DRIVING BY NIGHT. 423 



The introduction of steel goods coated with 

 nickel has much to recommend it ; polished pole- 

 hooks, chains, driving-bar ends, bits, stirrups, spurs, 

 when treated by this process can be kept clean and 

 in good condition with one-tenth of the labour that 

 is necessary to keep steel bright, considering that a 

 very short exposure to water or to damp air produces 

 oxidation. 



The painting of heraldic devices on carriage panels 

 has fallen much into disuse of late years ; formerly 

 great importance was attached to this art. 



The glass of carriages should never be too thin, 

 as thin glass has a tendency to vibrate and rattle. 



Very little has been said about lamps ; but this 

 is a very important matter as regards the fitting up 

 and finishing of a carriage. In London and other 

 large towns where the streets are well lighted, only 

 a very faint light is required, just sufficient to prevent 

 vehicles colliding with one another, since in a town 

 ■one cannot go far without meeting with a street lamp- 

 jDOSt surmounted by a respectable gas-lamp. But in 

 the country it is quite a difterent matter, and those 

 w^ho have never driven through country lanes on a 

 pitch-dark night have little conception of the misery 

 of such an experience ; besides which it is very 

 -dangerous, as the carriage and its occupants may 

 be hurled down a precipice or precipitated into a 

 deep ditch, whilst the overturned carriage lies on 

 the top of you, or the horses kick your brains out 

 in their efforts to become emancipated from their 

 harness. Or you may be driven into by a vehicle 

 approaching from an opposite direction ; but this last- 

 mentioned fatality only takes place when you and the 

 .approaching vehicle are without lamps, and neither 



