The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Sporting Dictionary and Rural Repository, Volume 2 (of 2)

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Title: The Sporting Dictionary and Rural Repository, Volume 2 (of 2)

Author: William Taplin

Release date: April 17, 2019 [eBook #59291]

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Chris Curnow, Chris Pinfield and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE SPORTING DICTIONARY AND RURAL REPOSITORY, VOLUME 2 (OF 2) *** 




Transcriber's Note:


Variations in spelling, punctuation and the use of hyphens have been
retained. Apparent typographical errors have been corrected.






THE

SPORTING DICTIONARY,

AND

RURAL REPOSITORY

OF

GENERAL INFORMATION

UPON EVERY SUBJECT APPERTAINING

TO

THE SPORTS OF THE FIELD.


INSCRIBED TO

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

THE EARL OF SANDWICH,

Master of His Majesty's Stag Hounds.


BY

WILLIAM TAPLIN,

Author of the Gentleman's
                             Stable Directory.


IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. II.


LONDON.

Printed by Thomas Maiden, Sherbourn-Lane,

FOR VERNOR AND HOOD, LONGMAN AND REES,

 J. SCATCHERD, J. WALKER, AND J. HARRIS.


1803.






{1}


The


SPORTING DICTIONARY.


I & J.




 Jardon
—is
a term but little used in the present
improved state of FARRIERY, and but little
known, except to the few remaining practitioners
of the old school, who are gradually becoming
almost as obsolete as the word itself. A jardon
was the name given to any callous enlargement on
the outside of either hock, proceeding from blows,
or by kicks from other horses; although they
more frequently arise from sudden turns or twists
in too short a compass, or being too violently
thrown upon their haunches in the manege, or elsewhere.
In slight affections, they are not always
productive of pain or lameness; and if properly
attended to upon their first appearance, are sometimes
{2}
reduced and obliterated without any future
ill effect. Powerful repellents, and strengthening
embrocations, are the most efficacious applications.
Blistering first, and
FIRING afterwards, have been
the usual practice. It is, however, certain they
are, in general, too hastily adopted. Daily fomentations
of hot vinegar, followed by a strong
embrocation of extract of Saturn, and camphorated
spirits, might probably prevent the necessity
for either.






JAUNDICE
.—The jaundice is a disorder to
which quadrupeds are subject as well as the human
species; and notwithstanding the difference in the
formation of each, it originates in a similar cause
with one as with the other. When HORSES are attacked
with it, they are said to have the YELLOWS;
which name it also goes by with farmers and country
practitioners, when it is observed to make its appearance
among what they term "the cow cattle."
It proceeds from a partial and imperfect secretion,
or temporary obstruction of the gall through the
biliary duct, which being compulsively regurgitated,
diffuses a tinge of its property through every
part of the system, constituting the distinguishing
appearance from which the disorder derives its
name. When proceeding from this cause, and a
proper mode of treatment is adopted in the earliest
instance, but little trouble is known to follow, and
a certain cure is soon obtained; but should tubercles
{3}
in, or a schirrosity of, the liver, or an induration
of its collateral glandular parts, have
proved the cause, more patience, time, and medical
perseverance, will be required, before a perfect
cure can be expected or obtained.




The leading symptoms of this disorder in a
HORSE are, a dulness of the head and debility of
the body, heaviness about the eyes, head hanging
drowsily in the manger, loss of appetite, pulse
both languid and low, a laborious respiration, and
daily reduction of flesh. Soon after these symptoms
successively come on, they are followed by a
yellowness of the inside of the eye-lids, the lips,
the tongue, and the bars of the mouth; even the
urine is of a saffron colour. In this state, from
an evident deficiency in the corresponding secretions,
and a proportional inaction of the dependent
emunctories, nature becomes universally
overcharged, and labours under the sluggish debility
already described. Bracken, who understood this
disorder perfectly, and described it most accurately,
plainly perceived, the certainty of cure depended
entirely upon removing such obstructions
as soon as possible after their first appearance, before
the disorder had made any progress towards inveteracy
or long standing: to effect which, he judiciously
recommends purgatives, with a large
proportion of English saffron and
Turkey rhubarb.
'Tis true, the great efficacy of the different
{4}
preparations of MERCURY, as
DEOBSTRUENTS,
was not so well known in his time, as at the present
moment, or the MERCURIUS DULCIS would have
been introduced as a powerful assistant upon the
occasion. Proceeding in a scientific disquisition of
the disorder, he recommends hepatic deobstruents,
with soap, salt of tartar, turmeric, soap of tartar,
and filings of iron, fully convinced, as he says, of
their efficacy, after the most satisfactory and repeated
trials.


Upon the subject he observes, "The soap of
tartar, &c. operates powerfully upon the obstructions
in the liver, which are the cause of the
jaundice, and help to carry off the offending matter
by urine. And as the term DIURETIC is oftener
used than understood, I shall give the reader a
short account of the operation of diuretics. Under
the term diuretic may be comprehended all
those medicines whose most remarkable properties
appear in their increasing the discharge by urine,
or which are supposed to have any power in removing
obstructions of the urinary glands, or passages,
from what cause soever, whether humours,
gravel, or other offending matter. And in this
view, diuretics come under these following kinds;
to wit, they are either such as soften and lubricate
the fibres composing the urinary glands and canals,
by which they yield and relax into their due dimensions
and capacities, of which kinds are all
{5}
emollients already explained; or they are such as,
by their attenuating and detersive properties, rarify
and thin viscous or slimy humours, and adhere or
carry them along the passages: or, again, they
must be such as have a power of so altering the
crafts or mixture of the humours, as to fit those
to pass which could not get through before; and
of this kind is the soap of tartar, as well as all the
tribe of lixivials and fixed salts."


Gentle DEOBSTRUENTS, which additionally excite
the secretion, and promote the discharge of urine,
are known to act upon the motion as well as the
property of the BLOOD, by stimulating the solids,
and quickening their vibrations, thereby increasing
the blood's velocity, and promoting its attenuation.
Hence it is, those diuretics recommended by
Bracken are peculiarly adapted to this, and such
other disorders as originate in sluggish viscid habits,
where the blood becomes too adhesive for
regular circulation. He is of opinion, "That
the JAUNDICE in
HORSES mostly proceeds from a
diminution or decay of the animal salts contained
in the blood, and therefore the addition of such
kind of salts must restore the creature to soundness
of body." He also says, "he is fully persuaded
that Castile soap, dissolved in white wine, or even
in beer, will cure the disorder in its earliest stage;
and that those who may be inclined to try it upon a
HORSE in the yellows, may mix an ounce in two
{6}
quarts of beer, and give it at four times, a pint a
day, either warm or cold, letting the horse have
exercise; for the jaundice occasions a sluggish
laziness in either man or beast, therefore exercise
is proper to hinder the fluids from forming preternatural
cohesions, which lay the foundation of
the distemper."


However right he may have been in his opinion
and practice, in the less enlightened time in which
he wrote, (two thirds of a century since,) it may
be reasonably presumed, that the many great and
astonishing improvements in chemistry, and discoveries
in medicine, have thrown some new lights
upon the cure of this, as well as of many other
disorders, the causes of which are not obscured by
the least mist of ambiguity. It is not only clearly
ascertained, but generally known, that the jaundice
in horses (if attended to upon the first appearance
of bilious regurgitation, before the obstructions
are become rigidly permanent, constituting an induration
of the liver or glands) submits to a
course of mild mercurial purging balls properly
administered; followed by a few alteratives, composed
of ÆTHIOPS MINERAL, incorporated with the
PECTORAL CORDIAL BALL.
See List of Medicines
at the End of the Work.




 JAWS Knotted.
—Tumefactions under the
jaws of horses, for want of a more technical or
{7}
scientific definition, gave rise to the sublime term
of knotted jaws; which, however, tends to no
distinction, or to any particular description; although
tumors may be frequently found there of
different kinds, produced by, or arising from,
many different causes. Temporary tumefactions
of the glands may originate in COLD, and sometimes
as suddenly disappear upon a perfect recovery
from the cause. Inflammatory tumors
form these, as upon the attack of the
STRANGLES,
or from a foulness and viscidity of the blood; in
either of which, relief can only be obtained by
speedily promoting suppuration. Glandular tumors
sometimes form these, become indurated and
stationary, never producing pain or inconvenience
during the life of the horse. Others, of a much
more critical and dangerous description, make their
appearance there also, and are the certain prognostic
of FARCY GLANDERS. Some professional
knowledge, and judicious discrimination, is absolutely
necessary, to distinguish between one and
the other in the first instance, the better to regulate
(if necessary) the mode of treatment in the next.
In all simple tumors arising from cold, local circumstances,
or temporary inconvenience, hot fomentation
daily, with a sponge or flannel dipt in a
decoction of aromatic garden herbs, and afterwards
kept in a state of equal temperature with a double
flannel and hood, will be found to expedite obliteration,
by promoting an early and plentiful discharge
{8}
from the nostrils. All swellings under the
jaws which are painful upon pressure, indicate a
tendency to suppuration, which cannot be too soon
promoted by such stimulative poultices as may be
thought most applicable to the purpose.






IMPOSTHUME
.—An imposthume is that kind
of inflammatory enlargement, or swelling, which
terminates in a formation of matter, produced by
an effort of Nature to relieve herself from some
offending morbidity under which she labours. Its
progress will be found under the head Abscess, with
which it is synonymous, and where the danger of
attempting repulsion is fully explained.






IMPERFECTIONS
.—The term, so far as it
is applied to horses, implies little more than what
is to be seen under the different heads of Blemishes
and Defects. A horse may be very found, handsome,
and valuable, yet he may have imperfections
not arising from, or originating in, blemishes; as
well as not amounting to what is meant to be conveyed
by the idea of defects. Imperfections may
be considered as slight drawbacks upon excellence,
which, although they do not very considerably reduce
the intrinsic value of the horse, yet he would be
much better without them; as warmth or violence
of temper, when put into action with any other horse
in company; shying or starting, either in meeting
or passing a carriage; uneasy and restless in mounting
{9}
or dismounting; aukwardness in the gait of
any particular leg, although it may not impede the
velocity of action.






INJECTIONS
.—Many medical solutions and
lotions are so called; though the word more properly
applies only to such compositions as are prepared
solely for the purpose of being conveyed by
means of an instrument, called a long-necked syringe,
(formed of either ivory or pewter,) into
such remote cavities, or sinuses, as may be formed
by accident, imposthume, or disease, in any part
of the body.






INTERFERE
.—A horse was formerly said to
interfere, when one fetlock-joint received an injury
in action, by a cut or blow from the foot of the
other leg. The term, however, is completely out
of use; and a horse subject to this defect is now said
to cut. See Cutting.






JOCKEY
.—This term, in its particular and most
confined signification, implies the person who actually
rides a horse for PLATE,
MATCH, SUBSCRIPTION,
SWEEPSTAKES, or any other
PRIZE; but custom and
provincial forms have been productive of local
deviations. To say in one district, that any man
is "a good jockey," means no more, than that he
is a good HORSEMAN. In another, to say he is
"quite A JOCKEY," is to communicate an idea,
{10}
that he is very little, if any, better than a swindler,
and exceedingly well qualified to jockey any person
with whom he has a trading transaction. Horse-dealers,
till within the last half century, passed
under the regular denomination of jockies in every
market town and country fair in the kingdom;
from which indefinite description they are now
relieved by the kind intention of his Majesty's
Ministers, who have since STAMPED them with a
badge of professional dignity, and enjoined an
annual pecuniary contribution for the distinction.




Jockey, in the present universal acceptation of
the word with the superior classes of society, as
well as the sporting world at large, is applied
merely to the RIDERS of
RUNNING HORSES; upon
the prevailing superiority of whose speed, and the
untainted integrity of the
JOCKIES who are entrusted
to regulate that SPEED,
immense sums annually
depend. Where so much unlimited confidence is
reposed, it is almost natural to conclude, an adequate
integrity would be insured. Time, that
unerring monitor, and invariable criterion of truth,
has long since demonstrated the fallacy of such
philosophic and philanthropic expectation: the
depravity of human nature has so repeatedly rendered
the experiment abortive, that numbers, upon
the stroke of whose whip, or the regulation of
whose rein, thousands upon thousands were frequently
depending, have finished the career of
{11}
life, without a garment, without a shilling, without
the common necessaries of life, and without one
friendly finger of commiseration to close the eye
of contrite misery, at the tremendous moment of
passing that "bourne from whence no traveller
returns;" while many other professors of the same
art die possessed of an immensity of property.
Whether one has been more fortunate than another
in always being on the right side, or more fortunate
in escaping detection, it is not the privilege or
intent of these pages to explore; suffice it, therefore,
to observe, that the HONOR,
PROBITY, and
personal INTEGRITY of a
JOCKEY, should, like the
VIRTUE of a
WOMAN, be not only pure, but unsuspected.
Although it is well known large fortunes
have been acquired by some individuals intimately
and secretly connected with the turf and
its dependencies, yet it is not likely that
JOCKIES,
and their numerous emissaries, should accumulate
wealth, unless a very considerable proportion of
certainty was invariably annexed to the speculation.
See Horse Racing, Turf,
and Training.




JOCKEY CLUB
—is a sporting establishment
of the higher order, originally instituted, and still
held, at Newmarket, composed of noblemen,
gentlemen, and the most distinguished sporting
characters in the kingdom, who are elected by
ballot, for the better exclusion of such as may be
thought improper persons to be admitted members
of so honorable and eminent a society. The
{12}
Jockey Club, in their collective capacity, are considered
the only supreme court to which any
SPORTING APPEAL can be made; and their award or
decision is abided by as final, whenever solicited.
All transactions within the official departments of
the Stewards, the Keeper of the Match Book,
the Judge, and every subordinate, is regulated by
a system of invariable punctuality, equal to the
first offices in the State; in confirmation of which,
the following are introduced as well worthy of
being known and admired (for the equity of their
adoption) in every part of the world.




 RULES and ORDERS.


Respecting Riders.—Every person who shall
ride at Newmarket for PLATE,
SWEEPSTAKES, or
MATCH, shall be obliged to weigh
when he comes in, allowing two pounds above the weight, and no
more. Every rider who shall neglect to obey this
resolution, is guilty of contempt of the orders of
this Club, and shall be disqualified from RIDING
hereafter at Newmarket; unless any gentleman,
or his rider, shall declare, before starting, that the
rider is above the weight allowed of by the aforesaid
resolution.


Forfeits.—The forfeits of all bets shall be paid
according to the proportion in which the principals
compromise their matches.


{13}


Members of the Coffee House.—Any person
desirous of being admitted into the Coffee Room,
Newmarket, must be proposed by a Member of the
Jockey Club, and his name put over the chimney
and door the day before he is to be ballotted
for; that there must be at least twelve Members
present at the ballot, and three black balls exclude.


Horses entered for Two or more Prizes.—The
owner of every horse, &c. entered to run for
two or more prizes on the same day, shall, for the
future, be obliged to declare to the Keeper of the
Match Book, before eight o'clock in the evening,
preceding the day of running, which of the said
prizes he intends to start his horse for; and the said
Keeper of the Match Book shall immediately declare
it in the Coffee Room.


Annual Dinner.—To meet annually at dinner
on the day preceding the King's Birth Day.
That three Members of the Club shall be appointed
Stewards, and to commence their office on the
fourth of June annually. One new Steward to
be appointed every year, on the third day of June,
by the Steward who quits on that day, subject to
the approbation of the Members of the Jockey
Club then present. The senior Steward to quit his
office on the third of June annually.


{14}


The Three Stewards, or any two of them,
shall be vested with full power to make such regulations
as they think proper, in regard to the Exercise
Ground and the Course. The three Stewards,
concurring, shall have it in their power to appoint
such person, or persons, as they may chuse, to
keep the Coffee House,
Match Book, receive
the STAKES, collect the entrance money, and all
other FUNDS belonging
to the Jockey Club. The
Stewards are to be responsible to the Jockey
Club for all the money collected, as belonging to
the Jockey Club. The Stewards shall have it in
their power to fix the hours of starting for each
match, &c. but they shall be obliged to fix those
hours of starting by eight o'clock in the evening
preceding the day of running. The accounts are
to be produced by the Stewards annually, on the
third of June.


Watching Trials.—Any gentleman who keeps
running horses, having cause to complain of any
FEEDER, RIDER,
GROOM, BOY,
or other person employed
by him in, or intrusted with, the knowledge
of trials, or having discovered them, directly
or indirectly, by betting, or wilfully in any other
way, (unless so allowed to do by his master;) or
if any person, as aforesaid, living with any gentleman,
shall be discovered in watching trials himself,
or procuring other persons so to do, or by
any unfair means whatsoever, endeavouring to discover
{15}
trials; on such complaint being carried to
any one of the Stewards, that Steward is to summon
a general Jockey Club meeting so soon as
convenient; which meeting is to appoint a Committee
of three Members, to examine into the accusation;
and in case they shall be of opinion,
that the person, or persons, is, or are, guilty, then
the person so found guilty shall be dismissed from
the service of his master, and the said person shall
not be employed by any Member of the Jockey
Club in any capacity whatsoever; nor shall any
horse, &c. fed or rode by him, or them, or in the
management of which he or they are concerned,
be suffered to start for PLATE,
MATCH, or SUBSCRIPTION.
And the names of the persons found
guilty of these offences shall be exposed in the
Racing Calendar, and inserted in a paper to be
fixed up in the Coffee Room at Newmarket.


Staking,
Shewing, and
Entering.—That a
copy of all the stakes to be made for matches, subscriptions,
and sweepstakes, and the day and hour
of shewing, or entering, shall be fairly written out,
and fixed up, by order of the Stewards, on the
side of the chimney-piece, at each end of the
Coffee Room, on the Sunday evening before each
meeting; to continue there each day of the meeting,
as notice for staking, shewing, or entering;
and no other shall be insisted upon.


{16}


Entry of Stakes.—A day-book shall be kept
by the person appointed by the Stewards, and
continue in the Coffee Room, in which shall be
entered an account of all matches, subscriptions,
and sweepstakes, to be run for each day within
that meeting; and as the different stakes are made,
the payments shall be marked to the names of the
persons so paying.


Stakes, how to be made.—All stakes shall be
made in cash, bank bills, bank post bills properly
indorsed, bankers notes payable to bearer, or
bankers notes payable to order, also properly indorsed,
and not otherwise, without the consent of
the party or parties present, concerned in the
MATCH,
SUBSCRIPTION, or
SWEEPSTAKES, on whose
account such stakes are made.


Time when.—All stakes for matches, subscriptions,
and sweepstakes, shall be made before starting
for the same; and in default thereof by any
person, he shall forfeit in like manner as if he had
not produced his colt, filly, horse, or mare, to
start; and shall have no claim to the stake or
stakes of the MATCH,
SUBSCRIPTION, or
SWEEPSTAKES,
should his colt, filly, horse, or mare, have
started, and come first; and this to remain in full
force, as an established agreement of the Jockey
Club; unless such person has previously obtained
the consent of the party or parties present, with
{17}
whom he is engaged, to dispense with his making
his stake as aforesaid.


Forfeits when to be paid.—All forfeits unpaid
before starting, for any MATCH,
SUBSCRIPTION,
or SWEEPSTAKES,
shall be paid to the person appointed
by the Stewards to receive the same, at
the Coffee Room, before twelve o'clock at night,
of the day such forfeits are determined; and each
person making default therein, shall forfeit and
pay to the person so appointed by the said Stewards,
after the rate of five pounds for every
hundred pounds so forfeited; which shall be disposed
of by the said Stewards towards such uses as
they shall think fit.


Bets made from Signal.—And in order to
prevent such frauds, notice shall be given, that if
any person make any bet or bets, from signal or
indication, after the race has been determined at
the post, such person is not entitled to receive, or
liable to pay, the same; as such bet or bets are
fraudulent, illegal, and totally void; and that if
any servant belonging to a Member of the Society
should be found to have made, or to have been
engaged in the making, any such bet or bets, he
shall be dismissed his service, and no farther employed
by any Member of this Society.


{18}


Forfeits and Compromises to be entered.—That
all forfeits, or money paid on compromising
any match or sweepstakes, shall BONA FIDE be declared
and entered in the day-book, in order that
all BETTORS may be put upon an equality with the
persons who had the match or sweepstakes, and
may thus ascertain in what proportion they are to
pay or receive.


Age of young Horses.—The Stewards shall
appoint some proper person to examine every
COLT or FILLY,
being of the age of two, three, or
four years, at the ending post, immediately after
running, the first time any colt or filly shall start
for any plate, match, sweepstakes, or subscription,
at Newmarket; and the said appointed person is to
sign a certificate of such examination, and his opinion
thereupon, which certificate is to be hung up
before eight o'clock the evening of the said day of
running in the Coffee Room at Newmarket. But
for all plates, matches, subscriptions, or sweepstakes,
where the colt or filly is required to be
shewn before running, the examination shall be
made at the time of shewing them; and the certificate
of the person appointed, shall immediately,
in like manner, be fixed up in the Coffee Room at
Newmarket.


Time of Starting and Forfeit.—The hours
of starting shall be fixed up in the Coffee House by
{19}
eight o'clock in the evening preceding the day of
running; and it is expected that every groom shall
start at the time appointed; and any groom failing
so to do, shall forfeit FIVE GUINEAS each time to
the Jockey Club. It is also expected, that every
groom will attend to the regulations and orders
which the Stewards of the Jockey Club may give
relative to the preservation of the Course and Exercise
Ground.


Trials.—That no person do borrow or hire any
horse, &c. not belonging to his avowed confederates,
to run in a private trial, without entering the
name of such horse, before the trial shall be run,
in the book appointed to be kept for that purpose
in the Coffee Room at Newmarket; and no
persons to be deemed confederates, who do not
subscribe this article as such.


Disputes.—All disputes relative to racing at
Newmarket, shall, for the future, be determined
by the three Stewards, and two referees, to be
chosen by the parties concerned. If there
should be only two Stewards present, they are to
fix upon a third person in lieu of the absent
Steward.


Winner undecided.—That if for any sweepstakes,
or subscription, the first two horses shall
come in so near together, that the judge shall not
{20}
be able to decide which won, those two horses shall
run for such prize over again, after the last match
on the same day. The other horses which started
for such sweepstakes or subscription shall be deemed
losers, and entitled to their respective places, as
if the race had been finally determined the first
time.


Single and double Bets.—That all bets determined
by one event shall be subject (as before
agreed) to any compromise made by the principals,
and paid in proportion to such compromise;
but that all double bets shall, for the future, (on
account of the frequent disputes which have arisen,)
be considered as PLAY or
PAY bets.


Weight, when not specified.—When any
match or sweepstakes shall be made, and no particular
weight specified, the horses, &c. shall
carry eight stone, seven pounds, each. And if
any weight is given, the highest weight is, by this
resolution, fixed at eight stone, seven pounds.


Horses engaged, when to enter.—No horse,
that is matched to run on the day of entrance for
any plate, &c. shall be obliged to shew and enter
at the hour appointed, but shall shew and enter
within an hour after his engagements are over,
provided such horse, &c. be NAMED at the usual
time of entrance, which is to be between the hours
{21}
of eleven and one, for all plates, subscriptions, and
sweepstakes, where any entrance is required, and
no other particular time specified.


Bets between two Horses void.—That all
bets depending between any two horses, either in
MATCH or
SWEEPSTAKES, are null and void, if those
horses become the property of one and the same
person, or his avowed confederate, subsequent to
the bets being made.


Challenge for the Cup.—That the
CUP be
challenged for on the Monday in the First Spring
Meeting; and the horses named for it declared at
six o'clock on the Saturday evening of the same
meeting.


The Whip.—That the whip be challenged
for on the Monday or Tuesday in the Second
Spring or Second October Meeting; and the
acceptance signified, or the whip resigned, before
the end of the same Meeting. If challenged
for, and accepted, in the Spring, to be run for
on the Thursday in the Second October Meeting
following; and if in the October, on the
Thursday in the Second Spring Meeting. Beacon
Course; weight, TEN STONE; and to stake 200
guineas each.


{22}


Five per Cent. saved in Forfeits.—The proprietor
of any horse, &c. engaged in MATCH or
SWEEPSTAKES, who shall declare his intention of
not starting before eight o'clock on the evening
preceding the engagement, to the Keeper of the
Match Book, or either of the Stewards, shall be
entitled to five per cent. and no more, of the forfeit.


Not Staking, a Disqualification in future.—No
person shall be allowed to start any
horse, mare, or gelding, for MATCH,
SWEEPSTAKES,
or SUBSCRIPTION, unless he shall have paid all
former stakes and forfeits to the Keeper of the
Match Book by eight o'clock the evening before
starting.


Trial Ground.—That the ground shall not
be engaged for trials, by the proprietors of any
stables of running horses, more than two days in
the same week.


Crossing and Jostling.—That when any
match is made, in which crossing and jostling are
not mentioned, they shall be understood to be
barred.


Courses.—That when any match or sweepstakes
is made, in which no course is mentioned,
it shall be understood to be the course usually
{23}
run by horses of the same age as those engaged,
viz. if yearlings, the Yearling Course; if two
years old, the Two Years Old Course; if three
years old, Rowley's Mile; if four years old, Ditchin;
if five years old, or upwards, Beacon Course.
And in case the horses matched should be of
different ages, the course to be settled by the age
of the youngest.


Forfeits.—That all forfeits, declared or incurred
for any MATCH,
SWEEPSTAKES, or
SUBSCRIPTION,
shall be paid to the Keeper of the Match
Book before twelve o'clock on the evening the
race is run, under the former penalty of five per
cent. to the Jockey Club; and persons making default
herein, shall not be allowed the deduction for
the timely declaration of such profits.


Entering and Shewing.—Horses, &c. entered
for plates or subscriptions, shall not be required to
be shewn, if such horse, &c. has before started at
Newmarket; and the owner of each horse entered
for a plate or subscription, shall declare to the
Stewards, or the Keeper of the Match Book, the
evening before by eight o'clock, or when the list is
read, at half past nine o'clock, whether his horse
is intended to RUN or
NOT, which declaration shall
be deemed obligatory, if in the AFFIRMATIVE,
unless the horse be taken ill, or matched; and if
{24}
in the NEGATIVE,
his name shall be erased from the list.


Ten per Cent. saved in Forfeits.—That the
owners of horses, &c. engaged in MATCHES or
SWEEPSTAKES, in which the forfeits shall amount to
ONE HUNDRED GUINEAS, or upwards, shall be entitled
to a deduction of TEN PER CENT. if they declare
their forfeits by half an hour past nine o'clock
the evening before running.


Trials.—No gentleman shall try the horse of
any other person, except his declared confederate,
without giving notice of such trial, by inscribing
the name of such horse, or horses, or their pedigrees,
with the names of their owners, before or
immediately after such trials, in the Book at the
Coffee House.


Under a set of RULES and
REGULATIONS so
judiciously formed, so unanimously adopted, and
so willingly acquiesced in, it is natural to conceive,
every thing has been introduced, and every measure
adopted, that could be thought equitable and
necessary, towards shielding the property of opulent
and eminent individuals from the depredations
of those rapacious sharks, and determined
adventurers, (as well in HIGH
as in low life,) with
which every avenue to the TURF
has been infested for near a century past; and which nothing can
{25}
totally prevent, but drawing such heterogeneous
line, as will infallibly exclude those nefarious,
well known pests from the superior, liberal, and
unsuspecting classes of society, who do honor to
their country.




JOCKEYSHIP
—is a term sometimes used in a
metaphorical sense, alluding to the dealings of individuals,
where one, by a superior degree of
knowledge, cunning, artifice, or chicanery, obtains
in a bargain considerable advantage over the other.
Its principal signification, however, in its literal
meaning, and frequent use, applies more particularly
to the peculiar excellence, or personal ability,
of JOCKIES, (alias riders,) whose sole avocation
it is to train and ride horses for the different
PLATES and
PRIZES at Newmarket,
and various other parts of the kingdom. This has always been
held a systematic employment of GREAT TRUST,
(but very little responsibility,) requiring considerable
bodily strength, much personal fortitude,
and cool intrepidity, constitutional taciturnity,
and a kind of habitual insensibility in respect to
passion, which should be studiously reduced to a
degree of professional apathy, never to be roused
into action by the occasional irritations of a designing
opponent. The great and leading qualifications
which constitute the predominant traits of
distinguished JOCKEYSHIP,
are to acquire a complete
knowledge of the prevalent points, speed, temper,
{26}
mouth, and perfections or defects, of the horse before
starting; to ascertain, as well as it can be accomplished,
a tolerable idea, whether it will be
most in his favor to insure the WHIP-HAND,
or decline it; to take the lead, or leave it, and wait
upon his adversary; whether to make play, depending
upon BLOOD and
BOTTOM, or to lay by, and
rely upon speed: all these, and a variety of other
contingencies dependent upon judgment, as well as
a still longer list, which must ever be equally dependent
upon the sole effect of CHANCE, (beyond
the utmost extent of human efforts to counteract,)
seem combined to render jockeyship a very arduous
task, and equally precarious means of acquiring
universal approbation and celebrity. For as
it may be considered an impracticability to become
always a WINNER, so,
from the occasional discontent
and disappointments of dissatisfied employers,
a RIDER must frequently have reason to exclaim,
(though silently,) "Vain his attempt who strives to
please ye all."






JOHN BULL
,—the name of a horse of much
celebrity both as a RACER and a
STALLION; having
been deemed, by the best judges, a horse of the
greatest strength, and the most beautiful and corresponding
symmetry, ever produced in this kingdom.
He was bred by the late Lord Grosvenor;
foaled in 1789; got by Fortitude, dam
(Xantippe) by Eclipse; her dam (Grecian Princess)
{27}
by Williams's Forester, &c. &c. Monday,
in the Craven Newmarket Meeting, 1792,
when three years old, he won the great produce
stakes of 200 guineas each, half forfeit, across the
flat, 35 subscribers; beating Ormond, Hotspur,
Whisky, St. Paul, Lucifer, and three others. At
Epsom, in May the same year, he won the Derby Stakes
of 50 guineas each, 32 subscribers; beating
Speculator, Bustard, Lyricus, St. George,
Whisky, and the Duke of Queensbury's colt by Pharasmond.
Soon after which, sustaining an injury, he
paid 300 guineas forfeit to Lord Foley's Vermin,
and became a stallion, 1796, at 20 guineas a mare;
covering the first year only a limited number (ten)
except those of his owner. He is the sire of Admiral
Nelson, Lady Bull, Alfred, Florist, Fortitude,
Georgina, Muly Molech, Gazer, and Lady
Katherine; and being now at the very zenith of
prosperity, promises a progeny of as much celebrity
as the best and most esteemed of his cotemporaries.






JOHNNY
—was the first horse of his year, and
then esteemed the best in England. He was bred
by Lord Clermont, and foaled in 1769; was got
by Matchem, dam by Babraham, grand-dam by Partner,
great grand-dam by Bloody Buttocks, great,
great grand-dam by Greyhound, out of Brocklesby
Betty.




{28}




JOHNNY
,—a horse of more recent date, and
of a different blood, was the property of Mr. Durand,
and proved a country plate horse of
some celebrity. He was got by King Fergus, dam
by Justice, and was foaled in 1794. At three
years old he won a fifty pound plate at Alfriston,
and two fifties at Egham. The year following
he won 50l. at Ascot, beating Ploughator and
Dispute. 50l. at Lewes, beating Greyhound and
Outcast. 50l. at Canterbury, beating Doubtful,
Ploughator, Quietus, and Ratafia. 50l. at Egham,
beating Will, King John, Greyhound, Lord Egremont's
Bugle, and three others. 50l. at Newmarket,
beating Parisot, Sober Robin, Centinel, and
High Eagle. In 1799 he won a Handicap Plate
at Newmarket, beating Wrangler and Outcast. 50l.
at Epsom. 50l. at Winchester. The Petworth
Stakes (10 guineas each, seventeen subscribers) at
Brighton; beating Bobtail, Lounger, Heart of Oak,
Opposition, Speculator, and Wrangler. The Ladies
Plate of 60 guineas at Lewes, beating Wrangler,
Gohanna, Sparrowhawk, Magic, and Sir F. Poole's
Brother to Waxy; and 50l. at Canterbury, beating
Mr. Crosoer's Dairy Maid. In the following year,
1800, he started but once, which was at Epsom.
It is supposed he sustained some injury, as he was
then withdrawn from the turf.






JOINTS
.—The joints of horses are subject to
rheumatic pains and affections, in some proportional
{29}
degree with those of the human species, and
require professional judgment to discriminate between
what are really so, and what may proceed
from other causes. Strict attention, and accurate
observation, have clearly ascertained and established
the fact, that horses are frequently attacked with,
and labour under, a CHRONIC RHEUMATISM, which
is as frequently treated like, and mistaken for, a
confirmed lameness, erroneously supposed to have
originated in a very different cause. The joints,
notwithstanding the peculiar strength of their formation,
are also liable to, and susceptible of, very
serious, alarming and permanent injuries, by short
turns, and sudden twists, out of as well as within
the stable; and it is readily to be believed, more
of these are occasioned by carelessness, inadvertency,
and the most shameful inattention of servants,
than from any accidental causes whatever.






JOURNEY
.—Journeys are, from various motives,
very differently undertaken, and by different
degrees of people, according to their various situations,
or peculiar avocations, as actuated by the
state of their private concerns; whether influenced
by a love of pleasure, the pursuit of novelty,
prompted by business, or urged by necessity.
Amidst which infinity of travellers, there are thousands,
particularly in the metropolis, who know
nothing of the management of the very valuable
and useful companion, upon whose health and
{30}
safety the pleasure and success of the journey must
principally depend. Horses, in general, are so
cruelly treated, and so inconsiderately neglected
by those who are entire strangers to the attentions
they require, and the comforts they stand in need
of, that a few general hints cannot be considered
inapplicable; at least to such as wish to improve
their judgment, and acquire knowledge, from practical
experience.




The prudent traveller will never commence a
journey of length, without every necessary precaution
that can be adopted for general safety during
the whole; he will insure to a certainty, by
personal examination, the shape, make, fixing, and
firmness of his horse's shoes, as the most indispensible
prelude to the success of his progress, it
being one great step to the prevention of trouble
and disquietude. He will observe that every part
of his apparatus is sufficiently strong and durable
for the purpose, that he may not be likely to encounter
the mortification of repairs upon the road;
as well as that his BRIDLE is properly adapted to
the MOUTH, and the
SADDLE to the BACK of the
horse. A sore back, or lacerated lips, are sad concomitants
in a tedious or a dreary journey. He
will also remember at setting off, that the animal
he bestrides is formed of materials by no means
dissimilar to his own; that he is composed of fibres,
nerves, tendons, muscles, flesh, blood and bone;
{31}
that these are all perishable commodities, liable to
accident, sickness, and dissolution; that he has
also his passions, his sensations, his appetites, his
wants, his pains, and his pleasures. Not possessed
of the pleasing powers of communication by speech,
it is a duty incumbent upon the rider, not only to
speak for, but to take care of (in the strictest meaning
of the words) an object so little capable of
taking care of itself.


Having all these things in humane recollection,
he will advert to the state of the roads, and the
season of the year: the mode of treatment, and
manner of travelling proper in one, might be improper
in the other. Observation should be made
upon the constitutional stamen, and innate properties,
of the horse, in respect to power and action,
that his paces and progress should be regulated in
proportion. One may with ease travel EIGHTEEN
or TWENTY miles at a stage, with strength and vigour
less diminished, than another may twelve;
and this it is the more necessary to know and observe,
because a horse overworked, or overfatigued,
in the early part, very frequently never recovers
himself during the whole of a journey. It
is a judicious maxim, and should be rigidly adhered
to, never to ride or drive horses at an immoderate
or unreasonable pace at first setting off in a
morning; the carcase being full, brisk action occasions
much uneasiness, if not pain; and a horse
{32}
never goes with comfort to himself till relieved by
frequent evacuation. Those who are properly attentive
to their own interest in the preservation of
their horse, will regulate their pace (as well as the
length of their stage) by the HEAT of the
WEATHER
in SUMMER, or the
DEPTH of the
ROAD in the WINTER,
each having equal and distinct effects upon
the strength, and exertion of power, in the horse,
as the other.


Much of management at inns depends upon the
state a horse is in upon his arrival; none, but fools
or madmen, bring them to the termination of a
stage in a stream of perspiration; if so, proper attention
and treatment cannot be expected, where
there are so many to be served beside themselves.
Leading a horse about to cool in the
WINTER, washing
the dirt off by plunging him into a pond, or
washing his legs in a stable-yard, are equally destructive,
and produce a combination of ills, in
colds, bad eyes, swelled legs, cracked heels, and
other inconveniences, productive of repentance,
when repentance comes too late. Whether the
date of perspiration he is in be much or little, the
mode of treatment should be proportionally the
same. After being permitted to stale, the head
and fore quarters should first undergo the ceremony
of brisk wisping, or rough dressing, with good clean
sweet straw; then turning his head to the rack,
(where some sweet hay has been previously deposited,)
{33}
the hind-quarters and legs experience the
same operation; at which time, and not before,
the saddle should be taken off, and the general
dressing of the carcase and legs should be completed,
admitting or excluding external air, according to
the season of the year, by which all conditional
circumstances must be regulated of course. The
examination of the SHOES,
the state of the FEET,
WARBLES, bowel galls, or injuries by unequal
pressure from, or friction of, the saddle, are contingencies
too necessary, and too sublime, for the
head of an ostler; he leaves possibilities of that
kind to be discovered by those whom it more materially
concerns; and the principal must therefore
look to it HIMSELF, if he expects to be unequivocally
satisfied upon those points. Feeding and
WATERING depend also upon time, circumstances,
and the season; it being the duty of the owner to
know whether the horse will eat his corn if he has
it; for it is not in the indispensible department of
the OSTLER to give a horse an ill name, by proclaiming
him a bad feeder. Under which combination
of contingencies, dependent upon travelling,
it is no bad plan to SEE
the horse have his CORN, as
well as to KNOW whether he
EATS it; for no man
can travel with so much judgment and satisfaction,
as he who knows the internal support his horse has
to work upon.


{34}


Horses jaded, and completely fatigued, with
long and dirty journies, in dull, dreary, and sometimes
tempestuous, weather, are so entirely debilitated,
that they prefer REST to
FOOD, and can
hardly be kept upon their legs, to go through the
necessary comforts of dressing and cleaning as an
unavoidable prelude to the more substantial relief
of the night. In such state they require a little extra
attention; an invigorating CORDIAL BALL, so
soon as it can possibly be obtained;was a horse of much temporary note a mash of
ground malt, and bran equal parts; in want of the
malt, a mash of bran and oats, made of boiling
water, and six ounces, or half a pound, of honey,
may be introduced as a substantial substitute. The
water should not be from the pump, but soft, as
from a rainy reservoir, or the river, with the chill
taken off: if in the winter, the clothing should be
warm; the bed plentiful, high, clean, and dry;
as well as all such crevices closely stopped as admit
currents of air; by which precaution, not only
temporary ills, but dangerous diseases, are frequently
prevented.




ITCHING
.—Horses are sometimes observed to
labor under a severe itching, or internal irritation,
which keeps them in a kind of perpetual disquietude;
biting such parts as they can get at with the
mouth, and rubbing those more remote against such
parts of the stall as are most convenient, by which
the hair is frequently rubbed off, and the skin excoriated.
{35}
In cases of this description, the blood
does not possess a proper or just equalization of the
component parts indispensibly necessary to the
standard of health. It mostly arises from a deficiency
of crassamentum, or adhesive property of
the blood, by which it becomes more or less impoverished,
and abounds with a redundancy of SERUM;
this, for want of its natural corrector, acquires
ACRIMONY, and soon begins to display its mischievous
power and tendency to cutaneous morbidity in
the way described. Permitted to continue and increase,
without salutary counteraction, it extends
its progress from a simple itching, in the first instance,
to scurfy eruptions, scaly exfoliations, or
partial loss of hair; bearing the external appearance
of surfeit, degenerating, by degrees, to inveterate
MANGE, or confirmed
FARCY. To prevent which,
the system should be improved, and the circulation
enlivened, by an invigoration of the frame: the
property of the blood should be enriched by an
ADDITION to the
QUANTITY, and an
ALTERATION in
the QUALITY of the food. A great deal of substantial
dressing should be adopted in the stable, and
regular gentle exercise out; as a collateral aid to
which, a course of ANTIMONIAL ALTERATIVE POWDERS
should be brought into use, till every
symptom of disquietude has disappeared.






JUGGED
—is a professional or technical term
with the horse-dealing and stabularian fraternity;
{36}
and implies a horse's having tumefactions, indurated
or inflammatory, under the jaws. But when
used in a more serious and emphatic sense among
themselves, it is to convey an idea, that the horse
said to be jugged, is infected with the
GLANDERS.






JUSTICE
—was a horse of considerable note
both as a RUNNER and a
STALLION: he was bred by
the late Lord Grosvenor; was foaled in 1774;
got by Herod, out of Curiosity, (who was got by
Snap,) her dam by Regulus, and grand-dam by
Bartlet's Childers. Without obtaining any distinguished
celebrity, he for many years maintained
his ground as a stallion above mediocrity, and produced
some tolerable racers: amongst the best of
which were Æacus, Mentor, Minos, Rhadamanthus,
Dedalus, and Midnight.




K.




KEEPERS
—are of different kinds, acting under
different appointments, as servants of the Crown,
or of individuals. There are FOREST-keepers,
PARK-keepers, and
GAME-keepers, whose employments
are distinct and separate from each other. It
{37}
is the province of the first to protect and superintend
the DEER in any one of his Majesty's forests,
to which he is appointed, and to become a principal
instrument of enforcing the laws enacted for its
preservation, against depredators of every description.
Park-keepers are retained in the service of
NOBLEMEN and
GENTLEMEN who have parks stocked
with deer, having the same perquisites and privileges
as those employed in the service of the
Crown; their employment is principally to superintend,
preserve, and regulate the stock, as well as
to kill BUCKS,
DOES, and
FAWNS, according to the
season, when required for the table; which can
never be done by any PARK-keeper of the
Crown,
without the receipt of a proper WARRANT previously
issued from superior authority for that purpose.
Game-keepers are employed in various forests,
parks, chases, free-warrens, and manors, the
property of the Crown, to furnish a constant supply
of game for his Majesty's table and household,
under such regulations as prevent the possibility of
too great an influx at one time, and too short a
supply at another. Every LORD or
LADY possessing
a manor within any part of the kingdom, has the
power of appointing a person, under the denomination
of a GAME-keeper, to protect, preserve, or
KILL any kind of
GAME upon the particular
MANOR
for which he is appointed; and to execute and enforce
all such other manorial rights and privileges
within the department, as may be submitted to his
{38}
delegation; he first conforming to the
LEGAL prescription,
before he can be confirmed, or qualified
to act in the office to which he has been deputed.—See
Game-Laws, and
Game-Keepers.






KENNEL
—is the place where hounds are kept;
upon the judicious construction of which, their
health, safety, and preservation, are known greatly
to depend. Those who take to, or become possessed
of, KENNELS ready built, frequently continue
them in the form they fall into their hands;
but such as encounter the expence of new erections,
cannot do better than take a previous survey of the
most approved plans; amongst which the Duke of
Bedford's, at Wooburn Abby; the
Duke of
Richmond's, at Goodwood, in Sussex;
and Sir William Rowley's,
at Tendring Hall, Suffolk,
are supposed, for extent and convenience, to take
the lead of most others in the kingdom. Taste
and FASHION may go a great way in the external
glare of such establishments; but HEALTH
and CONVENIENCE
should always prove the most predominant
considerations. It is universally admitted,
by all who have a practical knowledge of this subject,
that in large and regularly-hunted packs, two
kennels are indispensibly necessary to the success
and well-doing of the whole. When there is but
one, it can in the winter season be but seldom
cleaned; and even then the hounds are in a comfortless
state, from the dampness of the situation so
{39}
long as it remains. Cleanliness is so essentially necessary
in every APARTMENT and
DEPARTMENT of a
kennel, that no continuance of health in the hounds,
or excellence in the field, can be expected without
it. They are individually innately clean; and will
never, if they can avoid it, dung near where they
lie. Air, fresh straw, and ample room for the occasional
expansion of their weary limbs, are requisite
for the invigoration of the frame, and the
preservation of health. Hounds confined in a
body, are more liable to disease, than the same
animal single, and in a state of unrestrained liberty;
hence the necessity for counteraction, by every
means the most prudent precaution can adopt.
Hounds thus subject to, and constantly attacked
with disease, and even madness, under the best and
most judicious management, must be evidently much
more so if surrounded with filth and nastiness.




That some idea may be formed of the grandeur
of the buildings, and the liberal scale, of the most
celebrated hunting establishments, it is only necessary
to introduce a few explanatory remarks upon
the kennels of eminence already mentioned. The
superb edifice of the Duke of Richmond is said
(and probably with great truth) to have cost
10,000l. in its erection; to which his Grace contributed
no small proportion of personal assistance.
He is reported to have been his own architect and
builder; to have dug his own flints, burnt his own
{40}
lime, made his own bricks, and framed the woodwork
in his own shops. The DOG KENNEL, abstracted
from all other buildings, stands alone, in
such part of the park as to form a grand and striking
object from the principal rooms of the mansion;
the materials are flints, finished at all the angles by
a light grey brick, like the Lymington white-stock.


The distribution of the building is into five compartments;
two of them 36 feet by 15, and three
more 30 by 15; these are called KENNELS, to which
are annexed two feeding-rooms, 28 by 15. In
each of these are openings at top, for the admission
of external air, when necessary; and stoves to qualify
the air when too cold. There are supplies of
water, and drains into what is termed a stank,
a considerable depth below, full of rain-water, from
the surface of which to the rise of the arch is eleven
feet; so that no inconvenience arises from smell;
and the whole can be occasionally cleared off by
drains to more dependent depths, and dung-pits,
where it becomes contributary to the purposes of
agriculture. Round the whole building is a pavement
five feet wide; airing-yards, places for breeding,
and other conveniences, making a part of
each wing. To constitute a uniformity of elegance,
neatness, and perfection, the HUNTSMAN and
WHIPPER-IN have each a parlour, kitchen, and
sleeping-room, appropriated to their own particular
purpose.


{41}


The Duke of Bedford's is an immense establishment,
upon a scale of too much extent for particular
description, as it includes TENNIS-COURT,
RIDING-HOUSE, &c. &c. in one stone-fronted building,
of 266 feet in length; with two wings of
stables, containing stalls for 36 hunters; and eleven
loose houses, for horses sick or lame. As the
DOG-KENNEL, however, is the only part entitled to
notice under this head, it will create no surprise
that the richest subject should possess the most complete
in England. It is in length 405 feet, having
the boiling-house in the centre, with feeding rooms
adjoining, and a granary behind. On the right of
the centre are apartments for two KENNEL-KEEPERS,
two long lodging rooms for the hunting hounds,
with flues running along the walls, to preserve an
equal temperature in the severity of the winter season;
spacious yards to each, furnished with a fountain
in the middle, for the dogs to drink at; and
water-cocks fixed at proper distances, to cleanse
the pavement, when it may be required: adjoining
to these, are seven hospitals for sick and lame
hounds, with yards to each. On the left are divisions
for litter, straw, &c. eleven apartments for
bitches and puppies, with yards to each; eleven
ditto for bitches in pup, with yards also; and a
large division for bitches at heat. In the front is a
large reservoir of water, which supplies the fountains,
and different cocks in the several yards
within. Behind the whole is a large airing-ground,
{42}
flesh-house, and all requisite conveniencies. The
huntsman's dwelling-house is a handsome building
adjoining. The number of hunting hounds kept
in the kennel are usually from sixty to seventy
couple.


The kennel of Sir Willim Rowley is by no
means equal to the external grandeur of the two already
described, but replete with every internal
convenience that an establishment upon a somewhat
smaller scale can possibly require: it is situate
about half a mile from the family mansion, from
the garden of which it constitutes a picturesque appearance.
It is erected in a valley of the park, a
spot well adapted to the purpose, being equally defended
from the cutting easterly winds, and the
heat of the sun in its meridian, by a thick skirting
of park and forest trees. Not having the advantage
of a rivulet to water the courts, that want is amply
supplied by a pump, which, by means of different
cocks, turns the water to every part of the premises;
consisting of the HUNTING-KENNEL, or
principal lodging-room, which is 20 feet by 18 in
the clear, 18 feet high, and paved with flag-stones.
The beds, or benches, which cover almost the
whole area, are of original and most admirable contrivance,
being lathed like some bedsteads, and all
made to fold up with joints, for the convenience of
washing the floor beneath them. This room, by
means of a flue of peculiar construction, is heated
{43}
to any required temperature; and the hounds, after
severe chases, and in wet weather, are rendered dry
and comfortable in a much less time than they
could be by any other means.


There is also a kennel, or lodging-room, for the
young hounds, of the same dimensions as the former,
and possessing the same conveniencies, except
the flue, which here would have been superfluous.
Several small kennels for bitches in a state of gestation;
as well as a proportional number for those
with puppies. A paved court to the hunting-kennel.
A feeding-house; one half of which is
open, the other under cover. A paved court to the
kennel for the young hounds. A pump, and stone
water cisterns. A large grass-yard for airing the
hounds belonging to the hunting-kennel, containing
about an acre and three quarters; in which are a
variety of lime, chesnut, and other trees, forming
an excellent shade for the hounds during the summer
season. The young hounds have a similar
convenience. To these are annexed twelve small
kennels for puppies, well constructed for the purpose.
The hunting-hounds generally consist of
about THIRTY-SIX COUPLE; and the establishment is
conducted in such a style of punctuality, order,
and excellence, that it is universally acknowledged
equal to any, and inferior to none, upon a similar
scale, from one extremity of the kingdom to the
other.


{44}


Next to the choice of a proper spot for, and a
judicious, as well as a convenient, construction of
the KENNEL, the management of the hounds,
when there, becomes a matter of serious consideration,
and requires a FEEDER of strict sobriety,
indefatigable industry, invariable punctuality, great humanity,
personal fidelity to his employer, and a constant
attention to the business in which he is engaged;
as upon him in a great degree depends the
health and preservation of the hounds. Mr. Beckford
observes (in great proof of his practical
knowledge and personal experience) that no part of
a hunting establishment goes on so well, as when
the MASTER becomes an occasional
SUPERINTENDANT
of his own concerns. He says, as the sport in the
field depends on the exquisite sense of smelling so
peculiar to the hound, so care should be taken to
preserve it; and cleanliness is the surest means.
The keeping of the kennel sweet and clean, cannot,
therefore, be too strongly inculcated, and impressed
upon the mind of the FEEDER;
if he seems habitually
disposed to deviate from which, he is not
at all calculated for the office he has undertaken.


The preparation for feeding, as boiling the meat,
mixing the meal, and getting it ready at the hours
agreed on, is a matter that the HUNTSMAN will of
course take care (on his part) never to have neglected;
but there are other considerations, equally
important, which become entitled to attention.
{45}
Hounds cannot be properly fed by a single person;
two are (for a variety of reasons) unavoidably necessary;
and those two should be the FEEDER and
the HUNTSMAN; as hounds should be drafted and
fed according to their state of flesh and condition.
Some are much more voracious than others, and
will require a greater portion of food; others look
and work well, with half the quantity: the eye of
the huntsman should discriminate between the opposite
descriptions; in want of which attention,
the pack will never be of equal appearance. When
any of the hounds are observed to be low in flesh,
off their appetites, bad feeders, or kept under by
the old and master hounds, it will be matter of advantage
to draft them, and let them feed under less
restraint. Young and impatient feeders, fall into
the very common fault of feeding hounds with their
meat too hot: it is both a prevalent and injurious
error, that should be totally abolished.


Mr. Beckford is of opinion, that hounds poorer
than the rest should be fed again, and that they
cannot be fed too often; as well as that those
hounds which become too fat, if any, should be
drafted off, and not permitted to fill themselves.
All hounds (particularly young ones) should be
often called over in kennel; their names become
more familiar to them; and it teaches them obedience;
this lesson is practised, or should be, at the
time of feeding. Hounds should all be let out into
{46}
the airing ground, to empty them themselves after feeding,
to prevent an unnecessary accumulation of
filth, and consequent effluvia, in the kennel. It
may be a custom with some, to shut up the hounds
for two or three hours after they return from hunting
before they are FED;
if so, it is more entitled to
contempt than imitation; no plea can justify the
practice; they should have their meat ready for
feeding immediately on their return; once gratified,
they enjoy their rest undisturbed, the best and most
natural foundation for a renovation of strength.
Plenty of vegetables, boiled in the copper meat,
once a week, is a custom in most kennels; as it is
also to throw in a pound or two of sulphur, (in
proportion to the number,) particularly in the summer
season, when there is a greater tendency in the
blood to morbidity, particularly to cutaneous
diseases.


During the hot months, when hounds do not
work, they require but a small proportion of substantial food,
compared to what is necessary in the
severity of the HUNTING SEASON; flesh may then be
given very sparingly; the less it is used in the summer,
the less likelihood there will be of seeing that
malignant and unwelcome visitor, the MANGE,
amongst them. Various opinions have been promulgated
upon the best, cheapest, and most nutritious,
food for the support of hounds in general;
but experience seems to have justified the consistency
{47}
of occasional changes, according to the
different seasons, and the different degrees of
work; without adhering too closely to one particular
mode, unassisted by such deviations as circumstances
may render not only prudent and proper,
but sometimes unavoidable. Horse flesh, sheep's
trotters, raspings, greaves, bullock's paunches,
(in a scarcity of flesh,) oat-meal, and barley-meal,
constitute the principal articles upon which hounds
are known to subsist; although they are differently
prepared, and differently administered, according
to the judgment, experience, whim, or caprice, of
the parties concerned. It is, however, universally
admitted, after a number of fair and impartial trials,
that in respect to the two meals, they act much
more profitably and advantageously, when used in
a mixed state of nearly equal proportions, than
when either is given alone.


Mr. Beckford says, his feeder, who was a good
one, and of much experience, mixed the meal in
equal quantities; that the oatmeal he boiled for
half an hour; and then put out the fire, adding the
barley-meal, and mixing both together: his reason
for boiling one, and not the other, was, that boiling
made the oat-meal THICK, and the barley-meal
thin; and that when he fed with the barley-meal
only, it should not be put into the copper, but
mixed up with the scalding liquor, in a proper tub,
or hogshead, kept for the purpose. There are
{48}
many little things within the department of the
FEEDER, which, if neglected, become of serious
consequence. Nice observation should be made
upon the state of the BITCHES at all times; upon
the least indication of their going to HEAT, they
should be instantly removed; a few hours delay may
be the destruction of some of the best hounds in the
kennel. After their return on a hunting day, he
should observe whether there are any hounds who
have sustained injuries in the feet by thorns, flints,
&c. in which case a fomentation of warm pot-liquor,
(or bran and water,) followed by a washing
with cold vinegar, or salt and water, will generally
effect a speedy cure. Hounds seriously LAME, or
palpably SICK, should be separated from the rest,
and placed where they can be more at ease, and
have better attention.




KENNEL
—is a sporting term for the spot in
which a FOX deposits himself
after his nocturnal depredations,
and to which he retires about the dawn
of day: being found by the hounds in drawing covert,
he is then said to be unkennelled, and the
chase begins. When safe in some burrow, or hole,
below the surface, he is then said to lie at
EARTH.






