THE RIDER'S VADE MECUM.
(For Use in Rotten Row.)
Question. What part of London do you consider the most dangerous for an equestrian?
Answer. That part of the Park known as Rotten Row.
Q. Why is it so dangerous?
A. Because it is overcrowded in the Season, and at all times imperfectly kept.
Q. What do you mean by "imperfectly kept"?
A. I mean that the soil is not free from bricks and other impediments to comfortable and safe riding.
Q. Why do you go to Rotten Row?
A. Because it is the most convenient place in London for the residents of the West End.
Q. But would not Battersea Park do as well?
A. It is farther afield, and at present, so far as the rides are concerned, given over to the charms of solitude.
Q. And is not the Regent's Park also available for equestrians?
A. To some extent; but the roads in that rather distant pleasaunce are not comparable for a moment with the ride within view of the Serpentine.
Q. Would a ride in Kensington Gardens be an advantage?
A. Yes, to some extent; still it would scarcely be as convenient as the present exercising ground.
Q. Then you admit that there are (and might be) pleasant rides other than Rotten Row?
A. Certainly; but that fact does not dispense with the necessity of reform in existing institutions.
Q. Then you consider the raising of other issues is merely a plan to confuse and obliterate the original contention?
A. Assuredly; and it is a policy that has been tried before with success to obstructors and failure to the grievance-mongers.
Q. So as two blacks do not make one white you and all believe that Rotten Row should be carefully inspected and the causes of the recent accidents ascertained and remedied?
A. I do; and, further, am convinced that such a course would be for the benefit of the public in general and riders in Rotten Row in particular.
