THE LONDON HORSE AT HOME 95 



not a sketch, but an exhaustive and brightly written 

 account of the varied lives and work of the animals them- 

 selves, and of the organized system of collective owner- 

 ship which mainly governs the employment and purchase 

 of London horses. There is hardly a page in the book 

 which is not full of facts, mainly new, and always 

 interesting. As we read, the mixed and bewildering 

 equine crowd which pours along the streets in carriages 

 and four-wheeled cabs, tradesmen's carts and parcel- 

 vans, brewers' drays and road-carts, dust-cars and coal- 

 carts, hansoms and hearses, is resolved into classes, 

 nations and callings, destined for separate uses, with 

 reasonable purpose. The immense scale on which 

 horses are now 'jobbed ' from large proprietors, and the 

 steady decline of private ownership, is perhaps the most 

 interesting fact, from an economic point of view, on 

 which Mr. Gordon dwells. Tilling, of Peckham, 

 owns a stud of 2,500 of all kinds, and these are hired 

 for work in every part of the kingdom, from the heavy 

 cart-horse to the riding-cob. They are to be found in 

 Sunderland, in Cornwall and at Brighton. They are 

 hired by every class of customer, from the Lord Mayor 

 and Sheriffs to the laundry company. Peak and Frean 

 hire a hundred for their biscuit vans ; a great brewer 

 ( jobs ' as many more. Even some of the tram-lines are 

 thus horsed ; so is the Fire Brigade, the Salvage Corps, 

 and now the mounted police. The advantage of these 