KIBES
,—in horses, are the cracks which appear
in the HEELS during the
severity of the winter season,
and are much more the consequence of neglect,
or a want of knowledge in the stable discipline,
{49}
than the effect produced by changes in the weather;
which may in general be counteracted by the means
in constant practice with those who proceed systematically,
and take the same care of their horses, as
prudence prompts them to take of themselves.
They proceed mostly from being left with wet legs,
which, in very COLD or
FROSTY weather, occasions
such a tightness and rigidity of the skin, that, when
brought into sudden and brisk action, it bursts
asunder, (in a greater or less degree,) according to
the texture of the skin, or the constitutional irritability
of the horse. These soon become exceedingly
painful; and if the weather should repeatedly vary
from short frosts to alternate thaws, and the horse
continue in use, the constant insinuation of the
sharp particles of small gravel and sand of the dirty
roads, is productive of such excruciating sensations,
that the subject refuses food, and does not lay down
for many days and nights in succession: when even
gently compelled to move, he lifts up the limb in
so much misery, that it is with the greatest reluctance
he brings it again to the ground; on the contrary,
keeps it so long suspended, that it is expected
he must inevitably fall over in his stall. If
worked in this state, he comes out of the stable
as if completely crippled; and every day's delay in
the attempt at relief, must be a culpable protraction
of cure: palliatives (with work) will prove deceptive;
rest should be adopted, and cure obtained.
This can only be effected by poultices made of
{50}
LINSEED POWDER, milk, and a little olive oil, applied
immediately after comfortable softenings with
warm gruel, and a small sponge: an ALTERATIVE POWDER
in a mash nightly, and the use of camphorated
SPERMA-CÆTI LINIMENT, night and morning,
when the poultices are left off, will be found
greatly to assist the general intent.






KIDNEYS
.—The horse is always liable to local
injuries, as well as permanent disorders, of these
parts. Inflammation and ulceration are also produced
by different means: some proceed from external
causes, as BRUISES and
BLOWS; being too
heavily laden with burdens, or drawing too heavy
weights; both which should be equally attended
to, and guarded against. The distinguishing symptoms
of diseased KIDNIES, are a palpable weakness
of the hind part of the back and loins, a painful
sinking of those parts upon pressure, a difficulty of
staling, which is generally voided partially in small
quantities, and frequently with short groans of internal
disquietude: in slight affections, the urine is
white, but turbid; in severe cases, very high coloured,
as if tinged with blood: there is mostly
a heaviness of the eyes, debility of body, a loathing
of food, and a tendency to symptomatic fever.
From whatever cause an injury may arise, or from
whatever state of the body a disease of the parts
may proceed, BLEEDING
largely is the first step to
speedy relief, and the prevention of danger. The
{51}
quality and quantity of
MEDICINE must be regulated
by the shades, as well as the duration, of the
disorder, according to consequences likely to ensue.
Warm glysters of gruel and olive oil occasionally;
mashes, made of ground malt and bran,
for food; and thin gruel for drink, in which
GUM ARABIC
should be dissolved, to lubricate the passages,
and sheath any asperity with which the parts
may be affected. Should the weakness of the loins
increase, the difficulty of staling continue, the urine
become more thick and fœtid, the strength more
reduced, and the frame emaciated, one or both the
kidneys may be considered in a state of ulceration,
and cure cannot be expected.






KILLING GAME
.—The privilege of KILLING GAME
(in any way whatever) is now dependent
upon a two-fold qualification; in want of BOTH
which, the transgressor renders himself liable to a
DOUBLE, and in want of either,
to a single penalty;
which, divested of technical ambiguity, and the
complicated abstrusity of the GAME LAWS in their
present extended state, is reduced to the following
state of simplification, adapted to every comprehension.




In different Acts of Parliament during the
reigns of James the First,
Charles the Second,
and Queen Anne, the landed possessions necessary
to constitute a qualification to kill game, (exempt
{52}
from pains and penalties,) have varied materially,
in proportion to the gradual alteration in the value
of money, which has continued to diminish in a
corresponding degree. The landed qualification
established by the 23d Charles the Second, c. xxv.
and still adhered to, is the possession of
LANDS, TENEMENTS,
or other estates of inheritance, of the
CLEAR yearly value of
ONE HUNDRED POUNDS. Or,
for term of life, A LEASE or
LEASES for ninety-nine
years, or any longer term, of the
CLEAR yearly
value of ONE HUNDRED and
FIFTY POUNDS. Persons
not so qualified, either killing, or going in pursuit
of game with an intent to kill, and being convicted
upon the OATH of one witness,
before a Justice of
the Peace, forfeits FIVE POUNDS for each offence;
half to the informer, and half to the poor of the
parish where the offence is committed.


Thus far a line is drawn between the QUALIFIED
and the unqualified, in respect to
LANDED privilege,
upon former Acts of Parliament; clearly defining
who possessed a LEGAL RIGHT
to pursue and KILL GAME
under such sanction, and who were the persons
prohibited from so doing, and liable to the penalty
before described. In addition to which distinction,
it has been enacted by successive Acts in
the present reign of George the Third, That every
person who shall use any DOG,
GUN, NET, or other
engine, for the taking or killing of game, (except
a game-keeper acting under a deputation duly registered,)
{53}
shall every year, previous to his using
the same, deliver his name and place of abode to
the Clerk of the
Peace of the county where he
shall reside, and take out an annual CERTIFICATE,
or licence, bearing a stamp, for which three guineas
are to be paid. This licence, when obtained, does
not authorize unqualified persons to kill game, but
leaves them still liable to the PENALTY of
FIVE POUNDS
for each offence, as already described.
The penalty for killing game without having procured
the ANNUAL CERTIFICATE, is
TWENTY POUNDS
to either the qualified or unqualified; so that the
unqualified, prosecuted to conviction, is in a predicament
of only five pounds worse than the QUALIFIED,
the penalty being twenty pounds with one,
and five-and-twenty with the other. Any person in
pursuit of game, having his name and place of
abode demanded by another, who is possessed of a
certificate, and refusing to tell the same, is liable to
a penalty of FIFTY POUNDS.
See Game-keepers,
and Game Laws.




KINDLE
.—A doe rabbit is said to KINDLE
when she brings forth her young.






KING FERGUS
,—the name of a horse bred
by the late Colonel O'Kelly; he was foaled in
1775; was got by Eclipse, dam (Tuting's Polly)
by Black and all Black, grand-dam by Tartar,
great grand-dam by Old Starling. He was of
{54}
great celebrity, and continued for many years a
stallion of the first eminence. He was the sire
of a great number of good racers, amongst which
were those celebrated runners Hambletonian, Overton,
Beningbrough, Sir Solomon, Warter, Johnny
(Durand's,) Garswood, &c. &c.






KING'S HOUNDS
.—His Majesty's STAG HOUNDS
pass under this denomination, as a part of
the royal establishment continued in every successive
reign without variation. The kennel in which
they are kept is situate near the RACE COURSE upon
Ascot Heath; at the distance of two short miles
from which is Swinley Lodge, the official residence
of the Master of the
Stag Hounds, an appointment
seldom conferred but upon one of the
peerage, and is considered an office of honor, with
a salary of 2000l. per annum. The presence of the
Master of the Stag Hounds in the field is not a
matter of necessity, but choice, except when his Majesty
hunts, and then his personal attendance is indispensible;
his badge of office is a pair of gold dog
couples, which hang suspended from a belt on his
left side. The HUNTSMAN has a handsome residence
at the kennel, with a salary of 125l. a year; to
whom there are six assistants, (called
YEOMEN PRICKERS,)
each having a salary of 104l. with the
royal livery richly ornamented, and an annual supply
of saddles, bridles, horse-cloths, and the necessary
{55}
stable appendages; but they find their own
horses.




The hunting season commences on Holyrood-Day,
the 25th of September, and continues every
Tuesday and Saturday till the first week in May;
with the exception of Christmas and Easter weeks,
when they hunt three times in each. Holyrood-Day,
and Easter-Monday, are the two grand days
of the year for company, when the field is exceedingly
numerous. His Majesty has also a PACK of
HARRIERS, which are kept at the Little Park Lodge
near Windsor, and with these he hunts constantly
in Windsor Great Park, and the surrounding neighbourhood;
they are, however, a private concern
of his Majesty's, and not included in the regular
Crown establishment.




KING'S PLATE
.—Those called King's Plates,
are a free gift from his Majesty of 100
guineas each; and it is believed were originally
granted as a means of exciting such a degree of
emulation, as would probably tend to national advantage,
by improving the breed of horses in general;
as well as to afford an annual pecuniary advantage
(by an additional influx of company) to
such CITIES and
TOWNS as enjoy the royal favour.
Newmarket, as the superior spot of sporting celebrity,
is particularly honoured, having two in the
first Spring, and one in the first
October meetings.
{56}
King's Plates are also given at Newcastle-upon-Tyne,
Guildford, Winchester, Ipswich, Burford,
Chelmsford, Nottingham, Lewes, Edinburgh, York,
Canterbury, Warwick, Lichfield, Richmond,
(Yorkshire,) Lincoln, Salisbury, Ayr, Carlisle,
and Ascot Heath; the whole of which, except the
last, are run for by horses or mares of different
ages, carrying such weights as shall be appointed
by the Master of the
Horse, or whoever he may
delegate for that purpose.




The King's Plate of 100 guineas, given at
Ascot, and always run for on the first day, (invariably
Whit-Tuesday fortnight,) is only for horses
which have regularly hunted with his Majesty's
STAG HOUNDS the preceding season, and must have
been well up with the hounds, at their running up
to, taking, or killing, TEN DEER, as an indispensible
qualification, without having which they cannot
be permitted to start. At the conclusion of the
chase, when the deer is secured, those who intend
to qualify for the plate apply to the HUNTSMAN, and
a ticket is delivered to the rider, bearing the arms
of the Master of the Stag Hounds, and the seal of
the royal hunt; when which ten tickets are obtained,
the horse has secured his qualification, may
then be withdrawn from the field, and is not obliged
to appear again till the DAY of
ENTRANCE at Sunning-Hill
Wells, where and when the tickets must
be produced, in confirmation of his being duly
{57}
qualified to START. For the accommodation of the
sporting world at large, horses of all ages are permitted
to run, carrying the following weights; four
years old, 11st. 2lb. five years old, 11st. 9lb. six
years old, 11st. 12lb. and aged, 12st. Mares allowed
4lb. The best of three four-mile heats.


The following Rules are, by his Majesty's command,
to be strictly observed by the OWNERS
and RIDERS of all such HORSES, MARES, or GELDINGS,
as shall run for his Majesty's Plates at Newmarket.


 King's Plate Articles.


Every person that putteth in a horse, mare, or
gelding, for the said plate, is to shew such horse,
mare, or gelding, with the marks, name, and name
of the OWNER, to be entered at the King's stables
in Newmarket the day before they run, and shall
then produce a certificate under the hand of the
breeder, specifying his exact age the grass before.


Every horse, mare, or gelding, that runneth, is
to start between the hours of one and four in the
afternoon; and to be allowed half an hour between
each heat to rub.


Every horse, mare, or gelding, that runneth on
the wrong side the POSTS or
FLAGS, or is distanced
{58}
in any of the HEATS, shall have no share of the said
PLATE, nor be suffered to start again.


The horse, mare, or gelding, that winneth any
two heats, winneth the PLATE; but if three several
horses, mares, or geldings, win EACH of them a
HEAT, then those three, and only they, to run a
fourth; and the horse, mare, or gelding, that
winneth the fourth heat, shall have the plate.


And each horse, mare, or gelding's place, as he
or they come in by the ending-post each heat, as
first, second, or third, &c. shall be determined by
such judges as shall be appointed for that purpose
by the Master of the
Horse. And in case any
horse, mare, or gelding, shall be then, or after
prove to be, above the age
CERTIFIED the grass before,
the owner or owners of such horse, mare, or
gelding, shall be rendered incapable of ever running
for any of the King's Plates hereafter.


As many of the RIDERS
as shall cross, jostle, or
strike, or use any other foul play, as shall be
judged by such person or persons as shall be appointed
by the Master of the
Horse, such rider
shall be made incapable of ever riding any horse,
mare, or gelding, for any of his Majesty's Plates
hereafter; and such OWNERS shall have no benefit
of that plate; but such owners may be permitted to
{59}
run any horse, mare, or gelding, for any other of
his Majesty's free Plates in future.


Every RIDER shall, immediately after each heat
is run, be obliged to come to the ENDING-POST
with his horse, mare, or gelding, then and there to
alight, and not before, and there to WEIGH to the
satisfaction of the judges appointed for that purpose.


And in case of neglect or refusal thereof, such
WINNERS and
RIDERS shall be immediately declared
incapable of RUNNING or
RIDING any more for this
or any of his Majesty's Plates in future.


And should any difference arise relating to their
ages, or in their running, or to these his Majesty's orders,
the same to be determined by such person,
or persons, as shall be appointed by the Master of
the Horse. And these Articles are to continue in
force, unless altered by COMMAND of his
Majesty.


For the better and more certain prevention of
any fraud, or misapplication, the winner of a
King's Plate is to receive from the
Clerk of the
Course, a certificate signed by the
Steward of
the Race where such plate is won, countersigned
by himself also, which being presented to the
Lord Lieutenant
of the County, it obtains his signature
likewise: when thus sanctioned, it becomes
{60}
payable at sight to BEARER (if properly endorsed by
the winner) at the office of the Clerk of his
Majesty's Stables,
in the King's Mews, London.
The Lord Lieutenant of a county being out of the
kingdom, the signature of any person regularly deputed
by him is sufficient. The certificate of winning
the PLATE at
Ascot requires only the signature
of the Master of his
Majesty's Stag Hounds,
instead of the Lord Lieutenant of the County.




 KNEE of a HORSE
—is the centrical joint
of the leg, where the fore-thigh is united to the
shank-bone. Its formation is of such strength,
that a LAMENESS, by twist,
distortion, or any other
injury, is hardly ever sustained in this part, but by
the accident of falling; which frequently happens,
and, if attended with a blemish, very much reduces
the previous value of the horse. Prominencies in
a pavement, or rolling stones upon a road, are
sometimes the occasion of such misfortunes, even
to those who are in general exceedingly sure-footed,
and of the most valuable description. Custom has,
however, introduced, of late years, such an unprecedented
degree of precaution in an examination
of the KNEES, that the slightest touch cannot be expected
to pass unnoticed amidst so much scrutinizing
inspection; and if once appearances are
sufficient to justify a doubt, the object immediately
sinks in estimation, however superior he may be in
{61}
other respects and qualifications. This being so
great a disadvantage when a horse is to be sold, it
evidently points out the absolute necessity of a minute
examination before he is bought, as a want of
it may produce considerable loss, and serious reflection.
Loss of hair upon the knees, when not
too severely affected, may sometimes be restored
by a daily application of very strong camphorated
liniment.




L.




LAIR
—was a term formerly applied to the
haunt of outlying deer, and implied the place near
which they might probably be found. It is, however,
but little known in that sense, and is now
used to express the part of a forest, chase, heath,
or common, where any particular horse, cow, or
other cattle, is accustomed to frequent when turned
out, which is then called their LAIR, and where (or
in the neighbourhood of it) their owners are generally
sure to find them.






 LAMENESS in HORSES
—proceeds from a
variety of causes, and requires much patient investigation
to ascertain, to a certainty, the exact seat
of injury; for want of which judicious precaution,
mischief frequently follows. Horses are sometimes
{62}
persecuted, blistered, and fired,
for a LAMENESS
in one part, which ultimately proves to be in
another; and this alone sufficiently points out the
absolute necessity of a deliberate discrimination.
As lameness proceeds from different causes, so it is
of different kinds, and requires various modes of
treatment, equally opposite to each other. This
cannot be more forcibly elucidated, than by adverting
to the difference between a lameness originating
in a relaxation of the SINEWS, and a ligamentary
injury sustained by a sudden turn, twist, or distortion,
of some particular JOINT. These require a
very different mode of treatment; and yet it is too
much, and too unthinkingly the custom, to treat
every kind of lameness in the same way. From
either a want of patience in the owner, or a want
of prudence in the practitioner, the favourite operation
of BLISTERING is thought applicable to every
case without exception; and being often resorted to
before the inflammation of the part has sufficiently
subsided, occasions a permanent enlargement, with
a thickening of the integument, and consequent
stiffness, rendering the remedy equally injurious
with the original defect.




In all lamenesses occasioned by a relaxation of
the TENDONS, blistering, and even firing,
are admitted to have a forcible effect, provided they are
brought into use at a PROPER time; but not before
the inflammation (which is generally attendant upon
{63}
such case) has previously subdued. In all ligamentary
injuries, BLISTERING is seldom, if ever, known
to be productive of permanent advantage; and is,
perhaps, upon most occasions, so immediately
adopted, because a single application is of so much
less personal trouble, than a daily persevering hour
bestowed in hot FOMENTATIONS, and stimulative
EMBROCATIONS. Upon the subject of lameness in
general, it is necessary to remark, that injuries
sustained in the tendons (commonly called the back
sinews) are more frequently relieved, and a lasting
cure obtained, than in a lameness of the joints;
where, after patient and persevering medical applications,
and a corresponding portion of REST, a renewal
of work has almost immediately produced
a relapse.




LAMPAS
,—called also LAMPERS,
and LAMPARDS,
is a spongey elastic enlargement of the roof
of a young horse's mouth, just behind the nippers
of his upper jaw, which frequently acquires such a
luxuriance in growth, as to be equal with, or to
exceed, the surface of the teeth, and is supposed to
occasion pain to such horses in the mastication of
their corn. Different opinions have been entertained,
and are still supported, upon this subject;
some considering it only a temporary operation of
NATURE during the formation of
the TEETH, which
would contract, and disappear, upon their attaining
their full and proper growth; whilst others, less
{64}
comprehensive in their conceptions, less scientific
in their reasoning, and more hasty in their decisions,
maintain the necessity of radical extermination, and
that too by a process no less severe than the red-hot
iron, or burning cautery. The most critical examination
of the case (whenever it occurs) does not
seem to justify the necessity for, or the cruelty of,
such operation: various are the means which may
be brought into use for the most perfect completion
of the purpose, without resorting to such as bear
the traits of former barbarity, when the times were
less enlightened, and the system of FARRIERY less
improved.




Admitting the part to have acquired its prominence,
or preternatural distension, (a mere elastic,
spongey puffiness,) by a slight inflammation originally,
and a proportional propulsion of blood to
the finer vessels surrounding that particular spot,
it follows, of course, that extracting from those
vessels the contents with which they are overloaded,
and compulsively distended, will lay the
foundation of contraction, which, followed by proper
constringents, will constitute a perfect obliteration,
to the PRUDENT and
HUMANE exclusion of a
practice not more replete with cruelty during the
operation, than with danger in its consequence.
Whenever the LAMPAS are found
so protuberant, as to justify an opinion, or produce a proof, that
they occasion pain in mastication, it is then time
{65}
enough, to pass the point or edge of a sharp penknife,
or lancet, transversely, and longitudinally,
over the puffy and prominent part, so as to let it
BLEED in that state for a few minutes;
then let it be
washed with a solution of ALUM in water, and no
farther inconvenience need be feared from a molehill,
which the illiterate have long since magnified
to a MOUNTAIN, without the least rational plea for
its foundation.




LASSITUDE
,—horses are frequently subject
to, which does not amount to palpable pain, or
evident indisposition. If a horse, who is usually
in high spirits in the stable, as well as out, becomes
depressed, dull, heavy, inattentive, and indifferent
to food, it may be presumed something is going on
in the system not directly consonant to the indications
of health. In such cases, the necessary examination
should be made without delay, and proper
modes of counteraction adopted, to prevent
the severity and danger of disease, which sometimes
advances with great rapidity, to such a state as would
never have happened, if proper attention had been
paid to the cause of LASSITUDE
upon its earliest appearance.






LAW-SUITS
,—in respect to horses, are become
so common, from the frequent deceptions in
BUYING and SELLING,
(as well without others as with
DEALERS,) that not a term passes without various
{66}
litigations of this description. When the expence
and anxiety attendant upon both PLAINTIFF and
DEFENDANT, during the time a suit is pending;
the uncertainty of its termination, which ultimately
depends so much upon the effect of chance in
EVIDENCE;
the misrepresentation, or misconstruction,
of FACTS, are all taken into consideration,
it is much to be regretted, that such circumstances cannot
be brought to a more friendly and less expensive
conclusion. As, however, such propensity
to mutual accommodation is not likely to abound
amidst the complicated tempers, caprices, and versatilities,
of society at large; it becomes the more
necessary to avoid, as much as possible, whatever
may be eventually productive of so unpleasant and
unprofitable an embarkation; particularly when it
is constantly seen in COURTS of LAW, to what
a wonderful degree of villainy human depravity is
extended, for the completion of points in which
the parties are individually or collaterally interested;
and perhaps in no causes whatever, so
much as in those where the soundness or unsoundness
of a horse is concerned.




Those who have had occasion most to frequent
the Courts, best know (in fact, there are cases on
record to justify and corroborate the assertion)
that suits have occurred, where six witnesses swore
"they saw the horse almost daily for some weeks
previous to his death, and that he had the
GREASE
{67}
so bad he died with it;" when, to the astonishment
of a crouded court, (before Mr. Justice Buller,
who tried the cause,) the DEFENDANT produced an
equal number of witnesses who swore, "they likewise
saw the horse almost daily to the last hour of
his life, and that he never had the least mark,
trait, or sign of grease about him;" to corroborate
which, a HUNTSMAN
(making the seventh witness on
that side) was produced, who swore "he stripped
the horse for his hounds, and he had no mark of
grease about him." The Judge remarked, "that
the mass of perjury was absolutely beyond human
conception on one side or the other; and so far exceeded
the power of his discrimination, that he
submitted it entirely to the province of the Jury,"
who immediately returned a verdict for the defendant.


It is much to be lamented, that every horse cause
brought before a Court favours more or less of this
complexion; in a perfect knowledge of which, the
parties concerned strengthen their interest, and select
their necessary evidence, with as much pains and
eagerness as votes are solicited at an election: and
it is not at all uncommon to have a body of evidence
produced to SWEAR a horse "dead lame" on
one side, and a much greater number to prove him
PERFECTLY SOUND on the other.
In such a glorious
uncertainty of the LAW,
what reflecting man can
indulge a sufficient hope of success, to encounter a
{68}
load of mental disquietude during the process, with
the additional expence of thrice the
VALUE of the object in dispute?




LEAD
.—The EXTRACT of
LEAD is a preparation
passing almost universally under the denomination
of Goulard's Extract,
whose properties are acknowledged
of great medical utility, and in many
cases amount to a specific. See Goulard, where
the effects of this article are more particularly explained.






LEAPING
—is a leading perfection in a horse
that very much enhances his value as a HUNTER;
without which qualification, he is held in no great
estimation when shewn in the field. Leaping, in
its general signification, extends to the two kinds
called flying and standing; a horse perfect in each,
with equal temper, and a fair portion of SPEED,
is then called a complete or made HUNTER;
and if he has a corresponding uniformity of figure, and excellence
of action, both his reputation and worth
become increased in proportion. There are very
few horses of speed and spirit, but what become
good FLYING LEAPERS by short practice in the field
with hounds, which, indeed, is the only proper
place to teach them; but it is not so with STANDING LEAPS
which should be taught coolly and calmly at
the leaping-bar, with great serenity of temper, patience,
{69}
and perseverance, by which alone any horse can attain perfection.






LEASH
,—the sporting term in use to imply the
number THREE, as exceeding
ONE, and not reaching
TWO brace; for instance, a brace of hares, a
leash of pheasants, and two brace of partridges. A
brace of pointers, a leash of greyhounds, and two
brace of spaniels. Custom, however, in this, as
in most other things, admits of deviation and exception;
in proof of which we say, a brace of spaniels,
a couple and a half of hounds, and two brace
of pointers. A brace of snipes, a couple and a
half of woodcocks, and two couple of rabbits. It
is therefore confident, and sportsman-like, to say,
a LEASH of birds, (partridges,)
a leash of pheasants,
a leash of hares, or any other article where
TWO are
termed a BRACE; but improper
to call three a
LEASH, where two of the kind are called a
COUPLE.






LEGS
.—The legs of a horse are, in their length,
shape, and construction, so material to graceful
and expeditious action, that they become, at the
time of purchase, objects of minute inspection: if
observed too long, in proportion to the
DEPTH of
the CHEST, and the
LENGTH of the CARCASE,
they may be considered a tolerable criterion of constitutional
weakness, as few of this description are found
equal to a constant repetition of even moderate
work. Too straight in the lower part of the leg, with
{70}
the hoof overhung by the fetlock, is an indication
of stiffness and constraint in action; as, on the
contrary, those who are exceeding long in the lower
joints, and whose pasterns extend the hoof considerably
before the leg, with a palpable bend or
flexibility in walking, and the heel nearly down to
the ground, are mostly horses of speed, (so far
as their strength will permit;) but they are in general
weak in those parts, and there is always a
well-founded fear of their breaking down. The
legs and feet are constantly liable to injuries, accidents,
and defects, as CRACKS,
SPLENTS, THRUSHES,
&c. all which are explained under their different heads.






LEGS SWELLED
—originate in various
causes; but from none so much as a sizey, viscid
state of the BLOOD, a laxity of the
SOLIDS, a shameful
neglect of stable discipline, or a great deal of
work at one time, and no regular exercise at another.
That swelled legs arise from different causes,
is sufficiently demonstrated by the opposite state of
their external appearance in the examination of
different subjects; where the legs of one shall be
found distended to the utmost possible extent of the
skin, with a degree of tenseness from the knee or
hock downwards, not submitting to pressure, and
without the least cutaneous pliability whatever.
These are the kind of swelled legs occasioned by
stagnant fluids, originating in the sizey and viscid
{71}
state of the blood. When they are equally distended,
but pliable in the skin, yielding to pressure,
and resuming their previous extension, it may be
justly concluded, they proceed from a laxity of the
solids, and a want of regular exercise without, and
manual labour (leg rubbing) within. Proceeding
from which ever cause, they are productive of temporary
anxiety; and the cause should be removed
without delay. Bleeding, with evacuants, and a
course of alteratives, will expeditiously eradicate
the former; cordial invigorants, malt mashes, moderate
exercise out, and regular bodily friction and
leg-rubbing within, will soon obliterate the latter.






LESSONS
,—in the language of the MANEGE,
are what is received by man, and given to the
horse, according to the purposes for which they are
designed, or the particular duties they are destined
to discharge. Diverted of the practice of the
schools, there are lessons which every man has it in
his power to inculcate, and which never should be
relaxed from, till the horse has attained a degree of
perfection in those points, which render him a pattern
of obedience, and consequent object of attraction
to others, and a valuable acquisition to
the owner. The first and principal is, never to let
him move a single step forward, till his rider is
firmly fixed upon his back, or his driver seated in
his carriage; the same rule of standing perfectly still,
being as invariably persevered in at the time of
{72}
dismounting or alighting; by which some degree
of safety will be insured; and it will soon become
as habitual to the horse, as to those who RIDE or
DRIVE him. He should always be accustomed to
his own side of the road upon every emergency,
which every horse soon knows from habit, and will
not, but with reluctance, or upon compulsion, take
the wrong, whatever may be the occasion; to a want
of which very prudent, and very necessary precaution,
may be attributed a majority of the accidents
which so frequently happen in and round the Metropolis.






LEVERET
—is the term for a young
HARE during
her first year, or till FULL GROWN.






LETHARGY
.—The lethargy, or
SLEEPING EVIL,
as it is called by the lower class of rustics and
farriers, is a drowsy kind of stupefaction, to which
DRAFT HORSES are more particularly subject than
any other; with whom it is considered a kind of
prelude to the STAGGERS, which in general soon
follow, if the cause is not speedily removed. A
horse upon being attacked, closes his eyes, drops
his head into the manger, suddenly recovers himself,
and as gradually drops again; opens his eyes,
as if surprized, picks a little hay, or corn, relapses
with it in his mouth; and this is, perhaps, alternately
repeated, till fixing his head in one corner
of the stall, he seems to be deprived of both ACTION
{73}
and ANIMATION,
standing in a state of perfect insensibility.
This prognostication (for in its first
stage it can hardly be called a disease) denotes a
struggle, in which the whole
SYSTEM is affected;
but where the struggle is dependent entirely upon
the state of the circulation, which is become (from
some remote cause) partially defective, and stands
in need of such STIMULATIVE assistance, as may
prove the means of constituting immediate
REVULSION.
Instantaneous BLEEDING, followed by much
friction upon the body, as well as upon the extremities;
warm glysters of gruel, in which a couple
of sliced onions have been boiled; and to which a
handful of common salt, and a gill of linseed oil,
may be added; should be given and repeated in
three or four hours. The pectoral cordial balls,
impregnated with a drachm of myrrh, assafœtida,
and ammoniacum, might be administered with advantage;
all which not completing a cure within
two or three days, BLISTERING
largely behind the ears should not be neglected.






 LIGHT in HAND
.—A horse is said to be
light in hand, who, bearing properly upon his
haunches, (or hind-quarters,) requires little or no
assistance from the BIT. Horses of this description
are generally well formed in their fore-quarters,
with a curved crest, carrying their heads well up,
with long necks, high withers, and a commanding
forehand. Those with short necks, thick shoulders,
{74}
dull spirit, slow action, and the withers lower before
than the spinal (or rump) bone behind, are
always of a contrary description; they bore along,
invariably bearing upon the bit, and from that circumstance
are said to be heavy in hand.






LIGHT CARCASED
—is a term applied to
horses, the shape of whose bodies bear no ill affinity
to the form of a GREYHOUND. The carcases of such
are flat at the sides, narrow in the chest, and gradually
contract in circumference from the GIRTH to
the FLANK; where, after a little hard work, they
appear so tucked up, it would seem to a stranger
that they were emaciated for want of food. Horses
of this description possess, in general, a SPIRIT so
much beyond their STRENGTH, that, although they
never will relinquish their pace, or seem even to
tire, till nature is quite exhausted, they debilitate
themselves so much by impetuosity, and unnecessary
exertion, that, after a single day's hard work
upon the road, or a severe chase in the field, they
are not fit to be brought into use for a week after.
They are always bad feeders; and it is an old
maxim with the SPORTING WORLD, "that those who
won't eat can't work;" and this remark is literally
just; they certainly cannot for any length of time
together. Light carcased horses are mostly hot and
fiery in their tempers, excellent goers, but troublesome
in company; invariably eager to be first;
and will sink under persevering speed and fatigue,
{75}
rather than be exceeded in action and emulation.
They are by no means desirable purchases, but to
those whose journies are short, and work easy; to
such their defects may not be considered of material
consequence.






LINSEED
—is a well-known article, and of so
much general utility, that the house of a SPORTSMAN
(in the country) should never be without it: its
properties, either in its state as SEED,
or sold in the shops as powdered, become equally applicable to
the stable wants of the winter season. A DECOCTION
of the seeds, one handful boiled for a quarter of
an hour in two quarts of water, and strained, is the
best mucilaginous wash for sore or cracked heels
during frost or snow that can be brought into use;
as well as an excellent article (in such weather) to
prevent their appearance. In FEVERS, or an inflammation
of the lungs, an INFUSION of the seed
made with boiling water (standing covered for an
hour) and then strained, being afterwards incorporated
with a moderate quantity of honey, will be
found useful in allaying the severity of disease.




Poultices made of linseed powder and milk,
with the addition of a small quantity of olive oil,
is the leading step to a cure of CRACKED HEELS of
the worst description: they are also, from their
EMOLLIENT property, the best possible
external application
to legs affected with GREASE, either in an
{76}
early or more advanced stage; in which disorder it
is too much the custom to rely implicitly upon the
medicinal power and effect of internals, without
considering that, by striking industriously at the
very root of disease, it might often be completely
cured in half the time by the assisting effects of
both.




LIOUORICE ROOT
.—This is an article so
much in use with HORSES, (in a pulverized state,)
that it is absolutely necessary it should undergo
some degree of elucidation; to prevent, if possible,
a part of the medical deception, and adulteration,
which so universally prevails. Liquorice root
is plentifully produced in most countries of Europe,
and is in all held in the same degree of estimation
for its utility. What is grown in England is preferable
to what is brought from abroad; the latter
being generally mouldy, and in a perishing state,
which it will always soon become, if not kept in a
dry place, or buried in sand. It is remarkable for
its peculiar property of allaying thirst, particularly
as it is the almost only sweet known so to do: it is
in constant use as an article of much medicinal efficacy
with the human species, both as a most excellent
PECTORAL and DETERGENT, as well as to soften
acrimonious humors, reduce glandular irritability
in colds, and promote expectoration.




{77}


The article called Spanish liquorice is an extract
prepared from the root in Spain, and other
countries, where it is cultivated in large quantities;
but it is rarely to be met with in the shops in a
state of purity and perfection; those who are the
makers being either very slovenly in the preparation,
or interested in the event, constantly mixing
it with sand, (or other impurities,) to enlarge
the weight, and increase the profit; under which
disadvantages it is universally known as, and experimentally
proved to be, a pectoral balsamic of general
utility. In respect to what is dispensed at
the shops, under the name of LIQUORICE POWDER,
it is only necessary to observe, that it may be purchased
at any for little more than half what the
real dried root can be bought and powdered for by
the first wholesale houses in the Metropolis. The
deception is clear, and self-evident; as it is an article
of great consumption, so it becomes the more
properly appropriate to the pecuniary purpose of
adulteration: those who best know the advantage
arising from such practice, best can tell, that two
pound weight of GENUINE LIQUORICE ROOT, ground
in the drug mill, and there incorporated with the
customary proportions of bean meal and wheat
flour, will make fourteen pounds of most excellent
liquorice powder for retail; and is the very article
with which the public are supplied as a substitute
for a medicine of so much efficacy, that it is to be
{78}
regretted it should so easily become a matter of
such general prostitution. See Adulteration.




 LIVER of ANTIMONY
—is a medicine possessing
a very powerful and active property; and
would not have been introduced in this place, but
with a view to prevent some of the MISCHIEFS
which would probably happen, from too free a use
of so dangerous an article, when in the unrestrained
hands of the illiterate, the injudicious, the unthinking,
or the inexperienced. It will create
some surprise with the considerate, that this preparation,
(known also by the name of CROCUS METALLORUM,)
from two to six grains of which will
operate as a violent emetic with an adult of the
human species, should be given in doses of half
an ounce each by common farriers to a horse, and
that probably three or four times in twenty-four
hours; under an impression, that it would, and
does operate only by perspiration, or as an alterative;
beyond which, probably, their ideas or intentions
may not extend. When it is taken into
consideration, that the horse does not possess the
power of regurgitating by vomit, it then becomes
a matter of due deliberation, how far it may be
consistent and proper, to permit valuable horses
to be drenched with medicines of this description
in such immoderate quantities; a very few grains of
which will excite such violent operations with one
of the human species. Those who administer it
{79}
as an ALTERATIVE, will, perhaps,
prudently conceive, two drachms a day, in doses of a drachm
each, full as much as ought to be ventured upon,
incorporated with such other articles as the urgency
of the case may seem to require.






LIVER
.—The liver in a horse is liable to disease,
as obstructions by tubercles, indurated tumefactions,
and schirrosity; either of which may be
produced by various means, and treated as Jaundice,
which SEE.






LOCKS
—are elastic leather pipes, or circular
pads, stuffed with does' hair, about the size of a
second finger in circumference, and made to buckle
just above the fetlock of either leg, as a preventive
to cutting with the other. There are others
of a different form, made flat, having a padded
oval in the center, which are called cutting-boots:
the former, however, have the preference, as they
occasion less stricture upon the tendons.






LOINS
—are the part of a horse at the extremity
of the back immediately preceding the rump
and hip bones, situate above the flanks. Beneath
the loins internally are seated the KIDNIES,
which, as well as the loins, are very susceptible of injury,
by carrying improper weights, drawing too heavy
loads, particularly up hills, or in short turns; to
prevent all which should be humanely attended to.
{80}
Injuries of this kind, when unfortunately sustained,
are very easily ascertained by a little serious attention.
The subject will sink and contract himself,
if pressed forcibly upon the part with the hand; he
will also move in his stall with a kind of curved
motion, groaning probably if compelled to move
suddenly; likewise in laying down, or in attempting
to stale, which he frequently does, but mostly in small
quantities. Exclusive of whatever medical means
may be adopted, BLEEDING, gum Arabic dissolved
in gruel, as common drink, and mucilage of linseed,
to sheath the acrimony of the juices in an inflammation
of the kidnies, or surrounding parts,
will be found admirable collaterals.
See Kidnies.






LOOSE-JOINTED
. A horse is said to be
LOOSE-JOINTED, when his
PASTERNS are so long as
to let his HOOF come considerably from under the
perpendicular position of the FORE LEG,
so that the
heel is exceedingly flat, and the hinder part of the
FETLOCK joint, by a kind of elastic
bend or drop,
seems nearly to touch the ground. Horses of the
blood kind have frequently this failure in their formation,
and is the principal reason why so many
of them are seen in common hands of little or no
value, as properly appropriate to no particular
purpose, or of the least general utility: most of
this description have the first defect accompanied
by a second, which is a long back, and consequent
weakness of the loins; these, in the aggregate,
{81}
constitute a complete loose-jointed horse; the purchase
or possession of which will reflect no predominant
RAYS of
JUDGMENT upon the owner.






LOOSENESS
—is a laxity of habit, or debility
of the intestines, which is constitutional with
some horses; but in others is the effect of temporary
disease; produced, probably, by an effervescent
putrefaction of the excrements too long locked
up in the intestinal canal, and at length suddenly
and forcibly expelled by an effort of Nature, to
relieve herself from the offending cause. This latter
is the kind of looseness not to be immediately
checked, or restrained, by the aid of aromatic restringents;
but rather to be assisted, and promoted,
by a free use of warm mashes, and gruel, till the
disorder has run itself off, and effected its own
cure. Some horses are habitually irritable, and
begin to dung loose upon the most trifling occasions:
young horses sometimes do so from a stranger's approaching
them suddenly after coming from a DEALER'S
stable; this must arise from the memory of
the whip: others from being put into expeditious
action upon the road too soon after their water in a
morning. Horses fond of
HOUNDS, and eager in
the chase, will frequently begin to purge at the
place of meeting, and continue so to do half a dozen
times within an hour, when the superflux being
thrown off, the excrements again become firm, and
are evacuated with their usual solidity during the
{82}
whole of the day. A warm cordial ball before
the water, for two or three mornings in succession,
is generally all that is necessary to be done upon
such occasions.






LUNGS
.—The lungs of a horse are two elastic
lobes, consisting of air vessels, blood vessels, lymphatics,
nerves, and cellular membranes, possessing
conjunctively the properties of contraction
and expansion; nearly filling three parts of what
is termed the CHEST, and may,
without much deviation
from the line of professional consistency, be
pronounced the very mainspring of existence. It
is the good or bad state of the
LUNGS upon which
the duration of life becomes in a proportional degree
dependent; and by the perfect ease of inspiration,
and respiration, health, and bodily strength,
may in general be ascertained. The lungs are
subject to inflammation, obstructions, tubercles,
ulceration, and consumption; the cause of one
and all originating in COLDS and
COUGHS, produced
by a sudden collapsion of the pores; when the
perspirative matter being repelled, and thrown
upon the circulation, the blood becomes sizey,
viscid, and diseased; assuming some leading feature
of the ills described, which, suffered to continue
long without the proper means of counteraction,
frequently attain a height too great for the power of
medicine to subdue.




{83}




LURCHER
.—The dog so called is rough and
wirey haired, with ears erect, but dropping a little
at the points: they are above the middle size, of a
yellowish or sandy red color; and of great speed,
courage, and fidelity. They were originally produced
from a cross between the SHEPHERD'S DOG
and the GREYHOUND, which, from breeding in
and in with the latter, has so refined upon the original
cross, that very little of the shepherd's dog
is retained in its stock, its docility and fidelity excepted.
Thus bred, they are neither more or less
than bastard greyhounds, retaining most of their
perfections, but without their beauty. They are
the favorite dogs of inferior or small FARMERS, as
they act in the nominal capacity of a SHEEP DOG;
but can occasionally trip up the heels of a
LEVERET
three parts grown. They are also the constant
companions of the most professed and notorious
POACHERS, being so admirably
adapted to the universality
of the service required: they equal, if not
exceed, any other kind of dog in sagacity; and
are easily taught any thing it is possible for an
animal of this description to acquire by instruction.
Some of them are very little inferior in speed to
well-bred greyhounds: HARES they frequently run
up to; RABBITS they kill to a certainty, if they
are any distance from home: if near a WARREN,
the dog invariably runs for the burrow, by doing
which, he seldom fails in his attempt to secure his
aim. His qualifications go still farther; in nocturnal
{84}
excursions he becomes a PROFICIENT, and will easily
pull down a FALLOW DEER,
so soon as the signal
is given for pursuit; which done, he will explore
his way to his master, and conduct him to
the GAME, wherever he may have left it. In poaching,
they are individually instrumental to the destruction
of hares; for when the wires are fixed
at the meuses, and the nets at the gates, they are
dispatched, by a single word of command, to scour
the FIELD,
PADDOCK, or
PLANTATION; which, by
their running mute, is effected so silently, that a
harvest is obtained (according to the stock of the
country) with very little fear of detection.






LURCHER
,—the name of a horse of some
recent celebrity; he was the property of Mr. Rider;
was got by Dungannon, dam by Vertumnus.
In 1792, when three years old, he won a
50l. plate at Ascot Heath, beating seven others.
At Stockbridge, a subscription of 20 guineas
each, (ten subscribers,) beating Hamlet, St. George,
and two others. At Winchester, a sweepstakes
of 20 guineas each, eleven subscribers; and at Lewes,
a sweepstakes of 10 guineas each, ten subscribers.
He was then purchased by Mr. Wilson, in whose
possession, 1793, when four years old, he won at
Newmarket a sweepstakes of 500 guineas each
from the Ditch in, beating Kitt Carr and Ormond.
On the Saturday in the same week, he won a sweepstakes
of 200 guineas each, half forfeit; beating
{85}
Lord Clermont's Pipator.
Lord Foley's Vermin
paid. Second Spring Meeting, he beat Lord Clermont's
Speculator, a match across the Flat,
200 guineas each. In 1794, at the Craven Meeting,
Newmarket, he won the first class of the
Oatlands Stakes, of 50 guineas each, (twenty-one
subscribers,) half forfeit, beating thirteen others,
with the odds of nine to one against him at starting.
For the Main of the Oatlands, First Spring Meeting,
he beat Lord Grosvenor's Druid, 200 guineas
each, Ditch-in. Second Spring Meeting, he
received 150 guineas forfeit from the Duke of Bedford's
Teucer; after which he appeared no more upon the turf.




M.




MADNESS
.—This dreadful CANINE malady,
with its consequences, when communicated to the
human frame, will be found enlarged upon under
the head Dog in the first Volume.






MAIN
.—The main is a principal term used in
the fashionable and destructive nocturnal game of
HAZARD, at which so many immense fortunes have
been squandered away, and so very few realized.
{86}
The person who is the holder of the BOX containing
a PAIR of DICE,
being set by an individual, or any
part of the company, what money he, or they, may
propose, and the money staked, (or, as it is technically
called, covered,) he, the Caster, (that is,
the holder of the box,) shaking the dice, throws
them out upon the table: if the surface of both
display a number above four, and not over nine,
that number is then publicly announced "the
MAIN" by the
Groom Porter, (who is the officiating
attendant upon the company and the game;)
but the Caster throwing under four, or over nine,
at the first throw, it is then called aloud, "No
main;" and the Caster repeats his throw till a number
appears between four and ten, whenever which
happens, (as for instance, eight,) the Groom Porter
instantly vociferates, "Eight is the main, eight;"
and it is called the MAIN,
because it is the main for
the company against the next throw of the
Caster,
which is called the CHANCE;
as being his own
against the main previously thrown, and by both
which the Caster and the
Setters must abide,
when main and chance are thrown; though either
party may draw their money, upon not approving
or fancying the main, provided they declare it before
the chance is thrown. The Caster throwing
eight or twelve, the very next throw to the main of
eight, is said to "nick it," and wins the money.
If he throws SEVEN for a
MAIN, and immediately
follows it with another seven, or an eleven, he
{87}
nicks again, and wins likewise. Six and twelve are
a nick to six; five and nine nick themselves, and
win when they follow in succession, as described of
eight. If, after throwing the main, the
Caster at
the next throw produces under four, they are called
CRABS; he then loses, and his box-hand is said to
be out, and he passes it to his next neighbour;
when bets are made round the table according to
fancy; some that the "Caster throws in;" others,
that "he throws out;" exclusive of the constantly
standing business, of SETTING the
Caster what
money he requires before he throws a main; when
which, and the chance, are both thrown, and declared
by the Porter, the odds are laid and taken
in every part of the room, as opinion may prompt,
or judgment dictate. These odds are regulated
upon a scale of equity, from which there can be
no departure; it being an invariable principle of
the game, that any person laying an unfair bet, or
deviating from the fixed odds, can never win. Every
minute particular of the game cannot be reduced
to paper here, or indeed perfectly understood from
theory; but a farther elucidation will be found
under its proper head, Hazard.






 MAIN of COCKS
.—When two parties, whether
individuals, or an aggregate composed of gentlemen
in one county, agreeing to fight a COCK-MATCH
with an individual, or the gentlemen of
another, the MATCH invariably consists of an odd
{88}
number of BATTLES; as twenty-one, thirty-one, or
forty-one; which match once made, and the cocks
weighed, is then called a MAIN of
COCKS: when
fought, and finished, the winner of the ODD battle
(or more a-head) is the winner of the main. Whenever
a MATCH is made between parties of respectability
and honour, the following agreement is drawn
up, and reciprocally entered into.




 ARTICLES for a COCK-MATCH.


Articles of agreement made the 1st of May,
1803, between A. B. of —— in the county of
—— on one part, and C. D. of —— in the
county of —— on the other. First, the said
parties mutually agree, that each shall produce,
shew and weigh, at the Cockpit Royal, in Saint
James's Park, on the 1st day of June next, beginning
at the hour of six in the morning, FORTY-ONE COCKS;
none to weigh less than three pounds six,
nor more than four pounds eight ounces; and as
many of each parties cocks as come within two
ounces of the other parties cocks hereby stand engaged
to fight for TEN GUINEAS a battle; that is,
five guineas each cock; in as equal divisions as the
battles can be divided into (as pits or day's play) at
the Cockpit Royal aforesaid; and that the parties
cocks who win the greatest number of main battles
out of the number aforesaid, shall be entitled to the
sum of ONE HUNDRED GUINEAS odd battle money.
{89}
And it is farther agreed, that the sum is to be made
STAKES into the hands of E. F. Esq. in EQUAL
shares between the parties aforesaid, before the first
pair of cocks are brought to PIT. And the said
parties further agree to produce, shew, and weigh,
on the said day of weighing, FIFTEEN COCKS for bye
battles, subject to the same weight as the main
cocks before mentioned, and those to be added to
the number of main cocks unmatched; and as
many of them as come within one ounce of each
other, shall fight for TWO GUINEAS a battle, (that is,
one guinea each cock,) to be as equally divided as
can be, and added to each pit or day's play with
the main of cocks: and it is also agreed, that
the balance of the battle money shall be paid at the
end of each pit or day's play; and to fight in fair reputed
SILVER SPURS, and with fair hackles; and to
be subject to all the usual rules of COCK-FIGHTING,
as is practised in London and at Newmarket; and
the profit of the Pit, or day's play, to be equally
divided between the said parties, after all charges
are paid and satisfied that usually arise thereupon.
As witness our hands, this first day of May, 1803.




A. B.


C. D.


Witness


C. H.




{90}


RULES

FOR MATCHING AND FIGHTING.


In MATCHING (with relation to the
battles) it is an
invariable rule, that, after the COCKS of the
MAIN
are weighed, the MATCH BILLS are compared,
to see that they are equally correct.


In WEIGHING, it is to be observed, that every
PAIR of COCKS of
dead or equal weight falling together,
are to be separated, and matched against others
coming within the limited weight of each other;
provided that it appears the main can be enlarged,
by adding thereto, either one battle or more
thereby.


In FIGHTING, it is to be mutually understood,
that the MAIN BATTLES begin to be fought with the
lightest pair of cocks, proceeding in succession with
the next in weight upwards to the end; so that
every lighter pair may fight earlier than those that
are heavier.


In farther elucidation of this SPORT,
See Cocking,
Cock-Match, Cockpit Royal,
and Game Cock.




MALLENDERS
.—The DEFECT or
DISORDER
so called, is a large flat scab, or more properly an
{91}
accumulation of eschars, (more or less inveterate,)
seated at the hinder part of the fore-legs, directly
behind the knee, just where the back sinews have
their insertion at that joint. They are seldom seen
with horses who are properly managed, but merely
with those of an inferior description, that are little
attended to. If discovered, and proper means of
counteraction adverted to in their early state, little
or no inconvenience ensues; but if suffered by time
to become inveterate, with deep-seated cracks, from
whence oozes a greasy kind of ichor, with bristly
hairs making their way through the hardened scabs
upon the surface, they are productive of much
trouble before a perfect cure can be obtained.
When advanced to this stage, they are not only
exceedingly painful in action, but constitute such a
stricture upon the part, as to affect the elasticity of
the TENDONS; in which state the horse is retarded
in progress by the preternatural rigidity of the
joint, with the additional danger of stumbling and
falling in every effort he makes to avoid it.




Those horses having the greatest quantity of hair
upon their legs are the most subject to this malady,
where it remains a long time obscured from the eye
of the MASTER;
as it is not to be expected, a discovery
will be made, and communicated, by a servant,
in palpable proof of his own neglect and indolence. If
the part inveterately affected is covered with hair,
either totally or partially, it must be taken off as
{92}
close as possible, before any attempt at cure is
made; that done, a patient fomentation of hot
gruel, a decoction of linseed, or mallow roots and
leaves, should be persevered in for a quarter of an
hour daily, letting, however, the process of soft
soap and warm water be adopted on the first day,
continuing one of the before-mentioned fomentations
every day after. When the scabs or eschars are
completely softened, got loose, and begin to exfoliate,
the parts may be well impregnated with camphorated
SPERMA CÆTI LINIMENT every day after
the fomentation; but not before the part is made
properly dry to receive it. If the subject is supposed
to have an acrimonious tendency in the blood, or
displays the least appearance of cutaneous eruption
in any other part of the body, the best method will
be to put him upon a course of
ANTIMONIAL ALTERATIVES,
which he will consume with his corn
without farther trouble.




MALLOWS
,—as well as MARSH-MALLOWS, are
ingredients so useful and efficacious in fomentations,
and emollient cataplasms, upon various unexpected
emergencies, that the house of a SPORTSMAN in the
country should never be without them.






MALT, GROUND
—is an article of the utmost
utility when incorporated with an equal quantity of
bran, and given in a mash to horses labouring under
cough, bodily debility, (from over fatigue,) or
{93}
disease; it possesses the property of invigoration,
is highly nutritive; and, by its attracting fragrancy,
horses are induced to take it in small quantities,
during the progress of dangerous diseases, when
they refuse every other kind of food. Mashes thus
made, and given nightly, are useful in promoting
CONDITION, as well as
a proper vehicle for ALTERATIVE
powders, or during the operation of PHYSIC.






MANEGE
.—The MANEGE is a term used in a
synonymous sense with equestrian academy, or riding
school; implying not only the receptacle itself,
but the instructions there to be derived from
those who profess to teach the ART of
HORSEMANSHIP
by riding the great horse. There are many of
this description, and of much celebrity, in and
round the Metropolis, replete with every convenience
for the accommodation of gentlemen, and
the breaking of horses; and for ladies also, who
have the advantage of riding under cover at all
seasons of the year. In every MANEGE a centrical
spot is appropriated to the regulating the round or
volts, in which is fixed a pillar; and to this horses
are occasionally fastened in their first lessons. Other
pillars are likewise placed in pairs at the sides of the
manege, for the more perfect completion of their
volts and airs.




The MANEGE may be properly divided into the
GREATER and the
LESSER; or, in the precise words
{94}
of a modern writer, "the grand and petit manege:
the former, or management of the great horse, intended
purely for the purposes of parade and shew;
the latter, confined solely to the utile of military
tactics. The grand manege consists in teaching a
horse, already perfectly broke in the common way,
certain artificial motions, the chief of which are
called the terra a terra, demi-volt, corvet,
capriole, croupade, balotade, and the step and the leap;
which last is a motion compounded of three airs;
namely, the terra a terra, corvet, and the leap, by
which the motion is finished. When a horse is
perfect in all these, he is styled a full dressed, or
maneged horse.


"The petit manege is that drilling, or training,
by which the army riding-masters fit the horse for
military service in the ranks. The chief objects of
it are, to set him upon his haunches, and make him
rein well; to give him a cadenced pace; to teach
him to rein back, or retreat; to move sideways,
to stand fire, and to leap. After these, a
horse will soon become capable of all the necessary
military evolutions. The common business of our
town riding-schools, is to teach grown gentlemen
and ladies, and to set ill-broken horses upon their
haunches. It is well known that the grand manege
has been long out of fashion in this country; and
farther, that it has for years past been upon the decline
{95}
in every other. I look upon it as a relict of
that superstition in all things, which is the characteristic
of barbarous times. It is unnecessary to
any good or useful purpose, because all such, whether
of parade or business, may be fully answered
by the common, rational, and uninjurious management;
whereas there is always more or less cruelty
practised in completing the full-dressed horse; such,
for instance, as severe whippings, the meaning of
which the horse cannot possibly comprehend, and
which are therefore unnatural and illegitimate measures;
the labour and irritation also are excessive;
and, after all, the natural paces of the horse are
spoiled, and he is rendered unfit for common business;
the only compensation for which is, that he
has learned sundry harlequin tricks; two of which
are, to skip like a GOAT,
and kick up behind like an
ASS."




MANE
—is the name by which the long hair is
called hanging from the neck of a horse, and extending
from the back of his ears to his withers: a
handsome full mane adds much to the natural
beauty of a well-formed horse, and is of course preserved,
not more in respect to ornament, than its
utility in mounting, to the ease and agility in which
it affords material assistance.






 MANGE in HORSES
.—The disorder so
called, and with which only horses of the inferior
{96}
sort are affected, originates in an impoverished state
of the blood, occasioned by a want of proper
healthy food, and a constant exposure to the elements
in the severity of the winter season. When
arrived at a certain degree of virulence, it becomes
infectious, particularly as the warmer months of
summer advance; and of this contagious property
no doubt can be entertained; the LAW having provided
a remedy, that no such horse shall be suffered
to go at large, upon any lair, common, or parochial
pasture, where there is a possibility of communicating
the infection. The subjects of it are
generally in a state of wretched emaciation, bearing
the external appearance of leprosy, or partial excoriation:
the leading symptoms are a perpetual
itching behind the ears, down the mane on each
side the neck, and at the insertion of the tail near
the rump. These parts, from incessant rubbing to
allay the irritation, are soon divested of the hair,
to which a dirty kind of scurf appears, bearing
upon its surface a malignant oily sort of moisture,
which soon degenerates into variegated-coloured
scabs, constituting a confirmed mange; which, the
longer it is permitted to continue unrestrained in
its progress, the more difficult a cure is to be obtained.




As the MANGE is principally a cutaneous disease,
by which the skin only is materially affected, so the
cure must chiefly depend upon external applications;
{97}
prescriptions for which may be amply supplied
from either old books, or new Veterinarians; neither
of these being now difficult of attainment. If the
disease has arisen from an impoverished state of
living, and a consequent acrimonious state of the
blood, altering its property, by a change of aliment,
and more liberal invigoration of the system,
will greatly tend to the promoting a speedy obliteration.
Should a horse in high HEALTH,
FLESH,
and CONDITION, have received the disease by infection,
BLEEDING, evacuants, or alteratives, should
be brought into use in aid of external applications.




 MANGE in DOGS
—will be found fully
treated on under a continuation of the head
Hounds, in page 485 of the first Volume.






MANGER
—is the name by which the trough is
called that is fixed in all stables, and from whence
a horse eats his corn or mashes; it is usually placed
under his rack, from which he receives his hay;
and this, in well-managed stables, is not deposited
there in large quantities, but in light proportions,
and at stated periods. It is an excellent and healthy
custom, though, perhaps, not much in practice, to
let all MANGERS, in constant use, have a substantial
scrubbing with soap, brush, and boiling water,
once a month; the absolute necessity for which may
be seen by making an occasional observation upon
the filthy state of mangers in general, particularly
{98}
at INNS upon the ROADS, and LIVERY STABLES in
the Metropolis.






