138 BIPEDS AND QUADRUPEDS. 



the same qualities as the man alluded to, in driving, 

 namely, low and foolish vanity and ignorance, to 

 which may be added, (if not contemplated) at least 

 (wanton) cruelty. 



There is no doubt, but that the present state of 

 our roads has in a general way wonderfully less- 

 ened the labour of horses : but this relief, like that 

 of cheap provisions, may be done away with under 

 certain circumstances. If a man can get good wages 

 as his hire, he benefits greatly. If provisions are 

 half their former price, and he gets two thirds of his 

 former hire, he still greatly benefits ; if he only gets 

 half, he is where he would have been as to his living 

 years ago ; but if he does not get half, he is starving, 

 though he sees plenty around him. The horse is in 

 a somewhat similar position ; if we make the load 

 he draws, or carries, and the pace we urge him to, 

 greater than the improved state of the roads is an 

 equivalent for, he is a sufferer, instead of gainer, by 

 the improvement ; and I fear that among the avari- 

 cious, the ignorant, the vain, thoughtless, and the 

 brutal, this is frequently the case ; for where one 



