2o6 HIGHWAYS AND HORSES. 



what effect the application of the lash will have upon 

 them, and I have often felt inclined to pull them from 

 their seats, and thrash them as they have been thrashing 

 their horses. The only thing that has deterred me is, 

 that my good intentions might probably be misunder- 

 stood, and that the cabman might excite in the minds 

 of bystanders a sympathy which he did not deserve. 



Of course the best time for hansom cabs is during 

 the London season. A hansom is not a good wet- 

 weather carriage, a four-wheeler is even preferable on 

 a really wet day. With a hansom there is always 

 some obstruction and inconvenience with the reins, the 

 door, and the window, which even when it is let down 

 allows the rain to splash through in one's face. For a 

 lady on a wet day a hansom cab is a most inconvenient 

 carriage ; the muddy wheel, standing out obtrusively as 

 it does, is destructive to gowns. 



It is a matter for extreme regret that cab proprietors 

 do not start some good station broughams. If half the 

 care and money were expended on good broughams as 

 is lavished on hansoms, we should have a far more 

 useful class of hackney-carriage than we have now. 

 Last season several victorias made their appearance 

 in the London streets, and on the eab-stands ; but these 

 are essentially fine- weather carriages, and not suited to 

 our uncertain climate. There was also a hansom cab 

 which opened and closed, brought out last season, but 

 this was an expensive and very complicated vehicle, 

 which for general purposes could bear no comparison 

 to a strongly-built, square-fronted station brougham. 



Most of the cab-horses are bought by auction at 

 Aldridge's Repository, Upper St. Martin's Lane ; 

 Tattersall's, Albert Gate ; Rymill's, 56, Barbican ; 

 Ward's in the Edgware Road, or some other place 

 where they are easily obtainable at a low price, the 



