“Nothing in nature or art can be so abominable as those vehicles at this hour. We are quite satisfied that, except an Englishman, who will endure anything, no native of any climate under the sky would endure a London hackney-coach; that an Ashantee gentleman would scoff at it; and that an aboriginal of New South Wales would refuse to be inhumed within its shattered and infinite squalidness. It is true that the vehicle has its merits, if variety of uses can establish them. The hackney-coach conveys alike the living and the dead. It carries the dying man to the hospital, and when doctors and tax-gatherers can tantalize no more, it carries him to Surgeons’ Hall and qualifies him to assist the ‘march of mind’ by the section of body. If the midnight thief finds his plunder too ponderous for his hands, the hackney-coach offers its services, and is one of the most expert conveyances. Its other employments are many, and equally meritorious, and doubtless society would find a vacuum in its loss. Yet we cordially wish that the Maberley brain were set at work upon this subject, and some substitute contrived.” Hackney-coaches died hard. In 1841, there were four hundred plying for hire, but before the Great Exhibition of 1851, nearly all the proprietors who possessed sufficient capital had sold their hackney-coaches at breaking-up prices, and started cabs. Nevertheless, as late as 1858, hackney-coaches were to be seen occasionally in the streets. The origin of the word “hackney” cannot be decided. In all probability it was derived from the old French word “_hacquenèe_,” which was applied to horses--and sometimes coaches--let on hire. The claim that Hackney was the first place where coaches could be hired, and gave its name to the vehicles, does not bear investigation. CHAPTER II Cabs introduced into England--Restrictions placed upon them--A comical-looking cab--Dickens on cabs--Hackney-coachmen wish to become cabmen--The cab business a monopoly--Restrictions are removed--_The Cab_ paper--The Boulnois cab invented--The “minibus”--The “duobus”--Bilking--A peer’s joke.