MARE
—is the well-known feminine of the
HORSE, but not held of equal value with the
masculine in respect to the gender, which is not only
troublesome, but found to be productive of temporary
debility at certain seasons of the year.
Mares are evidently weaker, and less adequate to
severe work, during the time they give proof of a
desire to copulate, than at any other; which, perhaps,
is the principal reason why GELDINGS are so
generally preferred, as far as they can be obtained.
Notwithstanding this partiality, MARES are not
without their advocates, and have their conveniencies:
in cases of LAMENESS, or other occurrences
in the long list of casual ills, they, of course,
become appropriate to the purpose of PROPAGATION,
without much loss being sustained. Those,
however, who expect to derive either pleasure,
emolument, or a gratification of ambition, from
BREEDING, must be a little prudent and circumspect
in the shape, make, distinct points, and general
symmetry, of the MARE, before they too hastily
embark in so critical, and so truly expensive, an
undertaking. Although it is a maxim universally
admitted, that an equal degree of precaution should
be used in respect to the HORSE, it is doubly and
trebly necessary with the mare; because strict observation
has demonstrated, that nearly, or full two
{99}
out of every three FOALS,
display, in their appearance,
more of the DAM than the
SIRE: and that
there are more FILLIES than
COLTS fallen every
year, will not admit of a doubt.




A variety of opinions are held, and occasionally
propagated, upon the best and most proper age for
putting a mare to horse: that a FILLY covered in
her third year, will produce a fine healthy foal
in her fourth, is sufficiently known; and that
BROOD MARES
bring forth excellent stock from their twentieth
to their twenty-fifth year, is equally true; but
if the two extremes are avoided (when it can be
conveniently done so) the produce may most likely
come some few shades nearer perfection. In the
first instance it is fair to infer, that the component
parts may not have reached the extreme points of
STRENGTH and
MATURITY; and that in the latter,
from the natural effect of AGE,
the frame is verging
upon decay; and that the LACTEALS from whence
the NUTRIMENT for the
FOAL is to be obtained,
must be contracted in proportion.


The best and most approved season for letting
the mare take the horse, where the produce is
bred for general purposes, is from the first week in
May to the last in
June; as then the offspring is
dropt in April or
May in the following year, and
are the properest months a foal can fall in, to have
the advantage of all the summer for growth and expansion,
{100}
preparatory to the drawback of WEANING,
and the ensuing severity of the winter. Mares
during the time of GESTATION, are liable, but very
little subject to ABORTION; reasonable work, and
moderate exertions, affect them but slightly in that
way; nor does the disappointment but seldom
happen, unless by some severe, cruel, or inhuman
treatment. Mares are the most uncertain of all
animals in bringing forth from the time of conception.
Numerous attempts have been made to
discover the precise time of a mare's carrying her
foal, which, however, does not yet appear to have
been ascertained to a certainty. Long-standing
opinions and authority, transmitted from one posterity
to another, has established at eleven months
and as many days as the mare happens to be years
old: strict attention, in a variety of instances, to
both the LUNAR and
CALENDAR months, has proved
the uncertainty of this calculation, and left them,
in those events, dependent upon neither one or the
other. Certain it is, they go many days longer
with a COLT FOAL than they do with a
FILLY;
and cases frequently occur, where a mare carries
her foal within a few days of the twelve months.




MARK!
—a term used by SPORTSMEN,
particularly in COVERT SHOOTING,
where they are necessarily separated from each other; when one of the
party, having sprung a PHEASANT,
or flushed a
{101}
COCK, (at which he either did not get a
shot, or missed his aim,) he then vociferates the signal,
MARK! in a
hope his companion may get a shot, or mark the
spot near where he alights, to insure a better chance
of his recovery. It is also used in partridge shooting,
where hedges or hedge-rows interrupt the
sight, or divide the parties.






 MARK in the MOUTH
.—The black cavity
in the TEETH of a
HORSE, by which his age is correctly
known till seven years old, is called the
mark; when which is obliterated, the age can be
no longer precisely ascertained. Dealers adopt a
successful mode of deception, by which the young
and inexperienced are frequently imposed upon.
See Bishoping and Colt.






MARK ANTHONY
,—the name of a horse of
some celebrity as a RACER, and equal to any horse
of his time: he was bred by Mr. C. Blake, and
foaled in 1767: he was got by that known good
horse Spectator (who was got by Crab) out of
Rachel, (who was got by Blank;) her dam by
Regulus, grand-dam by Soreheels. He acquired
some reputation as a STALLION, and was the sire of
several good runners.






MARSK
—was a horse whose distinguished celebrity
arose more from chance than any peculiar
merits of his own. He was bred by the then Duke
{102}
of Cumberland; was foaled in 1750; got by
Squirt, (who was got by Bartlet's Childers;) dam
by Blacklegs, grand-dam by Fox Cub. Although
his blood and racing ability stood fairly admitted,
yet, so far from having acquired any reputation as
a STALLION, he was permitted to
COVER common
mares at the Lodge, in Windsor Great Park, for
only half-a-guinea, which was the GROOM'S FEE.
Precisely at this period (in the year 1763) Spilletta,
the dam of Eclipse, having proved barren for two
or three years in succession, a new experiment was
made, and she was covered by both Shakespeare
and Marsk in the same season; when stinted, and some
time after perceptibly in foal, it was uncertain who
was to be declared the SIRE, till the produce falling
to correspond with the last leap from Marsk, he became
(from Eclipse's astonishing powers) loaded
with honours, publicly acknowledged the sire with
an enhanced reputation, and a constantly increasing
seraglio; from which time he continued a stallion
of the first eminence, and produced a progeny of
winners by much too long for introduction under
this head. Spilletta afterwards produced Proserpine
by Marsk, foaled in 1766; and that well-known
horse Garrick, foaled in 1772; both excellent runners.






 MARTIN, or MARTERN
,—is an animal
inhabiting woods and bushy coverts, rather inferior
in size to a domestic cat, but longer in the neck
{103}
and body, having a head and tail corresponding in
make and shape with the FOX,
but not so sharp-pointed
in the ears. They are nearly as expert in
climbing trees, and leaping from one to another, as
a squirrel; they breed in the hollows of trees, and
produce four, five, and even six, young at a time.
They live upon poultry, game, and birds: most
probably the casual food of the FOX is taken by
the MARTIN also. As, by their great agility in
climbing, they become a most destructive enemy to
PHEASANTS, so by their
SCENT they are frequently
the subject of much mortifying disappointment to a
field of expectant sportsmen. When found amidst
the bushes, the general burst of the finding hounds
is as great as when a FOX is
unkenneled, and so continues,
till, being closely pressed, some friendly
tree (probably clothed with ivy) suddenly terminates
the deceptive chase.






MARTINGAL
.—The article so named is of
two kinds; one of which is termed a HEADSTALL
martingal; the other, simply, a martingal: each
consists of a long strip of leather, about an inch
and a half wide, passing between the fore-legs, with
a loop or wide noose at its extremity, through
which the hinder girth is to pass, and by which it is
secured at that end: at the front of the breast it
divides into two equal branches; and having
SWIVEL RINGS at the extremity of each, they are
slipt on upon the bridoon (or snaffle) rein, and are
{104}
used to keep down the head of a hard-mouthed or
high-staring horse, that he may see the ground upon
which he is to move with less danger to the neck of
the RIDER. The headstall martingal is of similar
construction, except its having a headstall the same
as a bridle, to which the divided branches before
described are united at the cheek on each side; but
this is a hazardous practice, and should only be
used with COLTS in breaking; for if a horse once
stumbles in action, he is so confined, that his sudden
exertion to raise his head, and to recover himself,
being counteracted, he almost inevitably comes to
the ground.






MASH
—is a name given to a kind of universal
PANACEA for horses during a course of
PHYSIC, or
labouring under COUGH,
COLD, or DISEASE.
Mashes are differently made, according to the necessity
which occasions their being brought into use: some
are made with BRAN and
HONEY; others with equal
parts of OATS and
BRAN, with or without honey;
but the most fragrant, useful, attracting, and invigorating,
is made from GROUND MALT, with such
proportion of BRAN as will disunite the glutinous
adhesive property of the MALT, and reduce its
sweetness enough to prevent a satiety by its clamminess
in mastication. Malt mashes (and the liquid
pressed from them) horses will generally take in
different dangerous disorders, as FEVERS,
INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS,
STRANGLES, &c. when they
{105}
will take (spontaneously) no other kind of FOOD
or NUTRIMENT. Mashes should be always made of
ingredients perfectly SWEET, without the least
taint of mustiness, and in pails or vessels free from every
possibility of grease; they should also be prepared
with water boiling hot, which being once stirred together,
may then be covered down till of a proper
warmth to be placed in the manger; which should
never be of greater heat than new milk from the
cow, unless in cases where a FUMIGATION may be
required to relax and take off a stricture from the
glandular parts, and promote a discharge from the
nostrils.






 MASTER of the HORSE
—is an office of
high honor and great trust, seldom conferred upon
any but some distinguished individual of the peerage,
in possession of his Majesty's confidence,
and honored with his personal approbation. The
department of the MASTER of the
HORSE is of very
considerable magnitude, possessing a greater extent
of patronage than almost any other appointment
in the GIFT of the
Crown. The Master of the
Horse is the supreme superintendant of every thing
appertaining to the establishment of the
King's stables
and their contents. It is within his official
department to take cognizance of every part of
the royal retinue in which HORSES,
CARRIAGES,
and their requisite attendants, are concerned; as
well as personally to attend upon his Majesty
{106}
whenever they are employed; but more particularly
upon all public occasions, and in all PROCESSIONS
of STATE. He also appears in personal attendance
upon his Majesty in the chase; unless upon some
occasions, by the King's permission, or particular
desire, that official service is dispensed with. Subordinate
to the Master of the Horse in the stable
establishment, are the equerries, pages of honor,
clerk of the stables, yeomen riders, mews-keepers,
coachmen, footmen, grooms, postillions, and helpers,
exclusive of saddlers, coach, harness, and
bit-makers. The establishment of the ROYAL HUNT
is also officially announced in the department of
the Master of the Horse; although the patronage
and appointments remain of course with the Master
of the Stag Hounds.






 MASTER of the STAG HOUNDS
. See
King's Hounds.






MATCH COCK
.—A cock intended to fight
in a MATCH, must not be less in weight than three
pounds six ounces, or exceed four pounds eight:
if either less than the first, or more than the latter,
he cannot be shewn or brought to the SCALE. See
Main of Cocks.






 MATCH in RACING
—is a
BET made between
the OWNERS where only two horses are concerned,
one of which must become the winner. For explanatory
{107}
particulars, see Horse Racing. Horses
are said to MATCH (for a carriage) when they correspond,
and constitute a similitude in height,
marks, action, and color. A HUNTING MATCH
(generally termed a steeple chase) is made by parties,
to ride their own horses across a country to
some point agreed on, encountering all difficulties,
and taking the LEAPS in stroke: this kind of match
is, upon most occasions, run with a few couple
of hounds; a person going forward with a DRAG
to the spot appointed where the match is to be
decided.






MATCHEM
—was a horse the most eminent
of his time as a RACER, and for many years was
the most esteemed STALLION in the kingdom. He
was bred by Mr. Fenwick, foaled in 1748; got
by Cade, dam by Partner, grand-dam by Makeless,
great grand-dam by Brimmer, &c. &c. He
produced an annual succession of winners (many
of them excellent runners) too long for enumeration.






MERCURY
—is become an article of so much
medical utility with HORSES, as well as with the
human species, that it seems entitled to some mention
here, being a specific much talked of, but
not universally understood. Mercury (alias quicksilver)
is an opaque silver-colored mineral fluid,
appearing to the eye like melted TIN or
LEAD; it
{108}
is heavier than any other fluid, and does not congeal
in the greatest degree of natural cold ever
yet known. This mineral is met with in its fluid
form in the earth, or extracted by art from certain
metallic ores. There are considerable mines
of it in Hungary and
Spain; but the greatest
quantities are brought from the East Indies. The
use of mercury was but little known till within
the last century; and its more subtle preparations,
with their efficacious properties, of a much later
date. The ancients looked upon it as a confirmed
corrosive poison, though perfectly void of acrimony,
taste, and smell. Experiments have been
made, and instances proved, of its having been
lodged for years in cavities of both bones and
fleshy parts, without the least injury, or smallest
sensible or perceptible effect. Taken into the human
body in its crude and undivided state, it
passes through the intestinal canal unchanged, and
has not been found to produce the least inconvenience.




Notwithstanding the mildness and inactivity of
QUICKSILVER in its crude and undivided state, yet,
when resolved by FIRE into
FUME, or otherwise
divided into very minute particles, and prevented
from re-uniting by the interposition of proper
substances, or combined with mineral acids, it
has very powerful effects, affording the most violent
POISONS, and yielding the most excellent and
{109}
salutary remedies, of any with which the medical
world are acquainted. There are now (introduced
upon the broad basis of experimental practice) a
variety of mercurial preparations, some of which
are given internally; others are introduced (or
rather insinuated) into the habit by external application,
either in a liquid solution, or in an unctuous
form: in whatever way it be administered internally,
or applied externally, it evidently possesses
the power of solving all stagnant fluids,
liquifying the viscid juices which obstruct the finer
vessels, and most minute passages; and has been
known, by patient perseverance, to obliterate
cancerous affections, and schirrosities of dangerous
magnitude. The fundamental effects of mercury
(or rather mercurial preparations) do not depend
upon the increase of the sensible evacuations; as its
gradual introduction into the habit (or system) of
either man, or beast, may be so managed, by judicious
proportions, as to promote excretion through
the different emunctories, without perceptibly deranging
the frame of one or the other.


Thus much being introduced upon the properties
of mercury and its preparations, as applicable to
the convenience of those who may not have entered
into medical disquisition, it becomes necessary to
advert to its use, now become so evidently efficacious
in many of the disquietudes and disorders to
which horses (as well as ourselves) are so constantly
{110}
liable. The only modes by which it can be with
prudence and safety administered to a horse, is
either in a course of PURGATIVES, in the form of
CALOMEL incorporated with the cathartic ingredients,
or introduced as an ALTERATIVE, by throwing
daily very small quantities of that article into
the system; or the better alternative (if meant as an
alterative) of giving the ÆTHIOP'S MINERAL, in
doses of two drachms each, every morning, mixed
up with a cordial ball. Much DANGER, and many
LOSSES, having recently occurred with individuals
from a too free use of calomel in PURGING BALLS,
where horses, from a certain degree of constitutional
irritability, or a want of proper care and attention
during their physic, have died in the most
excruciating agonies, with only two or three drachms
(unless erroneously weighed in the shops) of calomel;
it certainly will be the most PRUDENT, evidently
the most SAFE, to adopt the three gradational
quantities of a drachm, a drachm and a half,
or two drachms, according to the size, strength,
and constitution, of the horse, taking care never
to exceed that quantity even with the strongest.




MERCURY
—was the name of a horse, that, as a
RACER, and afterwards a
STALLION, stood very
high in sporting estimation. He was bred by the late
Colonel O'Kelly; foaled in 1778; was got by
Eclipse out of a Tartar mare, who was likewise
the dam of Whitenose, Maria, Antiochus, Venus,
{111}
Jupiter, Adonis, Lilly of the Valley, Volunteer,
Bonnyface, and Queen Mab. After having acquired
considerable celebrity as a good runner, and proved
himself equal to any horse of his time, he became
a favourite STALLION in the possession of
Lord Egremont,
where he has produced a numerous
progeny, including a very great number of winners,
many of much note; and amongst the rest, the following
celebrated horses, some of whom are stallions
in high reputation: Calomel, Sublimate, Hippolyta,
Mercutio, Old Gold, Precipitate, Quicksilver,
Young Mercutio, Felix, Cinnabar, Mother Bunch,
Hermes, Pill Box, Silver, Transit,
Gohanna, Caustic,
Stadholder, Buckingham, &c. &c.






MESHES
—are the vacancies in all kinds of
NET-WORK, of which there are various sorts, with
their meshes of different dimensions; as the gate-net,
flue-net, tunnel-net, drawing-net, casting-net,
&c. &c. as adapted to their distinct uses, for
taking either FISH or
FOWL.






MEUSE
—is the opening at the bottom of quick-set
and other hedges, as well as in the bushy underwood
of COVERTS, through which
HARES take their
track, when going to, or coming from,
FEED during
the night. At these meuses the expert and experienced
POACHER fixes his wires (commonly called
snares) with so much security, and confidence of
success, that he generally insures a tolerable proportion
{112}
to his own share, according to the stock of
the country.






MEWING
—is an old forest term for a STAG'S
shedding his horns.






MEWS
—is a receptacle for horses and carriages,
appropriated to no other use whatever. The buildings
consist of stables and coach-houses only, with
conveniencies above for the residence of coachmen
and their families. In all the newly-erected squares
and streets at the western extremity of the Metropolis,
most of the houses are so constructed, that
the master and servants have access to the stables by
a communication at the back of the dwelling-house,
without the inconvenience of passing
through the streets.






MOLTEN GREASE
.—This disorder is defined by
every writer in succession, a solution of
the FAT with which a horse may abound, when
brought into sudden and excessive action; that in
its state of liquefaction, a great part falls upon the
intestines, there becomes in a certain degree incorporated
with the contents, and is more or less discharged
in an oily state with the excrements. This
is proved by long experience to be a well-founded
description of both the case and the cause, which
very frequently prove fatal, and that in a short
time, without the lest relief or alleviation to be
{113}
obtained from medicine. The leading symptoms
are preceded by an agitated trembling, with sudden
starts or motions, as if frightened in the stall; this
is succeeded by violent fever, with great heat and
clamminess of the mouth, a shortness of breath, and
difficulty of respiration, beyond description, bearing
no ill affinity to the most distinguishing symptoms
of a horse labouring under an inflammation of the
lungs. The great hope of cure must depend upon
plentiful bleeding without delay, and that to be repeated
at short intervals, till the blood is divested
of its sizey, viscid, and inflammatory appearances.
If not soon relieved by such medical interposition
as may be thought most applicable to the state he is
in, great bodily debility speedily ensues, the frame
gradually declines in flesh, and becomes emaciated,
the skin adheres to the ribs, the solids begin to relax,
the legs to swell; and if the blood and juices
are not properly corrected, by a judicious mode of
medical management, a general decay may be expelled
in glanders, farcy, or some one of the
diseases which terminate fatally.






MOON EYES
.—Horses said to have MOON EYES,
or to be MOON-BLIND, is one of the relics of
former superstition, when certain defects of the
eyes were ridiculously supposed to have been influenced
for better or worse, by the increasing or
declining state of the MOON. Such opinions seem
now to be wearing away, and verging upon oblivion,
{114}
in proportion as the structure of the parts,
as well as the remedies to relieve, become more
perfectly comprehended by the indefatigable researches
of Veterinarian investigation.






MOOR GAME
.—See Grouse, Heath Fowl,
and Game.






MORTIFICATION
.—This state, in a PHYSICAL
sense, with either MAN or
BEAST, is the total
cessation of vital heat in any part of the body or
extremities, which then becomes, insensible, and is
followed by putrefaction. When a mortification
arises from some external injury done to the part,
it is not preceded by a gangrene, but is produced
by an absolute stagnation of the blood and juices,
and all the injured parts become insensible and putrid
at the same time, without any previous inflammation.
A mortification arising from some internal
cause, or a deficiency of natural heat, comes on in
the same manner, but is more tardy in its progress,
although it exhibits similar appearances; but the
nature of the disease may be readily discovered.
When an external injury is the cause, if an incision
is made early in the diseased part, it will be found
insensible, and nothing but extravasated blood will
be discharged. In all cases of
MORTIFICATION, the
disease, with its concomitant symptoms, proceeds
with a rapidity that sets every medical interposition
{115}
and exertion at defiance, till DEATH closes the
scene.






MOTION
.—A horse is said to be of easy motion,
when he has a fine length of forehand, goes
off the ground lightly with his head up, gliding his
hind-legs under his carcase in action, without the
straddling spring for which rough-going horses are
so remarkable.






MOUTH
.—The good or bad mouth of a horse
depends upon the pliability of his temper, and his
obedience to the bit. Some horses (particularly
those of violent and refractory dispositions) are so
truly insensible to every effort of even the best
riders, that hardly any kind of bit can be invented
to reduce them to subjection; while, on the contrary,
there are those, and even blood horses, of
such good temper, and constitutional docility; that
they may be regulated instantaneously to any purpose,
by the most tender bearing of a common
snaffle.






MULE
.—The MULE
is that well-known cross-bred
animal, generated between an
ASS and a MARE.
Some are, but very rarely, produced by the HORSE
with a SHE ASS;
but they are smaller, weaker, and
of less utility, consequently not bred with design.
The mule has all the good qualities of the ass,
without its bad ones; it is as patient, and as permanent
{116}
under labour; it can bear the most incessant
fatigue, with the lead sustenance; is without
the instinctive stupidity of the ass, and is equally
tractable with the horse. The mule, when well descended,
and well fed, is adequate to a variety
of services, and will, if taken the same care of
when young, nearly reach the size of a moderate
horse. Many have measured fifteen hands high and
upwards, are exceedingly strong and sure-footed,
which qualities render them very valuable in the
different parts of Europe where the countries are
mountainous, and the roads stony, as they will
travel with the greatest ease and security where a
horse would be very likely to break his neck.
They are likewise exceedingly useful in harness,
and will draw immense weights for long journies
without displaying the least fatigue.




The MULES bred in
Spain, with a proper attention
to their intentional use, whether for travelling
or shew, are bred between very large he-asses and
Spanish mares; these are exceedingly tall, stately,
and their colour inclining to black. A still larger
kind are, however, produced by these asses out of
Flanders mares, some of which have been known to
reach seventeen hands high, and of equal apparent
strength to our common carriage horses; but they
are much stronger than horses of their own size,
will bear infinitely greater hardships, and are kept
at a much less expence; as well as an additional
{117}
recommendation, that they are not so subject to
diseases, which is a material consideration to the
justification of their more general use. They are
found equally fit for the saddle, as for the more
laborious employments of draft and agriculture;
they are remarkably docile, are easily broke, and
walk or trot with ease to themselves and to the
rider.


It has been already remarked, under the head
Mare, that foals more frequently take after the
DAM
than the SIRE, and this is perceptibly striking in
MULES; for those bred between an
ASS and a MARE,
invariably partake more of the nature of the latter
than the former; being in general of good formation,
lively, swift, and tractable; inheriting only
the good qualities of the ass, as his strength, patience,
and perseverance, under fatigue; while, on
the other hand, those bred betwixt a horse and a
she-ass, are more of the nature of the latter, dull,
heavy, sluggish, ill-formed, and small in size.
What few mules are produced in this kingdom, at
least the major part, may be probably bred more
from chance than design, by the common intermixture
and unrestrained association of asses with
mares, upon the large wastes and commons in
various parts of the country, where they are frequently
seen in the act of propagation. Of mules,
it is to be observed, that, although such intermediate
animal is produced between the two which
{118}
generate the third, there the prolific property
ceases, and propagation goes no farther. Thus it
is with a part of the feathered creation; it is known
by those who breed, that a cock goldfinch, or a
linnet, will pair with a hen canary, and produce
young; but in that offspring the power of procreation
entirely ceases, and they are therefore termed
MULES.




MUTE
—is a sporting term, applied to a
HOUND
when he pursues his GAME by the scent, without
giving tongue. As some are by much too free, and
give tongue too hastily, when in a state of uncertainty,
acquiring thereby the degrading denomination
of a babbler; so there are others equally tardy
in proclaiming the certainty when known. Hounds
of each description are considered injurious to the
discipline and desirable excellence of the pack,
and are generally rejected so soon as their imperfections
are known, and too much confirmed for
reformation.






MUZZLE
.—Muzzles are made of leather, and
are of two sorts; the one called a dressing, the
other a setting, muzzle. The first is of the same
form as the last, but of different construction,
having a few straps crossing each other transversely,
and so united as to be about nine inches in depth,
and of a shape to cover the nose of the horse so
high; to which are annexed two straps; one of
{119}
which passes up the cheek on each side, and buckles
at the top of the head behind the ears; the use of
this is to dress such horses in as are disposed to vice
with the teeth, as well to prevent the MANGER from
injury, as the GROOM from
danger. The other is
in little use, except in TRAINING STABLES;
its form
is not unlike the exact shape of a common water-pail,
being made of the thickness of substantial
leather, having a number of round holes punched
in every part of it, for the free admission of air,
and is brought into use on those nights preceding
a horse's RUNNING engagement on the following
day; as well as before taking a SWEAT, or running
a TRIAL. It is called a
SETTING-MUZZLE, because,
when put on, the horse is said "to be set," (that is, to
fast;) and the intent is to prevent his consuming
the litter, or obtaining more food than what the
training-groom has a perfect knowledge of.




{120}


N.




NABOB
—was a horse of much temporary note,
and considered one of the best country plate horses
of his time; he was bred by Mr. Swinburne,
and foaled in 1753; was got by Cade, dam by Crab,
grand-dam by Childers. Although he was a known
good runner, he never as a STALLION produced any
racers of much celebrity.






NAG
—is rather a provincial than a general
term, and varies a little in its signification, according
to the county, or part of the kingdom, in which
it is used. In the most common country acceptation,
it implies a RIDING horse or
ROADSTER, in
contra-distinction to a carriage or cart-horse. A
"complete nag" may be considered a kind of horse
beyond the line of mediocrity, and bordering upon
the idea of a moderate hunter. A "smartish nag"
is what the opulent farmer rides to market; and a
"tightish little tit" is a well-bred galloway of SPEED
and ACTION, which, in a state of purity and perfection,
are always difficult to be obtained.






NARROW CHESTED
.—A horse is so called,
whose breast is so narrow (when standing before
him) that the fore-legs gradually extend wider in
proportion as the eye accompanies them nearer
{121}
the ground; so that, in a front view, they bear the
form of two legs of a common country washing-stool,
where the legs are inserted in the narrow
part of the wood at the top, and are four or five
inches more in width at the bottom. Horses of
this description are invariably weak before; and
when put into hard work, or severe exertions, are
the very sort of which so many upon the roads are
seen in a "CHEST-FOUNDERED" state; which see
under that head, where it will be found fully explained.






NARROW HEELS
.—Enlarged upon under
"Heels Narrow," which SEE.






NAVEL-GALL
—is an injury sustained upon
the centrical part of the back-bone, corresponding
with that part below, from whence it originally derived
its present denomination. It is always occasioned
by the pad of the SADDLE being in itself too
wide, (and deficient in stuffing,) letting the iron-work
of the tree come into contact with the SPINE;
or from the long and constant use of a roller in the
stable, till having lost the elasticity of its stuffing,
it then becomes sufficiently hard, particularly with
too tight buckling, to occasion the injury, which
is often productive of much trouble, long vexation,
and tedious disappointment. It is a disgrace to the
rational part of the world, that cases should occur
from neglect, indolence, or inattention, which may,
{122}
with no more than just and necessary caution, be so
easily prevented. A navel-gall, in the first instance,
if immediately attended to upon the earliest discovery,
(if that be so soon as the injury is sustained,
or in its recent state of inflammation,) will mostly
submit to mild astringent repellents, repeated at
short intervals; and the contents of the inflammatory
tumefaction will be absorbed into the circulation.
But "as it is the curse of fools to be secure,"
so an impatient repetition of the cause occasions a
constantly increasing addition to the injury, till the
renewed HEAT and
FRICTION upon the part constitute
an eschar, or leather-like substance, upon the
surface, which being separated, or coming spontaneously
away, displays a foul, if not an INVETERATE
ulcer, and requires no small share of Veterinary
skill to insure a successful termination.






NEAR-SIDE
.—The near-side of a horse is the
LEFT SIDE, and of course the side on which the
rider goes to mount. The right-side of the horse
is always called the OFF-SIDE; but the right side,
or the left side, is never so termed, when speaking
of a horse. It is the invariable custom to say, that
horse is lame of the "near-leg before;" the other,
is evidently defective in the "off-leg behind."






NECK
.—The neck of a horse has been so often
enlarged upon under a variety of different heads,
that little or nothing is left useful, entertaining, or
{123}
instructive, to introduce upon the subject. All
that can be required, will be found largely explained
by referring to "Horse" and
"Forehand,"
where, if it is not already remarked sufficiently,
it may be here more forcibly inculcated;
that a horse with a short neck, is in general lower
before than behind; that he is never easy in action;
carries his head low, and lifts his legs with difficulty;
is much addicted to tripping, or rather
blundering, and with that pleasing perfection (so
gratifying to the sensations of his rider) is always
in danger of FALLING; in addition to which,
it may be observed, that a horse of this formation is neither
fleet or handsome.






NEEDLE-WORMS
—are small white worms
with a sharp-pointed head, having their seat in the
rectum of a horse, from whence they are frequently
discharged with the dung, but are difficult to dislodge
and extirpate entirely. By their unceasing
action, (twirling and twisting in the dung when
expelled,) it is natural to conceive, how very much
they irritate, disquiet, and distress an animal where
they have acquired possession; of this there needs
no greater proof, than the excrements frequently
and suddenly coming away in a liquified state, as
if the horse was under a course of physic. And
this is evidently the cause why horses eternally
teazed and persecuted with these diminutive enemies,
always appear low in flesh, rough in the
{124}
coat, sunk in the eyes, and depressed in the spirits:
eternally labouring under internal disquietude, they
derive but little advantage from REST, or nourishment
from FOOD. They are sometimes not only
reduced, but eradicated, by ANTIMONIALS; but as
this is not always to be relied on, MERCURIAL PHYSIC
is justified upon the broad basis of experience,
as the only infallible mode of extirpation.






NEIGHING
—is an exclamatory sensation (or
vociferation) by which the horse evinces either
anxiety, suspense, or pleasure; but the passion he
feels is expressed with much more force and energy
in the two first, than in the latter, which is ejaculated
with low and gradual vibrative sounds, too
expressive to be mistaken by even the inexperienced
naturalist, or least attentive observer. Being separated
from a companion with whom he has been accustomed
to stand in the same stable, and to accompany
each other abroad, his inquiries are loud and
incessant upon the road or in the field; and if made
upon a RACE COURSE,
amidst a thousand horses, they
are so completely masters of their own language,
that they can instantly distinguish the exclamation
of each other from the innumerable
NEIGHINGS of
all the rest. Finding themselves answered, at whatever
distance, they display their eagerness to get
together; and as they approach each other, the
pleasure becomes perceptible in the way before described,
{125}
and by the experienced sportsman so perfectly
understood.






NETS
—are the well-known articles constructed
of thread, packthread, and small cord, made of
every sort and size, for the various purposes of
taking fish, fowl, and game of every denomination;
from the GUDGEON to the
SALMON, from
the SPARROW to the
WILD DUCK, and from the
RABBIT
to the RED DEER:
all are destined to bow obedience
to human ingenuity. Nets are to be obtained
from the makers, of almost every possible
description, under a variety of names, according to
the distinct use for which each is employed. Of
these there are the minnow-net, the casting-net, the
landing-net, the draw-net, the drag-net,
the bat-folding-net,
the tunnel-net, the flue-net, the clap-net,
the fowling-net, with a long list of inferiors; the
insertion of which here is not likely to prove of the
least general utility; each being practically known
to those of the different SPORTING
or poaching classes
with whom they are principally in use.






NEWMARKET
—is the name of a small town,
about sixty miles from the Metropolis, and ten
from Cambridge. In itself it lays claim to little
attention, but is rendered of much celebrity by the
beautiful country by which it is surrounded, and
the periodical RACING MEETINGS there established;
constituting a kind of carnival to the SPORTING
{126}
WORLD, that, to be properly conceived, must be
seen; and to be enjoyed, must be understood.
During the whole of each meeting it is a complete
MART of BUSINESS
in the midst of dissipation, forming
a scene of profit and loss, pleasure and anxiety,
exultation and despondency, beyond the power
of the most fertile pen to depict. Nothing,
perhaps, can more nearly equal the general confusion,
the various passions, and variegated countenances,
(as agitated by the pecuniary sensations
of each,) than the contortions of disquietude,
and gesticulations of mental misery, upon
the Exchange, when some sudden political shock
produces a dreadful and unexpected fall in the
price of stocks.




Newmarket derived the origin of its brilliancy
from King James the
First, after whom its pleasures
lay nearly dormant, till the gay court of
Charles the Second
renewed its sport with renovated
splendour; having laid the foundation of
the present regular meetings, and erected a building
for the accommodation of the royal retinue,
which is still retained in the possession of the
Crown, as a princely residence whenever the Sovereign,
or any part of the royal family may be
disposed to honor the spot with their presence.
The meetings consist of seven in every year, and
are thus distinguished: the Craven Meeting; the
First Spring Meeting; the
Second Spring Meeting;
{127}
the July Meeting; the
First October
Meeting; the Second October Meeting; and the
Houghton Meeting; during the whole of which
(the July and Houghton excepted) the sport
generally continues for SIX days, beginning on the
Monday, and terminating only with the week.
The heath, as it is called, is a most extensive tract
of land, and beautifully diversified in its prospects;
it contains TWENTY different courses, of
various lengths, and almost opposite descriptions,
adapted to horses of every age and qualification;
where, during the exercise hours in the summer
season, may be seen from a hundred and fifty to
two hundred of the finest and best bred horses in
the kingdom, displaying their various powers in
every direction. For farther particulars see "Horse Racing,"
"Jockey Club," and
"King's Plate."


In addition to all which it may not prove inapplicable
to observe, that a correct and faithful recital
of every Racing Transaction at
Newmarket,
and every other place of SPORT, is published
in the form of a newspaper, once a fortnight,
during the whole of the season, from April to
November, and is transmitted, free of
postage, to
individuals (who are SUBSCRIBERS) from one extremity
of the kingdom to the other. At the end of each
year, it is repeated in a handsome volume upon fine
paper, with various additions, including the WINNERS
of the different PLATES given by his
Majesty; the
{128}
particulars of the sweepstakes, and subscriptions
entered into; and a list of STALLIONS of eminence
intended to cover the year ensuing. This most
respectable and authentic convenience to the sporting
part of the world, is published under the title
of "The Racing Calendar," at a subscription
of only One Guinea per annum, by Messrs. E.
and J. Weatherby, No. 7, Oxendon-Street, near
the Haymarket. The latter of whom has likewise
accommodated the public with a "General Stud Book,"
containing the pedigree of almost every
HORSE, MARE, and
GELDING, of note, that has
appeared on the TURF for the last fifty years and
upwards; together with some account of the foreign
HORSES and MARES
from whence is derived the
present breed of RACERS in
Great Britain and
Ireland. This is a most elaborate, useful, and
entertaining production, well worthy the attention
of every enlightened sportsman in the kingdom.




NICKING
—was formerly considered an OPERATION
of much MAGNITUDE, and not without its
proportion of danger; and then performed only
by such as were considered eminent in the PRACTICE,
and expert in the ART. It is now, however, a
matter of so little consequence, that anatomical
knowledge is not thought at all necessary to the
execution; it being a well-known fact, that almost
every DEALER (or even his principal servant) is
an operator from one extremity of the kingdom
{129}
to the other. The intent of NICKING is to prevent
(by a counteracting power) a horse from
depressing his TAIL, and flicking it between his
hind quarters; giving him all the appearance of
perpetual fear, and constitutional dejection. A
horse of this description is held in very trifling estimation,
and purchasers are not readily to be found
till this operation has been gone through, and the
good or bad set of the TAIL
ascertained, upon the
ornamental part of which, both the figure and proportional
value of the subject greatly depend.




This operation, as it was formerly performed,
indeed as it is now by common
FARRIERS and inexperienced
GROOMS, appears one of the most cruel
and severe that could possibly originate in the human
mind; though in the hands of those well acquainted
with the STRUCTURE of the
PARTS, having
a quick eye, and steady execution, it is a matter
so superficial, and attended with so little pain or
difficulty, that it does not seem entitled to even
serious consideration. In order that the process,
and proper use of NICKING, may be the better
comprehended by the younger branches of the
SPORTING WORLD who have never seen it performed,
it becomes directly applicable to observe, that there
are in every limb of either the human or brute
creation, two sets of muscles, acting in a contrary
direction to the other. The office of one is to
EXPAND; the other, to
CONTRACT: the former
{130}
are technically termed the EXTENSOR; the latter,
the FLEXOR muscles: thus, then, it is, that the
extensors possess the power of extending or straightening
the limb; the flexors, of relaxing and completely
bending it. Of these two sets, the flexors
have the greater predominance, and can always
overcome the resisting property of their opposites;
but when, by an effort of the will, the extensors
are brought into forcible action, then overcoming
the little resistence that is either made or felt:
of this force in the flexor muscles, ample proof
may be obtained, by endeavouring to raise the TAIL
of an unnicked horse against his will.


The extensor muscles, of course, passing in a
longitudinal direction on each side the superior
part of the tail, from the spinal bone to the extremity,
retains the power of raising the tail at pleasure;
the flexors, running in a similar line at the
inferior, or lower part, there possess a greater power
of counteraction, and render the operation
the more necessary, as, by diminishing the power
of one, proportional strength is added to the other.
Previous to the present expert and easy mode of
operation, it was common to see the incisions (or
nicks) the breadth of a very large finger, and a
small one might be lodged in the cavity. These
enormous chasms were made under an expectation
of more readily reaching the flexor muscle,
which it was the intention to discover and divide;
{131}
but which, in most cases, had been previously divided,
and receded in the first efforts; and sometimes,
from the unnecessary destruction of parts,
and profuse bleeding, produced alarm, followed by
inflammation, frequently danger, and sometimes
DEATH. This, however, is, as it ought to be, very
much reformed, and not without a substantial reason,
when it may be observed, that, upon raising
the tail of a horse in its natural state, the two flexor
muscles may be clearly seen, and distinctly felt, one
on each side the CENTRICAL bone, in common
termed the DOCK, laying in a midway direction,
between the bone and the edge of the tail where the
hair begins. In performing this operation in a superior
and masterly manner, the horse having been
previously secured, (with hobbles and side-lines,)
the tail is to be firmly grasped with the left hand,
and turned up with considerable force towards the
rump, when a superficial incision is to be made
with a crooked pointed knife, directly over the seat
of the flexor, which will be instantly perceived of
a strong elastic texture, ready for separation by the
knife, steadily held for that purpose; the tail being
exceedingly firm in hand, by which the separated
tendon will have the less power to recede. Immediately
after the separation, the lower extremity
having lost its elastic support, will be seen to hang
full half an inch from the first incision; when a second,
a third, and even a fourth, if necessary, is
to be made in the same way on each side the tail;
{132}
it not being a matter at all requisite, that the skin
in the middle, passing over the bone, should be divided,
or that the wounds on each side should
communicate with each other. The incisions being
completed, the ends of the separated muscles should
be secured with a pair of FORCEPS, or a curved
NEEDLE, and when a little drawn out by moderate
force, should then be taken off with a pair of scissars,
or a knife, as close as they can be conveniently
come at. It is a custom with some, to separate the
tendon of each incision before they proceed to make
another, and this seems to be the most rational and
expeditious mode of the two.


In this method of performing the operation,
there is a very trifling loss of blood, which is almost
immediately suppressed by a pledget of tow, previously
prepared, and slightly impregnated with
any of the simple styptics, or
Friar's Balsam, incorporated
with a little Balsam of
Peru. Custom
has established a rule, which it will most probably
be very difficult to affect by any verbal or literary
expostulation, which is the affixing an immoderate
weight to the tail, to prevent a reunion of the divided
tendons, by the continued separation of
parts: this, it must be remembered, is the less
likely to happen, when one of the divided extremities
has considerably receded, and the other is totally
taken away. In respect to the precise distances at
which the incisions are to be made, that depends
{133}
upon no fixed rule whatever, but must be regulated
by the thick and fleshy formation of the tail, and
the height it is required to be carried. The HIGHER
it is to be raised, the nearer the first incision is to
be made to the BASE, observing to let the
NICKS decline
gradually the nearer they come to the point of
the tail; being particularly careful, that the last is
not of equal depth and magnitude with the two
nearest the quarters; if so, the subject may be expected
to carry it with a curve at the extremity,
which will add none to the FIGURE or
FASHION of the horse.


Although the most expert operators are exceedingly
alert and expeditious in the execution, and in
general perform the operation with only a single
side-line, leaving the horse in a very unconfined
state; yet the absolute necessity for greater precaution
cannot be more forcibly inculcated, than by a
recital of the following recent accident, which must
hold forth an aweful lesson to those who may be
induced to ruminate a few moments upon the
event. On Sunday morning, October 17th, 1802,
as Mr. Welch, a noted and opulent dealer in
horses, resident in Oxford-street, in the Metropolis,
was NICKING a horse not properly secured, he
received so sudden and severe a kick on the
BREAST,
that threw him to a considerable distance, and instantly
deprived him of LIFE. The reflections naturally
arising upon the day on which such an operation
{134}
was performed, open a wide field for religious
contemplation; particularly as the sufferer was a
man of the most pleasing manners, and personal respectability;
having raised himself, by the mere
dint of his own merits, from the most subordinate
offices of servitude, to a state of perfect affluence.




NIDE
—is the term sportingly applied to the
offspring or produce of the COCK and
HEN PHEASANT,
so long as they continue to clutch or brood
together, before they separate, and are able to provide
for themselves. To be technically correct,
it is usual to say, a nide of PHEASANTS;
a covey of
PARTRIDGES; a clutch of
CHICKENS; a setting of
GULLS; and a brood of
DUCKS.






NIPPERS
.—The four teeth in the front of a
horse's mouth (two above and two below) are so
denominated: these are the teeth which expel their
predecessors (called colt's teeth) when a colt is two
years old off, and rising three. See Colt.






NIPPERS
.—The smaller sized PINCERS of the
shoeing-smith are so called.






NITRE
—is an article in too much general use
to stand in need of minute description. Its medical
properties are of the most universal kind, with respect
to the diseases of horses; but it is, on account
of its being easily obtained, (for little money,) frequently
{135}
introduced with the greatest indiscretion.
Nitre is an useful assistant in most inflammatory
disorders, as it is both of a diuretic and cooling
property; it is consequently to be recommended in
FEVERS, INFLAMMATION
of the LUNGS, swelled legs,
and other defects or diseases, where an additional
discharge of urine, or an attenuation of the blood,
is to be promoted. Its well-known good qualities
have rendered it the more subject to an almost perpetual
perversion of the excellent properties it so
clearly contains; for, although it never should be
given in large quantities without some proper corrector,
yet the invincible propensity of COACHMEN
and GROOMS to become
Veterinarians, renders
them completely miserable, unless they can be constantly
displaying some specimen of their art; to
which nothing can possibly become more happily
appropriate, than the profuse administration of
NITRE;
as it affords a frequent opportunity of preying
upon the pecuniary sensations of the master, by
means which it is unnecessary to introduce.






NOSEBAND
—is that part of a military bridle,
headstall, martingal, or hunting rein-halter, which
passing below the under jaw, and round the nose
above the nostrils, assists in keeping the other parts
of either in their proper position.






NOSTRILS
.—The nostrils of a horse are generally
a tolerable criterion of his wind, as well as his
{136}
blood. A horse having a wide and well-extended
nostril, may be supposed to possess a free and easy
expansion of the LUNGS: this cannot be more perfectly
comprehended, than by adverting occasionally
to the shape of horses who RACE, and are thorough
BRED; where the form and expansion of the nostrils
will be found more than one third the size of such
horses as are of common lineage, and inferior description.




O.




OATS
—are the well-known farinaceous grain
which is the principal food and support of horses in
constant work. After various experiments by NATURALISTS,
and the most celebrated AGRICULTURISTS,
they are found to convey a greater portion
of nutriment to the frame, and invigoration to the
system, at less expence, than any other kind of food
whatever. The advantages of obtaining the heaviest
in weight, the brightest in colour, and the sweetest
in hand, are too self-evident to require a single line
in elucidation. Oats newly housed, and newly
threshed, should be avoided, if possible: not having
acquired their proper firmness by TIME, they are
more disposed to fermentation when mixed with the
{137}
juices in the stomach, and then propel the contents
of the intestines in a state little short of liquefaction,
by their own laxative property. When, from any
temporary scarcity, or local consumption, old
OATS
cannot be procured, and necessity compels the use
of new, a few beans may be added; these, by their
restringent and nutritious property, will check the
effect of the new oats, and prevent the debilitating
laxity just described.






OBERON
—is a horse of some recent celebrity:
he was bred by Mr. Hutchinson, and foaled in
1790; he was got by Highflyer, dam (Queen Mab)
by Eclipse, out of a Tartar mare. In 1793,
when three years old, he won the GOLD CUP at
Doncaster, value 100 guineas; beating Cayenne,
Ninety-three, Skypeeper, Restless, Flora,
and Chigwell.
The same day he won the Doncaster Stakes
of 10 guineas each, thirteen subscribers;
beating Huby, Restless, and Yarico. In 1794 he
won at York, a subscription of 25 guineas each,
seven subscribers; beating Yarico, Huby, and Tantararara.
In the same week he won the great
SUBSCRIPTION PURSE of 277l. 10s.
0d. beating Patriot,
Yarico, Young Diomed, Rosalie, Camphire,
and Champion. At Malton
he was beat in a sweepstakes
of 20 guineas each, by Lord Fitzwilliam's
Evelina, a three-year old by Highflyer, who carried
but 5st. 10lb. to whom he ran second: the odds
were very high in his favour at starting; and whether
{138}
he sustained an injury is not publicly known,
but he was then withdrawn from the turf.






OFF-SIDE
.—The right-side of a
HORSE, if you
stand parallel with him, and look the same way, is
the OFF-SIDE; as the left is the
NEAR-SIDE. When
speaking of any part of a horse, it is not usual, in
sporting terms, to use the words right or left; but
to say the near-shoulder; the off-eye; the near-leg
BEFORE, or the off-leg behind.






ONION
—is an article which would not have
found its way here, but in consequence of its great
utility upon a certain emergency, which entitles its
property to be more universally known. No trifling
occurrence can possibly occasion more temporary
mortification to a SPORTSMAN, than to see his
horse labouring under the STRANGURY (or suppression
of urine) after the long stage of a journey, or
the severity of a chase. In such cases, the first
FARRIER is generally called in, who proceeding
upon the "KILL or
CURE" system of former times,
prepares a potion of the most powerful urinary stimulants,
plentifully besprinkled with SPIRITS of
TURPENTINE, oil of juniper,
and other equally mild
and efficacious ingredients, frequently laying the
foundation of inflammation; when an onion being
peeled, and a small clove or two of the inside properly
insinuated within the SHEATH, may nineteen
times out of twenty be expected to produce the desired
{139}
effect, without the interposition of any medicine
whatever.






 OPENING the HEELS
.—The ceremony of
opening a horse's heels is sometimes necessary, when
they are become contracted by so constantly standing
upon the dry litter, and hot dung of stables, in
the Metropolis; a circumstance which occurs much
less in the country, where the defect is but little
known. Although there can be no doubt of a
hoof's contracting in a great degree by the means
already mentioned, it must be more so, where the
hoofs are not OILED or STOPPED for weeks, or,
probably, months together. It is, however, a matter
of doubt, whether the back-handed stroke of the
smith's rasp in SHOEING, is not a more constant or
frequent cause of the narrowness of the heels than
any other. Let it arise from whatever cause, the
remedy with them is always ready; "OPEN THE HEELS;"
or, in other words, cut away; first with
the BUTTRESS, and then with the drawing-knife, till
little or nothing is left to cut: when the basis of
bearing is taken away, the heel is let down to the
ground, the TENDONS are put upon the STRETCH,
the horse, being divested of his natural support,
hobbles like a cripple, and there is no remedy, but
to wait with patience for a perfect regeneration of
parts so wantonly destroyed.




{140}




OPODELDOC
—is an article of external use in
STRAINS, BRUISES,
and other complaints, as well
with the human species as with the brute creation.
It is prepared by dissolving three ounces of Spanish soap,
and one ounce of CAMPHIRE, in a pint
of SPIRIT of ROSEMARY.
Others dissolve the soap
and camphire in rectified spirits of wine, adding
OIL of ORIGANUM,
and other essential oils. Its excellent
properties are universally admitted in its various
applications to the human frame; but doubts
naturally arise how far it may contribute any great
portion of EFFICACY to
HORSES, or to any other
animal, where the soap again coagulates, and constitutes
so matted a mass upon the surface, that it is
only with persevering difficulty the hair can be disunited
even at the second application.






 ORIGANUM, OIL of
,—is a well-known essential
oil, extracted from the plant whose name it
bears: it is an admirable collateral corroborant,
when incorporated with judicious proportions of
such other medicines as are proper for STRAINS, or
a relaxed state of the TENDONS. If used in too
great quantities, or added to heterogeneous articles,
it disunites itself almost immediately; and, instead
of executing the office of a gentle STIMULANT,
penetrating the pores, assumes the power of the milder
class of CAUSTICS, occasioning an eschar upon the
part impregnated, terminating with a loss of hair.




{141}




OROONOKO
—was one of the most celebrated
horses of his time: he was bred by the late
Lord Portmore;
was got by Crab out of Miss Slamerkin;
foaled in 1743; and was own brother to
Othello, the famous Black and all Black.






OTHELLO
—was the first name of that justly
celebrated HORSE, so firmly fixed in the memory of
every old SPORTSMAN of the present generation, by
the more distinguished appellation of Black and all
Black. He was bred by the late Lord Portmore;
was got by Crab out of Miss Slamerkin, who was
got by True Blue. He was foaled in 1745, and was
esteemed the first racer of his time, producing afterwards,
as a STALLION, some very famous runners.






OTTER
.—This is called an amphibious animal,
living (to a certain degree and length of time) with
as much seeming ease in the water, as he does upon
land. It is, however, well ascertained, that he
cannot exist long under the water, without occasionally
reaching the surface for necessary respiration.
The favourite and principal food of the
otter is fish, of which he consumes, or rather
destroys, a very considerable quantity in the neighbourhood
of wherever he fixes his residence. This
is formed under ground, in the bank of river or
lake, and constructed with so much precaution,
circumspection, and sagacity, that not without
great difficulty can it be discovered. Although
{142}
fish, in the genial months of summer, are known
to be his pleasurable pursuit, and chief subsistence,
yet, in the severe and frosty season, he is not without
his alternatives, and will then condescend to
make a repast upon some one or other of the
smaller animals with which the fox indulges himself
at all seasons of the year.






OTTER-HUNTING
,—a sport at present so
little pursued, was formerly in constant practice,
and is said to have been then in great estimation: it
is, however, to be presumed, it was in less enlightened
times, and long before the different chases
of STAG, FOX,
and HARE, held forth a speedy prospect
of their present perfection. Hounds were then
kept and trained for the purpose; and as some
proof of the stupidity of the sport, or the somniferous
dispositions of those who pursued (or enjoyed)
it, an account of the CHASE, if worthy to
be termed so, is here literally transcribed from Mr.
Daniels' recent publication.




"The sportsmen went on each side the river,
beating the banks and sedges with the dogs; if there
was an otter in that quarter, his seal was soon
traced upon the mud, as the water, wherever it
would admit of it, was lowered as much as possible,
to expose the hollow banks, reed-beds and stubs
that might otherwise shelter him: each hunter had
a spear to attack the otter when he vented, or came
{143}
to the surface of the water to breathe. If an otter
was not soon found by the river-side, it was imagined
he was gone to couch more inland, and was
sought for accordingly; (for sometimes they will
feed a considerable distance from their place of rest,
choosing rather to go up than down the stream.)
If the hounds found an otter, the sportsman viewed
his track in the mud, to find which way he had
taken. The spears were used in aid of the dogs.
When an otter is wounded, he makes directly to
land, where he maintains an obstinate defence: he
bites severely, and does not readily quit his hold:
when he seizes the dogs in the water, he always
dives with, and carries them far below the surface:
an old one will never give up while he has life;
and it is observable, that the male otter never makes
any complaint when seized by the dogs, or transfixed
with a spear; but the pregnant females emit a
very shrill squeal." This sport, as it is called by
those who profess themselves its admirers, is still
continued in many remote, fenny, and watery districts;
but in general is principally confined to
those parts where, from local circumstances, the
other more noble and exhilarating distinctions of
the chase cannot be enjoyed.




OVER-DONE
.—A horse is said to be over-done,
when both his FRAME and
SPIRITS are so exhausted
with fatigue and excessive labour, that he
sinks down in his stall almost immediately after
{144}
reaching the stable; where he extends himself at
every extremity, giving evident proof of the struggles
nature has to encounter, by the bodily disquietude
under which he continues distressed for
many hours, and sometimes DAYS,
before he becomes
perfectly recovered. When a horse is reduced
to this state, by a too long continuance at
slow or steady work, no doubt of recovery need be
entertained with a few days nursing; but if it has
been occasioned by a continued and persevering
speed with hounds, and a long journey home, danger
may be apprehended: instances are infinite,
where internal inflammations have arisen, by which
existence has soon been destroyed.






OVER-REACH
.—An over-reach is such injury
(either cut or bruise) as is frequently sustained
in the heel of a horse's FORE-FOOT,
by one of the
SHOES BEHIND; and this happens during brisk
action, in either TROT or
GALLOP, where the ground
is unexpectedly deep and deceptive: or when a
horse is thick in the shoulders, and slow in action
before, the hind-quarters are thrown in faster than
the fore-legs can get out of the way, by which inactive,
or sluggish tardiness, the accident is occasioned
much oftener than by any other means.




When neglected, or unattended to, if the injury
is severe, ill consequences may ensue; the first
step to prevent which is, to wash the part well with
{145}
warm water, slightly impregnated with vinegar:
press upon the wound a linen cloth till quite dry,
then apply a pledget of lint or tow, well wetted
with FRIAR'S BALSAM, or compound
TINCTURE of
MYRRH, covering it securely with a proper bandage,
with a view to harden the surface, which is the
leading object to be attained. This may be repeated
the following day, if necessary, to farther
close the mouths of such lacerated vessels as continue
to ooze a lymph or ichor. If, however, the
cut should be of such magnitude as to resist these
means of intentional termination, it must be treated
as a WOUND, and the horse not permitted to encounter
WORK or dirt during its progress and cure.
No greasy or unctuous applications should be
made, if it can possibly be done without; as the
best and most expeditious cure will be made by
hardening the surface, and preventing a discharge;
unless there is a deep destruction of parts, in which
case it cannot be obtained but by incarnation.




ORMOND
,—a horse of much recent racing celebrity,
bred by Mr. Wentworth in the north of
England, was foaled in the year 1789; got by
King Fergus; dam (Miss Cornforth) by Matchem;
grand-dam by Sampson; and great grand-dam by
Regulus. In the Craven Meeting at Newmarket,
1792, he ran second to John Bull for the great
produce stakes of 200 guineas each, across the
flat, half forfeit, thirty-five subscribers; beating
{146}
Hotspur, Whiskey, St. Paul, Lucifer, Guildford,
and others. The same year, at York, he walked
over for a sweepstakes of 100 guineas each, five
subscribers. In 1793, at York, he won a sweepstakes
of 100 guineas each, fourteen subscribers.
In 1794, at York, he won a fifty pound plate,
added to a subscription purse of 227l. 10s. 0d. four
miles, beating five others. In 1795, he won, at
York, a subscription of 25 guineas each, eight
subscribers. The next day but two he won the
great subscription purse, value 277l. 10s. 0d. beating
Chariot, Constant, and Screveton. After which
he appeared but twice on the turf, becoming a
STALLION at five guineas each mare, and five shillings
the groom.






OVERTON
,—another son of King Fergus,
dam by Herod, grand-dam by Snip, great grand-dam
own sister to Regulus, was bred by Mr. Hutchinson,
and foaled in 1788. At York, in
1792, he won a sweepstakes of 100 guineas each,
half forfeit, twelve subscribers. The same week
he won a fifty-pound plate, added to a subscription
purse, beating Rosalind, Storm, Halbert, and two
others. The next day he beat Halbert a match four
miles, for 300 guineas, giving him a stone. At
Doncaster he won the
GOLD CUP of 100 guineas
value; beating Huby, Rosalind, Smoaker, Gentleman,
and Colchis. At York, 1794,
he beat Halbert two miles for 200 guineas. After which he
{147}
was taken out of training, and became a STALLION
at Skipton, near York, at TEN GUINEAS a mare.
He is the sire of those famous horses Cockfighter and
Rolla, bidding fair to become of more considerable
celebrity.




P.




