prevents him from being overworked. This fact,
however, is very seldom realised until a gentleman,
urged by the apparent economy of the
proceeding, determines upon buying a Brougham-
horse and feeding it himself. On the face of it,
this looks like an enormous saving; the horse is
to cost—say from sixty to eighty pounds, the
cost of keep is fourteen shillings a week, of
shoeing four pounds a year; but in nine cases
out of ten, owned horses take cold, throw out
splints or curbs, pick up nails, begin to " roar,"
or in some fashion incapacitate themselves for
action during so large a portion of the year that
their owner is glad to get rid of them and to
return again to the jobbing system.

Although most readily job-masters profess to
let saddle-horses on job, yet—for yearly jobs at
least—there is seldom a demand for them. A
saddle-horse is in general a petted favourite
with its owner, who would not regard with
complacency the probability of its being sent, on
his leaving town, to some ignorant or cruel
rider. So that the jobbing in this department
is principally confined to the letting of a few
horses for park-riding in the London season.
For these from eight to ten guineas a month are
paid, and the animals provided are in most cases
creditable in appearance, and useful enough
when the rider is a light-weight, and a good
horseman; heavy men, unaccustomed to riding,
had better at once purchase a horse, on the
advice of some competent person, as hired hacks
acquire, under their various riders, certain
peculiarities of stumbling, backing, and shying,
which render them very untrustworthy. Some
job-masters have a riding-school attached to
their premises, and whenever an evident " green
hand" comes to hire a hack for a term, the job-
master, who reads him like a book, asks with an
air of great simplicity whether he is
accustomed to riding. In nine cases out of ten the
answer will be, "Well! scarcely!—long time
since—in fact, not ridden since he was a boy,"
and then the job-master recommends a few days
in the school, which, to quote the words of the
card of terms, means " six lessons when
convenient, £2 2s."

Probably the next day the victim will arrive
at the school, a large barn-like building, and will
find several other victims, old and young,
undergoing tuition from the riding-master, a man in
boots, with limbs of steel and lungs of brass, who
stands in the middle of the school, and thence
roars his commands. This functionary, with
one glance, takes stock of the new arrival's
powers of equitation, and orders a helper to
bring in one of the stock-chargers for such
riders, a strong old horse knowing all the dodges
of the school, and accustomed, so far as his
mouth is concerned, to the most remarkable
handling. He comes in, perhaps, with a snort
and a bound, but stands stock-still to be mounted
—a ceremony which the pupil seems to think
consists in grasping handfuls of the horse's mane,
and flinging himself bodily on to the horse's
back. The stern man in boots advances and
gives him proper instruction, off starts the
horse and takes his position at the end of a little
procession which is riding round the school.
Then upon the pupil's devoted head comes a
flood of instruction. Calling him by name, the
riding-master tells him that " Position is
everything, sir! Don't sit your horse like a sack!
Body upright, elbows square, clutch the horse
with that part of the leg between the knee and
the ankle, toes up, sir—this is managed by
pressing the heel down—where are you turning
them toes to, sir? Keep 'em straight, pray!
Tr-r-ot!"  At the first sound of the familiar
word the old horse starts off in the wake of the
others, and the rider is jerked forward, his hat
gradually works either over his eyes or on to his
coat-collar, his toes go down, his heels go up,
he rows with his legs as with oars. When the
word "Can-tarr!" is given, he is reduced to
clinging with one hand to the pommel, but this
resource does not avail him, for at the command
"Circle left!" the old horse wheels round
unexpectedly, and the new pupil pitches quietly off
on the tan-covered floor. The six lessons, if
they do not make him a perfect Nimrod, are,
however, very useful to him; they give him
confidence, and he learns sufficient to enable
him to present a decent appearance in the Row.
(Until a man has ridden in London, he is unaware
of the savagery of the boy population, or of their
wonderful perseverance in attempting to cause
fatal accidents.) These riding-schools are good
sources of income to the job-master, and are
generally so well patronised that the services of
a riding-master and an assistant are in requisition,
with very little intermission, from seven A.M.
till seven P.M. The middle of the day is devoted
to the ladies, who sometimes muster very
strongly. In the winter evenings the school is
also much used by gentlemen keeping their
private hacks at livery with the job-master, and
being warm, well lighted, and spacious, it forms
a capital exercise-ground. These schools are also
much frequented by foreigners, for the sake of
the leaping-bar practice, which enables them to
prepare themselves for the gymnastic
evolutions of " Fox-Ont."

Having treated of the arrangements in force
in London for those who ride in omnibuses,
cabs, private carriages, and on horseback, we
now come to the preparation for that last
journey which one day or other must be made
by us all, and which has its own peculiar staff
of vehicles, horses, and attendants.

The black-job, or black-coach business (as it is
indifferently called) of London, is in the hands of
four large proprietors, who manage between them
the whole vehicular funeral arrangements of the
metropolis. These men are wholly distinct
from the undertakers, although they will take
no direct orders from the public, but are only
approachable through the undertakers, whose
contract for the funeral includes conveyance.
They provide hearse, mourning coaches, horses,
and drivers, and one of their standing rules is,
that no horse can be let without a driver, i.e.
that none of their horses must be driven by
persons not in their employ. These horses are