ioo THE LONDON HORSE AT HOME 



go in a hackney coach,' is part of the tradition of the 

 Buckingham Palace stables. But the sequel of the 

 indignant coachman swearing at the guard of honour, 

 and having to descend from the box and apologize 

 after conveying his Majesty to the House, gives greater 

 finish to the episode. The funeral horses are State 

 steeds in their way also, and, like the Queen's cream- 

 colours, are foreigners, or of foreign extraction. But the 

 creams are of Hanoverian descent. The * Black 

 Brigade ' are all Flemish, and come to London by way 

 of Rotterdam and Harwich. There are nearly seven 

 hundred in London, and these are mainly the pro- 

 perty of one or two large owners. ' The jobmaster 

 is at the back of the burying world/ One of these 

 speaks very pleasantly of his black stud. * I am not a 

 horsey man,' says the undertaker, ' but I have known 

 this class of horse all my life, and I say they are quite 

 affectionate and good-natured, and seem to know in- 

 stinctively what you say to them and what you want. 

 One thing, they have an immense amount of self- 

 esteem, and that you have to humour. Of course, I 

 have to choose the horses, and I do not choose the 

 vicious ones. I can tell them by the glance they give 

 as they look round at me.' They are very fanciful as 

 to their company, and if a coloured horse is put in the 

 stalls among them, the blacks at once turn fretful and 

 miserable. Mr. Gordon has a fund of stories and 