PACE
—is an expression to signify the motion,
or progressive action, of a horse, as well as one of
the human species. When speaking of a man's
pace, it is usual to say, he walks, he runs, or he
goes a good pace; which becomes applicable to
either, meaning, that he is an expeditious WALKER,
a fleet RUNNER, or perhaps both.
A horse has a
great variety of PACES, as a walk,
trot, amble,
canter, gallop, rating-gallop, and at speed;
some of
which many horses have in great perfection, and
are exceedingly deficient in others; as for instance,
a horse shall be a most excellent TROTTER, who
happens to be a shuffling, execrable WALKER; he
shall be a gay, airy, light figure in a CANTER, and
wonderfully deceptive in speed. Good GALLOPERS
are very frequently bad TROTTERS; and perfection
is very difficult to obtain.




{148}


Some years after the death of that famous horse
Eclipse, which happened on the 27th of February,
1789, Mr. Charles Vial De Sainbel, Professor
of the Veterinary College, published a work, to
prove the unprecedented speed, and astonishing
powers, of Eclipse, proceeded from the peculiarity
of his construction. The work was embellished
with ANATOMICAL,
GEOMETRICAL, and
MECHANICAL
drawings, to establish and confirm an opinion, that
the motion of the horse became proportionally accelerated,
by the precise proportions of the subject
geometrically described. The work itself was elaborate,
sublime, and so remotely abstruse, that its
contents were very superior to common comprehension;
and as it communicated but trifling information,
(and that founded upon conjecture,) it
established no satisfactory data to engage public
attention. Whatever was advanced upon the supposed
effects of the geometrical proportions of
Eclipse, would but ill apply to the action of the
species in general; it being a fact well ascertained
by those who are the most practically concerned,
and personally interested, that ill-shaped horses of
equal blood frequently exceed those of the fairest
proportions; and that horses inferior in
SIZE shall
prove superior in SPEED.




PAD
—is a common rustic term for a GALLOWAY,
or small horse.




{149}




PADDOCK
,—in earlier times, signified a PADDOCK
enclosed with a wall or paling of an immense
height, a mile in length, and a quarter of a mile
broad, in which DEER were coursed with
GREYHOUNDS,
in the same manner as HARES are coursed
at present, but with numerous variations in respect
to the coursing rules now in use, These paddocks,
from their great extent, were seldom seen, but in
the ROYAL PARKS, or upon the demesnes of the most
opulent and distinguished subjects. The sport itself
has been a long time discontinued, and is most
probably buried in oblivion; the word paddock applying,
in the present time, only to a small enclosure
of pasture, having a pale to protect it; or to a
small tract of land, surrounding, or appertaining
to, a rural mansion, where a few brace of FALLOW
deer may be kept, but not of magnitude sufficient
to acquire the appellation of a PARK.






PALATE
.—The entire roof of the horse's
mouth, amongst FARRIERS and
SMITHS, is generally
distinguished by the simple unmeaning appellation
of PALATE;
the ridges crossing which are called the
BARS: these, when they become too luxuriant and
fleshy just behind the nippers, (the upper front
teeth,) are then said to constitute a defect called the
LAMPAS, which are reduced by repeated scarifications
with a lancet, or extirpated by means of a
red-hot iron, called the ACTUAL CAUTERY. (See
Lampas.) In all cases of emergency, particularly
{150}
upon inflammatory disorders, coming suddenly on
in the night, when circumstances may render BLEEDING
in the neck a matter of inconvenience, the
operation may be instantly and expeditiously performed
by lancet, bistoury, fleam, or even a common
pen-knife, by passing either three or four
times moderately across the bars, when the blood
will be observed to flow most plentifully, and by
being swallowed, is admitted by most of those who
have attended to EFFECTS,
to have been almost invariably
attended with immediate advantage, particularly
in the cholic, or a suppression of urine.






PALSY
—is a disorder, or rather a species of
disorder, so nearly allied to the various degrees of
staggers, apoplexy, or deprivation of sense, that
the best Veterinary writers do not seem to have laid
down any fixed rule, or unerring diagnostic, by
which the discriminating shades, or predominant
traits, of each are to be precisely ascertained. As
the causes may be different of either, so the disorder
may be more or less violent, according to the
gradational excess of the cause. One attack of the
species may arise from a too great and sensible flux
of the blood to the brain, producing a severe and
rapid inflammation: this, of course, might be introduced
by extra exertions of continued speed, or
in drawing loads of unreasonable weight; as well
as from cruel and inhuman blows about the head;
and from the two latter it is, that most of these disquietudes
{151}
certainly proceed. Where the whole
frame is affected, it is then natural to conclude the
BRAIN is more particularly the
SEAT of DISEASE, and
that the whole system is from thence universally affected;
but where the attack is partial, affecting
only one limb and extremity, or any single part of
the frame, it has then more the appearance of spasmodic
affection, acting solely upon the muscles of
the precise spot so far as they extend; and in the
latter case, lay more readily open to a chance of
relief by topical application, than where the entire
frame and system is affected.




In the former, plentiful bleeding, followed by
immediate hot fomentations, prepared from the various
aromatic well-known garden herbs; succeeded
by almost incessant friction with two able men, whose
persevering efforts should alternately relieve each
other; rubbing in occasionally stimulative embrocations
of camphorated spirits, incorporated with
essential oils; will frequently relieve in a very short
space of time. In cases where the whole frame is
affected, more reliance must be placed upon internal
administrations; because the same means applicable
to a single limb, or extremity, cannot be
brought into perfect use with the whole. Bleeding,
and persevering FRICTION, are as strictly proper in
one as in the other; but the extreme irritability of
the nervous system should be acted upon and reduced
with all possible and proper expedition: camphire,
{152}
assafœtida, and gum ammoniacum, a drachm
each, blended with small proportions of opium,
and formed into small balls, with a sufficient quantity
of mithridate, or London philonium, should be
introduced every three or four hours, till there is a
termination of the case one way or the other. The
ancient and well-founded axiom, that "dangerous
diseases require desperate remedies," cannot be
more completely verified than in the different species
of this; where no hope or expectation of cure
can be derived, but from indefatigable exertion,
and the most patient perseverance.




PARK
,—in its plain construction, is an extensive
tract of ground, or country, enclosed with
WALL or PALING,
well variegated with WOOD and
WATER, for the support of cattle, and preservation
of VENISON and GAME.
It becomes a park by the
privilege of prescription, or by the King's grant.
There are many parks in possession of the Crown,
(as well as of opulent individuals,) of which
Windsor Great Park is the largest in the kingdom.
It is upon record, that the Park of Woodstock
was the first in England, formed and enclosed
about the year 1124, and bounded by a stone
wall seven miles in circumference. The example
was followed by Henry Earl of
Warwick; after
which park-making became a common practice in
different parts of the country.




{153}




PARTNER
.—There were five famous horses of
this name in succession, from Old Partner, in
1718, to Little Partner, in 1745. The first was
called Croft's; the second,
Moore's; the third,
Grisewood's; the fourth,
Bright's; and the
last, Pearson's.
Old Partner was got by Jigg,
out of a sister to Mixbury; he was a most excellent
runner, and produced an astonishing progeny of
winners; from whom his blood is ramified through
most of the studs in the kingdom. He was sire of
Sedbury, Tartar, Cato, Traveller, Badger,
Grisewood's
Partner, Little John, Larkin's
Looby,
Duke of Bolton's Little John,
Barforth, the
Witherington Mare, Vane's
Little Partner, Parker's
Lady Thigh, Grisewood's Lady Thigh,
Lodge's Roan Mare, &c. &c.






PARTRIDGES
—are those well known timid,
harmless, inoffensive branches of the feathered
creation, the beautiful variegations of whose plumage,
and the nutritive property of whose flesh,
have entitled them to the distinguished appellation
of GAME, and the honour of parliamentary protection.
They begin to pair off from the fragmental
remains of COVIES, about the last week in
February, and through the month of
March;
make their nests upon the ground, in hedges, and
the banks of hedge-rows principally; though they
are sometimes found in fields of CLOVER, but very
rarely in standing CORN. The hen usually deposits
{154}
from fifteen to twenty eggs, and produces mostly a
bird from every egg she lays. They hatch about
the second or third week in June. The young in
the aggregate are called COVIES, and they are known
to run almost as soon as they are hatched. Although
they are sometimes reduced by VERMIN, or unexpected
torrents of rain, yet from SIX to
EIGHT BRACE
are generally brought up to fly with the old ones.
They are included in every Act of Parliament for
the preservation of the game; and the penalty for
killing a partridge by any unqualified person, is
FIVE POUNDS: if such unqualified person kills a
partridge, without having taken out an
ANNUAL CERTIFICATE
from the Clerk of the
Peace for the
county in which he resides, (or where such partridge
may have been killed,) he is then liable to a
farther penalty of twenty pounds; making a forfeiture
of TWENTY-FIVE POUNDS in the whole.




If a person qualified to kill game in right of his property,
(that is, by inheritance of a FREEHOLD landed
estate of the clear yearly value of ONE HUNDRED POUNDS
per annum, or a LEASEHOLD of
ONE HUNDRED
and FIFTY in his own, or his
WIFE'S right,)
does so at any one time without having taken out
an annual certificate as aforesaid, and for which the
sum of THREE GUINEAS has been previously paid,
he is then liable to a penalty of twenty-pounds.
And any person qualified, or unqualified, killing
any PARTRIDGE between the first of
February and
{155}
the first of September, in any year,
is liable to an
additional penalty of FIVE POUNDS to those already
recited for each offence. It is natural to conceive,
that the various modes of punishment annexed to a
transgression of what are termed the GAME-LAWS,
would have operated to a perfect and complete prohibition:
that it may now have nearly reached the
zenith of that effect by day, is admitted; but that
a total suppression of the NOCTURNAL depredators
can ever be accomplished, the annual destruction,
and almost public sale, of game, leave very little
reason to expect.


Partridges, in their natural and infant state,
accompany the hen in search of food, obey the
cluck of the mother, and are protected by the
clutch of her wings, in the same manner as chicken,
and other domestic fowl. The hen is so instinctively
attached to her young, that she will encounter
every difficulty, and face death in every form, to
insure their safety: although stupidly timid, and
rendered almost insensible by her own fears, upon
other occasions, yet great sagacity is observable in
her endeavours to preserve her offspring. When
they are very young, and unable to save themselves
by flight; and in all cases of danger, when approached
by that fatal enemy the dog; the hen will
rise, and lead him on, by short flights, or rather
hoverings, of twenty and thirty yards, but just
above the ground, till, having induced him to follow
{156}
a sufficient distance from the seat of all her
fears, she takes a long, and more circuitous route
at her next flight; where, after finding she has
completely baffled her pursuer, another effort brings
her to her young in safety. When separated by
danger (whether the approach of the dog and gun
in the sporting season, or by other means) even to
a great distance, they are invariably brought again
together by the inherent property of CALLING, which
they possess in so powerful a degree, as to insure a
very expeditious recovery of each other. The imitation
of this call has been brought to great perfection
by the fraternity of POACHERS, who avail themselves
of the birds' too great credulity, which is frequently
the cause of their destruction.




PASTERN
.—The pastern of a horse is the distance
between the fetlock and the coronet, which
terminates at the junction of hair and hoof. The
pastern should be short, strong, and uniform;
when long, it is proportionally weak; and the
nearer the fetlock is to the ground, the more liable
such horse is to be let down in the back sinews,
and become lame.






PATTEN-SHOE
—was a shoe formerly used
with lame horses; but from the palpable absurdity
of its adoption, seems now to be nearly banished
from modern practice. This shoe was constructed
with a ring, circular, or nearly oval, at the bottom,
{157}
which being fixed upon the SOUND foot,
its intentional
use was to compel the horse in all injuries to
stand upon the lame leg, that a contraction of the
muscular parts might be prevented. Happily such
ridiculous and ill-founded notions are gliding into
oblivion.






PATTERN-SHOE
—is a shoe formed upon rational
principles, and of a scientific construction,
for transmission to any part of the world, as a
PATTERN
by which the ART of
SHOEING may be universally
improved, and reduced to one general standard
of purity and perfection.






PEDIGREE
.—The pedigree (or genealogical
descent) of a horse is in the present day so fabricated
by hearsay, or framed by fiction, that nothing less than
a well-authenticated certificate, under the hand of
the BREEDER, can with propriety be received as an
indisputable proof of the PURITY of his
BLOOD:
and this is the more evidently necessary to a
SPORTSMAN,
lest he should be induced (relying upon his
deceptive pedigree) to enter into a racing engagement,
and that too, perhaps, for a sum of much
magnitude; the whole of which, with the additional
training expences, might be lost for want of that
very blood he has been villainously taught to believe
he has got in possession. To such an enthusiastic
pitch has the desire of pedigree attained, under the
fashionable sporting phrenzy of the time, that a
{158}
horse is absolutely considered of neither value
or utility, unless his pedigree is properly attested,
and he is known to "carry the catalogue of his endowments
by his side." The DEALERS (as well as
others) are so well aware of this partiality for blood
and pedigree, that every common roadster has the
report of his get ready prepared, and no purchaser
need be without it. Upon the subject of authenticated
pedigrees, for near a century past,
Mr. Weatherby's Stud Book
is, beyond a doubt, the first publication extant.




The great merit and CREDIT of a
PEDIGREE, consists
in its continued and undivided chain of
proofs on the distinct sides of both SIRE and
DAM,
up to such links as are eminently connected with
the known authority, where no contamination
could have taken place. A pedigree of one single
descent is amply sufficient, where the reference terminates
on each side, in a SIRE and
DAM, whose pedigrees
and performances are previously known.
Instance: Jupiter was got by Eclipse, dam by
Tartar; he is own brother to Mercury, Venus, and
Volunteer; sire of Cardock, Halkin, Thunderbolt,
Confederacy, Terror, Contest, &c.




PHEASANT
.—The pheasant is not only the
most beautiful bird in plumage of any bred in this
kingdom, but the first in estimation; not more for
the sport it affords in the field, than its delicious attraction
{159}
for the table. They are about one fourth
less in size than common poultry, lay nearly the
same number of eggs, and bring up their young in
the same manner. They principally frequent the
WOODS and hedge-rows, are seldom found in the
fields, and then but very rarely far from covert:
when upon WING, they are so exceedingly
slow in
flight, that he must be an exceeding bad marksman
who does not HIT his
BIRD. The pheasant is included
in every successive Act for the preservation
of the game; and although they are less liable than
HARES and PARTRIDGES
to the destructive depredations
of the POACHERS, they suffer considerably by
FOXES, MARTERNS,
POLE-CATS, and other vermin.




Persons of every description, qualified and unqualified,
stand exactly in the same state with respect
to PHEASANTS as with
PARTRIDGES, so lately described
under that head, but with this difference in
the legal season for taking or killing: it is enacted
by two distinct legislative Acts of the present reign,
That any person who shall, under any pretence
whatever, take, kill, destroy, carry,
fell, buy, or
have in his possession, any
PHEASANT, between the
first day of February and the first day of October,
(unless such pheasant shall have been taken in the
proper season, and kept in a mew or breeding-place,)
shall forfeit FIVE POUNDS for every
PHEASANT
so taken, to be paid to the informer, with
full costs of suit.


{160}




PHÆNOMENON
—was one of the most celebrated
sons of Herod, both as a RACER and a
STALLION.
He was bred by Sir J. Kaye, and foaled
in 1780; was got by Herod, dam (Frenzy) by
Eclipse, grand-dam by Engineer, out of Lass of the
Mill, who was got by Traveller. His performances
upon the turf so strictly corresponded with his
name, that the infinity of mares brought to him in
the first seasons of his covering, afforded him an
opportunity of adding to his reputation in a degree
almost beyond former example. He covered in
Yorkshire at 10 guineas a mare, and in 1791 produced
the following winners: Lord A. Hamilton's
Chesnut Colt, who won two fifties; Freeholder, who
won 100 guineas at York, and a 50 at Stockton;
Mongrel, who won 25 guineas at Lewes; Pigeon,
who won 200 guineas at York, 50 at Manchester,
50 at Wakefield, 50 at Boroughbridge, and 50 at
Northallerton; Roman, 140 guineas at York; Rosalind,
700 guineas, and 300 guineas, at York,
300 guineas at Doncaster, and 50l. at New Malton;
and Stride, 600 guineas at York.




In 1792, Lord A. Hamilton's Brown Colt, 120
guineas at Doncaster, and 50l. at Penrith; Charactacus,
50l. at Tenbury; Comet, 50 at York, 50
at Hull, and two 50's at New Malton; Forester,
50 at Carlisle; Freeholder, 50 at Durham; Heroine,
300 guineas at Newmarket, 100 guineas and 50 at
ditto; Huby, 400 guineas and 50l. at York, 50l. and
{161}
50 guineas at Carlisle, and 100l. at Doncaster;
Lizard, 50l. at Preston; Pigeon, 50l. at Catterick
Bridge; Rosalind, 150 guineas at York, the King's
Plate, and 50l. at Lincoln; Squirrel, 125 guineas
at York, 160 at Wakefield, and 100 guineas at
Doncaster.


In 1793, Comet won 80 guineas, the Stand Plate,
and the King's Plate, at York; Heroine, the
Queen's Plate at Chelmsford, the King's Plate and
70 guineas at Lincoln; Huby, 400 guineas at Newmarket,
175 guineas and 295l. at York; Messenger,
50l. at Manchester; Restless, 50l. at York, 100
guineas at Preston, and the King's Plate at Carlisle.
In 1795, Ambush, 50 guineas at Wakefield;
Charmer, 50l. at Catterick Bridge, 50l. at Lamberton,
and 50 guineas at Stockton; Gay Deceiver,
300 guineas at Doncaster; Heroine, 50l. and 50
guineas at Newmarket, and the King's Plate at
Lincoln; Huby, two 50's at Stockton, and the
King's Plate at Dumfries; Sheperdess, 100 guineas
at York.


To these excellent runners, in the successive years
have been added Laura, Roseberry, Caroline, Bellissima,
Wonder, Stella, Stripling, Tartar, Hyale,
Jupiter, (Mr. Hawke's,) and many others who
won large stakes as COLTS and
FILLIES, but were
never named.


{162}




PHYSIC
—is a term sometimes given (particularly
in the country) to every kind of MEDICINE
that can be administered to either MAN or
HORSE:
the more polished and general acceptation confines
it solely to the operation of PURGING, in which
sense alone it can be properly understood. It is
but a few years (since the appearance of "The
Gentleman's Stable Directory,") that the general
necessity for, and palpable utility of, occasionally
PHYSICING HORSES, became almost universally admitted.
Its salutary effects stand, however, upon
too firm a basis to be again shaken by the obtrusion
of speculative opinions: there are but few, if any,
remaining, who will presume to arraign or challenge
the consistency of annually cleansing full
thirty yards of the intestinal canal, replete with
INTERSTICES,
and appropriated to little other purpose
than the excretion of filth.




Physic is prepared of different proportions, and
of different ingredients, according to the purposes
for which it may be designed. If only to soften
and remove the accumulated contents of the
bowels, and prevent PLETHORA, and its probable
effects, the MILDEST degree will be sufficient. If
the carcase is evidently enlarged, the vessels perceptibly
distended, the horse dull, heavy, and inactive,
a STRONGER must be brought into use. In cutaneous
diseases, SWELLED LEGS of long standing, tendency
to GREASE, old obstinate
COUGHS and WORMS, mercurial
{163}
physic had better be adopted; letting the extra
care be proportioned to the mildness or severity
of the season in which it is given. Under judicious
and proper management, there is no more danger
in the operation of MERCURIAL than in any other
physic, provided it is faithfully prepared, and of
the proportions by which safety is in a great degree
to be insured; but if given in immoderate quantities,
and little attended to during the progress of its
operation, danger and death may probably ensue.
Neither one, or the other, are, however, known
to happen, where a proper degree of circumspection
is used by those whose business it is to superintend
the subordinates.




PICKER
.—A horse-picker is a small iron instrument,
so truly convenient upon many emergencies,
that a prudent traveller, or experienced
sportsman, is hardly ever seen without one annexed
to the handle of a knife which he carries in his
pocket: its use is to extract stones, pebbles, or
flints, from the bottom of the foot, when they are
picked up in hunting, or upon the road. They
are sometimes so firmly fixed between the inner
edge of the SHOE and the
FROG, that nothing but
very violent force with a hammer can remove
them; in such cases, horses are sometimes led a
considerable distance to some dwelling-house, before
the stone can be extracted; and the foot is probably
bruised, or sustains a serious injury, for what
{164}
might be obtained at a trifling expence,
and carried with little inconvenience.






PIGEONS
—are the well-known domestic birds,
of which there are only
TWO sorts entitled to attention
here, as affording equally nutritious support
for the frame, but neither calculated to excite sport
in the field, or emulative attraction in their destruction.
The two different kinds are distinguished
under the denomination of WILD and
TAME; the
former are bred in COTES and
DOVE-HOUSES, (such as
are seen at the rustic mansions of the great, and at
large farms in open countries;) the latter in less
numbers upon a smaller scale, and in receptacles of
smaller construction, affixed to out-offices, barns,
stables, or upon a pedestal; in either of which situations,
they have their provision mostly before them.
The WILD or dove-house pigeons, as they are
called, breed only once a year generally; though
there are many in the same flock who produce a
second, or what is termed a harvest or autumn
flight. Those called TAME pigeons, who are still
more domesticated, have a greater degree of fecundity,
and continue to breed a pair every month or
five weeks during the year, except the three most
severe and dreary months of winter.




For the protection of this species of property
against the wanton attacks of the idle and ill-designing,
it is enacted, by the 2d of George the
{165}
Third, c. xxix. That any person who shall shoot at,
or by any means kill or take, with a wilful intent
to destroy, any PIGEON, he shall, on conviction
thereof, by confession, or oath of one witness, before
one Justice, forfeit 20s. to the prosecutor;
and if not immediately paid, such Justice shall commit
him to the house of correction, for any term
not exceeding three months, nor less than one, unless
the penalty be sooner paid. Persons who are
convicted on this Act, shall not be convicted on any
former Act; and prosecutions under this must be
commenced within TWO MONTHS after the offence
was committed.




PIGEON-SHOOTING
—is a sport principally
resorted to at that season of the year when guns are
laying dormant, and game of every other kind is,
by the privilege of Parliament, permitted to enjoy
its rest. Pigeon-shooting is a match between two
individuals, or any fixed number on each side, and
is decided by one, or the other, killing the greatest
NUMBER of PIGEONS
within an equal number of
shots. The match made, and the place agreed on
where it is to be decided, the dove-house pigeons
are provided in proportion to the parties who stand
engaged to shoot; of which there are generally four,
five, or six, on each side; and as every individual
feels disposed to shoot at least five or six times, less
than eight or ten dozen are hardly ever procured
for the occasion.




{166}


Previous to the commencement of the match, an
open spot is fixed on, agreeable to the arbitrators,
one appointed by each side; here TWENTY YARDS
are measured with accuracy, and both extremities
correctly marked. At one end a hole is made in
the earth, in which is deposited a small box, about
eight inches deep, six inches wide, and a foot long;
its surface two inches above the level of the ground,
with a sliding-lid running in a groove: to the front
of this lid is affixed a string, or small cord, of one
or two-and-twenty yards in length, which extended,
will reach a little beyond the precise distance of
twenty yards, where each of the parties concerned
will afterwards stand to shoot. The preliminaries
adjusted of having taken the toss, to determine
which side is to take the lead, and all parties ready,
a PIGEON is lodged in the
BOX, and the runner (as
he is called) resuming his post, by the side of the
person whose turn it is to shoot, he is there ready
to pull the STRING annexed to the
SLIDER, and give
liberty to the bird, the moment he is ordered by the
SHOOTER so to do. It is a fixed rule, that the
GUN
is never to be advanced to the SHOULDER till the
bird is upon wing; this is to be decided (as well as
every other cause of dispute) by the persons appointed;
and every pigeon so shot at, must fall to
the ground within ONE HUNDRED YARDS of the
BOX,
or it is not admitted a BIRD KILLED, but a shot
missed. The first person having shot, (hit or miss,)
he is succeeded by one of the opposite side; and
{167}
they continue to shoot in alternate rotation till the
match is decided according to the original terms
upon which it was made, in respect to the number
of pigeons to be shot at by each distinct party,
when those who kill the most are declared the
winners, and entitled to the stakes made.




PILOT
.—There have been three horses of this
name; two of which were excellent racers, and
esteemed equal, as plate horses, to any of their
time. The first was bred by Sir Charles Bunbury;
foaled in 1762; got by Snap, dam by Cade,
grand-dam by Crab, out of Lord Portmore's
Abigail. The second was bred by Sir H. Harpur;
foaled in 1770; got by Dainty Davy, dam by
Blanck, grand-dam (Dizzy) by the famous and
original Driver. The third was bred by the late
Counsellor Lade; foaled in 1782, and got by the
above, dam by Marske, grand-dam by Regulus.
The two last won a great number of fifty-pound
plates annually for several years in succession, and
afterwards proved very excellent country stallions.






 PLAY or PAY
,—a description of
BET so made.
Whether the subject of such bet be MAN or
HORSE;
the object a race, or a boxing match; either party
being present at the time and place appointed,
ready to perform their part of the engagement previously
entered into; the other not appearing, or
appearing, and then and there refusing to enter into
{168}
the contest, upon the event of which the article or
bet was originally formed, can lay no claim whatever
to the stakes deposited; and the holder stands
justified in handing such stakes over to the WINNER,
having sufficient evidence in justification on his
own part, to prove that it was bona fide a "PLAY
or PAY" bet.






 PLAY or PAY
,—the name of a horse of much
recent and racing celebrity, the property of Mr. Durand.
He was bred by Mr. Parker, and got
by Ulysses out of Tiffany's dam. In 1794, at three
years old, (in the name of Mars,) he won 50l. at
Epsom, beating six others. At Stockbridge, a
sweepstakes of 10 guineas each, nine subscribers.
At Winchester he walked over the Course for a
sweepstakes of 20 guineas each, eight subscribers.
In 1795, when four years old, he beat Mr. Turner's
Tim Tartlet, two miles for 200 guineas. The next
day he beat Mr. Cauty's Alderman, two miles for
50 guineas. He won also 50l. at Guildford; a
sweepstakes of 15 guineas each at Stockbridge,
seven subscribers: the next day a sweepstakes of 10
guineas each, six subscribers. At Winchester, a
sweepstakes of 10 guineas each, eight subscribers.
At Egham he walked over for a sweepstakes of 10
guineas each, five subscribers. The next day he
won a 50l. plate, beating Pandolpho and Serpent.
In 1796, when five years old, he won the Craven
stakes, of 10 guineas each, at Newmarket, beating
{169}
eleven others. 50l. at Ascot Heath. In 1797,
then six years old, he won 50l. at Epsom, beating
five others. 50l. at Lewes, beating Gohanna and
Keren-happuch. 50l. at Abingdon, beating Keren-happuch,
Paroquet, and Roland. In consequence
of having been so hard run for FOUR
years in succession,
he started SEVEN times in 1798 without
once winning. In 1799, he won 50l. at Epsom,
beating Yeoman and Midnight. 50l. at Guildford,
beating Mr. Lade's David, and two others; and
50l. at Egham, beating Lord G. Cavendish's horse
by Jupiter; after which he was purchased by Mr.
Dashwood, in whose possession, at nine years old,
in 1800, he beat Mr. Whaley's Post Boy, four
miles over Ascot, for 100 guineas, and walked
over at Egham for a sweepstakes of 20 guineas
each, three subscribers: after which he appeared no
more on the turf.






PLEURISY
—is a disorder in the horse so nearly
allied to an INFLAMMATION of the
LUNGS, that probably
the most judicious and experienced Veterinarian
would not, without much difficulty, be enabled
to distinguish between one and the other. The
predominant symptoms are sudden and violent: he
first becomes heavy, dull, and oppressed; soon
shews great difficulty of respiration, pants exceedingly;
is distressed with an almost incessant painful
endeavour to cough: the mouth continues, from the
commencement of the attack, hot, parched, and
{170}
dry: at this time he is exceedingly restless, frequently
laying down, and as suddenly rising; but
as the disorder advances, he stands in his stall so
overwhelmned with fever, pain, and bodily oppression,
that he displays no wish or desire to vary
his position, but stands fixed in one posture, resigned
to his fate. As the disease approaches
nearer its crisis, a slimy saliva appears in the mouth,
and a ropy viscid discharge from the nostrils. This
being one of the disorders so rapid in its progress,
and so destructive in its effects, as sometimes to set
all efforts to relieve at defiance, every necessary
means of counteraction should be most expeditiously
adopted upon the first discovery of the
attack.




It is in general produced by some sudden and
powerful revulsion; as an instantaneous change
from heat to cold, in which the perspiration becomes
so severely checked by a collapsion of every
pore, that NATURE sustains a shock, productive of
almost immediate and perceptible morbidity. Journies
of speed, and afterwards standing still in cold
rains, or sharp winds, as well as being supplied
with water when in a high state of PERSPIRATION,
are probably the principal causes from which the
disorder is mostly known to arise. The direct road
to cure is too plain and unequivocal to admit of
different opinions. Bleeding, and that both
largely and repeatedly, must be submitted to, if
{171}
circumstances require it; no hope of relief can be
expected without it. It is no uncommon thing to
bleed a horse four or five times in as many days,
and his recovery to be justly attributed to that important
mode of subduing inflammation. Gruel,
impregnated with small quantities of NITRE and
GUM ARABIC, should be the common drink. Mashes,
of ground malt and bran, should be placed in the
manger boiling hot, that the head, throat, and
glands, may derive every possible advantage from
FUMIGATION, to assist in taking off the pulmonary
stricture, and promoting a plentiful discharge from
the nostrils, which is one of the leading proofs that
the disease has reached its crisis, and may be considered
the first indicative expectancy of recovery.
In the greatest bodily debility, when no food is
taken, a cordial ball, dissolved in gruel, should be
given (with a horn in small quantities at a time)
twice a day. Equal parts of the wort squeezed
from the malt, and good clean-boiled sweet gruel,
should be patiently held before the horse twice or
thrice in every hour for some minutes: from the
great internal heat, he is frequently induced to
swallow a quart or two at each time; although, if
offered and taken away in haste, he might invariably
decline it. It is only by such persevering attention,
both NIGHT and
DAY, any expectation of cure
can be entertained.


{172}




PLUMAGE
.—The feathers upon every kind of
fowl, wild or tame, is so termed: if speckled, or
interspersed with different streaks, or opposite
lights and shades, it is then called variegated plumage.
If a GAME COCK is bred perfectly
WHITE,
he is called a SMOCK.






POACHERS
—are those determined destructive
nocturnal depredators, by whom the game is so
shamefully reduced in opposition to all LAW, and
defiance of all ORDER, from one extremity of the
kingdom to the other. This head cannot be better
elucidated, than by transcribing literally, from the
recent work of a writer of much celebrity, his judicious
remarks upon the subject.




"It is, perhaps, among that description of persons
well known by the name of poachers, that the greater
number of those are trained to rapine, who infest
every rural neighbourhood with their petty thefts,
and whose dexterity almost bids defiance to precaution.
Accustomed, in the ensnaring of game,
to the secresy of fraud, and committing their depredations
amidst the silence of night, those horrors,
and that consequent dread, which frequently deters
from the commission of great offences, gradually
lose their effect. Solitude and darkness, which
have wherewithal to appal the human mind in its
first deviations into guilt, are divested of their
{173}
terror in those pilfering pursuits; and the consequence
is sufficiently well known to all, who, in
the capacity of magistrates, are called to sit in judgment
on the delinquency of public offenders. It is
to this initiation they ascribe their subsequent enormities.


"When guilt, however venal, becomes, by repetition,
familiar to the mind, it is not in the
power of the ignorant and uneducated to restrain
its excesses; they cannot arrest their career of iniquity;
they cannot chalk out the line of wrong
beyond which they will not pass. Confining their
first nocturnal excursions to the snaring of HARES,
and netting of PARTRIDGES, whenever they have a
less booty than usual, they are tempted to compensate
the deficiency by petty plunder of some other
kind, and the log-pile, the stack,
the fold, the hen-roost,
all in turn, pay tribute to the prowling vagabond,
who fills as he can that void in his "capacious
bag," which has been left by his want of
success as a POACHER.


"The great evil is, that a culprit of this class,
feeling no compunction in the early stage of his
guilt, proceeds carelessly to a state of the most
complete degeneracy. Game is a species of property
of which he has so indistinct a conception,
that he scarcely thinks he has committed a moral
injustice in the various stratagems by which he has
{174}
contrived to obtain it; he sees not that the claim
of a stranger is better than his; he knows not
whence that absolute right in another to that which
he has taken is derived; his companions, to whom
he recounts his manœuvres, are more likely to applaud
his cunning than to reprove his crime. Thus
the remorse of conscience being but slight and
feeble in the outset, the wretch is encouraged by
degrees to trample on the laws with greater boldness,
and at last suffers as a FELON."


That these facts are fairly stated, and the natural
inferences judiciously drawn, must be candidly and
universally admitted. Previous, however, to the
conclusive remarks requisite under this head, it becomes
directly applicable to introduce a few passages
from another writer of equal eminence, who, in
his animadversion upon the well-founded principle
of the GAME LAWS, observes, "that, in a highly
cultivated, well-peopled country, no animal can
properly be considered as wild; all are supported
by the property and labour of those who cultivate
the soil. Some, from their peculiar instincts, are,
indeed, less capable than others of being appropriated,
and therefore, like lands uninclosed, are
held as a joint property. But he who has no land,
and consequently contributes nothing to their maintenance,
is no more entitled to any use of them,
than the inhabitant of one parish is to a right of
commonage on the waste lands of another; and he
{175}
who chuses to reside in a town, and to keep his
property in money, has no more a pretence to seize
to his own use a HARE, or a
PARTRIDGE, than
a sheep or a goose, from him who has chosen to
vest his property in land. In the former, as in the
latter case, he ought to tempt the owner to sell
what is wanted."


Thus much is introduced from the speculative
opinions of respectable writers upon the political
and equitable basis of the GAME LAWS, which every
rational observer, and good subject, will probably
admit ought to be obeyed; although the great and
infinite body of POACHERS, and that much greater
infinity their ABETTORS,
seem to be of a direct opposite
opinion. However just, proper, and political,
such laws may have been in their formation,
and laudable in their continuance, little reliance
can be placed upon the deceptive expectation of a
reduction in the number of POACHERS, sanctioned
and supported, as they are, by thousands in the
Metropolis, and the middle classes of people in
every CITY, TOWN,
and VILLAGE, from one extremity
of the Island to the other. If there is one of
his Majesty's subjects so weak or inexperienced, as
to suppose any one species of game is difficult to be
obtained, he must be deplorably ignorant in the
common occurrences of life, and requires to be informed,
that the wholesale art and trade of poaching
is carried on almost "as public as the noonday
{176}
sun" during the whole of the season; and no
one of that commercial and opulent body in the
city, or epicure in the suburbs, sits down without
game at his table whenever he pleases to order it:
it is not the business of a steward, butler, or housekeeper,
to expostulate upon what may be immediately
obtained for MONEY, with a consolatory verification
of the school-boy's well-known adage,
that "one good turn deserves another;" and money
in one hand can invariably procure game for the
other.


There have always been two opinions held respecting
the policy and prudence of the Game Laws,
between two classes of people equally opposite
to each other, the HIGHEST and the lowest; in
support of which, it has been the persevering practice
of the former, to enact laws for the protection
of what they conceive their RIGHT; and the latter
have been as invariably engaged (from one generation
to another) in devising plans to counteract and
undermine it: thus the cunning of one is engaged
in a perpetual war with the POWER of the other, and
most probably centuries only can ascertain the victory.
Here the eye of impartiality will naturally
advert to a passage from a writer lately quoted
who is of opinion, that "a person having no land,
and who chooses to keep his property in money, has
no more right to a HARE or
PARTRIDGE, than he has
to the sheep or goose, from him who has chosen to
{177}
vest his property in LAND." This writer, probably,
in his hasty zeal to exalt the LANDED interest above
its proper weight in the scale of WEALTH, had totally
forgotten (or never knew) that great national
depositary of immensity, called the Bank of
England,
situate in the City of
London; the millions
eternally in motion through the medium of
COMMERCE, and moving in all directions, to every
quarter of the globe; as well as the East and
West India possessions, to an extent of riches beyond
conception.


All these, to gratify the self-importance of the
holders of a little land, the learned writer had found
it convenient to bury in oblivion. Sir Roger de Coverley
would most probably have said, (could he
have been at this moment consulted upon the subject,)
"Much may be said on
BOTH sides." In saying
which, he would have spoken wisely; for it cannot
be conceived, that every individual of the infinity
of STOCK-HOLDERS, who loyally place an implicit
faith in the stability of Government, and embark
all their property to support it, (in many instances
from FIVE to
FIFTY or a
HUNDRED THOUSAND
pounds each,) does not feel himself equally affected
with the appetites of a GENTLEMAN, as he who
possesses 100l. a year in LAND; and not feeling
more disposed to sacrifice at the shrine of
SELF-DENIAL
than his neighbour, finds it necessary to
avail himself of all the comforts and advantages to
{178}
be derived from his MONEY, that the other does
from his LAND; under which candid and impartial
consideration it is fair to conclude, that so long as
there shall be a natural propensity to good living,
and the delicacies which Providence has so plentifully
bestowed; so long as the monied THOUSANDS
of the Metropolis shall incline to believe they are
entitled to a participation; and so long as
GAME
shall be bred, and human degeneracy in the lower
classes of society continue; so long will POACHERS
continue undiminished, in opposition to every
means that the utmost limits of human wisdom can
suggest for their extirpation.




POINT
.—A horse standing in his stall, or elsewhere,
with one fore-leg at some distance before
the other, is always concluded, by the most experienced,
to have sustained some irreparable injury
either in the SHOULDER, or the ligamentary junction
of the COFFIN and
CORONARY bones, concealed
in the box (or cavity) of the hoof. This is in a
considerable degree to be relied on; but there are
many instances in which a horse accustoms himself
to awkward positions, and they become habitual:
some stand with either the near or the off fore-leg
eternally before the other, and are as perfectly
sound as any horses in the kingdom. To say,
therefore, from a horse's manner of standing, that
he is lame, would be as absurd as to say any man
could not be either a good dancer, or fencer, because
{179}
he stood, when disengaged from both, in
a careless, lounging, ungraceful attitude.






POINT
—is the position of a POINTER,
when standing seemingly fixed and immoveable at the
game before him; at the moment of observing
which, particularly with young or unsteady dogs,
the natural ejaculatory caution of "To ho!"
"Have a care!" transpires; not more as an injunction
of steadiness to the dog standing, but as a
communicative mode of enjoining the attention of
every dog in the field to the first who has obtained
the point.






POINTER
.—The pointer is that species of
dog well known to contribute more to the contemplative
pleasures and pursuits of a sportsman, than
any other in the canine catalogue. This peculiar
breed, on account of their universality and general
utility, have been so incredibly crossed, re-crossed,
bred in, and bred out, to gratify the various
opinions, (as prompted by fancy, caprice, or speculation,)
that they are now to be found of all
sizes, and all qualifications; from the slow, short-headed,
heavy-shouldered remains of the original
Spanish pointer, (who will tire in half a day's
work,) to the cross of in and in with a
FOX HOUND,
of which none are ever known to tire; many of
them having speed enough to catch a leveret three
parts grown, when they jump up before them.
{180}
Pointers, forty or fifty years since, were hardly
ever seen but entirely white, or variegated with
liver-coloured spots; except the then Duke of
Kingston's black and white, which were considered
superior to every breed in the kingdom, and
sold for most extravagant sums after his death.
They are now, from the constantly increasing attachment
to field sports, to be seen of every description,
from pure white, and a flea-bitten blue
or grey, to a universal liver-colour, and a perfect
black. In a choice of pointers for general use,
that is for every species of GAME,
the extremes in
size, as well as in speed, are better avoided, and the
line of mediocrity adhered to: overgrown, heavy
dogs, soon get weary in the hot and early part of
the season: the smaller sort have also their inconveniencies
in hunting in very high turnips, heath,
broom-fields, &c.




As some advantages have been obtained by the
various crosses, both in respect to speed, and the
durability of fatigue, so something has been sacrificed
on the score of patient forbearance, and olfactory
sensibility; the gradational shades of one
species introduced by every change having so diversified
the original stock, that a much greater degree
of trouble is requisite in breaking now than formerly,
to bring a POINTER of
perfection into the field.
The impatient volatility of some men probably
prompted them to indulge a design of introducing a
{181}
breed of pointers, with speed sufficient to outstrip
the rapidity of their own imaginations, that they
might enjoy the unprecedented and supreme felicity
of hunting and shooting at the same time; hence,
perhaps, arose the emulative struggle for a superiority
of speed in addition to POINT, which, it
must be acknowledged, has at length reached the
very summit of perfection. Pointers are never
considered complete, unless they are perfectly
staunch to "BIRD,
DOG, and GUN;"
which implies,
first, standing singly to a bird or a covey; secondly,
to backing (or pointing instantaneously likewise)
the moment he perceives another dog to STAND;
and lastly, not to stir from his point, upon the
firing of any gun in company, provided the GAME
is neither sprung or started at which he made his
original point.


The art of breaking pointers for the field, was,
twenty or thirty years since, looked upon as a very
mysterious and difficult piece of business; many
(called dog-breakers) deriving a subsistence from
the employment: the charm, however, has been
long since broken, and the process is known to be
so exceedingly simple, that a tolerable well-bred
pointer puppy may have the foundation of all his
future perfections theoretically inculcated in the
VERY KITCHEN or
PARLOUR of his
MASTER, before he
is taken into the field. This is so truly and practically
possible, that it may be done with two or three
{182}
brace together in a large room, or small yard, with
no other assistance, than the alternate words of
"TO-HO!"
"TAKE HEED!" and
"HAVE A CARE!"
(with the small field whip in hand to impress attention,)
although meat is tossed before them in every
direction; when not a dog will stir till the signal of
"HIE-ON" is heard, which they eagerly
obey; but are
as instantly stopped at the very moment of seizing
their meat, by either of the cautions previously
mentioned. Young dogs, having thus imbibed the
principles upon which they are to act, have nature,
and their instinctive impulse, to point out their
practice when brought into the field: few are seen
who hunt too little, the major part are inclined to
range too much, and then it is that the cool and
steady patience of the experienced sportsman becomes
necessary to check the impetuosity. Juvenile
gunners frequently spoil young dogs, by keeping
them under as little restraint as they wish to be kept
themselves; and too often let them break away out
of all reasonable distance, till they acquire a habit
of inattention and disobedience, of which some are
with very great difficulty, if ever, divested.


When brought into the field, they should be
taught to traverse every yard of the ground, (in
proper lengths, and at proper distances,) so that
none be left unbeaten; and this should be done
with as few words, and as little noise, as possible.
Short verbal signals, low vibrative whistles, and
{183}
the motion of the hand to the right or left, are all
that's useful; more does mischief: one steady shot
of this description, with a brace of pointers obedient
to command, and staunch to DOG and
GUN, will
kill more game in any country, than a noisy crew
with three or four brace of dogs before them. All
young pointers should not be permitted to deviate
from the proper rule of quartering the ground before
them; that is, to cover a line of fourscore
yards transversely in the front of his master, taking
forty yards to his right, and re-passing him, take
the same distance to the left; and in such proportions
as not to let his crossings and re-crossings be
more than five-and-twenty or thirty yards from each
other. If a brace of pointers are in the field, they
should alternately cross the same beat, by meeting
and passing each other; but never beat the same
way in a parallel direction.


Those who wish pointers to bring the
GAME when
killed, will find it very easy of attainment, by teaching
them to fetch and carry before they take the
field; it is an amusement they are much delighted
with, and never forget: it has, however, one chance
of inconvenience annexed to the experiment, if
they become hard-mouthed, and take to breaking
both flesh and feather; it is a fault, or rather a
crime, never obliterated, but with incessant trouble
and severity. It is a practice with some to hunt
their pointers in coverts, with bells about their
{184}
necks, both in COCK and
PHEASANT shooting; those
who do it, hold their pointers (at least their excellence)
in very slender estimation, as it invariably
reduces their speed; renders them slow, tardy, undisciplined,
and inclined to hang and puzzle, by
constantly drawing upon the foot of the pheasant,
or upon a hare in covert, when one happens to
start before them; in a persevering pursuit of which,
high-spirited dogs, full of blood, are subject to
fits, and of long duration: cutting off half an inch
of the tail, or bleeding in the roof of the mouth, is
the only extemporaneous remedy in the field. Previous
to the beginning of the season, that is, a fortnight
before the commencement, each dog should
have two doses of physic about four days apart;
after which proper attention should be paid to the
provision, which should be of a sweet and healthy
kind, to preserve as much as possible their faculties
in full perfection. From the hardness and heat of
the ground in the first weeks of September, it sometimes
happens, that the feet become lacerated, inflamed,
and exceedingly sore; when which is observed,
a plentiful washing, with warm gruel and a
sponge, will afford considerable relief; in an hour
or two after which, the application of some weak
salt and water, or cold white-wine vinegar, will
harden the surface, and probably prevent a repetition.


{185}




POLE-CAT
.—The pole-cat is a species of
vermin, partaking, in some degree, of the figure
and propensities of the MARTIN and the FERRET; or
rather between both. It is smaller than the one, and
considerably larger than the other; is an inhabitant
of the bushy coverts in the neighbourhood of lonely
farm-houses; to the POULTRY, EGGS, and DOVE-HOUSES,
of which they are constant and destructive
enemies. The effluvia, or rather stench, arising
from their bodies is so truly offensive, that it has
long since laid the foundation of the well-known
proverbial expression of "stinking like a POLE-CAT."






POLL-EVIL
,—in its first stage, is a tumefaction
formed upon the poll of a horse immediately
behind the ears, and is, in general, occasioned by
a blow, bruise, or, perhaps, sometimes by the heavy
weight and constant pressure of old harsh, stubborn
harness-halters; as it is a kind of casual defect, or
misfortune, with which only draught-horses are
known to be much affected. Upon its discovery,
when in an early state, repulsion may be attempted
by mild restringents, as a few minutes patient fomentation
with HOT VINEGAR and a sponge, followed
by a slight application of CAMPHORATED SPIRITS;
not evidently submitting to which at a
third or fourth repetition, but continuing to increase,
and display symptoms of impending maturation,
those appearances must be immediately encouraged
{186}
by proper means, and every attempt at
repulsion instantly discontinued. Hot fomentations
with gruel, immediately succeeded by emollient
poultices of linseed powder, milk, and a small
quantity of turpentine well incorporated; or bread,
milk, and white lily root, bruised to a paste, and
applied of a proper warmth, are the best modes of
expediting suppuration; when which takes place,
no small share of Veterinary knowledge, and professional
punctuality, is requisite to obtain a sound
and perfect cure.






POMONA
.—There have been three well-bred
mares of this name: the first bred by Lord Clermont,
foaled in 1769, got by Squirrel, dam by
Young Cade, grand-dam by Rib, out of Grisewood's
Lady Thigh. The second was bred by the late
Duke of Cumberland,
foaled in 1775, got by
Herod, dam by Snap, grand-dam by Regulus. This
mare was the dam of several runners, including
Nina, Spear, Gardener, and Halbert. The third
was bred by Mr. O'Kelly, foaled in 1783, got
by Vertumnus out of Helen, (who was got by
South,) the dam of Paris, Saturn, Lady Thigh,
Troy, Golden Apple, &c.






POST MATCH
—is a term in RACING, where
it is only necessary to insert the age of the HORSES
in the Articles, and to run any horse of that age,
{187}
without declaring what horse, till he appears at the
post.






POT8OO'S
,—the name of a horse whose performances
as a RACER, and progeny as a
STALLION,
will transmit his celebrity to succeeding generations
in various directions: he was bred by the late
Lord Abingdon, foaled in 1773, and got by
Eclipse out of Sportsmistress, the dam of Lexicon,
Jocundo, Roscius, Siddons, Peg Woffington, Sir
Thomas, and Sulky. This horse was so named to
gratify a little pique against the late Colonel O'Kelly,
in allusion to the place of his nativity,
ironically called the Land of Potatoes.
Upon the turf he proved himself equal to any horse of his
time: as a STALLION, few, if any, have stood in
higher estimation. Exclusive of an infinity of annual
winners, who have ran as COLTS and
FILLIES
for large stakes, but without a name, he is the SIRE
of Parsley, Smack, Telescope, Turnip-top,
Asparagus,
Coriander, Flea, Misseltoe, Tiny, Alderman,
Gumcistus, Cayenne, Chigwell, Golden Rod,
Triptolemus,
Cynthius, Druid, Emma, Guy, Lady,
Lilliput,
Polyanthus, Vesper, and Waxy. Aurora, Capsicum,
Sister to Druid, Doricles, Edwin, Kidney,
Mealy, Vixen, and Warwick. Doubtful, Faunus,
Lambourn, Brother to Lilliput, Oliver, Molly Maybush,
Rowland, Thereabouts, Golden Dab, and
Yorkshire Bite. Dutchess of Limbs, Outcast, Schedoni,
Trip-it, Dr. O'Liffey, Scrub, Snuff-box,
{188}
Worthy, Champion, Crazy Jane, Canterbury,
Lampedo, and Trifle.






PRECIPITATE
,—a horse of much recent celebrity,
whose name was truly applicable to his descent.
He was bred by Lord Egremont, foaled
in 1787, got by Mercury, (a son of Eclipse,) dam
by Herod, grand-dam (Maiden) by Matchem, out
of Mr. Pratt's Old Squirt mare. In the first Spring
Meeting at Newmarket 1790, when three years
old, he won the first class of the Prince's Stakes
of 100 guineas each, beating Thunderbolt, Chanticleer,
and Sir Pepper; four having paid forfeit. In
the same week he won the Bolton Stakes of 50
guineas each, beating Dragon, Chambooè, and Palafox;
seven paying forfeit. Second Spring Meeting,
he won the third class of the Prince's Stakes
of 100 guineas each, beating Thunderbolt; seven
paying forfeit. In the same week he received 100
guineas forfeit from Lord Grosvenor's Rhadamanthus.
In 1792 he won 50l. at Guildford, beating
Doge, Thunderbolt, Seringapatam, and Stout. The
next day 50l. at the same place, beating Cardock
and Griffin. The King's 100 guineas at Lewes,
beating Skyscraper at three heats, the first being
deemed a dead heat; after which he became a stallion
in his Lordship's stud at 12 guineas a mare.
He is the sire of Jonquille, Petworth, Matrannee,
Rosalba, Chesnut Colt out of Bobtail, Chesnut
Colt out of Rosemary, Humbug, Lazarus, Raginer,
{189}
Apollo, Gulliver, Tag, Louisa, Tipstaff,
and many others now in training.






PREVENTION
—is in itself a matter of so much
magnitude, that it should ever be predominant in
the mind of the sportsman and the man of pleasure.
Prudence, PATIENCE,
and PHILOSOPHY, when properly
exerted, are frequently preventives to disease,
mental mortification, trouble, expence, and consequent
compunction. It is an established and incontrovertible
maxim, that PREVENTION is preferable
to CURE; under the influence of which impression
(if properly attended to) a very great number of
those occurrences, accidents, and dangerous diseases,
which so constantly happen, might certainly
be avoided; as, upon strict investigation, the far
greater part may be found to originate in carelessness,
neglect, indolence, or inhumanity. Riding
or driving horses immoderate and unreasonable
journies, without stopping upon the ROAD; riding
hunters hardest in the DEEPEST ground,
and taking very strong unnecessary leaps in the field; placing
horses in a cold stable without immediate attention,
when in a high state of perspiration; are amongst
the many foundations of disease and disquietude
which may be prevented, and are well worthy retention
in the memory of those who wish to see their
horses in health and good condition.




{190}




PRICKED
.—A horse is said to be pricked,
when, in SHOEING, any one of the nails is accidentally
or injudiciously driven too near the membranes
with which the box of the hoof is lined: this
may happen with the most expert operator by a
sudden inversion of the point when in its seeming
proper direction. A tenderness and halting is also
very frequently occasioned by the nails passing
close to, and pressing upon, the internal parts, which,
by tight clinching, constitutes so great a compression,
that pain (particularly in action) inevitably
ensues; in which case instantly taking off the shoe,
well oiling the hoof, replacing the shoe with more
care and less force, will prove it a mere temporary
inconvenience.




When a horse is suspected to be pricked, in consequence
of going lame immediately after having
been shod, and not before, it is then of course natural
to conclude some injury has been sustained
during the operation of shoeing, and that he does
not go lame in consequence of any previous accident.
Circumstances thus tending to justify the inference,
a careful examination should be made
without delay: the nails should be extracted singly
in succession; and when the shoe is off, a proper
degree of pressure should be made with the PINCERS,
to ascertain the tender part. This done, it is too
much the custom, particularly with the obstinate
{191}
of the old school, to recur to their usual practice of
devastation, by an immediate and immoderate definition
of parts, under the plea of an "absolute
necessity for going to the bottom," to prevent what
most probably is by no means likely to ensue. If
the particular nail is discovered by which the injury
has been sustained, opening the spot of its insertion
in a very trifling degree upon the surface, and pouring
in a small quantity of Friar's Balsam, or
compound Tincture of Myrrh,
will in general
allay the irritability, harden the punctured part,
and subdue any tendency to inflammation: on the
contrary, should any painful symptoms of impending
maturation appear, emollient poultices, and
warm digestives, should be applied to the bottom
of the foot, to obtain a discharge from that part,
that the formation of A QUITTOR may, if possible,
be prevented.




PRICKET
.—The male produce of the BUCK
and DOE (fallow deer) is so called at two years old,
when he begins to put forth his head.






PRICKING
—is the unsportsmanlike act of
tracking a HARE by the points of her
feet, upon the paths and highways, when the hounds are at fault:
it is a common practice, and can only be justified
where hares are exceedingly scarce, and difficult to
be found, with packs very small in number, or deficient
in effect; but it is a custom too mean and
{192}
degrading to be permitted with hounds of eminence,
who must kill their game with a reputation untainted,
or not kill at all.






PROBE
—is a silver instrument used by SURGEONS
and VETERINARIANS, in sounding the depth
of cavities, sinusses, fistulas, and wounds: they
are, upon unexpected emergencies, so very frequently
useful in the country-house, or remote residence
of a sportsman, that it should never be
without this, and some other trifling instruments of
little expence; exclusive of lint, tow, ointments,
tinctures, and a few other cordial and diuretic medicines,
for which there is sometimes a sudden and
unexpected occasion.






PULSE
.—In all dangerous and inflammatory
diseases of horses, much information may be derived
from the state of the PULSE;
in addition to the observations
to be made upon the difficulty of respiration,
the heaving of the flank, the heat of the
mouth, and the state of the eyes. It seems, by the
nicest observations, that the pulsations in a healthy
horse seldom exceed from forty to forty-five in a
minute; exceeding which in any material degree,
there is then reason to believe, inflammatory heat
is predominant in the frame, and that fever is rapidly
advancing in proportion to the increased velocity
of the blood. Farriers in general, either
from a want of attention, or want of judgment, are
{193}
most culpably deficient in this part of their professional
examination; upon a competent proficiency
in which, must solely depend the CONSISTENCY, or
impropriety, of repeated bleedings, in all cases of
high and increasing inflammations, where REPETITIONS
are absolutely indispensible for the preservation
of life.






PURGING
—is an operation with horses, upon
the propriety, consistency, danger, and utility of
which, various opinions have been opposed to each
other for half a century past; these, after the public
experience of the last fourteen years, seem to have
centered in an acknowledged preponderation of its
occasional use; and that without its frequent salutary
introduction, certain diseases are neither to be
prevented or cured. The absolute necessity for
sometimes PURGING,
is not only now universally admitted,
but the practice as generally adopted; the
first step to a successful termination of which operation
is, to adapt (by every possible degree of precaution)
the strength of the physic to the size, state,
and constitution of the HORSE,
as well as an eye to
the particular cause for which the purgation is become
necessary. Proper attention paid to these
leading circumstances, and due care observed during
its process, no apprehensions of danger need
be at all entertained.




