The first four-wheeler was placed upon the streets, just as Chapman’s cab appeared, by the General Cabriolet Conveyance Company. It was built by Mr. David Davies, the builder of the cabriolets of 1823, was called a “covered cab,” and carried two passengers inside and one on the box seat. The doors were at the sides. This cab was quickly improved upon, and the “Clarence,” our much-abused “growler,” was the result. Lord Brougham was highly pleased with the new vehicle, and in 1840 he instructed his coachbuilder--Mr. Robinson of Mount Street--to make him one of a superior description. Hence the brougham. [Illustration: THE FIRST FOUR-WHEELED CAB.] Elderly and sober-minded people showed a marked preference for riding in clarences, and hansoms soon became considered the vehicles of the fast and disreputable. This reputation has not been lived down entirely, for, at the present day, there are some old ladies who will on no account enter a hansom, and shake their heads sorrowfully when they see their grand-daughters doing so. It must be confessed that hansoms figured in police-court cases much more frequently than the four-wheelers did. A well-known cab proprietor, who died a few years ago, had, in his youth, an exceedingly unpleasant experience while driving a hansom. One night he was hailed by two men who were supporting between them a sailor, who was, apparently, in an advanced state of intoxication. They placed the sailor in the cab, and then, turning to the cabman, told him to drive to a certain quiet place some distance away and wait for them there. They explained that they had a brief call to make and could not take the drunken man with them, but they would follow on in less than a quarter of an hour, and inspired confidence by paying a portion of the fare in advance. Cabby drove off and all went well until reaching a toll-gate. As the keeper came out of the toll-house he caught sight of the sailor, and, thinking that something was the matter with him, he went closer and peered into his face. Then he ran to the horse’s head, and seizing it, exclaimed sharply to the cabman, “Hallo! young fellow, you’ve got a stiff ’un in there.” “Go on; he’s only drunk,” the cabman replied. But the toll-keeper was not satisfied with the explanation, and detained the cab until a policeman arrived. The sailor was then examined, and it was at once evident that not only was he dead, but that he had been so for several days. It was, in fact, a body-snatching job, and the rascals engaged in it had dressed the corpse in sailor’s clothes to get it through the streets without attracting attention. Instructed by the police, the cabman drove to the place where he had been told to await the men, but they did not appear to claim the body. They had evidently kept a distant watch on the cab.