io8 HIGHWAYS AND HORSES. 



great high-roads, and which many people imagine 

 was always the same width and never wider, is, in 

 fact, that space which has been deemed sufficient to 

 meet the requirements of the present traffic, which 

 was once upon a time so great, that many high-roads 

 had double turnpike gates, and even then the men 

 had all their work cut out to take the tolls. 



What was once the " Swan with Two Necks," in 

 Lad Lane, is now Messrs. Pickford's large establish- 

 ment. These great carriers, as most people know, 

 transmit goods by railway In the coaching days, the 

 stabling was under the offices ; the horses, when 

 required, used to emerge from underground. This is 

 the case with many private stables in London at the 

 present day, and what is still more remarkable, there 

 are many stables in the West End of London, built 

 during the last ten or fifteen years, in which horses go 

 up an inclined plane, so that there are several floors of 

 stabling with large balconies strongly protected with 

 hio-h iron railino^s, on which the horses arc washed. 

 Close to the " Swan with Two Necks," there was a 

 small shop at the corner of a very narrow street, but 

 the site of this humble establishment is now occupied 

 by lofty offices ; the business of the man who lived 

 there was to manufacture coach-horns and bugles. 

 Beinof near the General Post Office where all the mail 

 guards had to assemble every night, and being near 

 the " Bull and Mouth," and " Swan with Two Necks," 

 he did a very good business. Mr. Harris says : " The 

 variety of size and shape of the horns was remarkable. 

 The long tin horn was not extensively patronised, but 

 probably used by guards on cheap, slow coaches, who 

 did not care about looking smart ; then there was the 

 copper horn with a single twist with two sharp notes, 



