THE HORSE. 199 



very nice in their choice, and they never, I believe, 

 take the time or pains of putting a fresh horse into a 

 break, but set him to work in his untutored state. 



" It will be no digression, but, indeed, quite in 

 course, to notice the accidents which too frequently 

 occur by furious driving and riding through the 

 crowded streets of the metropolis. Some regulation 

 in the case is certainly necessary, at least, some 

 public and efficient admonition and caution from the 

 authorities. To be sure, the loss of an old woman, 

 or an old man, of seventy, put hors de combat by a 

 coach wheel or a horse's hoof, is thought little of; 

 such valueless beings are not indeed missed from our 

 superabundant population. A paragraph appears in 

 the public papers by way of dirge ; we read, shake 

 our heads, and repeat, ' It is pity 'tis true, and true 

 'tis pity,' and there the matter ends, until we have a 

 fresh memento mori which nobody remembers. But 

 I have a fellow feeling for my co&tanians who have 

 not been so fortunate as myself in retaining their 

 activity, and who cannot like me cross the street, on 

 occasion, with a hop step and a jump. However, 

 some time since, I had very nearly 'napt it,' or at 

 least, ' got done brown,' for, as I was crossing Fleet 

 Street, near St. Dunstan's church, my eyes not having 

 so much speed as my heels, I narrowly escaped con- 

 tact with the horse of a huge, thundering, and, 

 apparently, hard headed fellow, of the true welter 

 and chew of tobacco sort, who came trotting along 

 the street at the rate of sixteen miles an hour. I 

 was, indeed, at whips, and literally won the race 

 by a head ! Walking down the street, I immediately 