{194}


It is necessary those who have not been accustomed
to the management of horses under so serious
an operation, should know, that, from the great
length of the intestinal canal, a horse requires a
considerable decree of cathartic stimulus to insure
excremental expulsion. When the contents of the
larger intestines are become indurated by long retention,
little work, and a want of exercise, there
is then a kind of constitutional tendency to constipation,
when, of course, more disquietude or pain
will be experienced by the subject, than when the
body is in a more favourable and less costive state.
The intestines (when extended) exceeding thirty
yards in length, and laying compressed in a horizontal
position within the frame, and in so small a
compass, is the principal, and almost only, reason
to be advanced, why the combination of purgative
ingredients continue from eighteen to twenty-four
hours in the frame, before the fæces are sufficiently
softened for the operation to begin.


Exclusive of the various disorders to which
horses are subject, requiring a course of physic
upon their first appearance, or at their termination,
(as may be collected from the works of those who
have written professedly upon the subject,) there
are many instances, in which PURGING may be very
advantageously brought into use, as a critical
PREVENTIVE
to DISEASE, although there may, at the
time, be but little external cause to believe such
{195}
morbidity is impending. Horses constantly standing
in a stable upon full and good keep, with but
very little work, and short exercise, generate blood
freely, and lose a very trifling proportion of the
constantly accumulating contents of the frame, by
either perspiration or evacuation. Thus then the
vessels, as well as the carcase, become so evidently
overloaded, that the whole labours under the rigidity
of one universal distension; constituting a
preternatural stricture upon the body and its extremities,
by which the system of secretion and excretion
is partially or universally affected, and the regular
routine of the ANIMAL ŒCONOMY proportionally
deranged. Under this concise, but explanatory,
definition of repletion, and its effects, will
be found the necessity for occasionally unloading
the body by proper evacuants, and relieving the
vessels from the unnatural stricture which reduces
the elasticity of the solids, and retards or obstructs
the easy circulation of their contents.




PURITY
—was a mare of distinguished celebrity
originally, but rendered much more so, as
the dam of the famous horse Rockingham, whose
performances will be found under that head. Purity
was bred by Mr. Pratt; foaled in 1774, and got
by Matchem out of the old Squirt mare. She was
the dam of Rockingham, Archibald, Fitzwilliam,
and a filly by Highflyer; as well as others by Florizel,
Magnet, Paymaster, and Saltram. Her dam
{196}
(the old Squirt mare) produced many racers of the
first class: Virgin, Miracle, Dido, Conundrum,
Ranthos, Enigma, Riddle, Miss Tims, Pumpkin,
Maiden, Rasselas, Purity, and three others; having
continued to breed from 1755 to 1774; during
which period of nineteen years, she produced the
fifteen colts and fillies here described.






PURSIVENESS
—is a disorder, or degree of
disease, with a difficulty of respiration, beyond the
effect of a common cold and cough, but falling short
of the malady denominated BROKEN WIND. Pursiveness
in a horse bears no ill affinity to the asthmatic
complaints of the human species. Although
there have been refined distinctions adopted, and
definitions attempted, between the symptoms of a
cold and the disorder called pursiveness in a horse,
yet one is very little more or less than an inveterate
stage of the other. The blood having, from some
particular cause, become sizey, has consequently
passed through the finer vessels with a languor far
inferior to the purposes of health; hence obstructions
are first formed; and these continuing to
increase, tubercles follow. The parts necessary to
a free and easy respiration being thus affected, it
becomes laborious and oppressive in a proportional
degree with the increasing viscidity of the blood,
and the length of time it has been permitted to
continue in its progress without restraint. The
finer vascular ramifications of the lungs being thus
{197}
partially closed, imperfect respiration ensues; producing
those whistling wheezings with which ASTHMATIC
horses are observed to be distressed, particularly
in brisk action, until it progressively terminates
in broken wind, which it will inevitably do,
unless the proper means of alleviation and cure are
earnestly adopted. Frequent bleedings, pectoral
detergents, intervening attenuants, and mercurial
purging balls, (administered with patient and
punctual perseverance,) are the only medical aids
from which permanent relief must be expected, or
can be obtained.




Q.




QUAILS
—are small birds, found, at certain
seasons, in corn fields and stubbles, as well as in the
standing crops of backward clover: they partake,
in a certain degree, of the game species, as spaniels
(that are well bred) instantly feather, and pointers
gradually draw to a doubtful POINT,
upon winding
them, and STAND FIRM if near to the bird.
Quails
are considered birds of passage, as they are only to
be seen in the centrical parts of the kingdom during
the four warmest months of the year. They get up
{198}
before the dog with great reluctance, running till
almost weary before they rise. When upon wing,
a very moderate shot will bring them down. In
those counties where they are found in greater
plenty than in some others, they are caught alive,
by means of what is termed a QUAIL-CALL and
NETS; and sometimes in such numbers, as to be
seen at the shops of the London poulterers in cages
exhibited for sale.






QUALIFICATION
—is both a sporting and
parliamentary term for the privilege of killing
game, in HUNTING,
COURSING, SHOOTING,
or by any mode which the qualified party may chuse to
adopt; provided it is not repugnant to such other
Acts as are still in force for the prevention of
POACHING, and those nocturnal depredations by
which the game is annually so daringly reduced.
This qualification (or exemption from the penalties
of former Acts during different reigns) till of very
late years, consisted in the full and unrestrained
possession of one hundred pounds per annum,
issuing from FREEHOLD LAND, or estate, and producing
that clear annual sum when every other expence
was paid: or, the possession of a LEASEHOLD
estate of one hundred and fifty pounds per annum,
in right of self or wife, for the term of ninety-nine
years, or any term beyond that period. In addition
to which, it is enacted by an Act of the Legislature
during the present reign of George the
{199}
Third, That every person in Great Britain who
shall use any dog, gun, net, or other engine, for
the taking or destruction of GAME,
shall take out an
annual certificate, from the Clerk of the
Peace
for the county in which he resides, and shall pay for
such certificate the sum of THREE POUNDS THREE SHILLINGS,
with one shilling to the clerk for his
trouble in making it out. See Game, and
Game Laws.






QUALIFICATIONS
—appertain, in a particular
degree, to the subject of RACING upon the
TURF, and is used in a certain signification.
Plates of 50l. are given at numerous places of sport, to be
run for on certain conditions; some by COLTS and
FILLIES of three years old; some
four years old; others five and six; and,
lastly, for HORSES of all
AGES and
QUALIFICATIONS. The precise meaning
of which is, that a horse equal in AGE
to one or
more of his competitors, may be very superior in
qualifications; in which case it becomes necessary
and equitable to bring their abilities more upon an
equality, by so encreasing the weight which one
is to carry above the standard of the other, that
there may be left very little probability of deciding
upon the certainty of superiority in SPEED,
when the impartial and judicious adjustment of
weight is so properly fixed, as to leave an equal
hope and expectation of winning the PRIZE for
which they are to start. To render such mode
{200}
the less liable to objection, it is mostly the custom
to say in the advertisements, a winner of
one plate in the present year to carry 3lb. the
winner of two, 5lb. and of three, or more, 7lb.
extra.






 QUARTER (False.)
—The
DEFECT so called
in the hoof of a HORSE,
is the renovated part of
what has been by some accident previously destroyed;
and this effort of nature being inadequate,
in its regeneration, to the original formation, the
quarter of the heel, in its growth, acquires a kind
of spongy puffiness or elasticity, accompanied by
a CLEFT or CRACK,
which prevents a perfect and
undivided union with that part of the hoof uninjured,
constituting a tender weakness, as well as
a permanent blemish, not to be obliterated during
the life of the horse. Notwithstanding which,
much depends upon the management during the
time the original injury remains in its infant state.
A wanton destruction of parts, by the too hasty
and injudicious interposition of CAUSTICS and
CUTTING KNIVES, frequently does more mischief in
twelve hours, than Nature, with all her powerful
endeavours, can repair in as many months. When
by these, or other means, a false quarter cannot
be avoided, it should be occasionally attended to
during the progress of its growth: the uneven prominencies
should, when becoming luxuriant and
irregular, be kept down by gentle erasions with
{201}
the RASP, and the surface, the cleft, and surrounding
part, be plentifully moistened with FRIAR'S BALSAM,
TINCTURE of MYRRH, or
some such applicable
substitute, as may give it a gradational
hardening, and effectually reduce the irritability of
the parts affected. To relieve the ill-effect of
this inconvenience to a certain degree, a BAR-SHOE
may be so carefully constructed, as to shield the
tender and weaker part of the hoof from
PRESSURE;
and this can only be done by forming the shoe
of such thickness, as to admit of its taking its
bearing equally from the sound parts of the hoof,
about an inch or two on each side the seat of injury,
with strength sufficient to prevent a chance of
its indentation upon the tender part intended to
be protected.






QUARTERS
.—The fore and hind parts of a
horse are frequently so called; for instance, such
a horse is beautifully formed in his FORE QUARTERS,
but he is exceedingly ill made behind; and
some are well proportioned in the gascoins, the
hip, the rump, and hocks, but are ill formed and
low before. The FORE QUARTERS include the
head, neck, breast, withers, and fore legs, to
the girths; the HIND QUARTERS comprehend the
hips, thighs, hams, hocks, and hind legs.






QUEST
.—Hounds (beagles or harriers) are
said to QUEST, when they first give tongue after
{202}
coming upon trail. Spaniels are said to quest also,
when they give tongue in covert, upon coming
up to the foot and scent of partridge, pheasant,
hare, or cock.






OUICKSILVER
—is an article of almost incredible
medical utility; a full and explanatory
description of which will be found under the head
Mercury.






QUITTOR
.—The serious injury so denominated,
is, in its origin, a painful and inflammatory
formation of matter (arising from various causes)
at the precise junction of the HAIR with the upper
part of the HOOF: this, from the peculiar construction
of the parts, particularly if injudiciously
conduced, soon degenerates into a virulent, ill-conditioned
ULCER, dangerous in its progress, and
uncertain in its termination. Treads, blows, and
bruises, EXTERNALLY, and a lodgment of gravel,
or other extraneous substance, having insinuated
itself INTERNALLY, from the bottom of the
foot, and working upwards, are principally the
means by which such misfortune is too frequently
and unluckily produced. The practice too prevalent
with FARRIERS (newly termed veterinarians)
is to proceed with all possible fire and fury to a
speedy and unrelenting destruction of parts: the
introduction of a large portion of CORROSIVE SUBLIMATE
is adopted to "bring away the core;" or
{203}
BLUE VITRIOL, reduced to powder, and mixed with
the OIL also, is used for the same: these frequently
proving the REMEDY to be worse than
the DISEASE, the knife is called in aid,
and, by daily use, (after the patience of the owner is nearly
exhausted, and his purse equally operated upon
with the horse,) the subject becomes calculated
for little more or less than the
COLLAR MAKER, to
whom such patients are in general ultimately consigned:
unless they fall into the hands of judicious
practitioners; who, knowing the properties
of medicine, and the useful interposition of art,
can patiently condescend to complete with the SYRINGE,
what the less qualified can never perform
with the KNIFE.






QUITTOR-BONE
—is a protrusive enlargement
upon some part of the CORONET of a
HORSE,
originating in a ligamentary distortion, fibrous rupture,
or internal injury; which continuing to encrease
in size to the utmost distention of the integument,
it then gradually acquires a certain degree
of callosity, and lastly, OSSIFICATION, from
whence is derived its present denomination. Custom
has established the alternatives of BLISTERING
or FIRING, and they not unfrequently succeed each
other. A little reflection will, however, determine
whether it is not sometimes better






"To bear those ills we have,


"Than fly to others that we know not of."




{204}


R.




RABBIT
—is the well-known animal, bearing
some similitude to the HARE in its formation, but
no proportional excellence as a luxury for the
table. Rabbits are of two kinds, the wild, and
domestic; the latter of which are bred in hutches
exceedingly tame, and in a sporting view lay claim
to no consideration. The wild rabbits are much
inferior in size, and many shades lighter in the colour
of their fur, than the hare, to whom they have
a natural and an invincible aversion; which, in
fact, seems to be mutual, as they are but rarely
found in the purlieus of each other. The rabbit,
in its wild and uncultivated state, (not part of, or
appertaining to a warren,) is thought of but very
little intrinsic value, and is killed or taken as a
matter of public right, by individuals of every
class who happen to find them; not being included
in the late acts of parliament for the PRESERVATION
of the GAME; although they are mentioned
as conies
in some of the former records, which, though unrepealed,
are seldom resorted to for legal information.
Rabbits in a WARREN are supposed the most
prolific and profitable animal of any that contributes
to human subsistence: these warrens are
common in many parts of the kingdom, but more
particularly in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, Norfolk,
{205}
Suffolk, and Cambridgeshire, by the three last of
which counties the Metropolis is supplied for its
almost infinite consumption. The scent of a rabbit
is exceedingly faint in comparison with the
HARE,
FOX, or FALLOW DEER;
they, however, by jumping
up suddenly, frequently lead hounds a little
astray, but cannot stand long before them.




RABBITS propagate so rapidly, and increase
so largely, in some parks and farms of a woodland
country, that they become, by their numbers, exceedingly
injurious, and an occasional reduction is
found unavoidably necessary, as a matter of self
defence; in which case RABBIT SHOOTING is found
a most pleasant diversion. This is enjoyed with
the assistance of a brace of spaniels, which being
turned into the bushes and hedge-rows, are hardly
ever without a rabbit on foot: but it must be a
very quick and good shot to prove successful, as
their short turns, and sudden twists, render them a
very difficult mark to hit. Warreners, in some
parts of the kingdom, are called warren farmers,
whose premises are of very great extent, and the
rent from three to four and five hundred pounds a
year: the rabbits in these are so completely private
property, that various Acts are still in force for their
preservation, and the summary punishment of offenders
(before a justice of peace) for any transgression
against the statutes in such case made and
provided.


{206}




RACE HORSE
—Is the kind of horse bred
solely for the TURF,
and whose blood must be properly
authenticated to have descended in a STATE of
PURITY from one generation to another, without
the least contamination by any accidental or intentional
cross whatever. Horses of this description
are not entirely selected, as others in general are,
by the make, shape, strength, and bone, but in a
great degree by the estimation of the blood from
which they have descended; and from which circumstance
alone is derived their claim to the appellation
of BLOOD HORSES, which they properly
continue to retain, and are alone entitled to. We
are furnished with the most indubitable assurances,
that the Arabs are (if possible) more tenacious,
precise, and correct, in the pedigree, or genealogical
descent, of their superior and unmixed breed, than
the sporting breeders of this country; and that
the PEDIGREES of each peculiar and distinguished
BLOOD has been for
CENTURIES transmitted from generation
to generation, with the same authenticated
accuracy, as is now the regular practice with every
racing stud in the kingdom. The emulative impulse
of the English sportsman to attain perfection,
most probably suggested the idea of introducing
the celebrated BLOOD of
Arabia, that judicious
experimental crosses might be made with the best of
our own.




{207}


The earliest instances upon record, were during,
and subsequent to, the reign of King Charles the
Second, who sent abroad his master of the horse
to procure a selection of foreign HORSES and
MARES
for the establishment of a BREEDING STUD; and
the mares then brought over (as well as many of
their produce) have since been called ROYAL mares.
The principal Arabians,
Barbs, and Turks, by
which the original breed of Britain is supposed in
some respects to have been improved, are as follows.
The White Turk was the property of
Mr. Place,
stud-master to Oliver Cromwell when
Protector; he was the sire of Wormwood and Commoner.
Dodsworth, though foaled in England,
was a natural Barb, his dam having been imported
when in foal during the reign of Charles the Second,
and was called a royal mare. The Lister Turk
was brought into England by the Duke of
Berwick from the Siege of Buda, in the reign of
James the Second, and was the sire of Snake,
Brisk, Coneyskins, and Piping Peg.
The Byerly Turk was Captain Byerly's charger
in Ireland in
King William's Wars; he was sire of Sprite, Black-Hearty,
Archer, Basto, Grasshopper, the Byerly
Gelding, and Jigg. Greyhound was got in Barbary,
after which both sire and dam were purchased,
and brought to England, by Mr. Marshall. He
was the sire of Old Othello, Whitefoot, Osmyn,
Rake, Samson, Goliah, Favourite, and Desdemona.


{208}


The D'Arcy White Turk was the sire of Old
Hautboy, Grey Royal, and Cannon.
The D'Arcy
Yellow Turk was the sire of Spanker, Brimmer, and
the great great grand-dam of Cartouch.
The Marshall,
or Sellaby Turk, was the property of Mr.
Marshall's brother, stud-master to King William,
Queen Anne, and King George the First; he was
the sire of some famous runners, but most of them
were mares. Curwen's Bay Barb,
the Thoulouse
Barb, Darley's Arabian,
the Belgrade
Turk, the Godolphin Arabian,
and others, may be
referred to under the head Barbs in the First Volume.
After having crossed the blood in all possible
directions, (as fancy prompted in one place, or
prudent deliberation justified in another,) numerous
experiments were made (and for large sums) in
bringing the different crosses to the post in opposition
to each other; when, after every possible refinement,
and every judicious exertion, to ascertain
the superiority of the Arabian blood, it was at
length most clearly proved, that the more they
bred in and in with the foreign horses and mares,
the more they acquired speed for half a mile or a
mile; but became gradually SLOWER,
and longer
upon the ground, the farther they had to run.
This discovery having been made (and proved by
various means to be correct) at the very moment
of the great Duke of
Cumberland's having
brought the sport to nearly its present zenith of attraction
and celebrity about the year 1760, the rage
{209}
for Arabian extraction has been gradually upon
the decline with the sporting aggregate from that
period to the present time; unless with those who
have bred more with a view to variation and novelty
than SPEED for the
TURF.


Races were formerly decided in much shorter
distances than at present, and few colts or fillies
were then ever brought to the post till four years
old. Plates for three years old are now common
at all places of sport from one extremity of the
kingdom to the other; and matches with two years
old COLTS and
FILLIES, and even with yearlings,
are seen constantly run at Newmarket; and is the
very reason why so many of the most valuable are
completely ruined, and all their faculties of superior
speed destroyed, by the very time they attain
the age at which their predecessors STARTED for the
FIRST time. Few matches, sweepstakes, or plates,
are now decided in a less distance than FOUR MILES,
where the horses are five and six years old, as this
is considered an unerring criterion of distinguishing
between, or annexing BOTTOM to
SPEED: many tolerable
horses have taken the lead, and kept it for a
mile, or even two, that have been nearly distanced
in running the FOUR; and a chain of well-observed
and corroborating circumstances it was of this kind,
that brought the farther propagation of Arabian
blood in this country into disrepute. Whether
such change may not have been occasioned by private
{210}
prejudice transformed to public report, may
be admitted a doubt; because it is universally
known, some, indeed very many, of the fleetest
horses this country ever produced, have been the
immediate descendants from some of the Arabians
before recited.


Flying Childers is said (as stories never lose by
transmission) to have ran a mile in a minute: most
probably, and most truly, he ran "one third of a
mile, at the rate of a MILE in a
MINUTE:"
it is admitted, he ran, with nine stone two pounds upon
his back, FOUR MILES in six minutes and forty-eight
seconds; and this horse was undoubtedly got by,
and the immediate descendant of, Darley's Arabian.
Firetail and Pumpkin ran a mile in a minute
and a half; and each of their pedigrees run in a
double and treble degree into the best Arabian
blood in only two generations. Bay Malton ran
four miles over York (in the year 1763) in seven
minutes, forty-three seconds and a half; and his
blood was in and in from the Godolphin Arabian,
and two Barbs in parallel directions. Eclipse ran
the four miles over York, carrying twelve stone,
in eight minutes, without going at his rate; and
his pedigree goes directly on the side of the DAM to
Regulus, who was got by the Godolphin Arabian;
and through his sire Marsk to Squirt, who was got
by Bartlet's Childers;
from which chain of authenticated
facts, it should incontrovertibly appear
{211}
to every mind of impartiality, that the breed of
blood horses in England has been very much improved
by the judicious crosses so successfully introduced.
The pedigrees of all thorough bred
horses have been so long and so justly recorded,
that Mr. Weatherby has given in his Stud Book,
the accurate origin of above FOUR THOUSAND
horses, mares, colts, and fillies, the produce of
the last sixty years only, (exclusive of numbers of
an earlier date,) and in which may be traced the
precise pedigree of every particular horse, up to
the origin of any race or blood upon record.




RACING
,—in its most common and comprehensive
signification, might be supposed to imply
racing in general between either MEN or
HORSES; it
is, however, in fashionable acceptation, applied
principally to the latter, which is a most noble, exhilarating
and fascinating enjoyment, to all classes
of people, in all parts of the kingdom, during the
summer season, when every other field sport is
buried in a temporary oblivion, and every species
of GAME, HOUNDS,
and HUNTERS, are legally at
REST. Racing,
in itself, is a harmless privileged
pleasure, so immediately congenial to the disposition
of the people of this country, that each revolving
year seems to produce its increasing attraction.
From the great alacrity with which it is
followed, the rapture with which it is enjoyed, and
the genial season at which it takes place, it should
{212}
seem to have been instituted under the peculiar
dispensation of Providence; where the annual
meeting of old and long-parted friends, in every
distinct district in succession, "makes the heart
glad;" and where MIRTH
seems to have taken possession
of every face, from the PRINCE
to the peasant,
who one and all dispel sorrow, and set care
at defiance. In full confirmation of this unexaggerated
representation, a SUBSCRIPTION is locally raised
in various CITIES,
TOWNS, and districts, amongst
the NOBILITY,
GENTRY, and independent inhabitants,
to constitute and encourage so rational and
happy a scene, in which the poor industrious rustic
may innocently partake, and cheerfully enjoy one
day of rest from his labour.




The money thus collected (by a person who is
previously appointed Clerk of the
Course) is then
delivered into the hands of NOBLEMEN
or GENTLEMEN
resident in the neighbourhood, who generally
feel themselves honoured by the solicitation of the
subscribers to undertake the office of STEWARDS,
and who exert every degree of personal influence
to encourage and promote a kind of jubilee, in
which the happiness of every heart, and the pleasing
reflection of every mind, is absolutely absorbed for
a circumference of many miles. The RACING FUND
having reached its utmost point of accumulation,
is divided into purses (called PLATES) of
FIFTY POUNDS each, and announced for horses of
{213}
different ages and qualifications, in the provincial
newspaper of the particular district in which the
plates are given; as well as in "The Racing Calendar,"
where all such advertisements appear.
Various particulars respecting the minutiæ of
RACING will be found under the different heads of
Horse Racing,
Jockey Club, King's Plate,
Newmarket, Training,
and Turf; it being impracticable
to bring so great a variety of distinct
combined, and complicated matter, into any one
single point of view.




RACK
.—The railed convenience constructed
above the MANGER in a stable for the reception of
the HAY is so called.
It should be so formed, as to
have alternate openings at the bottom, for the dust
and seeds to pass through: and although it is become
a practice exceedingly prevalent, to have the
rack on one side, instead of the center of the stall,
there is no good or rational plea can be advanced
in justification of such innovation: on the contrary,
it compulsively accustoms the horse to stand with
his hind-quarters mostly on one side of the stall, by
which his bedding is constantly and inevitably deranged
almost as soon as it is set fair.






RAILS LAND
,—are birds of passage, of a
simply beautiful variegated plumage, in size about
midway between a whole snipe and a PARTRIDGE,
partaking, in an equal degree of formation, between
{214}
both, in respect to the shape of the body,
head, and beak, which are in a direct line of mediocrity
between the two. They are found singly
in different parts of England (but very thinly scattered)
in the months of July, August, and September,
in the standing CORN and
CLOVER, but principally
in the latter, where, when found, they are
prejudicial to pointers, by their incessantly running,
while the dog continues drawing (in a kind of
walking pursuit) till patience being quite exhausted,
the dog is induced to play the SPANIEL, and make
a springing effort before they can be forced to take
wing; when once upon which, it must be a very
indifferent shot who does not bring them down.
Though a very scarce bird in the centrical parts of
the kingdom, (being much more plentiful in counties
upon the coast,) they are exceedingly numerous
in Ireland, and particularly near the capital;
there they are called CORN-CREAKS, found in every
standing grass-field during the months of May and
June, where corn-creak shooting is in almost equal
practice with PARTRIDGE or
SNIPE shooting in this country.






RAKING
—is the old and ridiculous (or rather
unnatural) custom of oiling the hand, and introducing
it at the SPHINCTER of the
ANUS, to extract
the indurated dung, when the horse labours under
severe inflammatory cholic, arising from previous
constipation. The only reason adduced to justify
{215}
the practice is, its being one means of obtaining
immediate relief; and if that relief could be readily
obtained to a certainty, the adoption could not
with propriety be so totally condemned. The
fact is, that this custom, like many others in the
old code of VETERINARY LAW,
is only a powerful
shield for the protection of indolence; for one
glyster would do more in liquifying and bringing
away the hardened fæces, than back-raking
(as it is called) would effect in an hour: but one
makes the show of business, which is what the
lower class of SMITHS and
FARRIERS prefer in
general, to the most useful and expeditious execution.






RANGER
.—This is an office of trust, appertaining
to the LAWS of a
FOREST, where there are
generally two, as principal and deputy ranger;
to the latter of whom the executive department
more materially extends: it is his peculiar province
to take occasional cognizance of all matters
within the limits (or what are termed purlieus) of
the forest, and to make presentation of all offences
and offenders at the proper courts when held.
This is also an office of honor, greatly superior to
KEEPERS, BAILIFFS,
and other subordinates.






RATTLING in the Head
.—When a horse
is heard to rattle in the head, it denotes obstructions,
and affords ample proof that a cold has
{216}
been recently caught, or the glandular secretions
impeded. Such rattlings being loud and frequent,
(or rather incessant,) with large indurated tumefactions
underneath the jaw, accompanied by a
slimy, viscid, fœtid, discoloured discharge from
the nostrils, danger should be instantly guarded
against, as Farcy or
Glanders will most probably ensue.






RAT-TAIL
.—A horse having a long dock, and
little or no hair upon it, is said to be rat-tailed.
There are not wanting a certain description of
sporting speculators, who go a little farther in
their definition, adding, most sapiently, that "a
rat-tail horse is always a good one."






RAT-TAILS
—is a disgusting kind of defect, or
disease, which is seldom known to affect any horses,
but those of a coarse and gummy constitution:
to this internal grossness, and omission in not properly
cleansing within, as well as the effect of filth
and nastiness without, may be attributed the origin
and progress of this very unsightly and vexatious
disorder. Rat-tails are parallel lines, running
longitudinally from just below the hock, on
the outside, to the pastern joint, bearing no dissimilar
appearance to the tail of the animal just
mentioned, from whence the name is derived.
From the acrimonious ichor by which they are
fed, the parts become excoriated, and bear a
{217}
different complexion, according to their recent
and more advanced state. Various and variegated
are the remedies prescribed for their obliteration,
of which numbers are without judgment,
and probably as many without thought. The expeditious
cure depends in no small degree upon
the virulence it has acquired by the length of its
duration. Frequent fomentations of warm gelatinous
gruel, with a soft sponge, to soften the regidity
of the scabby surface, seems the most rational
mode that can possibly be adopted: this
ceremony may be followed when the parts are
completely dry, with a plentiful impregnation of
strong mercurial ointment, repeated as often as
the mild or inveterate state of the case may render
necessary: gently detergent repellants, or
slightly corroding stimulants, may be required,
if the disorder is of long standing; at any rate,
internal correctors should go hand in hand with
external applications.






REARING
—is the most dangerous vice of
all a restive horse retains in the catalogue of his
untoward qualifications: it is generally termed
REARING an END,
and when carried to the extreme,
is hazardous beyond description; as it is hardly
possible for the best horseman existing to keep his
seat, when a horse repeatedly assumes that unnatural
position. Recent instances have occurred
directly opposite in their consequences; one in
{218}
which the RIDER was killed;
in the other, the horse.
In such an alarming and critical predicament, the
most probable means of safety is, to gradually
loosen the reins, and, by bearing the weight of
the body close to the neck of the horse, endeavour
to accelerate his preponderation.






RECHASING
—is a sporting term, but little
known, and never used, except in the official language
of a forest and its environs. Rechasing is
the discovery and driving home of outlying deer,
and other beasts, to the district from whence they
had strayed.






RECHEAT
—is a recall of the hounds with the
horn.






REGULUS
,—the name of a horse whose performances
upon the turf, and celebrity as a STALLION,
were never exceeded in this kingdom. He
was bred by Lord Chedworth, and foaled in
1739. He was got by the Godolphin Arabian;
his dam by the Bald Galloway, grand-dam by Snake,
out of Old Wilkes, a daughter of Old Hautboy.
Regulus won seven ROYAL
plates in one year,
and never was beat. He afterwards covered in
the north, and was the sire of Adolphus, Trajan,
the dam of Eclipse, the grand-dam of Highflyer,
and many other capital horses and mares; through
whose veins his blood has been transmitted in direct
{219}
and oblique lines to every stud of eminence
in the kingdom. Since which there have been
three of the same name in succession. The first
bred by Mr. Basset, foaled in 1750,
got by Regulus,
dam by Whitefoot, grand-dam by Hip. The
second bred by Mr. Salt, foaled in 1764, got
by Regulus, dam by Regulus, (bred in and in,)
grand-dam by Partner. The last was foaled in
1788, got by Young Morwick, dam by Turk,
grand-dam by Young Cade.






REINS
—are the parts of a bridle which are affixed
to the eyes of the bit, or bits, on each side
a horse's mouth, pass up the horse's neck, and are
united at the reverse end, where the junction of
both are held in the hand of the rider. A snaffle-bridle,
and a hard-and-sharp, have each of them
two reins; a Pelham and a Weymouth have
each four.






REINS
.—The reins of a horse are the parts
where the kidnies are seated; and the word is generally
used in a synonymous sense with loins.
When a disorder arises, or a defect is observed, in
these parts, it may be supposed to have originated
in some short and sudden turn in a narrow stall;
carrying too heavy a weight, or drawing too
large a load. Whenever such injury is sustained,
a difficulty of staling, partial dribblings, or the
{220}
urine very high-coloured, and tinged with blood,
will soon point out the seat of the complaint.






 REINS Pillar
.—Those affixed to the centrical
pillars of a RIDING SCHOOL are so called; as
are those likewise, by which the horse is kept
confined ready for his rider, when saddled, bridled,
and turned round in his stall.






RELAY
.—A relay of HORSES
is a supply of fresh ones fixed at some particular spot, to exchange
either upon a journey, or during the
chase. A relay of HOUNDS more particularly applies
to hunting excursions, where a part of the
pack is alternately detached to a certain place of
destination, that, by a relay of both HORSES and
HOUNDS, the sport may be continued daily, without
intermission, during the week.






REPOSITORIES
—are placed in the metropolis,
where horses are received for PUBLIC or
PRIVATE sale, and where they are regularly bought
and sold by AUCTION, on certain days in every
week. This is an accommodation of so much
convenience and utility to those who have occasion
either to BUY or to
SELL suddenly, that the succession
of horses is incessant, and the PROPRIETORS
never feel a want of public patronage. The
three long-established repositories are Tattersal's,
near Hyde Park Corner;
Aldridge's, in St.
{221}
Martin's Lane; and Langhorn's, (called the
City Repository,) in Barbican. The days of sale
at the first are Mondays and
Thursdays; at the
second, on Wednesdays; and at the latter, on
Fridays. Tattersal's
is the principal receptacle
for horses in high estimation, as running horses,
stallions, brood mares, hunters, and the superior
kind of hacknies. Carriages and
HARNESS may
be deposited here for sale by auction, or private
contract; as may also HOUNDS,
POINTERS, SPANIELS,
GREYHOUNDS, or any sporting stock whatever.




Aldridge's was the original as a repository,
and the first institution of the kind in the kingdom.
It was opened upon speculation by a Mr. Beaver,
in which he acquired fame and fortune.
This is principally appropriated to the sale of
hunters, light carriage horses, famous trotters,
sporting-like hacknies, and others of every description;
from which universality of accommodation
(notwithstanding the great extent of the premises)
there is but very seldom a single stall to
spare. The sales at Langhorn's principally consist
of stage-coach, waggon and cart horses, hacks,
and occasionally government horses of the dismounted
cavalry.


These repositories are conducted upon principles
of the most unsullied integrity by the present
{222}
proprietors; and under fixed regulations, which
admit of no opening for cavil or discontent.
Horses sent in for SALE are immediately
BOOKED,
with the instructions of the owner; whether he is
to be sold to the best bidder, or a specific sum
mentioned, at less than which he is not to be disposed
of. The expences are as follow; a certain
price per day and night, as long as he is continued
there. If brought out, and put up at the
hammer, and not sold, half a crown. If sold,
the commission for selling is five per cent. in addition
to the auction duty of ten-pence in every
POUND; but if sold by private contract, either
before or after the
PUBLIC AUCTION, no duty
to government is payable whatever.


Other rules attach invariably to each establishment.
Horses may be sold with or without a
WARRANTY,
at the option of the owner. If sold bona
fide to the BEST BIDDER,
and no declaration made,
or questions asked, respecting SOUNDNESS,
he is then said to be sold with all his faults; which the
purchaser must abide by, and has no plea for
return, however he may repent the purchase
he has made. On the contrary, when the horse
is sold at the hammer, and warranted sound, under
the authority of, and by commission from, the
owner, although the purchase-money is deposited
when the horse is taken away, yet the purchaser
has that and the following clear day to ascertain
{223}
the perfect, sound and healthy state of the horse so
purchased, when during which time so allotted
him, if he returns the horse or mare, with proper
and indisputable proof of palpable lameness or defect,
the purchase-money is of course returned,
and such horse or mare again becomes the property
of the former owner: and for the regular support
of this equitable and necessary part of the
establishment, no person selling such horse at either
of the repositories, can demand the money in
payment till two clear days from the day of
sale. Instances sometimes arise, where the owner
of a horse sold with a WARRANTY, has refused to
accede to the return of the purchase-money, upon
a plea of justification, that such horse or mare
was positively SOUND when sold.
In cases of this
kind, the proprietor of the repository retains the
money in hand; an action is commenced against
him by the purchaser of the horse returned, (for
the money so paid, and which he cannot get back,)
upon being indemnified by the original owner;
he becomes the NOMINAL DEFENDANT, and the
case goes before a JURY, to be decided by the
glorious uncertainty of the law; as in all
HORSE CAUSES,
the witnesses are so critically conscientious,
that there are generally as many OATHS
on one side as the other.




RESTIVE
.—A horse is said to be
RESTIVE, not
merely because he is obstinate and untractable,
{224}
but because there is a tendency to vice; or he
is constitutionally inclined to add mischief to
ill-temper. Horses of this disposition are sometimes
incorrigible, and are never broken of so
dangerous and (frequently) destructive a quality.
When young horses first begin to display appearances
of RESTIVENESS, in not passing particular
objects or places, turning round, running back,
or rearing an end, lenient means, and gentle patient
methods, are certainly the best and most
proper expedients, by which alone many are
brought to immediate subjection. On the contrary,
a too hasty, violent and imprudent proceeding,
has often made that a lasting and invincible,
which would only have proved a trifling and temporary
inconvenience. Should all gentle and
persuasive means fail of the desired effect, and
no signs of obedience be produced, more powerful
measures should be had recourse to, till the
point of victory can be obtained; but they should
on no consideration whatever, be tinctured with
CRUELTY or INHUMANITY,
for they are almost invariably
productive of an inveterate spirit of
opposition to restraint, which can never be subdued.






RETAIN
—is a term applicable only to the
act of propagation between a HORSE and
MARE:
when the mare is stinted, and will receive the horse
no more, she is then said to retain, (the masculine
{225}
semen,) and considered safe in respect to conception,
and the future production of a foal.






RHEUMATISM
.—That horses are afflicted
with pains similar to those of the human species,
is long since established beyond all power of controversy
and contradiction. Dr. Darwin fixes
its seat in the tendinous coats of the muscles, and
attributes the pain to inspissated mucus left upon
their surface; acting in the motion of the limbs
as some extraneous substance, exciting extreme
irritability and symptomatic inflammation. Horses
are not only constantly liable to, but frequently
attacked with, this disorder, which is more or less
violent in different subjects, according to the
state they happen to be in at the time of attack;
and in some degree the cause by which it was
occasioned. Professional judgment, deliberate examination,
and nice discrimination, are all truly
necessary to distinguish and decide upon this disorder.
It is no uncommon thing for hasty and
rash practitioners to look at such cases superficially,
to embrocate, blister, and even fire, horses for a
LAMENESS,
when the cause of such defect has originated
in the local pain described. Some horses
are so much and so severely affected, as to be almost
or quite unable to move, unless forced from their
position; others, after standing in their stalls for
two or three days, will suddenly fall, as if totally
exhausted, and lay in extreme pain, with their legs
{226}
extended to the utmost, take their food as they lay,
and never attempt to rise, till compelled so to do
by force and powerful assistance; in which state
some horses remain for a month or six weeks before
they are perfectly relieved, when they become
repossessed of all their faculties, and are never known
to experience a relapse. Repeated bleedings, strong
spirituous stimulative embrocations, great and constant
frictions, (after hot aromatic fomentations,)
upon the parts affected, covering the extremities
with flannel rollers, and giving cordial invigorants
internally twice a day, are the only rational
and scientific means of obtaining certain and expeditious
alleviation and cure.






RIBS
.—The ribs of a horse are too well known
to require description; it being only applicable
to observe, that the conformation of the carcase
in a material degree constitutes one feature of the
complexion requisite to the standard of beauty.
A horse should have a round barrel (or body) to
be handsome; if he is flat in the ribs, he is then
said to be flat carcased, is generally tucked up,
high in the hip-bones, hollow in the flank, and
commonly a bad feeder, particularly after a little
hard work, which prevents his being held very
high in estimation.






RIDGES
.—The transverse wrinkles (or bars)
across the roof of a horse's mouth are so called.
{227}
In all matters of emergency, accidents, or sudden
indisposition, when a farrier cannot be expeditiously
obtained, or a fleam procured, an incision across
the fourth or fifth ridge with even a common penknife,
will always prove a very convenient extemporaneous
substitute for a more plentiful evacuation.






RIDING-SCHOOL
—is a convenient receptacle,
with every accommodation for riding in the
winter season, and where the young of both sexes
are taught to ride by proper masters. Of these
there are many in the Metropolis of much celebrity;
among the most eminent are Captain Carter's,
near Grosvernor Square; Mr. Cowling's,
Moorfields; Mr. Jones's, Royal Circus;
Mr. Astley's
Amphitheatre, Westminster Bridge;
Mr. Hall's, Piccadilly; and
Mr. Davis's, in Edgware
Road; at most of which horses are completely
broke and bitted for purposes of every denomination.






RIG
.—A horse is so called upon whom the
operation of CASTRATION has been ill performed;
by leaving one of the TESTES, or so much of the
EPIDIDYMIS, behind, as enables him to become
exceedingly teazing and troublesome to mares,
either in the field or stable. There have been
instances of COLTS having been cut by ignorant
and illiterate operators, who, by letting one of
{228}
the testes recede during the process, it has remained,
and the horse then retains the power of
propagating; many such having been known to get
FOALS.






RING-BONE
—is an ossified enlargement upon
the pastern, originating in a ligamentary twist,
and consequent protrusion, at the junction of the
pastern with the coronary-bone; it forms a callous
substance soon after the injury, and ossifies in a
very short time. Some horses do moderate work
without much seeming inconvenience; others become
lame, and frequently continue so, in opposition
to every endeavour at alleviation or cure.
A ring-bone seldom submits to either the strongest
REPELLENTS,
SOLVENTS, or
BLISTERING. The best
method to avoid disappointment in waiting the effect
of either, is to FIRE
the part in the form of a star,
so soon as the protrusion (or prominence) is at
first perceived.






ROAN
.—A horse is called a roan in colour,
when his coat seems to be formed of the mixed
combination of sorrel and white hairs in nearly an
equal proportion. Horses of this description are,
in general, of no great attraction, although they
may prove equal in execution with others of every
colour: the prevalence of opinion, however, is,
that they are weaker in constitution, less likely to
work, and more subject to disease.




{229}




ROCKINGHAM
.—This horse, now in so much
estimation as a STALLION, proved himself, by his
performances, to be one of the best bred and best
bottomed of any this kingdom ever produced. He
was bred in the north, by Mr. Pratt, foaled in
1781; and got by Highflyer, out of Purity, who
was got by Matchem, out of Mr. Pratt's old
Squirt mare. In 1784, when three years old, he
won a sweepstakes at Nottingham of 50 guineas
each, 3 subscribers. In 1785, when Mr. Wentworth's,
he won a match for 500 guineas over the
Beacon Course at Newmarket. The same meeting
he won the Jockey Club Plate, beating five others:
he also beat his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales's
Hardwicke, 9 stone each, over the Beacon, 300
guineas. He was then purchased by the Prince,
and beat Clay-hall Marsk, a match, Beacon Course,
for 500 guineas, giving him 5 lb. in weight. In
1786, he won a 50l. Plate at Newmarket, beating
Delpini, Clay-hall, and George. He won the subscription
of 50 guineas each, (6 subscribers,) at
Ascot Heath, and a 50l. Plate. At the sale of his
Royal Highness's stud he was bought by Mr. Bullock.
He then won the King's Hundred at
Litchfield; 70 guineas at Newmarket, and 60
guineas also; beating four others; as well as 70
guineas, beating the well known Drone, and several
others. In 1787, he won 525 guineas, (the great
subscription of 50 guineas each, half forfeit,) beating
Fox, Delpini, Marplot, Drone, Oberon, and
{230}
Pilot; receiving forfeit from Mr. O'Kelly's
Dungannon,
and six others. He also won a 50l. the
King's two Plates;
the renewed 140 guineas, 70
guineas, 60 guineas, and 70 guineas, all at Newmarket;
the King's Plate at Guildford, the King's
Plate at Winchester, the King's Plate at Nottingham,
the King's Plate and the Town Plate at York.




In 1788, he was purchased of Mr. Bullock by
Lord Barrymore for 2500 guineas; after which
he won the King's Plate at Newmarket; the Jockey
Club Plate; and a match against Sir G. Armytage's
Stargazer, giving her 8 lb. Beacon Course,
for 300 guineas, and beat her half a mile; rode by
Lord Barrymore, which was the last time he
started. He was then announced as a STALLION,
to cover at Bennington, near Stevenage, Herts. at
10 guineas a mare, and 1 guinea the groom. So
anxious were the SPORTING WORLD to try his
PRODUCE,
that, in 1792, Mr. Panton's Coddy Moddy,
by Rockingham, out of Seagul's dam, and
Mr. Fox's
Filly, by Rockingham, out of Emily, each
won 100 guineas at Newmarket, being then only
two years old. In 1793 was brought to the post,
Patriot, (Mr. Panton's,) who won 100 guineas,
100 guineas, and 105 guineas, at Newmarket.
Portland, (Mr. Hammond's,) who won 100 guineas,
and 100 guineas, at Newmarket, and 100 guineas at
Doncaster; and Young Rockingham,
(Mr. Denton's,)
who won 50l. at Peterborough, 50l. at
{231}
Reading, and 50l. at Egham. In 1794, Lord Grosvenor's
Bay Colt, who won 1400 guineas at
Newmarket. Bennington, (Mr. Wilson's,) who
won 50 guineas, 100 guineas, 300 guineas, 600
guineas, and 100 guineas, at Newmarket. Brother
Red Cap, (Mr. Bullock's,) 50l. at Chelmsford,
and 100 guineas at Newmarket. Miss Pumpkin,
50 guineas at Newmarket. Mother Red Cap, 50l.
at Winchester, 22 guineas at Cirencester, and 50l.
at Worcester. Owen Tudor, the silver cup, and
20 guineas, at Bath, 50l. at Bridgnorth, and 50
guineas at Epsom. This year Patriot won seven
Plates and sweepstakes, at Stamford, Grantham,
Nottingham, Lincoln, and Doncaster.


In 1795 was produced of his get, Arabella,
(Mr. Cosen's,) who won 50 guineas at Newmarket,
and 50l. at Shrewsbury. Lord Grosvenor's Bay
Colt of last year won 700 guineas at Newmarket,
and 50l. at Huntingdon. Bennington won the second
class of the Oatlands at Newmarket, 50 guineas
each, 19 subscribers. Brother Red Cap, 40
guineas at Bath, and 50l. at Epsom. Euphrasia,
100 guineas at Bath, and 50l. at Newcastle. Patriot,
two fifties at Newmarket, and 180 guineas at
Nantwich. Portland, 50 guineas at Newmarket.
Susannah, 50l. at Derby, and 50l. at Penrith. In
1796, Arabella won 100 guineas at Newmarket,
and 50l. at Newcastle. Patriot, 100 guineas, and
100 guineas, at Chester, 50l. at Nottingham, and
{232}
50l. at Warwick. Susannah, the Queen's Plate of
100 guineas at Chelmsford, and two fifties at Reading.
In 1797, Bennington won a 50l. and the first
class of the July and October Oatlands, at Newmarket,
beating Viret, Wrangler, Parrot, Hornpipe,
Plumette, Rattle, William,
Sober Robin, Cymbeline,
Letitia, and Rosolio. Patriot won 50l. at Nottingham,
50l. at Warwick, and 50l. at Boroughbridge.
In 1798, Bennington won 50 guineas, and 50 guineas,
at Newmarket, 50l. at Brighton, and 50l. at
Lewes. Patriot won 50l. at York. In 1799,
Bellina (Lord Grosvenor's)
won the Oaks Stakes
of 50 guineas each at Epsom, 24 subscribers, and
50l. at Stockbridge. Logie O'Buchan
(Mr. Lonsdale's)
won 50l. and 80l. at Manchester, two fifties
at Morpeth, and 50l. at Carlisle. In 1800,
Mr. Bettison's
Brown Colt won 50l. at Derby, and
50l. at Northampton. Kill Devil,
(Mr. Hemming's,)
only three years old, won ten prizes; 75
guineas at Bridgnorth, 50l. at Nantwich, 100 guineas,
and two fifties, at Haverfordwest, two fifties
at Hereford, 30 guineas and 50l. at Shrewsbury,
and 50l. at Newmarket. Logie O'Buchan won the
King's Plate at Edinburgh, two fifties at Montrose,
and 50l. at Air. Statesman (now Sacripant)
(Mr. White's)
won 50l. at Newmarket, 50l. at Epsom,
and 50l. at Worcester. In addition to which, there
are many other good runners, who have won a
considerable number of prizes.


{233}




ROUSE
,—a term in STAG HUNTING: when an
out-lying deer is found by the hounds in covert,
he is said to be ROUSED. When a deer is carted,
and carried to any particular spot for sport, and
there liberated, he is then said to be TURNED OUT.
For instance, we draw the COVERTS,
and ROUSE a
deer. We try for and unkennel a FOX;
or we take trail, and START A HARE.






ROWEL
.—The small circular star, with sharp
points, moving upon a pivot at the heel of the
spur, is so called, and which the horse, in breaking,
is taught to obey.






ROWEL in a Horse
,—is a well-known operation,
resorted to upon every possible occasion by
common farriers, as "a salve for every SORE;"
where they have neither judgment to guide or discretion
to direct them. It is performed by making
an incision through the skin, large enough to admit
the point of a finger, which is then insinuated all
round the orifice between the skin and the flesh, as
far as the extent of the finger can conveniently
reach. A thin round piece of leather being previously
provided, about the size of a crown-piece,
having a large hole in the middle, is covered over
with a thin pledget of fine tow, nicely bound round
the marginal part; but the hole in the centre is left
open: it is then dipped into a melted composition
of digestive ointment, and a moderate proportion
{234}
of turpentine, and is insinuated into the wound.
The operation being thus completed, the inflammation
soon commences, and swelling ensues; this
is followed at first by a discharge of yellowish serum
or lymph, which in three or four days is converted
into a thick substantial white matter, when the
rowel is said to work.




Rowelling has ever been a favourite adoption
with farriers of the old school, although very few
have ever been known able to give a scientific and
satisfactory explanation of its effects. It is said by
them "to draw off the humours;" and others are
so truly and obstinately illiterate, as to affirm, that
"rowels draw off the corrupt and bad blood, leaving
the good behind." In confirmation of which
opinion, they introduce them in almost every case
that can possibly occur, and with almost every
horse, without exception. It was allowed by
Bracken, "they might be proper in all aches and
pains, cold phlegmatic swellings, and sometimes
lameness and infirmities of the legs; that they
might also give relief where there is a fulness and
redundancy of humours, and in defluxions from
the eyes." Immediately upon which he admits,
what is most truly and scientifically the fact, "that
the horse might as well, nay better, lose as much
BLOOD every day, as he does matter
by the ROWELL."
This is so strictly consonant to truth, that it cannot
be controverted: the discharge is equally blood,
{235}
with what at the time flows in the veins; but it is
diverted of its colour by the inflammation artificially
excited, and its extravasation.




RULES in Buying
—will be found very
largely explained under the head, Horse.






RUNNING HORSES
.—See Horse Racing,
Newmarket, Jockey Club,
King's Plate, and Racing.






RUNNING THRUSH
.—The defect so called,
is a varicous state of the centrical cleft of the frog,
from whence oozes a fœtid corrosive ichor, which
continues to putrify and destroy the whole, in proportion
to the length of time it is neglected. In
many instances, where the frog seems hard and
sound upon the surface, the confined acrid cause is
corroding underneath, and frequently breaks out
on either side; when which is the case, the hard
and horny part must be superficially removed, so
that the proper applications may come into immediate
contact with the parts below: for so long as
the diseased and disunited parts remain at top, so
long is there harbour for the insinuation and retention
of gravel, dirt, sand, or any other extraneous
substance; and while this is permitted to continue,
a regeneration of the parts destroyed cannot be expected.
The leading steps to cure, are to keep the
diseased frog remarkably clean, by washings with
{236}
warm water and a sponge, after each time of the
horse's being used, or taken to exercise. When
dry, equal proportions of TINCTURE of
MYRRH and
FRIAR'S BALSAM (previously incorporated) should
be poured upon the part, so as to admit of its
reaching equally every remote interstice where the
corroding cause may have penetrated; this will
obtund the acrimonious property of the morbid
ichor, and promote a speedy restoration of whatever
may have been destroyed. Solutions of Roman
vitriol, and other escharotics, are favourite applications
with the lower orders; who either do not
know, or will not give themselves time to consider,
that their invariable effect is to contract the parts to
such a degree of internal rigidity, and external
horny hardness, that the frog is absolutely annihilated,
the bars of the foot destroyed, the heel
narrowed; the bottom of the hoof, when held up,
has much the resemblance of a vacuum, of burnt
appearance, as if the contents had been intentionally
scooped out by gradational degrees of cauterization.






RUT
.—The DEER of both descriptions
(red and fallow) are said to go to RUT,
at the particular season of VENERY and
COPULATION.






RUTTING TIME
—commences the latter end
of August, and continues to the first and second
week in October; during which both the STAG and
BUCK assume a degree of courageous boldness in
{237}
approaching man, that they never display at any
other time of the year. At this season their necks
swell; they range from one place to another incessantly,
in seeming search of some object to attack;
the voice of the stag is loud and alarming, to those
who have not been accustomed to hear it. When
opposed, they are so exceedingly strong and ferocious,
that no common force can stand against
them: they attack an individual in RUTTING TIME
with a certainty of success. Some few years since,
the LOCKSMITH who inspected the gate locks of
Windsor Great Park weekly, was pursued by a
stag, and when within a few yards of him, most
luckily escaped by climbing a small tree, where he
was kept in jeopardy near twenty-four hours, till
the next day the stag made a retreat upon the accidental
approach of the keepers. A short time
after which, a girl, about fourteen years of age,
passing through Hackwood Park, near Basingstoke,
in Hampshire, (and having on a red cloak,) was
attacked by one, the oldest inhabitant of the district,
who literally not only perforated her body
with his ANTLERS in almost every part, but extended
his fury so much to her apparel, that the melancholy
spot was covered with rags; and the
corpse so maimed and disfigured, that it retained
but little of the appearance of a human frame.




{238}


S.




SADDLE
—is the well-known mechanical construction
formed for the mutual accommodation
and safety of both the HORSE and the
RIDER. Although
historical records prove them to have been
in use with the ancients, there is no demonstrative
reason to believe they were established in England
till the reign of Henry the
Seventh, when they
were adopted under a compulsory law, that the
nobility should not ride without them. Saddles
are of different sorts, according to the distinct services
for which they are designed; and, in fact,
are so universally known, not only in the aggregate,
but in all their component parts, that any elucidation
upon so common a subject; must be evidently
superfluous and unnecessary.






SADDLE-BACKED
.—A horse is so termed,
when the RUMP-BONE rises so high behind, in conformity
with the WITHERS before, that a hollow (or
rather a complete curve) is formed in the middle,
as a natural receptacle for the Saddle. Horses of
this description are mostly, in action, easy and
pleasant to the rider; but they are invariably weaker
in the loins than those of an opposite description.




{239}




SADDLE-GALLED
.—This is an injury frequently
sustained by horses either in the FIELD with
HOUNDS, or in JOURNIES
upon the ROAD; and can
only happen by the inattention, neglect, or penury,
of the OWNER, in not affording occasional precaution
and inspection to the state of the pad, as well
as to the first and safe FITTING of the
SADDLE. It
cannot but be known to the most superficial observer,
that the padding of every saddle becomes
progressively harder, in proportion to the perspirative
matter it absorbs; and, in direct proportion
with the hardness it acquires, the greater is the
chance of its being injurious to the parts with
which it comes into constant contact, and with a
burning heat, produced by a long and repeated
friction. Injuries of this kind, although originating
in the same cause, vary a little in their effects:
with one but slightly affected, a WARBLE may be
produced; this happens on the side, and if attended
to upon its first appearance, is easily obliterated
by applications of vinegar, or other mild repellents;
but unattended to, and a frequent repetition
of the cause being permitted to take place, they
soon become SITFASTS, and can only be got rid of
by instrumental extirpation. Where any part of
the saddle-tree (in the centrical cleft between the
saddle-pads) is inconsiderately suffered to come
into contact with the wither, or vertebræ of the
back, and so continues in friction and pressure,
during a CHASE or JOURNEY,
certain mischief inevitably
{240}
ensues: in the first a swelling, formation
of matter, and FISTULA, may be the consequence;
in the latter, an excoriation, followed by a tedious
wound, or ulcer, may take place. Circumstances
which so constantly occur (and that so often, from
an unthinking stupidity in those who ultimately
suffer by trouble and vexation in the event) are
only brought to recollection, for the interested
inculcation of those, who, inexperienced at present,
will be taught, by time and prudence, that
PREVENTION is at all seasons preferable to
CURE, as
it will be the means of shielding the body from
trouble, and the mind from repentance.






SALLENDERS
—are at the bend of the hock
(or hough) behind, exactly what the MALLENDERS
are at the back of the knee; for which the modes
of treatment and means of cure are precisely the
same. See Mallenders.






SALTRAM
,—the name of a horse who acquired
considerable celebrity by his performances upon
the TURF, since which he has stood as a
STALLION
in a proportional degree of estimation. He was
foaled in 1780; got by Eclipse, dam (Virago) by
Snap grand-dam by Regulus, out of a sister to
Black and all Black. He was sire of his Royal
Highness the Prince of Wales's St. David, the
Duke of York's Laurustina, and the Duke of
Bedford's Sprightly, Lord Grosvenor's Brown Filly
{241}
(out of Sting,) who won five prizes in 1790, at
two years old, amounting to 1100 guineas; Caroline,
and Tiffany; Queen of Sheba, (who won 900
guineas, at Newmarket, in 1792;) Rose, Spankaway,
Sweeper, and the Prince of Wales's Whiskey,
who won in the same year 1000 guineas, 2000
guineas, the 1400 guineas, 100 guineas, and 100
guineas, at Newmarket, and 50l. at Bedford;
Royalist, General, Henrietta, Clytus,
Coal Merchant,
Tear-Coat, Peeping Tom, Septem, Coiner,
Whip, and Oscar; exclusive of many Colts and
Fillies, who were winners at Newmarket, and elsewhere,
but never were named.






