^Nimrod'' 



horses, taxation and economy put an end to it. Then came 

 the reign of the gig. The curate's wife, a gouty attorney, 

 or a rich old farmer, fifty years ago, might be seen boxed up 

 in a whiskey, which, being hung on hind- and fore-braces, 

 with a head to protect its inmates from weather, made a 

 convenient family conveyance, and — with a steady dobbin 

 to draw it — a safe one. Economy induced a leader of ton 

 to cast favouring eyes on this snug whiskey ; and thence the 

 airy gig, which, with a hundred-guinea horse in it, has been 

 the best friend to doctors and undertakers they have ever 

 yet found. The race has multiplied, and many names and 

 varieties have been adopted in succession. The quiet move- 

 ment of their wheels, the nice equilibrium in which they 

 are placed on the axle, the evenness of their motion by 

 reason of their being detached from their shafts, and the ease 

 with which they follow the horse, make gigs delightful 

 carriages to ride in, and we could wish they were not so 

 dangerous. The stanhope, so named after the Honourable 

 Fitzroy Stanhope, who planned it, succeeded the tilbury, 

 so called from the well-known coach-maker ; and the cost, 

 without harness, of either may be about seventy pounds. 

 Now, ' every dog has his day,' and so have our prevailing 

 fashions. The buggy, stanhope, dennet, and tilbury, have 

 all, during some seasons past, been supplanted by the cab- 

 riolet for town work, for which we must allow it is far more 

 suitable — though much too heavy for the road. In London, 

 this has been seen at the opera, at the theatres, at the club- 

 houses, and at dinner-parties, with a neat little urchin on 



229 



