In 1889 _Punch_ drew up a new Bill for London Improvements, including his old schemes for extending Rotten Row, making new rides, and otherwise protecting the equestrian interest, but adding new suggestions for the wholesale planting of trees along the principal streets and thoroughfares, the training of creepers over all the structures of the District Railway, the provision of popular restaurants in Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, and in general the opening of as many open-air refreshment places as possible--on the French model. [Illustration: GETTING GOOD TIMES OUT OF BAD Times are so bad, that the Stanley de Vere Talbots have to give up their Carriage. They go about (Grandpapa included) all over London on those nice Omnibuses with proper Staircases behind and Chairs on the top instead of a Knife-board, and find it much less monotonous than eternally driving round the Park. Their Carriage Acquaintances still bow to them; perhaps because they are still Stanley de Vere Talbots!] There is much less abuse of the imperfections of public vehicles in this period, though they are by no means exempt from censure. In 1875 _Punch_ quotes at length the account of an exceptionally honest cabman with the additional information that his name was Isaacs. The frequency of cab accidents in 1880 elicits the fact, if it was a fact, that cabs were not obliged to carry lights! The congestion of horse-drawn traffic at the Marble Arch and the Piccadilly end of Hamilton Place clamoured for a remedy, but _Punch_ was more concerned by the discreditable congestion of pedestrian traffic in the neighbourhood of Piccadilly Circus, and the nocturnal orgies enacted there. These belonged to the scenes and institutions calculated to bring London into disrepute, of which _Punch_ made a list in 1882 under the heading, "Things to Show Cetewayo." To return to the vehicles, the hansom still retained its popularity--witness Du Maurier's picture--and taximeter cabs introduced in Paris by 1890 aroused hopes not destined to be fulfilled until much later. The "growler" still held its own. _Punch_ had no love for it or its driver, but supported the plea for more cab-shelters. As for the omnibuses, the abolition of the "knife-board" and the introduction of garden-seats and proper staircases were handsomely acknowledged by _Punch_, though he still resented the importunities of rival conductors. Only those who can remember the atmosphere on the old and unelectrified Underground can properly appreciate _Punch's_ tirades against the dirt and discomfort of subterranean travel in the 'eighties. They were aggravated, moreover, by an outbreak of hooliganism, which became a serious nuisance in 1881. Nor was it any comfort to the semi-asphyxiated passenger to be assured that the underground officials were singularly free from bronchial affections. [Sidenote: _The Tyranny of King Fog_]