SANDCRACK
—is a crack or cleft in the
HOOF of
a HORSE, which originates in
a preternatural brittleness,
brought on by standing too constantly upon hot
dry litter, without stopping to the bottom, or a proper
and occasional oiling of the hoof, to keep it in
a healthy state. It generally runs in a straight line
downwards; and when it extends from the junction
of hair and hoof to the bottom, with the bloody
lymph oozing from the membranous mass at the
top, it then becomes a serious concern, affording
no expectation of speedy consolation. There is,
in fact, but one direct mode of cure, which is to
reduce the projecting and ragged edges to a level,
with the finest side of the rasp. Then with the
fine edge of a small firing-iron, of moderate heat,
run two lines parallel to each other on each side
{242}
the crack longitudinally; this done, draw two in
the same manner transversely above, and the same
below the centrical part of the cleft, by which
it will be enclosed in a small square of double
lines, calculated to restore the union which has
been destroyed. A little compound tincture of
myrrh, or friar's balsam, should be poured into
the crack so soon as it is observed, particularly if
blood should be perceived to transude from the
opening. In slight cases, horses may be continued
in moderate use; but where they bear the complexion
previously described, turning out to grass
in a pasture moist, but not wet, and that for a length
of time, is the only foundation upon which the
expectation of permanent cure can be entertained.






SCAB
.—The disorder in horses so called, is
the species of mange become inveterately dry and
scabby by its long duration.






SCENT
—is the leading principle from which
the great and inexpressible enjoyment of all FIELD SPORTS
is derived. It is the sublime and inexplicable
mystery upon which so many have contemplated,
without being enabled to define. That every
information may be collected upon a subject so
rich, and so desirable of attainment to the SPORTING WORLD,
a rotational but concise review shall be
introduced from those who have given their thoughts
in print to the public.




{243}


We are told by one, that "Scent is an effluvium
continually arising from the corpuscles that issue
out of all bodies; and being impregnated with
the peculiar state and quality of the blood and
juices of that particular animal from which they
flow, occasions the vast variety of smells or scents
cognizable by the olfactory nerves, or organs of
smelling." This writer proceeds in confirmation
thus: "Hence the reason why one person differs
from another in scent, and why a dog will trace the
footsteps of his master for a hundred miles together,
following him into any house, church, or
other building, though surrounded by ten thousand:
and when the faithful animal has thus diligently
sought out and recognized his master, he
is seldom willing even to trust the evidence of his
own eyes, until, with erected crest, he has taken
a few cordial sniffs, to convince himself he is right.
Hence also we perceive how a pack of hounds are
enabled to pursue HARE,
FOX, STAG, or any other
animal they are trained to hunt, across the scent,
and amidst the society of others of the same species,
without being diverted from the pursuit of that
self same animal they had first on foot; and hence
too we discover how it is possible for birds and
beasts of prey to be directed to their food at such
vast distances; for these corpuscles issuing from
putrid bodies, and floating in the air, are carried
by the wind to different quarters; where striking
the olfactory nerves of whatever animals they meet
{244}
in their way, immediately conduct them to the
spot: and it is by this means the small-pox, measles,
putrid fevers, and all epidemic complaints,
are communicated, and the plague and pestilence
conveyed from one place to another.


"It matters not how much the effluvia may be
gone off, so as enough remains to irritate the olfactory
organ: for whether it be bird or beast,
they try the scent in all directions, till at length
they discover that which is stronger and stronger,
in proportion as they proceed; and this Nature
has taught them to know is the direct and obvious
road to their prey, and prevents them from
following a contrary course, which is naturally
weaker and weaker, and what in hunting is called
heel. This observation is confirmed by the encreasing
eagerness we perceive in all animals, the
nearer they approach the object of pursuit; as we
see hounds and spaniels in HUNTING and
SHOOTING,
are the most earnest, in proportion as the
scent is recent, and they draw nearer to the GAME.
The same thing amongst quadrupeds, whether wild
or domestic, directs the male to the female that
is in season for love; and hence we see the DOG,
the BOAR, the
BULL, and the STALLION,
when turned loose, apply their nostrils to the ambient air,
and proceed accordingly. By the same medium the
vermin which infest our dwellings know how to
direct their operations; whether to undermine
{245}
walls, eat through solid boards, cross rivers, or
climb spouts; which shows how much stronger the
faculty of smelling is possessed by the brute than
the HUMAN species; wisely ordained by
Nature,
to enable them to seek their food, and propagate
their species; but for which they would often
perish, or have long since become extinct."


Somervile, seemingly anxious to explore this
hidden source of instinct, conceives the SCENT (divested
of the dignity of blank verse) to arise from
the peculiar property of the blood; which, when
the game is on foot, is so encreased in its circulation,
that the "ferous particles" are propelled
through the skin in perspiration, and




"Leaves a long-steaming trail behind; which, by


The cooler air condens'd, remains, unless


By some rude storm dispers'd, or rarefy'd


By the meridian sun's intenser heat:


To every shrub the warm effluvia cling,


Hang on the grass, impregnate earth and skies.


With nostrils opening wide, o'er hill, o'er dale,


The vig'rous hounds pursue, with ev'ry breath,


Inhale the grateful steam, quick pleasures sting


Their tingling nerves, while their thanks repay,


And in triumphant melody confess


The titillating joy. Thus on the air


Depends the hunter's hopes."




Mr. Beckford, equally energetic
in his endeavours
to discover and ascertain the origin and
{246}
property of SCENT, very modestly confesses his
state of uncertainty, in a few lines preparatory to
his remarks made in a letter to his friend, where
he observes, "As you ask me my opinion of SCENT,
I think I had better give it you before we begin
upon the subject of HUNTING. I must, at the same
time, take the liberty of telling you, that you have
puzzled me exceedingly; for scent is, I believe,
what we SPORTSMEN know least about.
Somervile,
the only one I know of who has thrown
any light upon the subject of HUNTING, says, I
think, but little about scent; I send you his words:
I shall afterwards add a few of my own." Adverting
then to the conclusion of the above quotation,
he most judiciously proceeds:


"I cannot agree with Mr. Somervile, in thinking
that SCENT depends on the
AIR only; it depends
also on the soil. Without doubt, the best scent
is that which is occasioned by the effluvia, as he
calls it, or particles of scent, which are constantly
perspiring from GAME as it runs,
and are strongest
and most favourable to the hound, when kept by
the gravity of the air to the height of his breast:
for then it neither is above his reach, nor is it
necessary he should stoop for it. At such times
scent is said to lie breast high. Experience tells
us, that difference of soil occasions difference of
SCENT; and on the richness and moderate moistness
of the soil does it also depend, I think, as
{247}
well as on the AIR. At the time leaves begin to
fall, and before they are rotted, we know that the
scent lies ill in covert. This alone would be a
sufficient proof, that scent does not depend on
the air only. A difference of scent is also occasioned
by a difference of motion; the faster the
game goes, the less scent it leaves. When game
has been ridden after, and hurried on by imprudent
sportsmen, the scent is less favourable to
hounds; one reason of which may be, that the
particles of scent are then more dissipated. But
if the game should have been run by a dog not
belonging to the pack, seldom will any scent remain.


"I believe it is very difficult to ascertain what
SCENT exactly is: I have known it alter very often
in the same day. I believe, however, that it
depends chiefly on two things; the condition the
ground is in, and the temperature of the air; both
of which, I apprehend, should be moist, without
being wet: when both are in this condition, the
scent is then perfect; and vice versa, when the
ground is hard, and the air dry, there seldom will
be any scent. It scarce ever lies with a north or
an east wind; a southerly wind, without rain, and
a westerly wind, that is not rough, are the most
favourable. Storms in the air are great enemies
to scent, and seldom fail to take it entirely away.
A fine sun-shiny day is not often a good hunting
{248}
day; but what the French call jour des dames, warm
without sun, is generally a perfect one: there are
not many such in a whole season. In some fogs,
I have known the scent lie high; in others, not
at all; depending, I believe, on the quarter the
WIND is then in. I have known it lie very high
in a mist, when not too wet; but if the wet should
hang on the boughs and bushes, it will fall upon
the scent, and deaden it. When the dogs roll, the
scent, I have frequently observed, seldom lies; for
what reason, I know not; but, with permission, if they
smell strong when first they come out of the kennel,
the proverb is in their favour; and that smell
is a prognostic of good luck.


"When cobwebs hang on the bushes, there
is seldom much scent. During a white frost,
the scent lies high; as it also does when the frost
is quite gone: at the time of its going off, scent
never lies: it is a critical minute for hounds, in
which their game is frequently lost. In a great
dew, the scent is the same. In heathy countries,
where the game brushes as it goes along, scent seldom
fails. Where the ground carries, the scent
is bad, for a very evident reason, which hare-hunters,
who pursue their game over greasy fallows,
and through dirty roads, have great reason to
complain of. A wet night frequently produces
good chases, as then the game neither like to run
the COVERT, nor the
ROADS. It has been often
{249}
remarked, that scent lies best in the richest soils;
and countries which are favourable to horses, are
seldom so to hounds. I have also observed, that
in some particular places, let the temperature of
the air be as it may, scent never lies."


Amidst the various opinions upon the origin
and property of scent, the most opposite join
issue upon the simple question of doubt; whether
the particles of effluvia which constitute what is
termed scent, and by which hounds are excited
to follow the game, are proper identical parts
of the animal's body emitted in exhalations of
respiration from the lungs, or by the transpiration
of perspirative matter through the skin. This, perhaps,
is of too abstruse a depth for the utmost
extent of human wisdom to explore with success.
The opinion of Somervile seems founded upon
the very basis of experimental observation, bettered
by the sound judgment, and practical remarks,
upon the promoting, or retarding, effects
of both the atmosphere and soil; to which one
circumstance alone seems to convey additional
rays of elucidation. It must be recollected by
every sportsman, who has occasionally taken the
field with HARRIERS, that, although they have picked
the trail for a mile, into the very stubble,
fallow, or covert, where the hare is sitting in her
form; although they are trying round her in every
direction, and even within a very few yards;
{250}
there is then no more palpable perceptible scent,
than when they trailed at half a mile from her form;
and when she lays close, it is evident the dog, or
dogs, derive no additional advantage from being
nearer to her, (in respect to finding,) unless by
stealing away, or jumping up, she gets into motion,
when the scent is then afloat, and continued
as already described.


Whether this enquiry will ever be traced to the
source of certainty, is almost immaterial; it is a
large field for the speculation of philosophy, and
well worthy investigation. From a contemplative
review of the operations of nature, it is evidently
demonstrated, that there is a secret instinctive principle
infused into the whole race of animals, whereby
they are impulsively propelled to the propagation
of their species, the preservation of their offspring,
or an implicit pursuit of their propensities;
so that no one shall become too numerous and destructive
for the existence of another upon whom
they prey, or with which they live in a perpetual
state of warfare. It is likewise to be remarked,
that the greater likeness we discover in the form of
the animal creation, the more we perceive their
friendly disposition to each other; because the scent
of their bodies afford a pleasing gratification to the
sensitive faculty, without exciting the appetite; if
it was not for which all-wise dispensation of a superior
and invisible Power, the same species would
{251}
devour each other, and the purposes of the creation
would be annihilated by the operation of its
own works.




SCHIRROUS
.—The substance or enlargement
so called, is an accumulation of obstructed or extravasated
lymph, becoming more and more indurated
by its stagnant retention. All tumours of this description,
either in MAN or beast, should be attended
to in their infancy; when warm stimulants, and
powerful repellents, may be expected to have a
proper effect, previous to their having acquired
induration; after which no hope of obliteration
can be indulged, but by instrumental extirpation.
From the reflection naturally arising upon which,
will appear the prudent necessity of paying early
attention to swellings and enlargements of every
description; that nature may be assisted in her own
efforts, and her indications promoted without delay.
Those tumours which are hard, and seemingly
insensible, not feeling pain upon pressure, are of
the indurated and schirrous kind; all swellings, and
enlargements, in which there is palpable heat, constant
pain, and a shrinking from the touch, denote
SUPPURATION, which should be promoted by means
of FOMENTATIONS and POULTICES applicable to the
purpose; for where there is a well encouraged formation
of matter, and a good discharge, there is
seldom any disappointment in the expectation of a
speedy cure.




{252}




SCIATICA
—is a species of RHEUMATISM attacking
a horse in one or both hind quarters, which
is sometimes so severe, as to render him nearly or
quite immoveable in his stall. It will be found
enlarged on under the head Rheumatism, where
the means of relief are properly pointed out.






SCOURING
.—A horse is said to have a scouring,
when the body labours under a continued
LOOSENESS, similar to a course of purgation, without
any perceptible cause. Some, called fluey
carcased horses, are liable to this disorder from a
variety of trifling causes, explained more largely
under the head Looseness, which see.






SCRATCHES
—are cracks in the heels of horses,
which are originally produced by the changes of
weather, and their being left with wet heels in the
winter season. These, when long neglected, assume
a degree of virulence, and, from small, and almost
imperceptible cracks, become clefts with ragged
edges, acquiring, by degrees, a kind of fungous
callosity. From these a fœtid oily ichor is discharged,
attended with an inflamed tension of the
fetlock-joints, and so much constant pain, that the
horse is unwilling to move in his stall, unless compelled
so to do; and when a leg is lifted from the
ground, he suspends it for some time, in a seeming
state of misery, from the fear of putting it again
to the ground. The cure consists solely in daily
{253}
fomentations of warm, well-boiled, gelatinous
gruel, with a sponge; followed by linseed poultices;
dressings of digestive ointment; a few DIURETIC BALLS,
given three days apart; and, lastly,
a course of ALTERATIVE POWDERS, to obtund and
correct the acrimony in the blood. If they have
been permitted, by neglect and inattention, to
reach their most inveterate state, displaying prominent
fungous warts, or small tetters, mild escharotics,
or instrumental scarifications, must be brought
into use; without one or both of which, an early
or certain cure will not be obtained.






SCUT
.—The tail of either HARE or RABBIT is so
called.






SEAMS
—was a term formerly in use to signify
the re-union of divided parts in the hoof of a
horse, as a cured SANDCRACK; or the cleft at the
junction of a FALSE QUARTER, with the uninjured
part of the foot.






SEAT
,—the position on horseback. A person
once mounted, and sitting at his ease, free from
every seeming constraint, with his body pliably
erect, his thighs and knees adhering closely to the
skirts of the saddle, an easy freedom in his legs,
and a personal motion corresponding with the action
of the horse, is said to have a GOOD SEAT.
Those who are always changing their position,
{254}
throwing about their arms, swinging their legs,
looking every way but the right, with stirrups too
long, too short, or probably one shorter than the
other, are horsemen of a very different description,
having a very bad seat, or rather no seat at all.






SETONS
—are artificial drains (or minor kind
of rowels) in horses, corresponding in effect with
the issues inserted in the arms or thighs of the human
species. They are generally made upon the
cheek, or under the jaws of a horse, for some defect
in, or inflammation of the eyes. A writer of
much celebrity admits "their utility to be very
great, because they facilitate the discharge of matter
from abscesses, without the necessity of admitting
much air; the influence of which upon an ulcer,
produces pain and symptomatic fever." Another
observes, that, "when tumours are taken in time,
whether on the POLL,
WITHERS, or BACK,
not having been injudiciously retarded by common farriers,
(whose management in this case is always worse than
the DISEASE,) they may be carried off, and brought
to heal by the discharge from SETONS, without any
of the usual butchery, or cauterization, or the least
blemish or loss of parts. Farriers (he continues)
are always very much disposed to proceed with the
knife, before the matter of the
TUMOUR is fully
concocted, by which error they treble the difficulty,
protract the period of cure, and probably leave an
indurated enlargement, which is never effaced."




{255}


The operation is in itself exceedingly simple,
and is thus performed: the practitioner being provided
with a seton needle, of a size and length proper
for the tumour to be discussed, and having
armed it with a sufficient number of cotton threads,
in proportion to the effect required, and dipped in
digestive ointment warm, the needle is to be introduced
(if possible) at the upper part of the swelling,
and the point conducted through the whole,
and brought out at the bottom, as a depending orifice
is of considerable advantage in assisting the discharge.
The seton having been passed through the
ABSCESS or TUMOUR,
is then separated from the
needle, and the two ends tied together: or if the
length will not admit of that, a knot may be formed,
or a wooden button may be affixed to each end,
by which it may be occasionally pulled up or down,
as when the two ends are tied together, it may be
moved in a circle. When the swelling is perfectly
reduced, and the offending matter entirely run off,
the seton may be withdrawn, and the orifice will
soon unite, and form a cicatrix, without any farther
application.




SETTING DOG
—is perhaps, in respect to natural
formation and effect, the most beautiful and
attracting of the canine species: there is an elegance
of figure, an uniformity of shape, make, and speed;
a pleasing variegation in colour, (being generally
yellow, or brown pied;) an inexpressibly anxious
{256}
solicitation of notice, and an aspect of affability
and anticipating gratitude, beyond the power of the
PENCIL to depict, or the
PEN to describe. The sporting
business of the SETTING-DOG (commonly called
the English setter) is precisely the same with the
POINTER, but with this difference, that, admitting
their olfactory sensations to be equally exquisite,
and that ONE can discover and receive the particles
of SCENT (alias the effluvia of the game) as readily,
and at an equal distance, with the OTHER, the difference
of the sport, in which they are separately
engaged, renders it necessary that one should do
upon his legs, what the other does by prostration
upon the ground; and they are neither more or less
than the effect of education; for as in the sport of
SHOOTING (with the pointer) the
GAME is expected
to rise, so in drawing (with a setting-dog and net)
the BIRDS are required to lie.




Naturalists seem to have assumed a greater degree
of latitude in respect to the
CANINE SPECIES, than in
any other part of the creation, where they have
been less at a loss. Great musical teachers inculcate
strongly, one forcible precept upon the minds
and memories of their PUPILS, which is,
"when they happen to err in execution, never to stop; because
it will inevitably serve to convince the auditors,
such are inadequate to the task they have undertaken;
when by keeping on, not one in fifty
may know an accidental mis-movement has taken
{257}
place." Just so it seems to have been with speculative
delineators of the CANINE RACE; where the
pedigree could not be ascertained, the peculiar kind
of any distinct class appears to have been accidentally
forgotten. It does not seem that the origin of the
POINTER is any where described, or by any writer
attempted; but by the most respected authority we
have, from whence information, instruction, and
entertainment, can and may be derived, we are
told, "the HOUND, the
SETTING-DOG, and the
TERRIER,
are only one and the same race of DOGS;
for it has been remarked, that the same birth has produced
setting-dogs, terriers, and hounds, though
the hound bitch has only had access to one of the
three dogs." The true state of the case is precisely
this, that although Nature, in her outlines, has furnished
the canine race with powerful instinctive
properties, by which their propensities, their pleasures,
their dislikes, and attachments, may be disclosed;
and notwithstanding it must be admitted, their
olfactory sensations are refined in an extreme degree
beyond the human species; yet much depends
upon the means, mode and manner of education.
This has been demonstrated a few years since beyond
all manner of controversy, when a gamekeeper
absolutely brought a full-grown PIG to hunt
and point to the BIRDS;
and procured a considerable
emolument from displaying repeated proofs of
his ingenuity, patience, and perseverance.


{258}




SETTER
,—in the game of HAZARD,
is the person
who sets the CASTER; or,
in other words, the player, who makes stakes with the person holding
the box and dice, who, if he THROWS IN, draws
the money; on the contrary, if he throws out, the
setter is the winner.






SETTER-TO
—is a term in cocking. The setter-to
is the person who in a cock-pit receives the
cock (going to fight) from the feeder, and hands
him upon the SOD during the battle, according to
the laws of the pit, and the conditions of the
match. See Cocking,
Cock-pit, and Main of
Cocks.






SHANK-BONE
,—in a horse, is the bone extending
from the knee to the fetlock-joint. This
bone should be uniform, firm and compact, well
proportioned to the length of the fore-arm above,
and the pastern below; if too long for either, or
both, the symmetry is totally lost; and hence a general
objection to horses whose legs are too long for
the CARCASE, which is a defect readily observed;
and indifferent judges are always prepared to say,
such a horse has "too much day-light under him."






SHAPE and MAKE
.—The "shape and make"
of horses offered for sale, is such an eternal echo,
whether at the public hammer, or by private contract,
from one end of the kingdom to the other,
{259}
that it is natural to conceive, no sporting subject
can be more completely understood; but as there
are eternally younger branches coming forward,
and monied noviciates paying for practical experience
in the art of DEALING, such extensive rules
are introduced, to inculcate the absolute necessity
for circumspection in BUYING, under the head
Horse, that not a single line of utility can be added
upon the subject.






SHARK
—was the most capital horse of his
time; bred by Mr. Pigott, foaled in 1771, got
by Marsk, dam by Snap, out of the dam of
Warwickshire Wag. This horse was proved, next to
Childers and Eclipse,
to have been possessed of
more speed than any horse ever bred or produced
in the kingdom. He beat all his cotemporaries at
every distance, (long or short,) clearly demonstrating
his superiority, whether they run for speed, or
run for bottom. His distinct winnings are too remote
from the present time to enumerate individually,
but they amounted in the aggregate to a GOLD CUP
value 123 guineas, eleven hogsheads of claret,
and the astonishing sum of 20,000 guineas, in
plates, matches, sweepstakes, forfeits, and bets.
When no horse in England could be found to start
against him, he was taken to America as a STALLION,
although it was publicly affirmed, 10,000
guineas were offered for him before his departure;
admitting which to be the fact, it could have been
{260}
done with no other motive than to render him a
private STALLION for the mares of those
only who subscribed to the aggregate.






SHOEING of HORSES
,—which for time immemorial
remained in its almost original state, has
for the last fourteen years become an object of importance
and general investigation. What for a
century before was never thought worthy a moment's
consideration, but by those whose professional
province it was to FORM the
SHOES, and set them
on, is at length found worthy the fashionable and
condescending inspection of NOBLEMEN,
GENTLEMEN,
the polished groom, and the illiterate stable-boy.
This change is well known to have originated
in the publication of "Taplin's Stable Directory"
1789; which, from its unprecedented popularity,
passed through TWELVE editions in the short
space of four years. To the appearance of this
work, upon a subject so long neglected, are the
public indebted for the much-wanted veterinarian
improvement which has since taken place; as well
as for the constantly increasing influx of veterinary
writers, who, speculating upon the success of
the original reformer, have obtruded upon the
world such an infinity of imitations, and such a
profusion of what they have thought improvements,
that the discerning part of the public (plainly perceiving
the deceptive imbecility of such attempts)
rendered them abortive; a multiplicity of books
{261}
having been announced upon veterinary subjects
within the last seven years, which have been immediately
buried in oblivion, without a sale sufficient
to pay even for the paper upon which the works
were printed.




The rage for an improvement in the system of
farriery which Taplin's books had induced, extended
to almost every part of the kingdom, and
necessitous adventurers became vulcanian speculators
in every direction. Various new, important and
infallible plans of SHOEING were
hypothetically introduced
amongst the infant crop of newly-sown
veterinarians; one avowed himself an advocate for
long shoes; another, for short shoes; a third, for
high shoes; a fourth, for low shoes, and thin heels;
a fifth, for half shoes; and a still more sagacious
groupe of THEORETICIANS, for no shoes at all!!!
To the great credit of the nation, and the strenuous
endeavours of investigating individuals, this
fashionable thirst of folly, this infatuating furor,
seems now in a great degree to have subsided, and
affords reason to believe, as well as to hope, the
veterinary mania has (at least in this respect) attained
its CRISIS; and that the only rational, safe,
and judicious mode now in general use, will be no
more attacked by the wild and chimerical speculations
of those, whose want of professional skill and
scientific information must ever render their schemes
abortive.


{262}


That gentlemen will dedicate part of their time
to examine the internal structure of the foot, the
anatomical formation and junction of the bones,
muscles, tendons, ligaments, cartilages, and membranes,
is not to be expected; but that they will,
upon the principle of self-defence, be careful to
understand enough of the EXTERIOR,
to check occasionally
the rude hand of the injudicious or inconsiderate
operator, is readily to be believed.
The operative act of shoeing, in its general sense,
as appertaining to the making of the shoe, the
insertion of the nails, and the external finish of
the foot, are too well known, and publicly performed,
to require the most trifling description.
Although one general data, or fixed rule, is laid
down, by which all good and sound-footed horses
should be shod without an exception, (proportioning
the form, size, substance and weight of the
shoe to the use of the horse,) yet there are occasional
deviations, which cannot consistently be
avoided, but must be prudently submitted to, when
diseases of the foot, or injuries to the hoof, render
them truly necessary. Hoofs, it is well known,
are not all alike, nor are the same hoofs always in
the same state; some are preserved so by unremitting
care, and strict attention; others are permitted
to get into decay, and to become diseased by a
want of both. The OPERATIVE FARRIER has his
different distinctions and denominations for the various
kinds of hoof which come under his hand;
{263}
as the sound, strong, firm, black hoof, which is
generally perfect, and seldom either defective or
diseased; the rough and brittle hoof, which is
mostly wide and weak, requiring nightly stopping
at the bottom, and oiling round the top; the long,
flat and shelly hoof, which runs all to toe, and leaves
nothing at the heel; the crooked or rather horny
hoof, which, from a defect in radical moisture,
grows into a wrinkled rigidity, that almost sets
both the RASP and
BUTTERIS at defiance. There
are also others so thin, wide, and expanded above,
and the outer sole so prominent on each side the
frog below, that such are called fleshy-footed,
and require a shoe of peculiar formation, as well
as much extra care in setting it on. Some hoofs
are so contracted with heat, and narrowed at the
heel, (particularly if the frogs are wasted by thrush
and corrosion,) that when turned, the vacuum
bears the appearance of intentional excavation.


Under this accumulation of considerations,
some conditional variations must be admitted,
from the fixed and proper rules to be laid down,
although the fundamental principle should still be
the same; and, notwithstanding the superfluous
and destructive freedom of the drawing-knife and
butteris, are frequently, and with great justice,
condemned; yet they must sometimes be brought
into moderate use: but those who render them
subservient to the purposes required, should invariably
{264}
retain it in memory, that more may be
injudiciously destroyed in five minutes, than can
possibly be restored in TEN months. The entire
ART of
SHOEING may be reduced to a very concise
description, and consists in paring the foot
(when it is necessary) with judgment, tenderness,
and safety; to form the shoe with good, substantial,
sound, Swedish iron, of a shape and make
hereafter to be described; in selecting nails of a proper
size, length, or strength, equally adapted to
the shape of the foot, and the weight of the shoe;
and, lastly, to the very critical task of driving
them properly, clinching them firmly, and finishing
the foot neatly.


The act itself being thus publicly seen in practice,
and generally comprehended, it becomes
only necessary (amidst the variety of speculative
opinions lately obtruded upon public notice) to
introduce such comparative reasoning, and practical
proof, of the superior excellence and rational
propriety of the execution, as may enable every
reader to take an impartial survey of the different
modes recommended, in doing which, he is then
at liberty to adopt which ever he may be induced
to think approaches the nearest to perfection.


Amidst the great variety of attracting novelties
which issued from the press, after the publication
of Taplin's Pattern Shoes, was "a concave
{265}
shoe," most zealously recommended by the
PROFESSOR of a public institution, since deceased;
who, had he lived only a few weeks longer,
would have received the most unequivocal proofs
of the fallacy of the theory, when put into competition
with the UNERRING criterion of
PRACTICE:
but happily for him, and luckily for his great and
opulent friends, (who were daily and shamefully
forsaking him,) he died just in time to save his reputation.
Suffice it, therefore, in delicacy to his
error, as well as to his memory, only to observe,
that the SHOE passing under that denomination
(having a smooth or flat inside to cover the foot,
and a concave surface, to come in contact with
the ground or pavement) was the very reverse of
what it should be, and only calculated to render
tender, if not cripple, any horse, if obstinately
persevered in; as will be candidly admitted by
every reader of rationality, when the representation
of the FOOT, the form of the
SHOE, and the
setting on of that shoe, are taken into distinct and
separate consideration.



shoes



To face Page 265. Vol. 2ᵈ. DEMONSTRATIVE SHOEING.






That this may be done with a more comprehensive
and general effect, divested of SCIENTIFIC
disquisition, or ANATOMICAL ambiguity, a
Plate
is annexed; which, with very little explanatory
matter, will afford the most perfect and satisfactory
elucidation. A is the representation of a
sound, firm, well-formed HOOF,
in a slate of unembellished
{266}
nature: here is evidently no devastation
required—no paring off at the heel—no slicing
off from the sole—no cutting-knife at the toe; nor
does it, with an eye of the strictest judgment and
circumspection, seem to claim or solicit from the
art of man, any other assistance, than protection
against the injury it must inevitably sustain from
harder bodies, when brought into use by constant
collision. That this fair and candid investigation
may be the less liable to miscontruction, and that
cynical misrepresentation, or envious opposition,
may not (even in the weakest minds) warp the
effect of truth, let it be observed, that the circular
line marked 1 is the line of articulation, or, in
other words, the distinct line of separation; around
which is the wall or crust of the
HOOF, (in itself
insensible,) where the bearing only should be,
and where the figure 5 of E will be found accurately
formed for its reception.


That part of the foot extending from the line
of separation on one side, to the corresponding
line of separation on the other, having the FROG
in the center, and marked 2 on each side, is called
the outer sole, covering a membranous mass, or
substance, called the inner sole, which is of exquisite
sensibility, requiring PROTECTION without
pressure upon the external part; which it will be
seen (by referring to the Plate) is sufficiently
afforded by the concave formation at Fig. 6 of letter
{267}
E, which, upon the accurate inspection of the
best informed and most experienced investigators,
must be admitted a shoe of the first perfection
for the promotion of every good, and the prevention
of every ill.


Having thus produced both foot and shoe, as
unsullied representations of NATURE and
ART, and
adapted the make of one to the formation of the
other, with a consistency no man of common comprehension
will presume to dispute, we proceed to
an impartial examination of the letter B, which
represents the mode of SHOEING adopted, and
some time persevered in, at a place of veterinary
celebrity, upon the discontinuance of the very
short-lived concave shoe.


As it is a remark of long standing, that the
exterior strikes first, so we shall find here, that,
upon a superficial survey of the letter B, there is
a neatness in the execution, that seems to excite
attention, and command respect; but when it is
critically examined with the eye of precision, and
its deficiencies pointed out, it then loses all power
of permanent attraction, and will advance no
well-founded claim to approbation or imitation.
Admitting (as it is presumed no opposition whatever
arises to the fact) that the wall of the FOOT
represented by Fig. 1, should have its bearing
upon the properly-adapted part of the shoe, ascertained
{268}
by referring to Fig. 5 of E, and continued
home to the extreme point of the heel accurately
terminated by the Fig. 7 of C; let us see what
would be the inevitable consequence of having
the shoes an inch and a half too short at each
heel, as represented by Fig. 3 of B, where NATURE,
REASON,
OBSERVATION, and
EXPERIENCE,
concentrate their whole force to demonstrate the
consistency, the safety, in fact, the indispensible
necessity, of its being continued to Fig. 4 of B,
as is already explained by previous reference to
Fig. 7 of C.


Convinced, therefore, beyond the shadow of
doubt, (as every reader may by another reference
to No. 1,) that the wall of the HOOF
holds forth its own proof, that the shoe should be continued
home to the extreme point of the heel, or that it
requires no shoe at all; and this alternative being
first understood, and then acceded to, by every
comprehension, it will be equally clear, that as
much as art falls short in the support which
NATURE
requires, proportional must the injury be,
by the inevitable indentation; invariably productive
of bruises, and tenderness upon the edge of
the sole, thereby laying the foundation of preternatural
stricture, corns, callosities, and other ills,
which would be more perfectly understood by an
examination of any such subject, after a shoe one
{269}
third too short had been eight or ten days in constant
wear.


By way of concluding observations upon the
Plate, and its purpose, it becomes only necessary
to remark, that the letter C is the hoof of a
large saddle or carriage horse, well covered for
the pavement of the METROPOLIS, or travelling
upon the turnpike-road. That the letter B is a
perfect model of good shoeing for HUNTER or
HACKNEY,
provided the heel of the shoe was continued
to Fig. 4, instead of terminating at 3. That
Fig. 8 is called the web of the SHOE,
which is, in fact, no more than the whole breadth of the
iron, and may be widened, or narrowed, entirely
by the judgment of the SMITH, or the discretion
of the OWNER. That Fig. 9 is the cavity
called the groove, or fullering, to receive the
heads of the nails, above which (in SHOEING of
EXCELLENCE, and superiority) they should never
constitute a prominence; and that the letter D is
no more than a back view of the short shoe,
for some time so powerfully recommended,
which has already most deservedly fallen into disrepute.


Having considered it necessary to introduce
such minute references as will sufficiently demonstrate
the difference between good shoeing and bad,
it remains only to add a single deficiency of
SHOEING SMITHS
{270}
in general, who, from indolence, inattention,
or inability, entirely lose sight of, or
never form at all, the proper line of distinction between
the bearing of Fig. 5 for the crust (or wall)
Fig. 1; and the protection afforded the outer sole,
Fig. 2, by the internal concave example in Fig. 6.
Considering this remissness in the operator, and
shoeing too short at the heels, to constitute the prevalent
and principal errors requiring rectification,
it is anxiously to be hoped, that those whose minds
are open to conviction, will contribute their assistance
to inculcate the necessity of adopting one
invariable standard as a leading step to general
reformation.




SHOEING SMITH
.—The shoeing smith,
more frequently known by the denomination of
BLACKSMITH or FARRIER,
is, unluckily for those
who profess it, a business of much greater bodily
labour than professional emolument; hence it is,
that few, except the very lowest classes of society,
can ever be prevailed upon to engage in it. Here
then has always been the deficiency so much
complained of, and so universally known, with
all the practitioners of the old school, acting as
SMITHS and FARRIERS,
whether in town or country;
and it is much to be regretted, that their
original want of education, the means of instruction,
and their total ignorance of the properties
of MEDICINE, should have hitherto secluded them
{271}
from every chance of mental improvement, and
personal emulation. If we advert to their manners,
we find them in direct uniformity with their intellectual
capacity: rude by nature, they become cunning
by art; unfortunately untaught, it is their
greatest pride to become proportionally untractable,
and know so little themselves, they confidently affect
to believe but little is known by others: shielded
by which ideal sagacity, they obstinately persist
in an opinion of their own, in opposition to every
other, or individually determine to abide by no rational
opinion at all.




When a candid comparison is made between their
dangerous and laborious employment and their disproportioned
emoluments, it must be admitted by
every mind of liberality, they are the worst paid
for their drudgery of any set of men in the universe.
Hence arises that sterile apathy in the business,
which is so much the subject of general indignation
and universal contempt; and is the only
well-founded reason, why there are so few men of
education, or intellectual ability, to be found amidst
the daily increasing number who profess the practice.
Custom, too, has excluded them from any
respectable weight in the scale of society; thereby
rendering the obstacles to worldly elevation too numerous,
and too uncertain, for even the most laudable
and spirited emulation to encounter, with even
a distant probability of success. These considerations
{272}
readily reconcile it to reason, why (upon the
most moderate calculation, taking the kingdom in
general from one extremity to another) there are
not more than one in every hundred, who exists by
the practice of SHOEING and
FARRIERY, that can
speak with precision upon the property of the
MEDICINE
he prescribes; or elucidate, with propriety,
the probable process, or ultimate effect, of the
OPERATION he recommends.


In such predicament, probably anxious to do
good, without the personal power to
EFFECT it, they
may be impartially considered "men more sinned
against than sinning;" and, in many instances,
much more entitled to the commiseration of the
enlightened, than the contemptuous indifference
they so frequently receive. Happily, however, for
the vocation itself, much more happily for the
community at large, improvement in the PRACTICE
of FARRIERY has at length
become an object of national
consideration; and the institution has been repeatedly
honored with PARLIAMENTARY CONTRIBUTIONS;
under which predictive ray of reformation,
part of the present generation may probably not
only derive future advantage, but live to see the
former system rescued from the ignorance and barbarity
by which it has been for so many centuries disgraced.
The great hazard arising from the practice
of the injudicious or ill informed, is their possessing
an unrestrained power of plunging into a bold and
{273}
inconsiderate use of the most dangerous medicines,
the present operation and ultimate effect of which
they so little understand, and are so absolutely unable
to explain.


It is no uncommon thing to hear of bleeding,
rowelling, purging, glystering,
and blistering, nearly
all taking place (with the same subject) within
the space of twenty-four hours; and could a thousandth
part of the poor unfortunate animals so
rashly annihilated, but rise, and recite, the load of
medical combustibles and contrarieties by which
they were destined to their long and last sleep,
what a complicated history of the MATERIA MEDICA
would be brought to light, and what a
scene of professional knowledge displayed, to form
the basis of REFORMATION, with that long list
of sublime disquisitionists, who, waving the disgraceful
appellations of smith and farrier, are becoming
VETERINARY SURGEONS in almost every remote
corner of the kingdom! One great and almost
invincible error amongst the veterinarian fraternity
(of whom there are many juveniles now to be seen)
is their superficial survey, and hasty decision, in
cases of the utmost magnitude; anticipating the
prognostics, without even descending to examine the
predominant symptoms of DISEASE. Passionately
fond of affecting infallibility, they rashly promise
more than they find themselves able to perform;
and thus by their own weakness, voluntarily exposed,
are frequently compelled to retract to-morrow,
{274}
what they have most inconsiderately asserted to-day;
thereby overwhelming themselves with a load of
professional disgrace, from which there seems no
sanguine prospect of speedy extrication.


Smiths and FARRIERS
in general, being unfortunately
ignorant in the peculiar property of each
particular medicine, is not a greater misfortune,
than their being absolute strangers to the medicines
themselves, thereby becoming the standing dupes of
adulteration. The warehouses and shops of inferior
druggists, it is well known by men of experience,
are by no means remarkable for professional
purity; in some obscure corner of which is generally
a reservoir of rubbish, admirably adapted to
the prise and practice of FARRIERS,
with whom a custom so laudable has been established for time
immemorial, and from the palpable pecuniary effects
upon both parties is not likely to be abolished.




SHOOTING
—is become a sport of so much
pleasure and universality, that the legislature has
found it expedient to extract an annual contribution
of THREE GUINEAS from every individual who enjoys
it. In fact, it is so perfectly congenial to the
dispositions of the people, and so truly conducive
to the greatest blessing in life, HEALTH, that it
should seem its votaries have annually increased in
proportion to the conditional restraints of parliamentary
prohibition. Shooting, in its most extensive
signification, may be supposed to imply the
{275}
act of shooting with a fowling-piece, at any object
in general, without a specific determination; but,
narrowed into a less diffuse, and more expressive
compass, it is then reduced to the more particular
points thus defined. Pheasant shooting,
PARTRIDGE
shooting, GROUSE shooting,
COCK shooting,
RABBIT shooting, SNIPE
shooting, DUCK, WILD FOWL,
&c. These are pleasures varying a little in the difference
of pursuit and enjoyment, but have, according
to the season, their various degrees of attraction.
Pheasant shooting begins (under certain
penalties and restrictions, if killed before or after
the days mentioned) on the first of October in every
year, and ends on the first of February following.
Partridge shooting begins on the first of September,
and extends to the first of February next ensuing.
The season (under similar restrictions, but heavier
penalties) for killing HEATH-FOWL, or black game,
commences on the 20th of August, and terminates on
the 10th of December; and for grouse, or red game,
on the 12th of August, and ends on the 10th of
December. Woodcocks and Snipes being birds of
passage, and not included in any act for the preservation
of game, the time for killing is unlimited;
being entirely dependent upon the season, the country
they appear in, and the flights as they arrive.




Pheasant shooting may be considered the most
laborious, and least entertaining, of the whole,
unless in Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex, Hampshire, and
{276}
some other counties, where the large tracts of lofty
woodlands, and corresponding underwood, contribute
so materially to their annual increase and
preservation. This sport is mostly pursued with
the small springing spaniel, whose eager tongue, the
moment he touches scent of the foot, or winds the
bird, gives "early note of earnest preparation."
Pointers of great strength, and high courage, hunted
with a bell, are frequently instrumental to good
sport, and great success; but they must be fast
goers, and once knowing their business, not readily
disposed to stop, or draw slowly; if so, the bird
will frequently rise in the highest part of the covert,
or at such a distance, that an open shot will but
seldom be obtained, particularly in a country thin
of game. Those who wish to preserve well-bred
and well-broke pointers in a state of unsullied excellence,
will not accustom them to covert hunting,
but invariably use their spaniels in one of the sports
for which they were so evidently intended.


Partridge shooting is, to a contemplative
mind, of a much more entertaining description;
for the objects of pursuit being found in the open
fields, every part of the sport is seen and enjoyed.
Partridges are not in equal abundance every year,
but depend in a great degree upon the state of the
weather during the time of laying the eggs, as well
as the time of HATCHING; which is almost invariably
between the middle and the end of June.
{277}
When the months of May and
June are dry, birds
are in general exceedingly numerous, and proportionally
strong upon wing by the commencement of
the SHOOTING SEASON; but when heavy and dreadful
rains fall, as they frequently do during the
HAY HARVEST,
the destruction is incredible. Such continued
rains not only chill the eggs during incubation,
but drown numbers of the young almost so
soon as they are out of their shells. Wet seasons
also are destructive to ANTS, upon which, and their
eggs, young partridges and pheasants principally
subsist. Partridges so soon as the corn is cut down,
and they are in a great degree deprived of the shelter
and protection under which they were bred,
display a most wonderful timidity and dread of
danger; to which the whole covey are induced by
the unceasing anxiety of the HEN for the safety of
her young.


Thus incessantly alive to perpetual fear, they
change their situation repeatedly in the course of the
day; as well to insure security from all probable
danger, as to supply the calls of nature. In the first
part of the shooting season, while the stubbles of
WHEAT and BARLEY are fresh, and not rendered too
bare, or too much beaten by cattle, they are to be
found in either one or the other, both late at night,
and early in the morning: after feeding in which,
(if not disturbed by the approach of those in pursuit
of them,) by a signal from the hen, they rise
{278}
gently, as it were, in a cluster, and glide or skim
along with as little flutter as possible to the nearest
turnips, standing clover, rushy moors, or grassy
low coverts, in some of which, during the middle
of the day, they are always to be found; and not
unfrequently near a watry ditch, or running stream;
as it is at this time, and only once a day, they take
this part of their sustenance: but as there are many
hilly countries in which water is but rarely to be
found, it is natural to conclude, their wants in this
respect may be amply supplied by the morning dewdrops
with which vegetation so plentifully abounds.


The dogs peculiarly appropriate to and used in
this sport, are principally POINTERS, at least with
those who rank as SPORTSMEN, and have too high
a respect for its character to degrade the order; and
it is never pursued with greater consistency, or enjoyed
with greater ecstasy, (or more success,) than
when too many guns, or too many dogs, are not seen
in the field together. Any number above two of
the former, and two brace of the latter, in one
company, evidently denote much more of poaching
rapacity, and an intentional annihilation of GAME,
than of SPORTING equity.
Double-barrelled guns
partake a little of the same impression, being
admirably calculated to promote the very scarcity
so much and so constantly complained of. The
art of SHOOTING FLYING, in which numbers are so
exceedingly expert, and which, in fact, may be so
{279}
easily attained, is not, in general, acquired with
that facility by young sportsmen, which might naturally
be expected. This is entirely owing to the
timidity, volatility, anxiety, and impatience, of the
mind, at the very critical moment when all should
be quiet and calm within; but at the impressive crisis,
when the point takes place, and the animal is fixed
seemingly immoveable, under an instinctive impulse,
which instantaneously excites in the human
frame a most aweful sensation, (the heart palpitating
with HOPE, FEAR,
and SUSPENSE,) the birds
rise, and with so much noisy rapidity, that the
mind and body being equally agitated, no particular
bird is singled for the AIM, at the instant of
pulling the trigger, and the whole escape.


There is no pursuit, game, or amusement, in
which a proficiency is to be obtained, can require
a nicer eye, a steadier hand, a cooler head, or a
more philosophic patience, than the SPORT before us.
Sportsmen of experience waste neither their time
nor their labour; they well know, according to the
description not long since given, where to find
the game, according to the time of the day; and are
seldom seen hunting their dogs in unlikely places.
They cover the ground slowly and deliberately,
that none should remain unbeaten, or birds be left
behind: when a dog stands (or makes his point)
the master should for a moment stand still also;
the general stillness settles the dog more firmly to
{280}
his point, and the birds are more likely to lie. If
the gunner hurries up, (as many frequently do,) it
hurries the dog also, and not only makes him impatient,
but the game probably gets up out of shot;
or, what is equally productive of mortification, he
himself gets up to the point so flurried, and out of
breath, that he finds it impracticable to take regular
aim; and when he fancies he does, the bodily
tremor he is in renders the shot ineffectual. To
become a steady and good shot, some few short
rules are unavoidably necessary, the principal
of which is cool deliberation: those of too warm,
hasty and impetuous a disposition, should retain in
memory a single line from the immortal bard;




"Wisely and slow;
                   they STUMBLE who run
                   fast."




When the dog has enjoyed his point sufficiently,
whether the birds are walked up, or rise spontaneously,
the gun should never be raised to the
shoulder till the whole covey are patiently surveyed,
and the very bird fixed upon, at which the
aim is intended to be taken; this once done, and
the eye not removed from the devoted victim till
the instrument of death is brought to bear, the
sight once caught, and the motion with the trigger
made in the critical and corresponding twinkling,
success in most instances must eventually ensue. It
may not be inapplicable to remark, that the progress
to perfection is greatly retarded, amongst the
{281}
juvenile branches of SPORTING SOCIETY
(when shooting in company) by invariably and emulatively
(but very inconsiderately and imprudently) endeavouring
to obtain the FIRST shot: the error being
mutual, so is the disappointment; probably both,
or all, miss; to which nothing ensues but a vacant
stare of mortification, not to add disgrace: but if
a bird happens to fall, it is productive of clamour,
and general jealousy: it is claimed by all: and
personal acidities, from such trifling circumstances,
have sometimes arisen about a paltry partridge,
that have continued during the lives of the parties.
The prudent and patient who shoot in company,
will be circumspect in every motion; they will not
take aim at the first bird which happens to rise, (to
be confused by those who are rising,) or fix upon
a bird on the left hand when a companion is on that
side, and the bird going off directly across him.
The right hand man and the left should take invariably
birds on their own distinct sides; but when
they go off in a direct line, circumstances and proceedings
must be regulated accordingly.


Grouse shooting differs but little from the preceding,
excepting its being more laborious, and
taking place in the hotter months, and in the more
hilly or mountainous countries. This species of
game is not universally dispersed, like the partridge,
over the face of the kingdom, but a native
inhabitant of some particular district in wild,
{282}
remote, or peculiar situations. They were some
few years since to be plentifully seen in many parts
of Wales, and in the
New Forest of Hampshire;
but they are now very much reduced, and
rarely to be found; at least not in sufficient numbers
to render it a sport worth pursuing. In the
northern counties bordering upon the Tweed, and
in various parts of Scotland, they are so numerous,
that many of the most opulent and eager sportsmen
make very long and expensive journies, to
satiate themselves, and weary their dogs, with
an unrestrained and unlimited profusion of sport.
The grouse is larger than the partridge, and, when
full grown, weighs from twenty to two-and-twenty
ounces. The plumage is variegated, and beautifully
composed of black, red, and white; the tail
being similar to that of the partridge, but a little
larger when extended in flight.


The GROUSE perseveringly adhere to those mountains
and moors which are covered with heath, seldom
or ever descending into the lower grounds.
They fly in packs, consisting of four or five brace;
and indulge upon intervening tracts of soft mossy
ground, particularly in the hotter months of the
year. The cackling noise of the cock may be
heard at a considerable distance; and when once the
dog makes his point, he is commonly the first bird
upon wing. Upon the POINTER'S being first observed
to stand, it is instantly necessary to keep the
{283}
eye forward; for if the birds are perceived to
erect their heads, and run, it is considered an infallible
sign they will not lie well during that day;
in which case there is no alternative, but to head
the dog, and, if possible, keep pace with them, so
as to be within shot when they rise; if which advantage
is not taken, many a long and laborious
day may be undertaken without the consolation of
a single bird. As the time for this sport commences
in the sultry season, and generally in parts
of the country remote from expeditious means of
conveyance, they do not very frequently reach
the Metropolis; at least in such a recent state as to
be perfectly attracting: they are (particularly if not
killed remarkably clean) very soon disposed to putridity;
and if required or intended to be sent to
any great distance, they should be drawn as soon
as convenient after they are shot, and the vacuum
filled up with fine heath or herbage for the
journey.


Cock (or Woodcock)
SHOOTING is of a different
and most entertaining description, when and
wherever a plenty for the sport can be found. The
woodcock is a bird of passage, and found frequently
in a greater or less degree about the second,
third, or last week of October. Their annual arrival
in this country is more or less protracted by
the uncertainty of the wind and weather at that
particular season; the east and north-east winds
{284}
(with a foggy heavy atmosphere) bring them over
in the greatest plenty. Upon their first arrival,
they have the appearance of being nearly exhausted,
and drop under the nearest offered protection to
the sea-shore; high trees, hedge-rows, small copses,
heath, tufts of bushes and brambles, are equally
acceptable. After rest, and such refreshment as
the situations where they fall afford, they separate,
and almost singly explore their way into the country
more in-land, and fall in such woods, coverts,
copses, or shaws, as are most applicably attracting
or convenient to the length of their flight; varying
the situation in future according to the accommodation
they find, or the country they are in. No
one part of the coast is more remarkable for their
arrival in immense flights than another; Wales,
Sussex, Norfolk, and to the extreme points of the
north of Scotland, are, at different periods, supplied
with equal plenty: in all or either of which,
eight or ten brace (immediately after a flight arrives)
have been killed out of one covert in a morning
by a single gun.


The dogs used for this sport are the small
COCKING SPANIEL; though they are frequently
found by pointers, who make their point upon
winding the bird, but not quite so staunch as to
the more confirmed species; of which game the
cock in a certain degree seems to partake. The
woodcock, when flushed, rises heavily from the
{285}
ground; and in an open glade, is so easily brought
down, that even a moderate shot must be ashamed
to miss; but when sprung in a lofty oaken or
beechen wood, he is obliged to tower almost perpendicular
above their tops, before he can attain
sufficient height to take his flight in a horizontal direction;
and this kind of vermicular flight he makes
with such rapidity, (turning and twisting to avoid
the trees,) that it is almost impossible to seize a moment
for shooting with any tolerable prospect of
success. As partridge shooting requires an almost
systematic silence for the production of sport, so
cock shooting admits of the reverse: for the greater
the noise, the greater probability of success.
Well-bred spaniels immediately quest so soon as
they come upon haunt, as well as the moment a
cock unexpectedly springs; this is the distinguishing
trait of their utility, as it gives timely notice
to every one of the party, and each individual
has sufficient opportunity to be upon the watch.


Those who enter into the true spirit of this
sport, and where cocks are likely to be found, seldom
set out for a complete day's adventure, without
being previously provided with a MARKER excellently
qualified for the purpose in which he is
engaged. And an assistant of this description becomes
the more necessary, as a cock will very frequently
suffer himself to be found, and shot at,
four or five times in the same covert; and when
{286}
absolutely driven out, will sink beyond the outer
fence, and gliding a short distance almost close to
the ground, will drop in some adjoining ditch.


Woodcocks are seen in this country till about
the first, and sometimes the second, week in
March: this, however, depends entirely upon
the openness or severity of the season: if the winter
has been accompanied with long and sharp
frosts, they suddenly disappear within a few hours,
(as by a kind of magical mystery,) and none to be
found, with occasionally (and that but seldom) an
exception of a disconsolate individual at or near
some warm or sheltered SPRING which has not
frozen. They are fullest of flesh during the months
of December and January
to the middle of
February, from which time, as the spring sun
gets warmer, they decline in weight to the time
of their departure.


Snipe shooting is a sport the best calculated
to try the persevering fag and bottom of a
SPORTSMAN
of any yet recounted; if he is not possessed
of all the fortitude, patience, and indefatigable
exertion of a WATER SPANIEL,
he had better never
be induced to make the embarkation, at least with
any sanguine expectation of success. To wet,
dirt, and difficulty, he must be habitually inured:
in body he must be invulnerable; with a constitution
impregnable to the united attacks of morbidity,
{287}
and a mind most perfectly at ease. Thus
armed at all points for land or water, moor or
mire, swamps or bogs,
SNIPE SHOOTING (where they
are to be found in plenty) is a most excellent diversion;
and some spots, particularly in a heath
country, intersected by moors, swamps, and bogs,
(as a celebrated scope called Eel Moor, near
Hartford Bridge, upon the western road,) the
sport is so incessant, that those who visit the place
in open hazy weather, may shoot so often in succession,
as to have frequent occasions in the same
day to wait till the barrel cools. Snipes are of
two kinds, one being full double the size of the
other, and is called a WHOLE SNIPE; the smaller is
called a jack, and of course somewhat more difficult
to kill. Both sorts are found upon the same
ground, and sometimes close to each other. They
are birds of passage, and vary but little with the
flights of WOODCOCKS
in the time of their arrival,
which is generally about the first plentiful rains
in Autumn. They are said to breed mostly in the
low and swampiest parts of Germany and
Switzerland;
although it is certain numbers do not
return with the greater bodies in the spring, but remain
here during the summer, and breed in the
marshes and fens, where their nests are often found
in the month of June with four and five eggs in
each. Pointers only are made use of in this sport;
and it is rather remarkable, that, notwithstanding this
species of bird is so diminutive in proportion to
{288}
the game that a dog is constantly accustomed to,
he stands equally staunch to even the jack, (the
least of the two) as to either PHEASANT,
HARE, or
PARTRIDGE. Snipes, the moment they are upon
wing, fly against the wind, encountering which,
they go off in such a twisting and twirling direction,
that they are then a very difficult object to
aim at; but by waiting with patience till they take
their intended line, the shot may be made with a
much greater probability of success. They cannot
be said to be in season before November, or after
February; for killed at any other time of the
year, they mostly appear with a branny scurf upon
their bodies, as if diseased, or in a state of emaciation.


These are the different kinds of shooting only
which comprize the pleasure of the gentleman
sportsman, and in which the better kind of sporting
dogs (POINTERS,
SPANIELS, and
SETTERS) are
used. Shooting of wild-fowl, rabbits, &c. are
principally the amusement of those who are not
particular in their objects of pursuit; but equally
prepared for whatever may come in their way,
from a PHEASANT to a tom-tit,
or from a SOLAN GOOSE to a dab-chick.
The scientific and systematic
rules of shooting in the field are so generally
known, and universally comprehended, in respect
to the length of the gun, the mode of charging,
the distance for firing, and some other trifling minutia,
{289}
dependent upon contingencies, that a single
line must be unnecessary in elucidation; except a
salutary hint to the young and inexperienced,
never to let others do for them with the gun, what
they can do for themselves. It should be the particular
province of the person who shoots, to charge
his own gun, and to be punctually precise in drawing
the charge at his return: a retrospective survey
of the most melancholy and shocking accidents
which the last few years have produced, will demonstrate
to any humane and reflecting mind, the
danger of letting either GUN or
PISTOL remain
loaded in a dwelling-house, where, by the single
inadvertency alone, any individual of the family
is perpetually liable to instantaneous destruction.




