Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Transport, Invention, Animal Behaviour, Machinery

    The author, a velocipede rider, compares himself favourably with a 'man who doth bestride' a 'gallant steed', emphasizing that the velocipede rider does not need to 'stop to bait', pay road tolls, or keep a paddock. Adds that the velocipede, unlike a horse, 'never jibs, never shies', 'runs away', stumbles 'as he flies' or is seized with 'fits of kicking', and that the machine does not need a whip or rein.