54- 



TnE Book of the Horse. 



Of the different shapes of gigs, the stanhope is the only one that survives as a town 

 carriage. It is still built in the most expensive manner, by coachmakers of high repute ; and 

 is patronised by young gentlemen of fashion fond of a quick high-stepping blood-horse, for 

 it is a kind of vehicle which shows off that class of horse in great perfection. For many years 

 between the decline of the cabriolet and the rise of the brougham, a town-built stanhope was 

 rarely seen on the stones ; but since 1870 there has been a revival, chiefly due to the officers 

 of the Guards and their numerous imitators. 



At the time of Thurtell's trial for the murder of Weare, a witness gave " keeping a gig " 

 as a proof of respectability, and the words have since been crystallised into one of Mr. 

 Carlyle's favourite epithets descriptive of his favourite aversion, the British Philistine. But the 



THE DOG-CART. 



general diffusion of carriage-keeping on two and four wheels since 1852 has quite deprived the 

 joke of its point. The class who once drove gigs now ride in broughams or in dog-carts, 

 which last arc not in any way a sign of gentility. 



A gig, like all two-wheeled carriages of its class, requires careful construction to avoid 

 the very disagreeable motion called technically " knee-action " — an irritating jogging motion, 

 arising from the spring of the shafts. A number of inventions have been patented to cure 

 this disagreeable motion, and some of them are very successful. At the commencement of 

 the century, Fuller, of Bath, made a reputation by an invention of this kind ; but now every 

 builder of a dog-cart has his remedy, at the cost of two or three extra sovereigns. The 

 man who cares for his neck, and rides on two wheels, should look to his shafts. They 

 should be of lancewood. The late Mr. Allen Ransome recommended that they should be 

 divided, lined with a steel plate, and cramped together. A shaft should never have a bolt 

 through it. 



An exemption fiom taxes made in 1S43 (since abolished) not only introduced a two- 