SHOULDER-LAMENESS
,—in a horse, is
a defect in the scapularian muscles, or at the ligamentary
junction of the fore thigh-bone with the
concave point of the shoulder blade, upon which
many, and some opposite opinions have been obstinately
maintained: and there are not wanting at
the present moment, those who affect to believe,
and presume to affirm, "there is no such thing as
a shoulder lameness in any horse." The absurdity
of this ridiculous and contemptible assertion, can
only be equalled by the unparalleled ignorance and
illiteracy of those who make it: strangers to the
anatomical structure of parts, they are inadequate
to the comprehension of their uses, and the purposes
{290}
to which they become intentionally appropriate.
In direct confutation of such futile opinion,
it is most indisputably ascertained, that injuries
are frequently sustained in the shoulders,
from which incurable lameness often ensues. Such
accidents and misfortunes happen to horses in different
ways: some by unforeseen circumstances,
which no human prudence can prevent; others
(equal, if not superior in number) by carelessness,
inhumanity, inattention, or neglect. Lameness
in the shoulder may be occasioned by the horse's
being too suddenly stopped and turned upon uneven
ground; sliding, stumbling, or flipping down,
in a distorted position of either fore leg; turning
too rapidly in a narrow stall, or too quick, sudden
and short into a stable. That all which may be
the better understood, by those who are anxious
for information, and open to conviction, it is necessary,
for the accommodation of every comprehension,
to observe, that the blade or shoulder-bone
not being fixed to the body by articulation,
but by apposition adhering to the ribs, and firmly
fastened thereto by corresponding muscles above and
below, the animal, in undergoing any of the casualties
before recited, sustains the injury described;
in which the tendons or coats of those muscles
are strained and relaxed; and as the extension
has been more or less violent, so will the
case be more or less dangerous and perplexing.




{291}


Cases constantly occur, where, by a slip, a cavity
in the road or pavement, a rolling-stone, or
any other cause, the leg of a horse is unavoidably
thrown into a distorted and unnatural position,
from whence ills ensue; the ligamentary junction,
and muscular support, may be singly or conjunctively
injured, in proportion to the magnitude
of the cause by which the accident was sustained.
In most occurrences of this description, some difficulty
arises in the endeavour to discover the precise
seat of injury, which is not, by the most
judicious and observant investigator, always to be
decisively ascertained: amidst such doubts, strict
examination should be made to discriminate with
certainty between a LAMENESS in the
SHOULDER,
and a defect in the foot; and this investigation
is the more indispensibly necessary to be made,
because, in strict verification of the ancient adage,
"Doctors differ," instances are numerous, where
one practitioner vehemently affirms the lameness to
be in one part, and his veterinarian opponent as
violently pronounces it to be in another. There
is, however, one kind of clue, if properly attended
to, which will generally lead to a ready distinction
between a lameness in the foot and an injury
in the shoulder; by getting twenty yards before
the horse, so as to face him, and having him brought
forward with increased action, fixing the eye at
the foot, and bringing it gradually up to the chest,
the imbecile effort at the point of the
SHOULDER
{292}
attended with pain, and the consequent bow or
drop of the head, (as if going to fall,) will evidently
demonstrate whether the seat of injury is
there. On the contrary, in most lamenesses of the
FOOT, the subject makes an attempt rather to hop,
or to touch the earth lightly with the joint affected,
than to give it equal support with the rest upon
the ground: a horse lame in the foot, displays it
most, the more he is ridden or driven; but a horse
who has received an injury in the shoulder, demonstrates
it less and less, the more he gets into
a perspiration.




SIDE-SADDLE
.—The saddle upon which women
ride is so called. The injuries horses sustain
by the use of these saddles, when not properly attended
to, exceed conception. It is well known
by those who are much in public, and make their
occasional observations as they ride, that most of
the women about the Metropolis (who, it may be
presumed, are taught in the schools) ride exceedingly
ill, and to a spectator, most mortifyingly ungraceful;
or, in words more expressive and explanatory,
they bear near their whole weight
upon the swivel-clog stirrup of the
SADDLE, and
little or none upon the back of the horse. The
evident effect of this is, that the saddle, which
should preserve a due and consistent equilibrium,
compulsively preponderates with the weight of the
injudicious RIDER, and has a constant
bearing friction {293}
upon the WITHER on the off side, from whence
originates inflammation, bruise, tumor, formation
of matter, and not infrequently FISTULA, as a
finishing consolation to the concern. When a
comparison is made between the equestrian ability
of the FINE LADIES in the environs of London,
and the bounce-about self-taught damsels of the
country, the former sink extremely in comparative
estimation. The best and most certain means of
insuring safety with a saddle of this description, is
to have a hollow on the inside the pad which comes
in contact with the off side the wither, so formed,
as to admit of no bearing on that side at all.
This is readily accomplished, by ordering a vacuum
of the size of an inverted tea-cup, with
elastic quilting to surround the edge, which taking
a regular, equal and circular bearing, so completely
protects the wither, that it is impossible an injury
can be sustained.






 SIGNS of DISEASE
—are various in horses,
as influenced by the different sensations originating
in the peculiar disorder of which they are the
prognostics. One leading sign of internal pain or
disquietude in a horse is, the refusal of his
FOOD,
a drooping of the head, a dulness of the eyes, a
general bodily lassitude, and a seeming dislike to
action. These are evident signs of indisposition,
and should always prove an immediate stimulus
to necessary examination, which cannot be made
{294}
too soon, as many horses are totally lost for
want of proper attention at the commencement of
disease. Those just mentioned, are not considered
symptoms of severity, or such as hold forth
indications of SPEEDY DANGER; but they are of
consequence to justify such early counteraction,
as the nature of each particular case may render
a matter of prudence and precaution. Much information
may be collected from the state of the
pulse, the warmth or coldness of the ears, the
parching heat, clammy viscidity, or fleshy smell
of the mouth, the heaving of the flank, the
white or inflamed state of the eye-lids, and the
glassy appearance of the eyes themselves; all which
appertain to cold, fever, pleurisy, inflammation of
the lungs, or affections of the liver. A horse's being
in excruciating pain, looking back to his flank
incessantly on either one side or the other, laying,
or rather dropping, down suddenly, extending
his extremities to the utmost, groaning at the
same time, then raising his head as he lays, and
pointing the nose to his flank, rolling over in
his stall, and hastily rising, are all symptoms of
cholic, and of that kind termed inflammatory,
occasioned by indurated excrements in the intestinal
canal, which, if not properly and expeditiously
removed, produce MORTIFICATION,
and, of course, death.




{295}


If the body is greatly distended, having the
same symptoms, it is then called the flatulent
cholic, and proceeds from the confined collection
and retention of wind; to the immediate relief of
which, flank and belly rubbing by two good strong
men (one on each side) will greatly contribute.
Constantly striding, and endeavouring to stale
without success, denotes defect in the sphincter or
neck of the bladder: discharging the urine by
dribblings, in small quantities, and often, may be
considered some injury sustained in the KIDNIES,
particularly if the urine is in any degree tinged
with blood. Glandular tumefactions under the
jaws, with a soreness of the throat, if the horse
is young, may be supposed an attack of the strangles;
if an aged horse, who is known to have had
that disorder, GLANDERS may probably ensue. A
dry parched tongue, wrinkled at the sides with
constant heat, is a palpable proof of fever; a raw
and fleshy smell from the same, confirms it: a putrid
fœtid smell from the nostrils, attended with a
slimy discharge, equally glutinous and offensive,
denotes a consumption of the lungs. A horse
constantly dejected, with a gradually declining appetite,
and inattention to those about him, bearing
his head constantly to his right side, may be
suspected of an inflammation of, or a tumefaction
in, the LIVER, affording an additional and strongly
corroborating symptom, if there is a palpable
{296}
yellowness upon the original white of the eyes.
This latter is also a distinguishing trait of jaundice.


Horses, when first attacked with fever, or an inflammation
of the lungs, are observed to have alternate
fits of shivering for the first two or three
hours. Although a horse's coat may be rough and
hollow from a cold stable, neglect, and ill looking
after, it is sometimes a proof that all is not right
within. If a horse is observed to strike his foot
petulantly, and repeatedly, against his belly,
threatenings of CHOLIC may be apprehended: but
if at the same time he frisks his tail, and draws
it in close to his quarters, irritation in the rectum
is the cause; and the pain in the body, and itching
at the anus, are produced by WORMS. In addition
to the signs of disease, a few words may
be applicable upon the signs of health; and although
the horse's VIGOUR,
STRENGTH, and SPIRITS,
will, upon nearly all occasions, unerringly demonstrate
this, yet some few shades of instruction and
precaution may be acquired from a little attention
to the secretions of, and discharges from, the
body.


A HORSE or
MARE in high health, seldom varies
much in the colors or quantities of what are termed
the excrementitious discharges from the body; as
they are in general a tolerable criterion of the real
state it is in. The dung from a horse in good condition
{297}
for work, free from a viscid or diseased affection
of the blood, and the various disorders and
humours dependent thereupon, will be mostly observed
of a pale yellow, moderately united in firm
bright globules, rather brittle than adhesive, with
a shining slippery surface, but perfectly free from a
glutinous viscid slime. If the dung is hard, black, and
offensive, when it falls, the body is overloaded, the
habit is costive, and it has been too long retained;
if covered with the gluey slime before described, it
is a sufficient proof of internal foulness, and most
probably of impending disease. When a horse is labouring
under a dangerous disease, some occasional
assisting information may be derived from the URINE
as it falls, and much more if caught, and set by to
subside. If it comes away limpid and colourless,
remaining in that state after being set by, it is not
considered a symptom of a very favourable complexion;
but if it comes away red, or of a turbid
yellow, with an oily skin upon its surface, and afterwards
deposits a kind of brickdust sediment, with
a kind of strong or terebinthinate effluvia, it may
be considered a good sign, and is very frequently
the harbinger of a speedy recovery.


If, during the progress and various changes of
disease, it should assume different appearances,
first of the healthy, and then the opposite aspect,
the case is doubtful, and danger may be apprehended;
as it affords sufficient demonstration, there
{298}
is a powerful struggle in the system, and the morbid
miasma is not subdued. The best state of a horse's
urine, when in HEALTH and
CONDITION, is of a yellowish
tinge, moderate consistence, a strong smell,
rather grateful than offensive, and a penetrating
property: these, in the aggregate, may be concluded
indications of spirits, strength, and vigour;
the reverse, (in any serious degree,) slight symptoms
of disquietude, or impending disease. After all
the inculcations that can possibly be introduced
under this head, the most judicious and experienced
practitioner will sometimes find it extremely difficult
to distinguish, with certainty, between one internal
disease and another; having nothing to assist
him in the discovery but his own judgment, and
the most predominant symptoms at the moment,
many of which are common to other diseases. Notwithstanding
these uncertainties, and the doubts
which may arise between one and the other, it is
the duty of every Veterinarian to acquire as perfect
a knowledge as possible of DIAGNOSTICS;
for although
his incessant inquiries may not render him
an infallible guide in every case without exception,
it will afford him the gratification of a distinguished
superiority over those who have neglected to avail
themselves of the same advantages.




SINEWS
—is the fashionable and common term
for the tendinous coat of the muscles extending
from the back of a horse's knee to the fetlock joint,
{299}
when which is in any degree elongated by strain,
twist, or any other accident, the horse is then said
to be broken down in the BACK SINEWS. The
sinews or tendons are liable at all times to violent
spasmodic contractions (see Cramp) not only in
any one of the extremities, but throughout the
whole body; the immediate and remote causes of
which are hitherto undiscovered, and will most
probably remain so, in respect to certainty; although
there are not wanting speculators of mental
fertility, who attribute them to various causes,
without having, perhaps, in the whole number,
fixed upon the right. One class of these suppose,
convulsive contractions of the tendons are occasioned
by surfeits, or the want of proper evacuation;
another, from too plentiful and repeated bleedings,
too violent purgings, or too hard labour; assigning
for a reason, "that these fill the hollowness of the
SINEWS with cold windy vapours, which are the
only great causes of convulsions." Where they
occur from accidental causes, and casual injuries,
as in wounds, perforations, or instrumental incisions,
the origin is obvious, and in a certain degree
points out the immediate road to local relief. When
a tendon has been in part divided, or only punctured,
a succession of painful and most alarming
symptoms invariably ensue, and relief can only be
obtained by early application to the best opinion,
and most experienced judgment, that can be produced;
with the very slender and mortifying consolation,
{300}
that not one in twenty (if severely injured)
ever after proves of any permanent utility.






SIR PETER TEAZLE
,—the name of the most
celebrated STALLION at present in the kingdom;
his blood, performances, and progeny, being
reckoned inferior to none, and superior to most of
those who have ever appeared upon the turf. He
was foaled in 1784; bred by the Earl of
Derby,
got by Highflyer, dam (Papillon) by Snap, grand-dam
by Regulus, who was got by the Godolphin Arabian.
At three and four years old he was the
best of his time, beating every opponent, and winning
stakes to a great amount. The second day of
the Craven Meeting at Newmarket in 1789, when
four years old, he won a subscription of 50 guineas
each; beating Meteor, Pegasus, and Gunpowder;
and received forfeit from Bustler, Rockingham,
Poker, Patrick, Schoolboy, Harlot, and three others.
In the first October meeting of the same year, he
broke down, when running against Cardock, Driver,
Schoolboy, and Gunpowder, with the odds in
his favour; immediately after which he was announced
as a stallion for the ensuing year at 10
guineas a mare, and half a guinea the groom. In
1794 his get began to appear. A bay filly of Mr.
Clifton's won 120 guineas at Catterick, and 140
guineas at Knutsford. Another of Mr. Tarleton's
won 100 guineas at Preston, and 40l. 10s. at
Nottingham; and the afterwards celebrated Hermione
{301}
won 80 guineas at Newmarket, the Oaks
stakes of 50 guineas each (31 subscribers) at Epsom,
50l. at Lewes, and 50l. at Reading.




In 1795, nine winners appeared, amongst whom
Hermione (then Mr. Durand's) won 100 guineas
at Epsom; the gold cup, 40 guineas, and 100 guineas
at Oxford; 45 guineas at Egham, and the Queen's
100 guineas at Chelmsford.


In 1796 twelve winners started. Ambrosio (three
years old) won 150 guineas, and 50l. at York;
275 guineas at the same place; and the St. Leger
stakes of 25 guineas each (15 subscribers) at Doncaster.
Brass won 300 guineas, and 50 guineas, at
Newmarket. A brown colt of Sir F. Standish's
won 200 guineas, and the Prince's stakes of 500
guineas, at the same. Hermione won the two King's
plates at Newmarket, and 50l. at Guildford. Parisot
won the Oaks stakes at Epsom, 50 guineas
each, 42 subscribers.


In 1797 his reputation as a stallion continued
increasing; eleven of his produce obtained 33
stakes, plates, &c. Ambrosio won the first class of
the Oatland stakes of 50 guineas each, (12 subscribers,)
beating Stickler, Gabriel, Play or Pay,
Frederick, Trumpeter, Parrot, and Cannons; 100
guineas, and 200 guineas, at Newmarket. Hermione
won the third class of the Oatlands, 50 guineas
{302}
each, (12 subscribers,) beating five others; and the
King's plate at Newmarket, and 50l. at Epsom; the
King's plate, and 60 guineas, at Lewes; and the
King's 100 guineas at Canterbury and at Warwick.
Honest John, 100 guineas at York, and 100 guineas
at Richmond. Petrina won three fifties at Newcastle,
Knutsford, and Northampton. Shepherd,
two fifties at Durham. Stamford (3 years old)
200 guineas, and 150 guineas, at Newmarket, 200
guineas at Epsom, 280 guineas at Stamford, and
the gold cup at Doncaster. Welshman won 100
guineas at Chester, 50l. and 50 guineas, at Knutsford,
and a sweepstakes at Tarporley.


In 1798, Ambrosio won eight stakes and plates,
amounting to 1625 guineas. Black George won 180
guineas, and 150 guineas, at Chester, 45 guineas
at Newcastle, and 50l. at Knutsford. Demon, 100
guineas at Chester, and 60 guineas at Tarporley.
Honest John, 200 guineas at York, and 134l. at
Richmond. Pentacrue, 50l. at Dumfries, and 50l.
at Ayr. Petrina, the gold cup at Chesterfield, and
the King's 100 guineas at Lincoln. Sir Harry
(three years old) the Derby stakes at Epsom, 50
guineas each, 37 subscribers. Stamford, 233l. 15s.
and the Ladies' Plate at York; the gold cup, and
100l. at Doncaster.


In 1799 seventeen started, who were the winners
of 37 subscriptions, sweepstakes, and plates.
{303}
Ambrosio won 50l. at Newmarket, 225l. at York,
and 200 guineas at Doncaster. Archduke (three
years old) won 400 guineas at Newmarket, and the
Derby stakes, 50 guineas each, 33 subscribers, at
Epsom. Black George, 50 guineas at Newcastle,
and 70 guineas at Litchfield. Expectation (three
years old) 100 guineas and a handicap plate at Newmarket.
Fanny, 140 guineas at Doncaster. Knowsley,
60 guineas at Catterick; 120 guineas, and the stand
plate, at York. Lady Jane, 25 guineas at Preston,
two fifties at Cardiff, 50l. at Hereford, and 50l. at
Abingdon. Parisot, 800 guineas at Newmarket.
Petrina, 50l. at Warwick, and 50l. at Shrewsbury.
Polyphemus, 50l. at Shawbury, and 50l. at Northampton.
Princess, 50l. at Epsom, 50l. at Brighton,
and 50l. at Reading. Push-forward, 50l. at Penrith,
and 50l. at Carlisle. Roxana, 100 guineas at
Catterick, 300 guineas, and 100 guineas, at York,
and 80 guineas at Beverley. Sir Harry, the Claret
stakes of 1100 guineas at Newmarket. Stamford,
the King's 100 guineas and the Ladies' Plate
at York.


His constantly increasing reputation as a stallion
produced an annual increase of winners. In 1800
fifteen of his get started, and were the winners of
thirty-nine sweepstakes, subscriptions, matches, and
plates; the principal of which were, Agonistes,
(three years old) 140 guineas at York, 220 guineas
at Newcastle, the produce stakes of 100 guineas
{304}
each at Preston, and 160 guineas at Malton. Expectation
(then four years old) won ten prizes,
150 guineas, 35 guineas, 32½ guineas, and 25
guineas, at Newmarket; 50 guineas, and the Jockey
Club Plate, at the same; the Pavilion stakes of 25
guineas each (6 subscribers) at Brighton; 200
guineas, and 60 guineas, at Lewes, and the Gold
Cup at Oxford. Fanny, the great produce sweepstakes
of 100 guineas each at York, (22 subscribers;)
seven she beat, and fourteen paid half forfeit,
so that she won 1400 guineas in less than eight
minutes. Knowsley (the Prince of Wales's) won
the King's 100 guineas at Guildford, Winchester,
Lewes, and Litchfield, with 80 guineas also at
Lewes. Robin Red-breast, 50l. at Bridgenorth, 50l.
at Newcastle, 50l. at Nantwich, the King's 100
guineas at Warwick, and 50l. at Litchfield. Sir
Harry, 200 guineas, and 550 guineas. Sir Solomon
made a very conspicuous figure, as will be
seen under that distinct head.


In 1801 and 1802 he seems to have attained, in
his progeny, the very summit of all possible celebrity:
during the former there appeared fifteen of
his produce, who were the winners of 44 sweepstakes,
subscriptions, and plates, of which the
most eminent were Agonistes, who won 100 guineas
at Newcastle, the King's Plate, 216l. 5s. and the
Ladies Plate, at York; the Gold Cup, of 170
guineas value, at Richmond; 120 guineas at Malton,
{305}
and the King's 100 guineas at Carlisle. Haphazard,
90 guineas at Catterick, 50l. at Preston,
60l. at Knutsford, 50l. at Pontefract, 100l. at
Doncaster, and 50l. at Carlisle. Lancaster, 50
guineas at York, two fifties and 100 guineas at
Morpeth. Lucan, 100 guineas at Newmarket.
Sir Harry, 400 guineas, and 50 guineas, at Newmarket,
235 guineas at Ascot, and the King's
Plate at Winchester. Telegraph, 100 guineas, and
50l. at Newmarket, and 45 guineas at Bibury.


In the last year, 1802, sixteen of his get were the
winners of 41 prizes; of which Agonistes won
1000 guineas at Newcastle. Attainment, 50l. at
Newcastle, and 45l. at Nantwich. Duxbury, 250
guineas, and 100 guineas, at Newmarket. Haphazard,
50 guineas at Catterick, 250 guineas, and
268l. 15s. at York, 92l. at Richmond, the Doncaster
stakes of 10 guineas each (13 subscribers)
with 20 guineas added by the Corporation of Doncaster,
and the King's Plate of 100 guineas at Carlisle.
Lancaster, 50l. at Middleham, 50l. at Manchester,
150 guineas at York, 50l. and 50 guineas
at Preston. Lethe, 1000 guineas, and 50l. at
York, 1000 guineas at Edinburgh, and 100l. at
Montrose. Lucan, 50l. at Newmarket, 130 guineas
at Bibury, 50l. at Oxford, 50l. at Bedford,
and 50l. at Newmarket. Pipylin, 150 guineas at
Newmarket, and 65l. 15s. at Nottingham. Ransom,
50l. at Stamford, and 50l. at Canterbury.
{306}
Robin Red-Breast, 100 guineas at Newmarket. Sir
Simon, 50 guineas, and 25 guineas, at Goodwood:
and Wilkes, 50 guineas at Newmarket.


Thus the united blood of Herod, Blank, Snap,
and Regulus, are proved equal, if not superior, to
every other junction or cross ever introduced.
Sir Peter Teazle
is now only nine years old, in high
health, and just announced to cover the present
season (1803) forty-five mares at Knowsley, near
Prescot, Lancashire, at FIFTEEN GUINEAS each
mare, and fifteen shillings the groom.




SIR SOLOMON
,—the name of a horse of
much recent racing reputation: he was got by
Sir Peter Teazle,
dam (Matron) by Florizel, who
was got by Herod. Sir Solomon was bred by Earl
Fitzwilliam, foaled in 1796, and started for six
different three year old stakes, (in the name of
Tankersley,) always running in a capital form, and
in a good place, but without winning once in that
year. He was then purchased by Mr. Johnson,
and started 1800 for the King's Plate at Nottingham
(with his new name) which he won easy, beating
Welter, Honeycomb, and Coniac; and the next day
a 50l. plate. At York he won the King's hundred,
beating Applegarth, and Honeycomb. In 1801, he
won five times out of the six stakes and plates he
started for. He won the Stand Plate at York,
beating those famous horses Chance, Cockboat, and
{307}
Timothy; the King's Plate at Newcastle, with the
gold cup and 130 guineas at the same; the gold cup
at Nottingham, and 500 guineas at Doncaster. In
1802 he won the gold cup, value 100 guineas, and
60 guineas in specie, at Newcastle. A subscription
of 25 guineas each, nine subscribers, and
268l. 15s. at York, (beating the famous Cockfighter,)
50l. and 70 guineas, at Lincoln. He was
since purchased by Mr. Lumley Saville, and is announced
to cover the present season, 1803, (10 guineas
a mare, and 10s. 6d. the groom,) at Rufford,
in Nottinghamshire.






SITFAST
.—A sitfast is an eschar upon the side
of a horse, which having been originally a warble,
from the pressure and friction of the girth-buckle,
(indiscreetly permitted to come upon, or near to,
the edge of the pad,) is, by a repetition of the injury,
converted into a sitfast; or, in terms of easier
comprehension, a circular or oblong space of the
integument, so completely cauterized by the repeated
heat and friction, that it bears all the appearance of
a piece of burnt leather inserted upon the spot.
When, by carelessness and neglect, it has acquired
the state now described, there is but one mode of
cure, which is instrumental extirpation. The edge
being raised so as to admit of being taken hold of
by either FORCEPS, or common
PINCERS, it may be
separated from the substance to which it adheres, by
any common operator, and healed in a few days,
{308}
almost as soon, and with as little difficulty, as the
most trifling and superficial laceration.






SKITTISH
.—A horse is said to be SKITTISH,
who is considerably above himself both in spirit and
condition; displaying much more of pleasure in exercise,
and the enjoyment of air and conditional
freedom, (from the narrow confines of a stable,)
than the least tendency to habitual vice. A skittish
horse will jump two or three feet at the flight of a
sparrow, or dance a saraband upon the rumbling
approach of a carriage: he is (unless weary with
work) always alive with gaiety and motion, without
the least intentional injury to those who ride or
drive him. There are those who confound the
terms, and consider a SKITTISH
and a STARTING
horse one and the same thing; but they are in the
eye of accuracy by no means synonymous.






SKYSCRAPER
,—the name of a horse of much
present celebrity: he was bred by the late Duke of
Bedford, and got by Highflyer
out of Everlasting.
In the Craven Meeting, at Newmarket, 1789,
when two years old, he received forfeit from three
for a sweepstakes of 200 guineas each across the
flat. The same Meeting he beat Mr. Fox's Maid
of all Work across the flat for 500 guineas. The
second Spring Meeting (then three years old) he
won the Prince's Stakes of 100 guineas each, eight
subscribers; the Derby Stakes at Epsom, 50 guineas
{309}
each, thirty subscribers. At the same place he
received 70 guineas compromise from the Earl of
Egremont's Tag. In the first October Meeting he
received 250 guineas forfeit from Mr. Ladbroke's
Magpie, two middle miles of Beacon Course, for
500 guineas, half forfeit. In the second October
Meeting he won a sweepstakes of 100 guineas each,
from the Ditch-in, nine subscribers. The next day
he won the 50l. Plate for three year olds, beating
nine others. The same week he received 122½
guineas forfeit in a Post Match with Lord Derby.
In the Houghton Meeting he received 130 guineas
compromise from Mr. Fox's Sister to Lethe, 300
guineas, half forfeit. The same week he received
130 guineas compromise from Mr. Fox's Braggadocio,
across the flat, for 300 guineas, half forfeit.




In 1790, at the first Spring Meeting, he won
the Jockey Stakes of 100 guineas each, (half forfeit,)
fourteen subscribers, of which nine paid forfeit.
In the same week for the Claret Stakes of
200 guineas each, half forfeit, he received from
his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales's Sujah ul
Dowlah, his Royal Highness the Prince's Deir Sing,
Duke of Orleans's Jericho, Lord Egremont's Calomel,
and Sir C. Bunbury's Glaucus. In the first
October Meeting he received 100 guineas forfeit
from Montezuma. In the same Meeting he won
half a subscription of 30 guineas each, (seven
subscribers,) beating the famous Escape, then the
{310}
property of his Royal Highness the Prince of
Wales.


In the first Spring Meeting of 1791, he won the
renewed 1400 guineas, a subscription of 200 guineas
each, half forfeit; beating Pipator; fourteen having
paid forfeit. In the second Spring Meeting he
received 150 guineas forfeit of four, for a sweepstakes
of 300 guineas each, over the Beacon. The
first Spring Meeting, 1792, he won the King's
Plate at Newmarket, beating those famous horses
Coriander, Gustavus, and Toby, with the odds ten
to one against him at starting. At Stockbridge he
won 50l. beating Thalia. He won the King's Plate
at Winchester; walked over for a sweepstakes of
10 guineas each, five subscribers, at Bedford; won
the King's Hundred in the first October Meeting at
Newmarket, beating Skylark; and in the second a
subscription of 60 guineas, beating Skylark and
Espersykes, with the odds against him at starting.
In 1793 he started but twice, and was beat each
time by the celebrated Coriander. In 1794, on
the first day of the first Spring Meeting at Newmarket,
he won a 50l. plate, beating Serpent and
No Pretender; about which time the Duke of
Bedford beginning to reduce his racing establishment,
Skyscraper appeared no more on the turf.
He has hitherto covered at Woburn Abbey, in
Bedfordshire; but is now announced for the ensuing
season, 1803, at Tytherton, near Chippenham,
{311}
Wilts, at TEN GUINEAS a mare, and half a
guinea the groom.




SLOT
.—The impression of a deer's foot upon
the earth, so as to be perceptible, is then called
a slot; and when, in consequence of storms, rain,
sleet, or extreme drought, the hounds cannot carry
on the scent, the huntsman and his assistants have
no alternative, but to avail themselves of every
possible clue and information from the SLOT, to
prevent the disgrace of the HOUNDS
being beat, and the deer lost.






SMITHFIELD
—is the name of a most celebrated
spot in the Metropolis, from which a SPORTSMAN
is not likely to derive either pleasure or emolument;
unless it is in the purchase of diseased or
emaciated subjects for his HOUNDS. To those in
remote parts of the kingdom, it may not be inapplicable
to be informed, that Smithfield is the great
CATTLE MARKET for the consumption of the infinite
body of inhabitants in the cities of London, Westminster,
their suburbs, and the environs for some
miles round. The principal days are Monday
and Friday in every week; on which some hundreds
of OXEN, in a state of perfection for slaughter,
and thousands of SHEEP and
LAMBS, are constantly
transferred to supply the immense demand.
The afternoons of those days are principally appropriated
to the purchase and sale of aged, crippled,
{312}
and worn-out horses; the greater part of whom are
only fit to receive sentence from the INSPECTOR,
previous to their being delivered to the nacker, (or
slaughterman,) unless it is some few, with still remaining
strength enough to drag the carts of the industrious
about the inferior streets, with a supply
of vegetables in the summer, and potatoes in the
winter, for the accommodation of the lower classes
of society.






SNAFFLE
.—The simplest and plainest
BRIDLE-BIT
is so called: it consists of only a single mouthpiece,
having a joint in the middle, with a cheek
of different lengths at each extremity, and an eye annexed
to receive the reins; when which are added,
it is then called a SNAFFLE
(or single-reined) BRIDLE.
When snaffle-bits are made very large in the mouth
for breaking colts or fillies, they are then called
MOUTHING-BITS.






SNAP
,—the name of a horse, as a STALLION,
formerly held in high estimation: he was bred by
the late Earl of
Sandwich; foaled in 1750; got
by Snip; dam by Fox, grand-dam by Bay Bolton;
from which the blood of both sire and dam may be
traced to most of the Barbs and Turks ever brought
to this country. There were also three others of
this name, distinguished by different appellations;
as Lord Chedworth's Snap; Wildman's Snap;
and Latham's Snap. The first was got by Old
{313}
Snap; his dam by Dormouse, grand-dam by Mixbury.
The second by Old Snap; dam by Regulus,
grand-dam by Bartlet's Childers; going on both
sides directly into Arabian blood. The third by
Snap, dam by Cade, grand-dam by Old Partner.






SNIPES
—are well known to the sporting world
in winter shooting, and are of two sorts; one nearly
as large again as the other, though precisely the
same in shape, make, feather, and formation.
They frequent the same places, subsist on the same
food, and are frequently found near to each other.
The larger is called a whole snipe; the smaller, a
Jack; the latter of which is not very easily killed,
at least by an indifferent shot; of which some proof
was recently given by a gentleman of Easthampstead,
in Windsor Forest, who very warmly entertained
his friend with a description of "a Jack
snipe he had found upon the heath, which had afforded
him sport for six weeks; and he did not at
all doubt but he would serve him for sport during
the season, if he was not taken off by a frost; and
what was still more convenient, he always knew
where to find him within a hundred yards of the
same place." They are birds of passage, supposed
to breed principally in the lower lands of Switzerland
and Germany, though some (particularly the
Jacks) remain and breed in the fens and marshy
swamps of this country, where their nests with
eggs and young are frequently found. They arrive
{314}
here sooner or later in the Autumn, regulated in
respect to time by the wind and weather, but never
appear till after the first rains; and leave this country
in the spring, so soon as the warmer sun begins
to absorb or exhale the moisture from the earth,
and denote the approach of Summer.—See Shooting.






SNORTING
.—is a cartilaginous propulsion of
sound from the nostrils of a horse, which he avails
himself of at different times, to signify sensations
seemingly opposite to each other. Upon being led
from the light, through a gloomy passage, to a still
more gloomy stable, he is frequently observed to
SNORT either from fear or surprize; meeting or
coming suddenly upon a new, strange or unnatural
object, he snorts from absolute dread of injury;
taken into a stable or out-house smelling musty,
from foul dung and confined air, he snorts with dislike,
and enters with reluctance: but snorting in the
field at exercise, or in the CHASE with
HOUNDS,
may each be considered a proof of pleasurable
gratification.






SOILING
,—in the more confined signification,
applies merely to the supplying a horse with grass,
clover, tares, lucern, fain-foin, or rye, cut green,
and brought to the stable for his daily consumption;
but in a more general acceptation it extends to the
act of turning him out in a plentiful pasture, and in
{315}
the genial season, when and where he may enjoy all
the advantages of which the frame is susceptible.
It cannot but be known, that liberty, so dear to us,
and to every part of the creation, must be equally
so to the horse: to have his limbs free from restraint,
to expand his frame, and roll upon the earth, to
snort and snuff the ambient air, and to have his
coat cleansed and purified by the dew of heaven, is
to the horse a state of nature, and a life of luxury.
Thus free and uncontrouled, although they are
equally subject to, yet they are seldom known to be
afflicted with pain or disease, in any degree equal to
those who are confined within the limits of a small
and offensive stable.




To constitute occasional revulsion, to correct
acrimony in the blood, to purify the juices, to invigorate
the frame, and reanimate the system, it is
absolutely necessary the horse should have his annual
run of six weeks or two months in a luxuriant
pasture, and at a proper season of the year, if either
his frame or health is thought worthy protection.
In the Metropolis, and in large towns, where the
environs are entirely appropriated to HAY FARMERS
and COW-KEEPERS, no such convenience can probably
be obtained for any pecuniary consideration
whatever; in which predicament the only alternative
to be adopted, is to supply them with green
food daily, and this is termed SOILING in the
STABLE.
Even this process, simple as it is, requires
{316}
some previous precaution. The article with which
the Metropolis, and other cities and large towns,
are supplied, are mostly tares, (in some countries
called vetches;) though clover is at some-times, and
in some places, to be procured; but whether one,
or the other, it is absolutely necessary the supplies
should be fresh, and, if possible, never more than
thirty or six-and-thirty hours off the scythe; from
which time (particularly if laid in a heap) they begin
to heat exceedingly fast; and when once the
juices are exhaled, become tough, turn black, and
rapidly approach putrefaction.


This, however, must be admitted a very inferior
substitute for natural pasture; as repeated experiments,
and constant observation, hesitate not to
pronounce the NATIVE
(in its nutritive and exhilarating
property) superior to every artificial grass
hitherto introduced. The quantities of the latter
grown in various parts of the kingdom (and in some
it cannot be avoided) is immense; but no doubt
need be entertained of the nutritious superiority of
the native meadow grass, whether green or dry, if
it is cleanly cultivated, and well got in. It is very
much the custom in and about London, to send
horses to what are called the SALT MARSHES
in Essex, from whence some arrive in tolerable condition;
but where, from their contiguity to town, or other
causes, the land is overstocked, and the summer
dry, they come up in a state of wretched emaciation,
{317}
as if passing in mournful procession to some neighbouring
dog kennel. Those marshes, at a proper
distance from town, where they are free from offensive
filth, and the pasture plentiful, are remarkable
for their peculiar property of attenuation, in altering
the property of the blood, promoting the secretions,
purifying the system, and invigorating
the frame. They are well known to act as perfectly
as the most powerful antimonial or mercurial alterative,
in obliterating the remains of cutaneous
disease; and this is readily accounted for by their
first effects, which is for many days equal to a state
of medical purgation; to which, however, the subject
soon becomes superior in health, strength, and
an accumulation of flesh; demonstrating the process
to have been a very salutary interposition.


Those who wish their horses to avail themselves
of every advantage to be derived from SOILING, will
certainly retain it in memory, that TWO months in
the prime and early part of the season, will be preferable
to THREE at the latter end: a dry summer,
short pasture, and the infinity of flies, and other insects,
constitute a very sensible drawback upon the
privilege of liberty, as well as upon the restoration
of FLESH, and the renovation of
STRENGTH. Horses
in a plethoric state, with a cough, full of blood, or
the relics of disease about them, will most likely
come up in a much worse state than when turned out.
Horses of this description should undergo bleeding,
{318}
and proper evacuations, previous to their being set
at liberty; as the nocturnal collapsion of the porous
system might probably repel the perspirative matter
upon the overloaded vessels, and thereby render the
remedy (in turning out) worse than the disease.


What is termed a winter's run, although attended
with promised advantages in some respects, is not
without the chance of loss, anxiety, vexation, and
expence, in others: frozen limbs, and an empty
carcase, are not calculated much for the promotion
of flesh, strength, or purity of condition. A horse,
by such, is in possession of his shivering liberty, perhaps
in some contracted spot, wretchedly despondent
over the effluvia of his own excrements, 'tis
true; but how far that may compensate for the
want of shelter, food, care, and attention, in the
most severe, dreadful and dreary season of the year,
must be left entirely to the decision of those whose
pecuniary sensations may prompt them to make the
experiment.




SOLE
.—The external part of a horse's foot so
called is at the bottom, and situate between the frog
in the center, and the wall or bearing which totally
surrounds the outside. This will be the more perfectly
understood by referring to Fig. 2. of the letter
A in the Plate of "Demonstrative Shoeing,"
where the SOLE, the
WALL, and the FROG,
being accurately represented, will collaterally explain
{319}
themselves in the following description. The outer
sole (as it is called in contra-distinction to the inner,
which is its membranous lining) is a sound and
horny substance; but not so very firm and impenetrable
in its texture, as the hoof, by which it is
surrounded, and is evidently intended as a protection
to the inferior structure of the foot. The sole,
to assist generally in constituting what is considered
a well-formed and substantial foot, should be thick,
strong, and inclining much more to a hollow, than
the least appearance of prominence; for when a shoe
is well set, no bearing whatever should be sustained
by the sole, but the whole must positively rest upon
the crust or wall of the hoof, which may be seen in
the line of articulation accurately represented upon
the Plate; where, on the inside of the circle, will be
observed the sole, Fig. 2. on the outer, the wall
or crust, Fig. 1. When the bottom of the foot
has what is termed a crowned sole, with a prominence
similar to the convex side of an oyster shell,
and the sole projecting above the circular wall of the
hoof, the horse is tender, sometimes halts, and is
tardy in progress: such horses are said to be fleshy-footed,
and require great care and attention in shoeing;
and unless the shoe is properly arched or hollowed
within, to take off every chance of pressure
from the prominent sole, pain and subsequent lameness
must inevitably ensue.




{320}




SORREL
—is the colour by which certain
horses are distinguished, and might, without any
degree of inconsistency, be termed a red chesnut:
they are a colour nearly between a bright bay and
a yellow chesnut, giving and taking a tinge or shade
either way, having invariably manes and tails red
or white. When tolerably well bred, of handsome
shape, make, and symmetry, with full silver mane
and tail, they are majestic, commanding figures,
and are, in general, secured as cavalry chargers
for field officers, when they are to be obtained of
size and strength for the purpose.






SOUNDNESS
,—in a horse, is of such extensive
meaning, and infinite importance to the sporting
world, to dealers in horses, and to individual
purchasers, that it is exceedingly necessary some
criterion should be fixed by which its present undefined
meaning should be more properly and more
equitably understood; for want of which, more litigation
is carried into the Courts at Westminster
for the emolument and amusement of the Gentlemen
of the Long-robe, than any other subject whatever,
the constantly increasing evil of crim. con.
excepted. The general custom between BUYER and
SELLER is precisely this; the horse is sold with or
without certain conditions in respect to SOUNDNESS,
and this is done by what is called a WARRANTY on
the part of the seller thus: "He is warranted perfectly
sound, free from vice or blemish, and quiet
{321}
to ride, or draw," as either or both the latter
may happen to be. A horse sold without a warranty,
and taken as he is, is then purchased (and
the purchase abided by) with all faults, and cannot
be returned under any plea whatever, unless he
can be proved to have been glandered at the time
of purchase, in which state no horse can be legally
sold.




In the strict and equitable sense of the word, a
horse, to be perfectly sound, should be completely
perfect: he should have no obstruction to sight, no
impediment to action, but be in an acknowledged
slate of natural purity; neither diseased, lame, blind,
or broken-winded: he should not only be free from
impediment at the time of sale, but bona fide never
known to have been otherwise. Some there are
who support a different opinion, and conceive (or
pretend so to do) that a horse may be sold warranted
perfectly sound, after he has recovered from a palpable
lameness: those should recollect, that such
horse is always liable to a relapse, or repetition of
the injury; and whoever becomes so obstinate as
to defend an action brought under such circumstance,
will certainly feel the mortification of having
a VERDICT pronounced
against him, so soon as sufficient
evidence has proved such horse to have been
lame at any time whatever previous to the purchase.


Some years since, a late Lord Chief Justice of the
Court of King's Bench laid it down as a rule, and
{322}
promulgated the opinion, from the bench during a
trial then pending, that TWENTY POUNDS was a good
and sufficient price for a SOUND HORSE; and whether
a warranty was or was not given, was totally immaterial:
that sum implied a warranty, not only for
the horse's soundness at the time of his being then
sold, but that he should continue so for at least three
months afterwards; a declaration so truly ridiculous
in itself, and so void of every principle of equity,
that any man, to make it now, would lay indisputable
claim to the appellation of FOOL or
MADMAN.




SPANIEL
—is the name of a dog of which there
are different kinds; and even these have been so
repeatedly crossed, that, unless it is in the possession
of sportsmen who have been careful in preserving
the purity of the breed perfectly free from
casual contamination, the well-bred genuine cocking
Spaniel is difficult to obtain. There are four distinct
kinds of dog passing under this denomination;
the large water Spaniel, and a smaller of the
same sort. Of land Spaniels there are two kinds
also; the one larger than the other, much stronger
in the bone, but with curly waves in the hair; and
the small yellow pied springing Spaniel, (used in
pheasant and cock shooting,) whose hair is rather
long, soft, and delicately pliable, with ears of
the same description, reaching, when extended, beyond
the point of the nose. The two kinds first
{323}
mentioned are chiefly confined to the purposes of
wild fowl shooting, in moors, marshes, and the
neighbourhood of rivers; where ducks, wigeons,
teal, coots, moor-hens, dab-chicks, and snipes,
are to be found; to all which they are particularly
appropriate; not more for their indefatigable industry
in finding the game, than for their surmounting
every obstacle to recover it, and bring it to
hand when killed. They are also of most wonderful
sagacity, fidelity, and observation; their olfactory
sensations almost exceed belief, by which
alone they are taught the most incredible performances.
Sticks, gloves, handkerchiefs, coin, or
any other article left some miles behind by the
owner upon the road, or any remote spot, (totally
unknown to them,) they will retrace to any distance
upon a signal being given with the hand, and never
relinquish the search till they bring it safe to their
master.




The large springing Spaniel, and small Cocker,
although they vary in size, differ but little in their
qualifications, except that the former is rather
slower in action; neither catching the scent of the
game so suddenly as the latter, or seeming to enjoy
it with the same extatic enthusiasm when found.
The small cocking Spaniel has also the advantage
of getting through the low bushy covert with much
less difficulty than the larger Spaniel, and does not
tire so soon, whatever may have been the length and
{324}
labour of the day. Spaniels of each description are
frequently used as finders in COURSING
with GREYHOUNDS,
and are indefatigable in their exertions:
from the time they are thrown off in pursuit of
game, the tail is in a perpetual motion, (called
feathering,) by the increasing vibration of which,
an experienced sportsman well knows when he gets
nearer the object of attraction. The nearer he approaches
it, the more violent he becomes in his endeavours
to succeed; tremulative whimpers escape
him as a matter of doubt; but the moment that
doubt's dispelled, his clamorous raptures break
forth in full confirmation of the gratification he receives.
And this proclamation may be so firmly
relied on, (though in the midst of the thickest
covert,) that the happy owner may exultingly boast
he is in the possession of one faithful domestic who
never tells a lie.


As it is the impulsive principle of this animal to
give the most outrageous proof of joy upon finding,
or coming upon the foot or haunt of game, so it is
his determined disposition never to relax in his perseverance
till he brings it to view. It is therefore
necessary for all young and inexperienced sportsmen,
who take the field with Spaniels, not to be too
tardy in their own motions, but to let their agility
keep pace with the incessant activity of their
canine companions, without which they may expect
to cover many a weary mile without a successful
{325}
shot. Spaniels, when broke for the field, should
never be taken out more than one young dog at a
time, and that in company with one or more old
and seasoned dogs, to whom they will mostly attend
in every action, and the sooner acquire the
necessary knowledge of the business they are engaged
in. If young dogs are taken out alone, and
in too great number, their great eagerness, and
emulative opposition, frequently occasions them
(particularly in covert, where they are safe from
correction) to hunt or chase one thing for want of
finding another; and in the event of not being corrected
when necessary, to become uncertain babblers,
and never to be relied upon. The judicious and
experienced sportsman will never be seen to hunt
Spaniels with Pointers
either in or out of covert;
for, although it can do little or no injury to the
former, it may very materially warp the integrity,
if not totally destroy the principles of the latter.




SPARRING
—is a ceremony practised with
game cocks during the time they are in feeding
(alias training) to fight in any MAIN or
MATCH, for
which they stand engaged. When COCKS are brought
up from their walks, and placed in their pens, some
are, of course, too full in flesh; others, as much
deficient: in the judgment of equalizing these different
degrees, (by reducing the weight of one, and
increasing the substance of the other,) does the art of
cock-feeding entirely depend. On every second or
{326}
third day, during the time they are preparing for the
match, each cock has a sparring with an opponent
of nearly equal weight with himself; and this sham
fight continues a longer or shorter time, according
to the flesh, weight, and wind, of each cock so exercised,
in proportion to the superflux of substance
he is required to lose. For the occasion, and that
they may not injure each other, they are equally
shielded with mufflers upon the parts where their
spurs have been sawed off; and that they may be
the better inured to labour, and prepared for difficulty,
the ceremony takes place upon a truss or two
of straw loosely scattered, that, having no firm hold
for their feet, they have less power to oppose each
other. Cocks too full of flesh, and foggy, that
require a great deal of sweating to bring them down
to their proper match weight, are sometimes permitted
to continue the controversy till nearly exhausted.






SPAVIN-BLOOD
—is a preternatural distension
of the vein which runs down the inside of a
horse's hock, forming a soft and elastic (or puffy)
enlargement, commonly occasioning weakness, if
not lameness, of the joint. They are in general produced
by sudden twists or strains, in short turns
with loads, either in riding or drawing; and not
unfrequently by too rapid turning in narrow stalls.
The cure is frequently attempted by strong spirituous
saturnine repellents, or powerful restringents,
{327}
with a compress and bandage firmly fixed upon the
part: these methods, however, seldom afford more
than temporary relief. The former mode of operating,
by incision, and instrumental extirpation,
is in present practice entirely laid aside; a repetition
BLISTER, or slightly
FIRING, being the only
means relied on to ensure certain obliteration.






SPAVIN-BONE
.—The defect so called, is an
enlargement on the outside of the hock, originating
in a gristly or cartilaginous protrusion, which increases
gradually to a callosity, and ultimately to a
perfect ossification as hard as the bone itself. In its
early state, but little limping or impediment to
action is observed; but as it advances in progress,
the lameness becomes proportionally perceptible.
A bone-spavin is never known to submit to liquid
applications, or solvents of any description; repeated
BLISTERINGS, and substantial
FIRING, seem
the only means by which the enlargement and its
painful irritability can be reduced.






SPAYED BITCH
,—is a bitch upon whom an
operation has been performed, by which she is deprived
the power of generating a farther progeny.
An incision being made in the flank, midway between
the hip-bone and the belly, the ovaries are
extracted through the orifice, and separated from
the parts to which they were united: these being
returned, the wound is stitched up, and heals in a
{328}
few days, (if performed by a judicious practitioner,)
without farther trouble or inconvenience.






SPEED
—is sportingly applicable to HORSE,
HOUND, or GREYHOUND;
and upon this depends
(in a great degree) the estimation in which they are
held. It is customary to say, such a horse has
great action, or he is in possession of the gift of
going. This is, however, considered applicable
only to excellent TROTTERS and hacknies upon the
road. Speed is always used in a superior sense,
and intended to convey an idea of the greatest rapidity
of which the animal is capable, and which
enhances his value in proportion to his qualifications.
In the art of TRAINING for the
TURF, there
are ambiguities of such magnitude, that it is averred
by those who have made the practical part their
study, that one training-groom (from judgment,
experience, and observation) shall bring a horse to
the post full half a distance better than another, although
their speed was considered equal when placed
under the racing management of their different superintendants.
This is admitted so much, and so
truly, an incontrovertible fact, that TRAINING-GROOMS
have their lights and shades of reputation
and celebrity, in an equal degree with the most
eminent artists in the universe. Jockies also are
admitted to possess their different degrees of excellence,
and to so very great and discriminating a
nicety, that when MATCHES are lost by some lengths,
{329}
and for large sums, offers are frequently made to
run the match over again for the same money, or
to double the STAKES, provided the
WINNING JOCKEY
is permitted to ride the losing horse. Thus speed
is not always the same, but is evidently dependent
upon contingencies, which the utmost human circumspection
cannot always either foresee or prevent.
The increase of speed with RACE HORSES in
this country, is very readily admitted to have been
great during the last fifty years; and this is impartially
attributed to the introduction of, and judicious
crosses from, the Arabian blood with the
best bred mares of our own: although the effect of
these experiments were held in great doubt for some
years, but are now universally acknowledged to
have exceeded the utmost expectation, and cannot
be supposed to extend much farther.




There are two modes of trial for SPEED, according
to the present reformed mode of English racing:
the one is to run a mile, which is termed running
for SPEED; the other, of going off at
SCORE, and
absolutely racing the whole four miles, which is
called running for speed and bottom. Flying Childers,
whose speed was almost proverbial, went one third
of a mile in twenty seconds. Firetail and Pumpkin
ran a mile in a few seconds more than a minute and
a half. Childers ran the distance of four miles in
six minutes and forty-eight seconds, carrying nine
stone, two pounds; he made a leap of thirty feet
{330}
upon level ground; and he covered a space of
twenty-five feet at every stroke when racing. It
was formerly known that any horse who could run
four miles in eight minutes, would prove a WINNER
of PLATES: this is, however, very materially refined,
by judicious crosses in blood, or improvements
in training; as Bay Malton ran four miles
over York in seven minutes, forty-three seconds
and a half. Eclipse ran the same distance over
York in eight minutes with twelve stone, though
going only at his rate, without any inducement to
speed.


The means by which the wonderful velocity of
the greyhound can be ascertained are but few:
there are, however, well authenticated instances
upon record; and as they are again quoted in Mr. Daniels
"Rural Sports," are entitled to credibility.
In February, 1800, a hare was darted before
a brace of greyhounds in Lincolnshire, and upon
the distance being measured from her form to
where she was killed, it proved upwards of four
miles in a direct line; but there having been several
turns, as well as some oblique running, during the
course, it must have increased the length considerably:
this ground was run over in the space of
twelve minutes; and the hare fell dead before the
greyhounds touched her; which serves to demonstrate
the speed and strength of the former. It is
known that horses are more distrest (if they keep
{331}
up) in a moderate COURSE than in a long
CHASE;
of which an instance lately occurred in the neighbourhood
of Bottisham, in Cambridgeshire, from
whence the hare being started, took away for the
Six Mile Bottom; and although two-and-twenty
horses went off with the greyhounds, only one
could make a gallop at the conclusion of the course.
The hare (who had reached within fifty yards of
the covert) dropped dead before the greyhounds;
and they were so exhausted, that it was found necessary
to bleed them to promote their recovery.


A few years since a hare was suddenly started at
Finchingfield, in Essex, when the brace of greyhounds
running at her came into contact with so
much velocity, that both were killed on the spot.
At Offham, in Sussex, a brace of greyhounds
coursed a hare over the edge of a chalk-pit, and
following themselves, were all found dead at the
bottom. The high spirit, persevering speed, and
invincible ardour, of the greyhound, not being
universally known, (at least to those who have
either few or no opportunities to partake of the
sport,) it may not be inapplicable to introduce a
singular circumstance which occurred in 1792. As
Lord Egremont's game-keeper was leading a brace
of greyhounds coupled together, a hare accidentally
crossing the road, the dogs instantly broke from
their conductor, and gave chase, fastened as they
were to each other: the pursuit afforded an uncommon
{332}
and no less entertaining sight to several spectators.
When the hare was turned, she had a manifest
advantage, and embarrassed the dogs exceedingly
in changing their direction; notwithstanding
which, she was at length killed at Pikeless Gate,
after a course of between three and four miles. In
1796 a similar occurrence took place in Scotland,
where a brace of greyhounds, in couples, killed a
hare after a course of a mile with intervening obstructions.


Endeavours having been made to acquire some
degree of information upon the subject of comparative
speed between a greyhound and a RACE-HORSE of
superior powers and celebrity, it was at length
brought to a decision by absolute matter of chance.
It having been previously submitted to the opinion
of an experienced sportsman, which would prove to
possess the greater portion of speed for a mile, or
for a longer or shorter distance, he returned for answer,
that, upon a flat, he had no doubt but a first
rate horse would prove superior to the greyhound;
unless in a hilly country, where he conceived a good
greyhound would have the advantage. The information
not to be acquired by any direct mode, was
brought to trial by an incident which occurred upon
the Course of Doncaster in 1800, and was precisely
thus.


{333}


A match was to have been run between a horse
and a mare for one hundred guineas. At the time
appointed, the former not appearing, the mare
started alone, to insure the STAKES; when, after
having ran little more than a mile, a greyhound
bitch (to the great admiration and entertainment of
the company) took to her from the side of the
Course, and continued racing with her the other
three miles, keeping her regular line nearly head
and head, which produced a most excellent match;
for when they reached the DISTANCE POST, five to
four was betted upon the greyhound; when they
came abreast of the stand, it was even betting; and
the mare won by only a head.


The speed of the fleetest and highest bred FOX HOUNDS,
was brought to public proof in the well-known
match made between Mr. Meynell and
Mr. Barry, for 500 guineas a side, and decided
over Newmarket in the month of September of the
year in which it was run. The hounds of Mr.
Barry's (called Bluecap and Wanton) were put in
training on the first of August with the famous
Will. Crane. Their food consisted only of oatmeal,
milk, and sheep's trotters. The ground was
fixed on at the time of making the match; and upon
the thirtieth of September the drag was taken from
the Rubbing-house at Newmarket Town end, to
the Rubbing-house at the starting-post of the Beacon
Course: the four hounds were then laid on the
{334}
scent: at the conclusion, Mr. Barry's Bluecap came
in first; Wanton (very close to Bluecap) second.
Mr. Meynell's Richmond was beat more than a
hundred yards; and the bitch never ran in at all.
The length of the drag was between eight and ten
miles; the time it was crossed in was some seconds
over eight minutes. Some tolerable idea, in this
instance, may be formed of the SPEED, when there
were SIXTY horses started fairly with the hounds,
and only twelve were up. Cooper, Mr. Barry's
huntsman, was the first; but the mare that carried
him was rode blind in the exertion. Will. Crane,
who rode Rib, (a King's Plate horse,) was the last
of the twelve who came up. The current odds at
starting were seven to four in favour of Mr. Meynell,
whose hounds were reported to have been fed
upon legs of mutton during the time they were in
training.


Merkin, a famous bitch, bred by
Colonel Thornton,
was considered far superior in speed to
any fox-hound of her time: she was challenged to
run any hound of her year five miles over Newmarket,
giving 220 yards, for 10,000 guineas; or
to give Madcap 100 yards, and run the same distance
for 5000. She ran a trial of four miles, and
crossed the ground in seven minutes and half a second.
Merkin was sold, in 1795, for four hogsheads
of claret, and the seller to have two couple
of her whelps.


{335}


Madcap, at two years old, challenged all England
for 500 guineas. Lounger, brother to Madcap,
did the same at four years old: the challenge was
accepted, and a bet made to run Mr. Meynell's
Pillager for 200 guineas. The parties were also
allowed by Colonel Thornton to start any other
hound of Mr. Meynell's, and Lounger was to beat
both; but, upon his being seen at Tattersal's by
many of the best judges, his bone, shape, and
make, were thought so superior to any opponent
that could be brought against him, Colonel Thornton
consented to accept a pair of gold dog-couples as
a forfeit to the bet.




SPLENT
—is the term given to an ossified prominence
when it appears upon the shank-bone of a
horse's fore-leg: they are frequently seen upon the
legs of young horses, and are sometimes known to
disappear without any application whatever. If
they do not make their appearance during the
fourth or fifth year, they are seldom seen after that
time, unless occasioned by blow, bruise, or accident.
They are very rarely productive of lameness
or inconvenience, unless they curve towards
the back sinews, and vibrate in action. Various
are the means too hastily and too rashly brought
into use for their extirpation, and many times without
the least necessity; for when they are not attended
with pain or inconvenience, it must be more
prudent to let them remain in a state of dormant
{336}
inactivity, than rouse them into painful action. If
some mode must be inevitably adopted, a spirituous
saturnine solvent is the most safe and efficacious application.






