensington, the old gentleman 
observed, he had paid his nephew a great compliment, for that was only 
the fifth time he had ever been in a gig in his life. The nephew replied, 
that his horse beat him hollow, for he had never been in one at all before 
that day ! 
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