98 THE LONDON HORSE AT HOME 



wheeled farm-cart, have probably been set on at their 

 present height by the tradition of one hundred years in 

 wheelwrights' shops. If compared with the height of 

 the shafts in the ' tumbrils ' used for the monster horses 

 of the London vestries, a clue might be gained as to the 

 proportionate increase in the height of the best draught- 

 horses. The main conditions of health for the London 

 horse, when once acclimatized, seem to be the Sunday's 

 rest, and proper care of his feet. Experience only 

 proves the truth of the evidence given by Bianconi, 

 when the whole mail traffic of Ireland was run on his 

 cars. He owned more horses than any man of his time, 

 and declared that he got far more work out of them 

 when he ran them only six days a week than when he 

 ran them seven. Mr. Gordon cites Lord Erskine's 

 speech when introducing a Bill dealing with cruelty to 

 animals : ' Man's dominion is not absolute, but is limited 

 by the obligations of justice and mercy ;' and, except in 

 the case of certain unfortunate hackneys, which can be 

 used in carts on week-days, and serve in a cab on 

 Sundays, most owners seem now to recognise both the 

 Justice and utility of allowing their horses a Sabbath of 

 rest. Hard work is terribly aggravated by any mischief 

 in the horses' feet, most of the cases of * cruelty ' being 

 due to working them in that condition. The ponderous 

 hoof of the dray-horse crushes down upon iron or 

 sharp stone, and at once drives the object deep into the 



