238 HIGHWAYS AND HORSES. 



been left behind which were positively necessary to 

 the journey. 



Hancock put all his carriages on the Paddington 

 Road in 1836, and ran regularly for five months, 

 running four thousand two hundred miles. He built 

 a light steam phaeton for his own use, which ran 

 about twenty miles an hour. This he drove about 

 the City of London, amongst horses and carriages, 

 without causing annoyance or danger. The usual 

 speed was about ten miles an hour. Altogether, 

 Hancock built nine steam carriages, capable of con- 

 veying one hundred and sixteen passengers, besides 

 engineers and stokers. 



In December, 1833, about twenty steam carriages 

 were running in and about London ; but hostile legis- 

 lation and the bad condition of the roads discouraged 

 inventors and those who owned them, and even 

 Hancock, the most indefatigable of them all, threw 

 his up in despair. 



And yet a Committee of the House of Commons, 

 who were desired to report upon the matter, gave 

 a very satisfactory account of the working of road 

 locomotives, and expressed a conviction that the 

 substitution of inanimate for animal power on com- 

 mon roads was most important ; and they considered 

 its practicability to have been " fully established," 

 and predicted that its introduction would take place 

 more or less rapidly, in proportion as the attention 

 of scientific men was directed by public encourage- 

 ment to further improvement. 



As yet steam carriages have not had a fair trial, 

 and there is no doubt that some day they will be in 

 general use. An electric carriage would answer the 

 purpose still better. F"arey, one of the most dis- 



