THE HORSEMEN- 53 



waistbelt, the " double horse " was used. This, 

 which was by no means a zoological freak, Avas 

 the type of horse asked for and supplied by 

 postmasters to two riders going in this fashion 

 on one animal. Like the brewers' double stout, 

 the " double horse " was specially strong, and 

 possessed more the physique of the cart-horse 

 than the park hack. It Avas chiefly for the use of 

 the ladies thus riding that the " upping blocks," 

 or stone steps, still occasionally seen outside old 

 rustic inns, were placed beside the road. They 

 enabled them to get comfortably seated. 



Travellers from Scotland to London about the 

 middle of the eighteenth century were accustomed 

 to advertise for a companion. Thus, in the Edm- 

 hnrgli Courant for January 1st, 1753, we tind : — 



" A Gentleman fets off for London Tomorrow 

 Morning, and will either j^oft it on horfes or a 

 Poft-Chaife, fo wants a Companion. He is to be 

 found at the Shop of Mr. Sands, Bookfeller." 



It was then generally found cheap, and some- 

 times profitable as well, to buy a horse when 

 starting from Edinburgh, and to sell him on 

 arrival in London. Prices being higher in the 

 Metropolis, the canny travellers who adopted this 

 plan often got more for the horse than they had 

 given. This method had, .however, the defect of 

 not working in reverse, and so those Scots who 

 returned would have had to hire at some con- 

 siderable expense, or buy dear to sell cheap, a 

 thing peculiarly abhorrent to the Scottish mind. 

 -L'r. Johnson would have characteristically brushed 