SPORTSMAN
—is the appellation, for time immemorial,
annexed to any man whose partiality
to the SPORTS of the
FIELD are universally known:
they are evidently marked out for him by the dispensing
and benign hand of Providence, for the
promotion of health, and the gratification of pleasure,
of which, enjoyed with moderation and rationality,
he is never ashamed. The name of
SPORTSMAN has ever been considered
concisely characteristic
of strict honour, true courage, unbounded
hospitality, and the most unsullied integrity.
However the character may have been
broken in upon by time, or mutilated by the innovations
of fashion, caprice, or folly, the original
stock was derived solely from the blood of the true
old English country Esquire; who, uncontaminated
by the curse of insatiate ambition, is only
happy himself in the happiness of his domestic dependents,
the corresponding smiles of his tenants
who surround his mansion, and an hospitable association
with his numerous friends.




His HOUNDS are kept from an instinctive attachment
to the sport itself, as well as to perpetuate the
respectable and exhilarating establishment of his
{337}
ancestors, (hitherto transmitted to their posterity
without a stain,) and not from the least desire of
having his name blazoned through every part of
the county in which he resides, for keeping what he
has neither PROPERTY to
SUPPORT, or spirit to enjoy.
Personally frugal, (amidst the most spirited
hospitality,) he never suffers his mind to be disquieted
by the pecuniary applications of people in
trade: having a soul superior to the idea of living
beyond his income, and running in debt, it is an
invariable maxim, never to let his tradesmen be a
single quarter in arrear. The guardian of his own
honour, he never affords a chance of its becoming
degraded by the officious and unprincipled pride of
a subordinate, under the appellation of STEWARD;
or to be disgraced, or prostituted, by the barefaced,
unqualified denial of a menial bedaubed with
lace and variegated finery, under the denomination
of a footman.


Innately philanthropic, the true, well-bred, liberal-minded
SPORTSMAN is always equally easy of
access to friends, neighbours, tenants, and even to
necessitous parochial solicitants; and never countenances
false consequence amongst his domestics in
one department, or impertinent pride in another:
by a persevering adherence to which system, his
rustic mansion seems the summit of all worldly happiness
and earthly gratification: not a dependent
but eyes him with the warmest sensations of gratitude;
{38}
not a servant within, or a labourer without,
but looks awefully up to him as their best friend.
The pleasures of the field he extensively and judiciously
engages in with all the fervency of a well-informed
and experienced sportsman; but by no
means with all the unqualified enthusiasm, and
fashionable furor, of an indiscreet and determined
devotee. Capable of distinguishing between the
use and abuse of what is so evidently and benignantly
placed before him, as an excitement to exhilarating
action, bodily invigoration, and general health; he
enters into all its spirit, avails himself of all its import;
not more as a personal gratification (in respect
to sport) than a mental perusal of one of Nature's
many instructive volumes, displaying to the ruminative
and expansive comprehension, the applicable
and coinciding speed of the HORSE; the instinctive
impulse, invincible ardour, and corresponding perseverance
of the HOUND; the various shifts and
evasions of the GAME; and lastly, the firm and
manly fortitude of those who join and surround him
in the CHASE. These are the distinguishing traits
by which the true and generous sportsman may be
known: and it must be freely admitted, that so
congenial are the feelings, so sympathetic the liberality,
and so uniform the hospitality of SPORTSMEN
in the scale of universality, that no friendships
are better founded, none more disinterested, few
more permanent, and none more sincere.


{339}




 SPRAIN or STRAIN
,—is a preternatural
extension, and forcible elongation, of the tendons,
beyond the power of immediately recovering their
previous elasticity; or a sudden twist of some particular
joint, by which the ligamentary junction sustains
an injury, and produces lameness. Whenever
they happen in the hip, stifle, round-bone, or
shoulder, they then become serious considerations;
the injured parts being seated too deep for the effect
of external applications. In such cases it is seldom
of use to lose time, and encounter disappointment,
by persevering stimulants; time and rest constitute
the best foundation for permanent relief. Horses
having encountered such accidents, should be
turned out in a still and quiet pasture, where they
may be free from alarm and disturbance; and this
should be adopted before any stiffness is brought
upon the joint, by too long standing in one position;
which they mostly do, when confined in a
stable as invalids. When at unrestrained liberty, it
is natural to conclude, he adapts the gentleness of
his motion to the state of his case, and exerts himself
no more than a proper respect to his own safety
may render secure. It is a self-evident fact, that a
restoration of elasticity or strength of the part, is
more likely to be obtained by rest, and the efforts
of nature, than any superficial or topical applications
that can be made.




{340}


Strains (or LAMENESS)
in the shoulder require
nice investigation to discriminate between such as
arise from accident, rheumatic affection, or chest-foundering.
It is remarked, that when a horse has
sustained a severe injury in the shoulder, by wrench,
slip, twist, short turn, or any other accident, the
pain prevents him from bringing the leg on that
side forward, in a parallel line, or in an equal degree
with the other; which being sound, is much
more firmly set to the ground, with an evident intent
to save from pain the side that is lame. When
a horse in this situation stands still, the leg of the
lame shoulder is almost invariably placed before the
other; and if he is trotted in hand, he generally
brings forward the leg of the shoulder affected with
a kind of circular sweep, and not in a direct line:
if any attempt is made to turn him short on the
lame side, he instantly dreads it, and becomes almost
repugnant to the exertion: when compelled
to make it, he will almost sink on the lame side,
to support himself entirely on the sound one.


Bleeding should in such accidents immediately
precede every other consideration; it unloads the
vessels, prevents local stagnation, and sometimes a
general stiffness of the quarter in which the injury
has been sustained. Where either the season of the
year prevents, or an opportunity to turn out cannot
be obtained, the only alternative, hot fomentations,
{341}
and stimulative embrocations, must be
adopted. In strains of the hip, the horse in general
draws his leg after him with a painful reluctance;
and if impelled to a trot, is observed to drop upon
his heel. If the injury is in the stifle, by treading
on the toe, his motion is a kind of hop with the
side affected. Strains of the hock are easily discovered,
by a sort of limping twist in that joint at
every motion of the leg. Lamenesses of the hip,
stifle, and hock, are more likely to be assisted by
external applications, judiciously prescribed, than
those which are more deeply seated.


The ligamentary junction of the pastern joints
are sometimes greatly weakened by incessant work
and little rest; in unerring proof of which, they
frequently make sudden drops, as if falling to the
ground. The knees of many are affected in the
same way, and overhang the shank-bone and fetlock-joint;
the moment a tendency to which is
perceived, any horse should be turned out to enjoy
the rest he is so individually entitled to, for want of
which salutary and humane attention, very many
good and useful horses have been completely ruined
and destroyed. There is no part of a horse more
liable to strains, than the back sinews of the forelegs;
they are materially concerned in every description
of labour, and are always in proportional
danger. Whenever these happen, there is no difficulty
in making the discovery; there is an evident
{342}
enlargement, with inflammatory tension; and if one
leg only is affected, it is generally placed before the
other, and rather upon the toe. In slight cases of
this kind, fomentations of hot vinegar, and
strengthening embrocations, assisted by rest, may
produce a restoration; but, in general practice,
without blistering, firing, or both, a permanent
cure is seldom obtained.




SPUR
—is the well-known weapon with which
the heel of the horseman is armed to enforce his authority;
and which the well-broke horse will always
instantly obey.






STABLE
.—Stables are the receptacles for horses
in general, and are of very different descriptions;
not only in respect to the various sorts of horses for
which they are intended, but the improved mode
of construction, and the numerous conveniencies
they are now made to contain. As horses were
never in such high estimation, or of such intrinsic
worth, as at the present moment, so never was so
much money expended upon their preservation.
There can be no doubt, but the health and condition
of valuable horses, may depend much upon
the situation and structure of the stable; and although
every person will appropriate the size of
the stable, and the number of stalls, to their own
wants, yet there are certain judicious rules, and
desirable conveniencies, which should admit of no
{343}
deviation. Whether a stable consists of two stalls,
four, or six, it may be rendered equally uniform,
and confidently replete with every thing that can
possibly be required.




It is an established opinion, that a building of
BRICK (lined or not lined with deal) is preferable to
STONE for the purpose; the former being dry, and
always in the same state: the latter is influenced, or
acted upon, by the changes of weather; and in a
hazy atmosphere, generally damp; and in constant
(or continued) rains, the walls are frequently
streaming with water. This, however, depends
much upon the aspect to which they are erected; a
circumstance not always sufficiently attended to,
till it is found too late to repent. Stables are paved
with bricks, clinkers, flints, pebbles,
or stone, as
may best correspond with the conveniences of the
country in which they are erected, and where, perhaps,
some of those articles are difficult to obtain.
Stalls should never be less than six feet wide; nor
the stable less than nine feet high: eight feet in the
clear should be allowed from the heels of the horse
to the wall behind him; and iron hay-racks are preferable
to wood, as the latter (wherever spirited
horses stand) are always in want of repair. No
stables can be called good, unless they have proper
rooms annexed for the reception of SADDLES,
BRIDLES,
HORSE CLOTHS, and every article necessary to
the proper support of such an establishment; each
{344}
of those become more perishable amidst the nocturnal
steam of the horses than by daily use.


Experience has demonstrated the advantages of
general cleanliness, temperate air, (according to
the season,) and regular exercise: to the want of
these, in part, or all, may be attributed the ills at
INNS and
LIVERY STABLES, as well as the fashionable
increase of Veterinarians. Upon entering the
stables of these public receptacles, (particularly if
the door has been a few minutes closed,) the olfactory
sensations are instantly assailed by such a profusion
of volatile effluvia, as to extract moisture
from the eyes, in opposition to every endeavour
made to restrain it. Here stand rows of poor
patient animals, absolutely fumigated with the
perspirative transpiration of their own bodies,
broiling with heat, and panting with thirst, in a
degree beyond the temperature of a common hot-house,
in the severity of the winter season. Each
horse is observed to stand upon a load of litter
(clean at top, and rotten underneath) very little
inferior to a common cucumber-bed in heigth, with
all the advantages of equal warmth from the dung
below!


In this unexaggerated state stand hundreds within
the environs of the Metropolis; their owners the
complete dupes of ignorance, indiscretion, and imposition;
the animals themselves in a constant
{345}
state of languid perspiration, and bodily debility:
deprived the comforts of pure air, and regular exercise,
they become dull, sluggish, and stupid, as if
conscious of, and depressed with, their almost perpetual
imprisonment. All this erroneous mode of
treatment instantly affects the eye of experimental
observation. The carcase seems an incongruous
accumulation, evidently full, and unnaturally overloaded,
for want of gentle motion, and general
friction; the legs become swelled, stiff, and tumefied;
and, sooner or later, terminates in cracks,
scratches, grease, or some more vexatious disorder.
The hoofs, by being constantly fixed in a certain
degree of heat, begin to contrast, and get narrow
at the heels, holding forth the pleasing promise of
hoof-bound lameness. The eyes, from a constant
watry discharge, give proof of habitual weakness;
the lassitude of the body, the heat of the mouth,
the general gloom, and every corresponding circumstance,
seems to display a frame the reverse of those
whose health is preserved, and condition promoted,
by a system of discipline opposite in practice, and
different in effect. See Groom.




 STAG, or RED DEER.
—The
STAG and
HIND are the male and female
of this tribe, as the
BUCK and DOE
are of the fallow deer. The latter
are mostly the natives of parks, and bred for domestic
purposes, producing venison for the table;
the former are the majestic inhabitants of those extensive
{346}
and sequestered tracts called FORESTS and
CHACES, where they are preserved as more peculiarly
appropriated to the pleasures of the chase,
in which even his Majesty, with his hunting retinue,
condescends to engage. The STAG, individually
surveyed, is one of the grandest and most
stately figures in the animal creation; his very appearance
instantly exciting attention and admiration.
Naturally disposed to solitude, he never obtrudes
upon the haunt of man, but revels in the
remote and obscure shades of abstrusity. When
caught sight of amidst the umbrageous stillness of
his abode, the grandeur, lofty look, and commanding
aspect, of his first survey, cannot be encountered
without the most aweful and impressive
sensations. With ample power to oppose, he has
pliability to submit, and, after a few moments interview,
deliberately retires to his protecting covert,
seemingly more surprized than alarmed at the
sight of the HUMAN SPECIES.




In the dignity of his deportment he stands unrivalled,
and may, with allegorical propriety, be considered
the hereditary MONARCH of the
WOODS, as every
other animal is observed to give way upon his approach.
In his peaceable and undisturbed retirement,
he is perfectly tranquil and inoffensive, displaying
no antipathy or opposition to those who
come not in hostility to him. His form is the most
sublime and beautiful that can possibly be conceived;
{347}
the elegance of his figure, the commanding
effect of his stature, the flexibility of his frame, the
elasticity of his limbs, the velocity of his motion,
and the proportional immensity of his strength, in
addition to the impression made upon the mind by
the magnific grandeur of the antlers, branching from
his brow, all seem uniformly calculated to render
him an object of the most serious and pleasing attraction.


The RED DEER, formerly so plentiful to be found
in different remote parts of England, the Highlands
of Scotland, and the Lake of Killarney, in
Ireland, are greatly reduced, and but very rarely
to be found in a wild and unpreserved state in either.
This must of course be attributed to the more advantageous
distribution and cultivation of land, and
the improved state of every country. Stags, or
HINDS, were then found singly, and hunted
or pursued by those who happened to find them; but now
in the Forest of Windsor, and the New Forest in
Hampshire, where they are bred and protected for
the ROYAL CHASE, they assemble together; and upon
Ascot Heath, near Swinley Lodge, (the official residence
of the Master of his Majesty's Stag Hounds,)
may be seen the largest herd in the King's dominions.


The colour of both STAG and HIND is a dingy red,
with darker tints about the eyes and mouth: down
{348}
the upper part of the neck, and over the points of
the shoulders, is a shade of dark brown, bordering
upon black: the countenance is commandingly expressive;
the eye beautifully brilliant, even to
poetic celebrity; and his senses of smelling and
hearing equal to any animal of this country. When
in the least alarmed, his position is the most majestic;
he raises his head to the highest pitch, erects
his ears, swells his neck, extends his nostrils, and
snuffs the air, as if in curious and impatient investigation
of the cause by which it was occasioned.
Let this be what it may, he never takes to sudden
flight, without first measuring, by his eye and
ear, the magnitude of the danger, and proceeds accordingly.
If dogs are not of the party, men,
cattle, or carriages, seem to give him little or no
concern; for, after turning twice or thrice, to take
a repeated survey with a kind of confused admiration,
he moves off very deliberately, without any
alarming sensation.


The season for copulation with the deer tribe
(see "Rutting Time") begins at the latter end of
August and beginning of September, and terminates
in the beginning or middle of October; depending,
in that respect, a little upon the state of
the season, and the ages of the different head of
deer; those of two and three years old being backwarder,
of course extending the time beyond those
who are older. From the moment of conception
{349}
with the hind, to the time of parturition, is nearly
nine lunar months; as they produce in the last week
in May, or one of the two first in
June. Immediately
after impregnation, she separates herself
from the STAG; no intercourse takes place; even
common association ceases; and nothing during the
period of gestation ensues, but mutual and marked
indifference. The hind is seldom or ever known
to produce more than one, (which is called a CALF:)
this she deposits in the most remote, sequestered,
and best sheltered spot to be procured, for the purpose
of secretion from its numerous enemies,
amongst whom there is none more determined or
malicious than the masculine occasion of its
existence, even the sire himself. Mysterious as
this may appear, it is an unexaggerated fact; and
the dam, perfectly conscious of the stag's unnatural
propensity, is more industrious to conceal the calf's
retreat from him, than the aggregate of its other
enemies.


The CALF, when once it is of strength sufficient
to accompany its dam, never leaves her side during
the first summer; and the ensuing winter, none but
the HINDS, and males under a year old,
remain together; the annual separation between the STAGS
and HINDS invariably taking place as before described.
During the months of infancy, the courage
of the dam, in defence of her offspring, is
equal to any maternal affection of our own species;
{350}
she opposes every force, encounters every enemy,
exposes herself to every danger, and hazards her
own life to insure the safety of her young. The
hind has but little protection upon the score of
self-preservation, nature having left her without
horns, those useful and ornamental weapons with
which the stag is so powerfully armed. The first
year the male has no horns; the second they are
straight, and single; the third, they shew two
branches; the fourth, three; the fifth, four; and the
sixth, five; when the stag is reckoned complete,
and at his full growth: notwithstanding this, the
antlers continue to increase till there are six or
seven on each side; and though the age of the deer
is mostly ascertained by the number, yet it is not
always certain, but is more nicely to be depended
on from the thickness and size of the trunk or
body by which they are sustained.


These horns, enormous as they appear, are shed
annually, which happens in the latter end of
February,
or during the month of March; of which
there is a most perfect regeneration before the commencement
of the RUTTING TIME, when they fight
for the hind with the most determined and incredible
ferocity. After the season of rutting, the
stags having been found too weak to stand long before
the hounds, the operation of castration was
adopted; and the stag thus deprived of the means
of propagation, (by the loss of the testes,) feeling
{351}
no stimulative propensity to copulate, is never debilitated,
but always ready for the field, and affords
runs of great duration. Thus operated upon, they
are then called HEAVIERS; and it is a remarkable
fact, that if a stag is castrated while his horns (alias
antlers) are in a state of perfection, they will never
exfoliate: on the contrary, if the operation is performed
when the head is bare, the horns will never
return.




STAG
,—the sporting term for a young GAME COCK
during his second year. For the whole of the
first year, he is called a chicken; from which time
to the completion of the second, he is a STAG; and
from thence forward, a COCK. In regular matches
and mains for considerable sums of money, very
few are brought to Pit before they are of that age;
unless it is made, and so agreed on both sides, in
which case it is called a stag main, or main of
stags. See Cocking, Game Cock,
and Cock-pit Royal.






STAG-EVIL
—is a disorder of the most distressing
kind, to which horses of the draught kind are
more particularly subject: it partakes of the paralytic
stroke and spasmodic affection, coming on
suddenly, without the least previous indication of
approaching disease. The muscles become so instantaneously
contracted, that the head is raised to
its utmost heigth, the jaws are fixed, the neck stiff
{352}
and immoveable, the eyes are turned upwards,
leaving only the whites to be seen; the palpitations
of the heart are exceedingly violent, and the laborious
heavings of the flank incessant. This disorder,
difficult as it is in its cause to define, is always more
or less dangerous, in proportion to the mildness or
severity of the attack. If it proceeds from a profuse
flux of blood to the BRAIN, in consequence of
too great and powerful exertions, plentiful bleeding,
and nervous stimulants, will be the most expeditious
and likely means to relieve.




When its symptoms are so exceedingly severe and
alarming, that the jaws are locked, and no medicines
can be administered by the MOUTH, recourse
must be had to collateral aids. Strong hot fomentations,
with a decoction from the most fragrant
aromatic garden herbs, under the jaws, behind the
ears, and both sides the throat, followed by fumigations
from myrrh, ammoniacum, and assafœtida,
grossly powdered, and sprinkled upon a hot iron,
or fire-shovel, held below the nostrils; glysters of
gruel, in which valerian root has been boiled, and
assafœtida dissolved, with an addition of liquid laudanum
and olive oil to each, and repeatedly frequently;
are the only means, properly persevered in,
that can afford any hope or expectation of success.
These exertions are in general too much trouble for
the lower order of the Veterinary tribe, who fly to
their favourite and contemptible introduction of a
{353}
ROWEL, many hours before which can become productive
in its effect, death closes the scene, and
relieves the subject from its accumulated misery.




STAGGERS
.—This is likewise a disorder of
the head, to which horses of the same description
are constantly liable, bearing in many respects no
distant affinity to the former; for although it cannot
be deemed the very same disease, yet, as it is
known to derive its origin from the same cause, it
is evidently entitled to rank in the same class.
Bracken, who speaks of it with more scientific and
professional precision than any writer before or
since, assimilates it to the apoplexy and epilepsy of
the human frame, and enters into an anatomical
disquisition of many pages to justify his opinion.
He most judiciously attributes it to its proper and
only cause, a plethoric state of the body; and that
by the preternatural distension of all the vessels,
the blood is more forcibly propelled upon the
brain, from whence inflammation (in a greater or
less degree) consequently ensues; making the following
remark, to which every experienced practitioner
will yield his unqualified approbation.




"That where one creature dies of a distempered
brain from the loss of too much blood, there are
twenty lives lost for want of taking away a sufficient
quantity." In direct conformity with the opinion
of Bracken upon the subject of
REPLETION, may
{354}
be quoted a plain and true, but less scientific remark
of Captain Burdon, in his Pocket Farrier;
who, for want of more polished terms, and technical
phraseology, thus expresses himself: "Don't
let your horse stand too long without exercise; it
fills his belly too full of meat, and his veins too full
of blood; and from hence the staggers, and many
other distempers, proceed."


Admitting the affinity between the DISEASES, as
lethargy, or sleeping-evil, falling-evil, or convulsions,
frenzy and madness, stag-evil, or staggers,
all practitioners consider them individually a species
of APOPLEXY, originating in nearly the same cause,
and to be relieved only by the same means. Under
which conjunctive authority, plentiful bleedings,
repeated stimulative glysters, and internally, assafœtida,
camphor, valerian, castor, and such other
ingredients as powerfully act upon the nervous
system, constitute the whole that can with consistency
be introduced in all cases of a similar description.




STAG-HUNTING
—is one of the most rapturous
and enchanting pursuits within the privilege
or power of the human frame and mind to enjoy.
As HUNTING, in its general sense,
is known to comprise
an imaginary view of different kinds under
that concise term, so various remarks will be found
upon each, under the heads of Chase,
Fox-Hunting,
{355}
Harriers, and Hunting;
rendering unnecessary
the introduction of new, or repetition of
former matter, more than what may strictly appertain
to the distinct sport now before us.




Opposite opinions have always been entertained
by the advocates for each particular kind of chase,
as may have proved most applicable and convenient
to their situation, occasions, residence, and time of
life. That every description of HUNTING has its
proportional attraction to its distinct and different
votaries is well known; but the constant struggle
for superiority in vindication of their respective
sports, has ever been between those who hunt FOX
and those who hunt STAG; each being equally violent
in defence of the cause his private or personal
reasons prompt him to espouse. Mr. Daniel, in
his "Rural Sports," when animadverting upon
the STAG, makes the following remarks: "At the
present day, as an object of chase to the sportsman,
the stag requires but cursory mention: those, indeed,
who are fond of pomp and parade in hunting,
will not accede to this opinion; but the only mode
in which this chase can recommend itself to the real
sportsman, is, when the deer is looked for, and
found, like other game which hounds pursue. At
present very few hounds, except those of the royal
establishment, are kept exclusively for this amusement;
and were the King once to see a fox well
found, and killed handsomely, he would, in all,
{356}
probability, give a decided preference in favour
of fox-hounds; for what a marked difference is there
between conveying, in a covered cart, an animal,
nearly as big as the horse that draws it, to a particular
spot, where he is liberated, and cheerly riding
to the covert side with all the ecstacy of hope and
expectation!"


After quoting a few lines of beautiful imagery
from the poetic sublime of Somervile, descriptive
of throwing off, the drag, the unkenneling, and
breaking covert with fox-hounds, he proceeds
thus: "The most impassioned stag-hunter must
confess, that no part of his chase admits of such
description. The only variety he can fairly expect,
depends upon the wind and the temper of the deer,
who, by being either sulky, or not in condition
to maintain a contest with the hounds, (to whom he
leaves a burning scent, that gives them no trouble
in the pursuit,) shortens or extends his gallop; but
there is none of the enthusiasm of hunting, which
the sportsman feels, when he is following an animal,
upon whose own exertions of speed and craftiness
his life is staked; and where no stoppages, but the
checks arising from the two sources above mentioned,
intervene."


Without the most distant intent of endeavouring
to depreciate the noble, exhilarating, delightful,
and universally admitted excellence of FOX-HUNTING,
{357}
(of which, by the bye, no adequate description
can issue from the pen,) such few remarks may
be made, as will display the sport of STAG-HUNTING
in a different point of view to that in which the
writer just mentioned has been pleased to place the
picture; and probably rescue it from any little
stigma of disgrace, or inferiority, which his promulgated
opinion may have stamped upon the canvass.
There is positively no instance in which the philosophic
decision of Sir Roger de Coverley ("much
may be said on both sides") could have been more
strictly applicable, or more truly verified, than upon
the present occasion. The candid, judicious and experienced
sportsman will readily admit, that each retains
its attractions too powerful to resist, as well as
some inconveniencies impossible to remove: these,
however, are reconcileable to the modification of
those whose motives induce them to engage in either.


Previous to the recital of a chase with the
STAG-HOUNDS,
a few preparatory and comparative remarks
are due to the observations already quoted
from the justly popular work of Mr. Daniel.
That there are but "few establishments" of the kind
is certainly true, and for a most substantial reason;
if they were numerous, the question would instantly
present itself, from whence are they to be supplied
with GAME? The idea of "the
King's giving the
preference to FOX-HUNTING, if he had once seen a
fox well found, and killed handsomely," is an entire
{358}
new thought; and affords immediate mental reference
to the degradation of MAJESTIC DIGNITY,
should it ever be found making its dreary way
through the bushy brambles of a BEECHEN WOOD
two or three miles in length, following the chase
by the reverberating sounds of distant holloas! but
without the sight or sound of a single hound. This
is a constantly occurring trait in FOX-HUNTING,
constituting no small drawback on its boasted perfection.


Whichever kind of chase is pursued, the ultimatum
of enjoyment is much the same; horses,
hounds, air, exercise, health, society, and exhilaration,
constitute the aggregate: and TIME, which,
to the opulent and independent, seems of trifling
value, is to the scientific inquisitant, or professional
practitioner, neither more nor less than a LIFE ESTATE,
no part of which should be wasted or
squandered away. The former class, in general,
are industriously engaged in killing time: the latter,
who know and feel its worth, are as constantly employed
in its preservation. The loss of time in the
enjoyment of the two chases, is nearly or full half
between the one and the other: this is a circumstance,
however, not likely to attract the serious
attention of the gentleman who has thus attacked
the "pomp and parade" of hunting the
STAG; for as
a clerical character, he had, of course, all the week
upon his hands, being particularly engaged only on
{359}
A SUNDAY. To one of this description, who has
most of his time to kill, and very little to employ,
a long and dreary day through the gloomy coverts
of a dirty country, without a single challenge, or
one consolatory chop of drag, must prove a scene
of the most enchanting enjoyment; and in the very
zenith of exultation, it must be acknowledged by
professed and energetic FOX-HUNTERS,
that riding thirty or forty miles in wet and dirt, (replete with
alternate hope, suspense, and expectation,) to enjoy
the supreme happiness of repeated disappointments,
terminating with a blank day, is equal, if not superior,
to a STAG HUNT of even the first description.


Stag hounds are very rarely kept, and the sport
but little known in many parts of the kingdom:
those of the most celebrity are the Royal Establishment
upon Ascot Heath, in Windsor Forest, (see
"King's Hounds;") the Earl of Derby's, near the
Downs, in Surrey; and the Subscription Pack near
Enfield Chace. The greatest inducement to hunt
with either of which, is, the invariable certainty of
sport, that first object of desirable attainment, not
to be insured with hounds of a different description;
the great gratification of going away with the pack,
and covering a scope of country, without perpetual
interruption from frequent intervening coverts,
where checks, faults, delays, and a repetition of
wood riding, so often ensue. Stag-hunting, indifferently
as it is spoken of by some, is too severe and
{360}
arduous for others to pursue: laborious as it is to
the HORSE, it is in many cases not less
so to the RIDER:
difficulties occur which require great exertions
in one, and fortitude in the other, to surmount,
and none but those can lay at all by the side
of the hounds.


Rapturously transporting as is the moment of
meeting and throwing off with fox hounds, no less
so is the awefully impressive prelude to turning out
the deer. The scene is affectingly grand, far beyond
the descriptive power of the pen, and can only
be seen, to be perfectly understood. Unless an outlying
deer is drawn for, and found in the neighbouring
woods, as is sometimes the case, a STAG,
HIND,
or HEAVIER, is carted from the paddocks
of his Majesty
at Swinley Lodge, (where they are previously
and properly fed for the chase,) and brought at a
certain hour, (ten o'clock in the morning,) to the
place appointed, of which the surrounding neighbourhood
have been sufficiently informed. At the
distance of a quarter or half a mile from the covered
convenience containing the deer, are the hounds,
surrounded by the Huntsman and his assistants, (called
Yeoman-Prickers,) in scarlet and gold; a part
of these having French horns, and upon which they
must be good performers.


In a very short time after the expiration of the
hour agreed on, his Majesty is seen to approach,
{361}
attended by the Master of the
Horse, and Equerries
in waiting; it being the official duty of the Master
of the Stag-Hounds to be with them,
and ready to receive his Majesty when he arrives. So soon
as his Majesty resigns his hack, and is remounted
for the chase, the Huntsman receives an injunctive
signal from the Master of the Hounds to liberate the
deer. The moment which is obeyed, the usual law,
amounting to ten minutes, (more or less,) is allowed
for his going way: during this interval the sonorous
strains of the HORNS, the musical melodious
echo of the HOUNDS, the mutual gratulations of so
distinguished an assemblage, and the condescending
kindness and affability of the Sovereign to the loyal
subjects who love and surround him, is a repast
too rich, a treat too luxurious, for the side of a fox-hunting
covert to be brought into the least successful
similitude.


The anxious crisis thus arrived, and every bosom
glowing with emulative inspiration, a single aspiration
of acquiescence, and a removal of the horse
who heads the leading hound, give a loose to the
body of the PACK;
and superlatively happy he who
can lay the nearest to them. Upon the DEER'S going
off from the cart, two of the YEOMAN-PRICKERS start
likewise, in such parallel directions to the right and
left, as not to lose sight of the line he takes so long
as they can keep him in view; by which means they
get five or six miles forward to assist in stopping the
{362}
hounds at any particular point where they happen
to run up to them: and if it was not for this prudent
and necessary precaution, half or two thirds of the
horsemen would never see the hounds again in the
course of the day.


The joyous burst, and determined velocity of
every hound, followed by upwards of a hundred
horsemen, all in action at a single view; the spot
embellished, or rather variegated, with carriages
containing ladies, who come to enjoy the ceremony
of turning out; and the emulative exertions of
HORSES,
HOUNDS, and MEN;
afford a blaze of sporting
brilliancy beyond the power of the utmost mental
fertility to describe. At this moment of rapturous
exultation only it is, that the kind of horse indispensibly
necessary for this particular chase can be ascertained;
for out of a hundred and twenty, thirty,
forty, or a hundred and fifty horsemen, seven or
eight only shall lay any where near, or within a
hundred yards of the hounds; for the longer the
burst, the more the slow-going horses tail; so that
when the hounds are stopt upon the heath, or in an
open country, by the few who are up, lines of horsemen
are seen behind, more than a mile in length,
getting forward in a variety of directions, bearing
no inapplicable affinity to various teams of wild
ducks crossing from one country to another. These
horses, to whom it is all labour, are so distrest even
with the first burst, that if the hounds break away,
{363}
and the deer crosses the country, they are seldom to
be seen at the end of a second. This is a most palpable
and incontrovertible demonstration, that any
horse may follow, but none, except THOROUGHBRED
horses, can go with the hounds.


During the time the chase is suspended, and the
hounds are at bay, (which is till the King gets up,)
the exhilarating sound of the horns before them, and
the clamorous impatience of the hounds to proceed,
constitute a scene so truly rich and ecstatic, that the
tear of excessive joy and grateful sensibility may be
frequently observed in almost every eye. After
this relief of a few minutes to both HOUNDS and
HORSES, in which they collect their wind,
and become proportionally refreshed, the hounds are permitted
to break away, which they do with a redoubled
ardour, as if it had absolutely increased by
their recent restraint. The same scene of racing
and tailing continues during every burst to the termination
of the chase, the longer which is, the more
the field of horsemen become reduced; while the
blood horses only move in perfect unison, and, at
their common rating stroke, lay with ease by the side
of the HOUNDS; and this is the reason why,
in long runs, so many are completely thrown out, and left
to explore their way in different parts of the country
through which the chase has passed. One material
difference is known to exist between this kind
of sport and every other; the utmost fortitude and
{364}
indefatigable exertions are here made to save: in all
the rest, the summit of happiness, the sole gratification
of local ambition, is to kill: so that, at any
rate, STAG-HUNTING has the plea of
HUMANITY in its
favor; in proof of which, the hounds are never
known to run from chase to view, but every individual
is feelingly alive to the danger of the DEER,
who have so largely and laboriously contributed to
the completion of his own most ardent happiness:
a secret inspiration operates upon every latent spring
of human sensibility; and no difficulty at the moment
seems too great to surmount, for the preservation
of a life in which every spectator feels himself
most impressively concerned. This final burst
of a chase is most dreadfully severe, particularly if
the last mile or two is run in view; when which is
the case, the deer exerts all his utmost and remaining
power to take the soil, if water is within his reach:
this he sometimes does with the hounds so close to
his haunches, that it is impossible to prevent their
plunging with him into the stream. In such predicament,
if it is found impracticable to draw off the
body of the hounds, to insure his safety,
the Yeoman Prickers,
and others, are frequently seen
above their middles in water, (uncertain of its
depth,) to preserve the life of the DEER,
at the hazard of their own. This may be considered, by the recluse
and callous Cynic, a degree of valour beyond
discretion; but the debt of humanity, like the Hibernian
{365}
Major's word in the Comedy, is "a DEBT
of HONOUR, and must be paid."


The most moderate chases with the stag extend
from an hour and a half to two hours; though from
three to four hours is by no means uncommon in
the course of the season. Horses too deficient in
speed, too heavy in formation, too full in flesh, or
foul in condition, frequently fall martyrs to a want
of judgment or prudence in their RIDERS during the
chase: every man ought to know when his horse is
dangerously distressed, and of course should bow
implicit obedience to the occasion: there are times
when self-denial would add lustre to the brow of a
MONARCH; and it never can be displayed with a
more humane effect, than when in the defence and
preservation of so useful an animal; who, being
deprived the privilege of free agency, is not possessed
of the power to protect himself: under the influence
of which consideration, there is not a SPORTSMAN
of EXPERIENCE or
HUMANITY existing, who
would not philosophically retire with patience from
the field, to save the life of a faithful persevering
companion, than to see him sink (never more to
rise) a victim to inadvertency, folly, or indiscretion.
In a severe chase of more than four hours, recited
in the former part of the Work, (where the stag
was taken at Tilehurst, near Reading, in Berkshire,)
one horse dropped dead in the field, another
died before he could reach a stable, and seven more
{366}
in the course of a week. The concluding ceremony
of the chase is the preservation of the deer, the baying
of the hounds, and the melodious concert of
the horns; after which the former are drawn off,
and the stag, hind, or heavier, is deposited in a
place of safety, from whence he is taken the following
day, in a convenient vehicle constructed for the
purpose.


The regular hunting days with the STAG hounds
of his Majesty, are Tuesdays and Saturdays, from
Holyrood Day (Sept. 25) to the first Saturday in
May; except in Christmas and Easter Weeks, in
each of which they hunt three times. The two grand
or most public days, are Holyrood Day and
Easter Monday, when the field is uncommonly
numerous; particularly if the weather favourably
corresponds with the occasion.




STALING
—is the evacuation of urine by either
horse or mare, which is at some times partially obstructed,
and at others totally suppressed. The secretion
of urine may be retarded from a variety of
causes; such as injuries sustained in the spine, particularly
in the LOINS, near which the kidnies are
seated; and these, from their irritability, are also
easily susceptible of disease, by which the discharge
may be affected. The urine, with a horse or mare
in a healthy state, should flow in a moderate stream,
of a transparent colour, midway between a brown
{367}
and red; not inclining to a milky, foul consistence,
or tending to a tinge of blood. The evacuation
should take place with ease, perfectly free from laborious
groanings, and equally so from partial
dribblings, or periodical trifling stoppings, which
always denote a something imperfect in the secretion,
or some obstruction in the urinary passages.


Staling, when the urine is strongly impregnated
with appearance of blood, should be early attended
to, as it is mostly occasioned by some serious injury
to the kidnies, or elsewhere. It is very frequently
brought on by hard, long and immoderate riding,
or drawing; and may be the effect of a rupture of
some blood-vessel, the seat of which it may be impossible
to ascertain: if it should be a discharge of
nearly pure blood, and that in any considerable
quantity, great danger may be apprehended.
Bleeding (to constitute revulsion) is a preliminary
step to every degree of hope, followed by small
quantities of nitre in powder, blended with equal
parts of gum Arabic in the same state. Gelatinous
fluids, as oatmeal gruel, or malt sweet-wort, with
nursing, rest, and small doses of
LIQUID LAUDANUM,
are the only means to be pursued.






STALL
.—The partitions into which a stable is
divided are denominated STALLS; and the space allotted
to each horse is called a stall. These, in
stables constructed with judgment, and erected with
{368}
a necessary respect to health and convenience,
should never be less than nine or ten feet high,
and six feet wide: the heighth will contribute much
to the equal temperature of the air; and the width
will contribute to the comfort of the horse in an occasional
extension of his extremities, as well as prevent
many of those injuries sustained in too suddenly
turning in narrow and confined stalls, particularly
in the common livery stables of the Metropolis.
In many large equestrian and hunting establishments
there are single stalls (called loose
boxes) of such dimensions as are adapted to the accommodation
of horses either sick or lame, where
they are then at liberty to expand at full length, and
enabled to roll at their ease: these are of great utility,
and few sportsmen continue long without them.






STALLION
—is the appellation given to a perfect
horse, not mutilated by the operation of castration,
but preserved in a state of nature, for the purpose
of propagation. Stallions should be of great
strength, according to the distinct breed they are
intended to promote, of correct shape, uniform
make, and corresponding symmetry; free from
every kind of hereditary taint; good eyes, long
forehand, short back, round barrel, wide chest,
straight legs, free from splents before, and spavins
behind. Although it is a difficult task to obtain
perfection, some little circumspection may be necessary,
{369}
in coming as near to it as circumstances
and situation will permit. Experimental observation
has produced demonstration, that stallions
really blind, or with eyes defective, have produced
colts of similar description; such defects not appearing
in their first two or three years, nor, indeed,
till they have been worked, and the powers brought
into action. Instances are never wanting of the
great number annually disposed to breed, who as
annually repent for want of these prudent precautions.
Not only the above points, but the temper
and disposition of a stallion should be also attended
to: vicious and restive horses should be
equally avoided; those imperfections are very frequently
transmitted from sire to son, and continued
to posterity.




Stallions of the racing kind were never known to
have covered at so high a price as in the memory of
the present generation. Marsk, after the appearance
of that prodigy Eclipse, covered a certain
number of mares at 100 guineas each; and none now
of the first celebrity, cover at less than ten, fifteen,
or twenty. Those in the highest sporting estimation,
and announced for the present season, 1803,
are Alexander, at 10 guineas; Ambrosio, 10 guineas;
Beningbrough, 10 guineas; Buzzard, 10
guineas; Coriander, 10 guineas; Dungannon, 10
guineas; and Sir Harry, at five. Hambletonian,
10 guineas; and Patriot, at five. Volunteer, at 10
{370}
guineas; and Shuttle, at five. Pegasus, Precipitate,
and Sir Solomon, at 10 guineas each. Stamford,
Idris, Meteor, and Mr. Teazle, at five. Sir Peter
Teazle, 15 guineas; Young Eclipse, 20 guineas;
Whisky, Worthy, and Waxy, at 10 guineas; Trumpator,
eight guineas; Oscar, at six. Grouse, Gouty,
Fidget, Totteridge, Don Quixote, and Old Tat, at
five guineas; and Petworth, Stickler, Warter, Gamenut,
Moorcock, (brother to Grouse,) and Zachariah,
at three.


The following famous stallions died at or about
the dates annexed to their names. Old Fox,
in 1738, aged 23 years. Old Partner, 1747, aged
29. The Godolphin Arabian, 1753, 29. Old
Cade, 1756. The Bolton Starling, 1757.
Snip, the same year. Young Cade, 1764. Old Marsk,
July 1779. King Herod, May 12, 1780. Matchem,
February 21, 1781. Imperator, 1786. Morwick
Ball, January 4, 1787, aged 25 years. Eclipse,
February 26, 1789, in his 26th year. Goldfinder,
in 1789. Fortitude, the same year. Conductor, in
1790. Phlegon, the same year. Faggergill, 1791;
and Florizel, the same year. Fortunio, Jupiter,
and Soldier, all died in 1802.




STANDARD
—is the name of an instrument by
which the exact heighth of a horse is taken (to the
eighth of an inch) when engaged to carry weight
for inches, or entered to run for a
GIVE and TAKE
{371}
PLATE. The standard is about six feet six inches
high, and so constructed with a line and pendulum,
in the centre of a circle, that no mismeasurement,
by fraud or imposition, can take place. The
standard is one straight square piece of oak or mahogany,
and divided, from the top to the bottom,
in figured spaces of four inches each; every space
of which is termed a HAND; so that a horse of fifteen
hands is precisely five feet high. From the standard
branches horizontally a projecting arm, of about
twenty inches, or two feet in length, which sliding
upwards or downwards, is raised higher, or sunk
lower, with the hand, till it rests easily upon the
extreme point of the wither; when, by looking at
the proper suspension of the pendulum and the
figures at the same time, the heighth of the horse is
instantly ascertained.






STAR
—is the white centrical spot in the forehead
of a horse, directly between, and rather above,
the eyes. These are considered great natural ornaments
in bays, chestnuts, browns, and blacks; inducing
DEALERS to remedy the deficiencies of nature
by the obtrusion of art. This is effected by
scraping off the hair carefully with a razor, from
the part where the intended star is to appear, when,
by wetting the surface with oil of vitriol, an eschar
will soon appear, when which exfoliates, it is followed
by a growth of hair of the colour required.




{372}




 STARING of the COAT
.—This external appearance
in a horse, so strikingly denotes him out
of condition, or diseased, that it never escapes the
eye of the most superficial observer. It is originally
occasioned by a sudden collapsion of the porous
system, from an exposure to cold chilling rains,
after having been previously heated; a change from
a warm stable to one less comfortable, and a consequent
viscidity of the blood; or from a low, impoverished,
and acrimonious state of the circulation.
See Hidebound, Surfeit,
and Mange.






STARTING
,—in horses, is an imperfection,
if it becomes habitual, that is of the most dangerous
description. It is exceedingly different from
a horse skittish, wanton, and playful only, for
which the rider is always prepared; and if a good
horseman, it is generally as pleasing to one as to
the other. But when a horse is eternally in fear,
and alarmed at every object unlike himself, he not
only sometimes snorts and stops suddenly in the
midst of a rapid career of either trot or gallop,
but, by an instantaneous spring of five or six feet,
brings the rider over his head, or dismounts him on
one side or the other. It is not at all matter of
surprise, that most of the young horses brought
from the country, should at first be alarmed at the
infinite variety and velocity of carriages, as well as
with other strange and unaccountable objects, to
which they must have been entirely unaccustomed
{373}
before they reached the environs of the Metropolis.
Horses of this description, (good-tempered, and
not viciously inclined,) are never known to be long
so disposed, provided they are treated tenderly,
and encouraged mildly to pass the object by which
they have been so suddenly, accidentally, and perhaps
unnecessarily, alarmed; but when the fools
who ride them permit passion and inhumanity to predominate
over reason, obstinacy on one side often
begets opposition on the other, and accident or
death frequently ensues; in confirmation of which,
the following fact may be applicably introduced,
as a check to the impetuosity of those heroes on
horseback, with which every road, and every country,
so plentifully abound.




Some few years since, a medical practitioner, of
much celebrity in the town of Putney, not many
miles from London, being suddenly called from
home upon a professional occasion, happened to
meet a broad wheel waggon upon the turnpike
road, at which the horse being greatly terrified, immediately
started, and sprung to a considerable
distance, producing, in fact, no small degree of
alarm and passionate mortification in the rider; who
most inconsiderately adopted the usual mode of attempting
to obtain by violence, what might have
been probably acquired in an equal space of time
with patience and philosophy. Not affording time to
recollect that the horse had his sensations of joy,
{374}
fear, surprise, and dread of danger, in an equal
degree with himself, he immediately proceeded to
the use of whip and spur, till the horse approached
the waggon, which the poor complying animal no
sooner did, in obedience to his master, than a sudden
gust of wind passing under the tilt, raised it in
such a manner just in the face of the horse, that so
strange and aweful a renewal of the first alarm repeated
the start, and with such violence, that the
rider was dismounted, and the wheels going over
his body, he lost his life upon the spot. A retention
of this transaction in the memory of every
juvenile or inexperienced reader, may, perhaps,
prove an applicable preventive to unmanly passion
at the very moment of its intentional exertion.




STERN
.—The tail of the HOUND, or GREYHOUND,
is sportingly so called.






STEW
—is a small reservoir of water, to which
fish are brought from larger receptacles where they
are bred or caught, and there deposited for the
daily use of the family, the supply being constantly
kept up in proportion to the domestic consumption.






STIFLE
.—The part of a horse called the stifle,
is the projecting point of the hind-quarter, which
comes forward under the flank towards the belly,
forming an angular joint from the round bone
above to the hock below. Injuries are not often
{375}
sustained at this junction; and when they are, it is
much oftener by neglect, a blow, or inadvertence,
than by unavoidable accident. Lameness in this
part can receive no assistance from bandage; fomentation,
embrocation, and rest, are the only
means that can be adopted to obtain relief; for
when a lameness in the stifle is severe, or of long
standing, a perfect cure is seldom obtained.






STIRRUP
—is the well-known polished iron
convenience suspended from each side of the saddle;
of a proper shape, make, and size, to receive and
support the foot, for the joint promotion of ease
and safety. Upon the length of the leather strap
(called stirrup-leather) entirely depends the graceful
position of the rider, and his command of the
horse; if which is too short, he is in danger, upon
any start or sudden exertion of the horse, of being
thrown over his head: if they are too long, he is in
an equally aukward predicament; for having then
no assisting support, but the internal part of the
knees, they must, if the horse is a rough goer, be
soon in a state of laceration. The proper length of
the stirrup-leathers, for either field or road, is so
as to be able, when sitting firm upon the saddle, to
disengage the foot from the stirrup with one action
of drawing back, and to receive it again with the
reverse. In racing, the stirrups are required a degree
shorter; as it is by the joint and corresponding
{376}
support of the knees, and the strength of the arms
and shoulders, that the horse is held to his stroke.






STONE
.—This is a sporting term upon the
TURF, and used in matches, plates,
and sweepstakes,
to denote or imply what weight each horse is to
carry; that is, so many STONE, so many
POUNDS.
Every stone is fourteen pounds, and this is called
"horseman's weight," in contra-distinction to a
common stone, of eight pounds, by which meat,
and other articles in trade, are sold.






STOAT
.—The stoat is a most mischievous little
animal, very much resembling the weasel, and at a
small distance, when running, not to be readily
distinguished from each other. They abound near
large farms surrounded with corn-ricks and faggot-piles,
under each of which they ensure to a certainty
never-failing protection. This diminutive
pest, though but from two to three inches in
heighth, (ten inches long, the tail half the length of
its body, disgustingly hairy, and pointed with
black, the edges of the ears and the toes both of a
cream-coloured white,) is a most indefatigable, determined,
and destructive enemy to GAME in all its
forms, and POULTRY in all its branches.






STRAIN
.—See Sprain.




{377}




STRANGLES
—is a disorder to which young
horses in general are always liable, and few or none
escape, any more than children escape the small-pox,
hooping-cough, or measles. It first displays
itself in a heaviness of the head, a dulness of the
eyes, a reluctance to action, a heat in the mouth,
and a gradually declining appetite: this is followed
by a swelling in the concavity beneath the under
jaw, which being centrical, is sometimes surrounded
by two or three tumefactions of smaller formation.
These, in their progress to maturation, are frequently
slow, and require patient perseverance in
external application; for in all cases of suppuration,
NATURE may be led,
but will never be driven.
During the time the matter is forming, and progressively
getting into a state of concoction, an internal
soreness of the throat correspondingly comes on,
and is followed by an almost or total refusal of
food. When it is ascertained that STRANGLES is the
true face of the disorder, care must be taken to
avoid bleeding, and every kind of medical evacuants,
which would tend to embarrass Nature in her
own efforts, and protract the crisis of disease; upon
which the very safety of the horse, and his expeditious
cure, entirely depend.




The strangles is a disorder standing in much
greater need of nursing, and constant stable attendance,
than the least medical interposition: the
system requires to be kept up by art, and every
{378}
nutritious attention in proportion as the appetite
has been observed to decline. In its earliest stage,
no attempt whatever should be made at repulsion,
(by external astringents, or any spirituous application
whatever;) on the contrary, hot emollient fomentations
to the part, (with two sponges dipt in
the decoction alternately for a quarter of an hour
daily,) followed directly with stimulative poultices
of a proper heat, repeated and patient offers of gruel
and sweet-wort, mixed a little warm in a pail perfectly
clean, and free from grease. Small quantities
of mash (prepared of ground malt and bran,
equal parts) should, at proper intervals, be placed
in the manger: these and the gruel being constantly
refused, the case will then require the additional
adoption of a pectoral cordial ball, to be dissolved
in a pint of gruel, and mildly insinuated about a
third part with the horn at each time, till the whole
is got down; and this should be repeated three times
in every twenty-four hours, till the tumor is broke,
and the crisis arrives; when which is observed, if
the aperture is too small, it may be a little enlarged
with the point of any instrument, that the matter
may the more easily run off. To promote this, the
poultice, covering a pledget of digestive ointment,
should be continued for two or three days, when a
cure is soon effected. Two or three doses of physic,
or a course of alteratives, is always necessary after
this disease.


{379}




STRANGURY
—is a temporary suppression of
urine in horses, brought on more by the indiscretion
of their riders or drivers, than any morbid affection,
or constitutional defect in the horse. It
may proceed from a spasmodic stricture upon the
sphincter, or the neck of the bladder, occasioned
by a too long retention of urine; in continuing an
immoderate length of time on the road, or in the
field, during which the distrest animal has no opportunity
to stale; as well as from a slight inflammation,
or tendency to tumefaction, in the kidnies;
likewise from calculous concretions in the bladder,
jaggy particles of which may irritate, and painfully
plug up the urinary passages. Some horses feel
great pain when labouring under the suppression,
which, when judiciously managed, seldom proves
more than a temporary inconvenience. Instantaneous
bleeding will sometimes, by unloading the
vessels, take off the stricture, and produce instantaneous
effect. If the horse is perpetually straining
to stale, evacuating only a few drops, or partial
dribblings, two or three cloves of a separated onion,
or divided garlic, may be insinuated, and left
within each side of the sheath; in addition to which,
a large sponge, dipt in very warm water, and repeatedly
applied to the neighbouring parts, will assist;
those local applications proving salutary and
expeditious substitutes for the more tedious process
of medicine internally administered. In cases of
long continuance, and increasing emergency, more
{380}
commanding means must be adopted; of which
DIURETIC BALLS, with a drachm of camphire, and a
few grains of opium incorporated with each, and periodically
repeated, will be found to answer the
most sanguine expectation.






STRING-HALT
.—This defect in a horse is a
kind of spasmodic jerk, or sudden twitching of one
or other of the hind-legs in action, and has been,
in different opinions, attributed to various causes,
and probably by none to the right; as there is no
one disorder, disease, defect, or imperfection, to
which the horse is liable, upon the origin, progress,
or cure of which so little has been introduced. It
is conjecturally said by some "to be brought on
by sudden colds, after severe riding or hard labour,
particularly by washing a horse when hot with cold
water; a practice too common, and erroneously ridiculous;
and that it may also be produced by
blows or bruises near the hock." All this may
be well upon the score of speculative amusement,
but it forms no feature of scientific disquisition.
The string-halt, from its appearance, must palpably
originate in a previous distortion of some part of
the ligamentary junction; or a preternatural contraction,
(or partial rupture,) of its muscular appendages;
in either or both of which, no regular
road to relief can be adverted to without a much
greater probability of repentant trouble and mortifying
disappointment.


{381}






STUBBED
.—A horse is said to have sustained
this injury, when in hunting amongst the stumps
of newly cut coverts and underwood, he is punctured,
cut, or bruised, in any part of the foot,
coronet, or fetlock, by some of the infinity of stubs
with which newly cut copses so plentifully abound.
When accidents of this kind happen, the applications
must depend entirely upon the magnitude of
the injury received. In all slight cases, amounting
to little more than simple laceration, Friar's balsam,
tincture of myrrh, or even common vinegar, may
soon close the mouths of the vessels, harden the surface,
and effect a cure. Where swelling and inflammation
ensue, poultices must follow; and
WOUNDS must of course be treated as such.
Although misfortunes may frequently occur, and cannot,
even by the most circumspect, be always
avoided, yet it is certain, more horses are stubbed
by the folly and indiscretion of those who ride
them, than by any casual or inevitable occurrences
of the chase.






STUD
—is a term applicable to three distinct
meanings, and is so used in its different significations.
A stud, in its more extended acceptation,
applies to an aggregate collection of horses, without
giving priority to any particular sort; as the person
having a great number of horses, is said to have a
very large stud; but the term, in its divided and
sub-divided state, proves more extensively comprehensive.
{382}
One is in possession of a very expensive
RACING STUD; another has a numerous
STUD of
HUNTERS; and a third, still more opulent, or still
more fashionable, shall have a BREEDING STUD, to
produce an annual supply for the two preceding.
The management of each individually, is now so
perfectly understood, by those perpetually engaged
in the practice, that no information can be derived
from literary or theoretic inculcation.






STUD-BOOK
—is the hereditary deposit of
PEDIGREE,
transmitted from one generation to another,
and punctually preserved by the proprietor of
every RACING STUD of eminence in the kingdom;
in which may be retraced the exact lineal descent of
each HORSE and MARE,
from the earliest time in which
racing blood began to bear a promise of estimation.
From a most industrious and elaborate accumulative
collection of these, Mr. Weatherby has given to the
public, a full, clear, explanatory and well-authenticated
pedigree of between four and five thousand
of the best bred horses who have raced and covered
in England, Scotland, and Ireland. This publication
bears the title of "Weatherby's General
Stud-Book;" and must, to every sportsman of taste
and literature, prove a most useful and entertaining
volume.






STUMBLING
—is so great an imperfection in
a horse, that it affects his intrinsic worth, in proportion
{383}
to the readiness with which it is perceived.
Horses having short forehands, large heads, and
thick shoulders, are the most subject to this defect
of any other formation: those low at the point of
the withers, (which is called being lower before than
behind,) in addition to the deficiencies already mentioned,
are the worst of stumblers; the whole forming
such a combination of bad points, as not to leave
one enlivening hope of reformation. A horse addicted
to stumbling, occasions so many dreadful sensations
to the rider, that he may almost as well encounter
so many shocks of electricity. Those who
unluckily get into possession of such, cannot separate
too soon. The old sportsman never rides a
stumbler more than once, which he thinks once too
often.






SURBATING
—is a term getting into disuse,
and with the last of the old school of farriery will in
a few years be buried in total oblivion: this it well
deserves to be, as a word without either meaning or
derivation. Insignificant as it sounds, it has been,
till within a very few years, used to signify a hoof so
battered, bruised, and worn, with bad shoeing, bad
shoes, and sometimes with no shoes at all, that the
horse, having hardly any feet to stand upon, was
then said to be surbated; which, in more explanatory
and comprehensive language, is neither more
or less than the sole of the foot so completely destroyed,
(by the means before-mentioned,) that a
{384}
horse in such situation is now said to be foot-foundered,
who was formerly said to be surbated.






SURFEIT
.—In respect to the disease in horses
so called, it seems, with most veterinary writers of
the preceding and present time, to be an almost indefinite
or undefined term. It is not only differently
described, but attributed to various causes; without
the superfluous investigation of which, it is only
necessary to observe, that it is the effect of acrimonious
morbidity in the blood, possessing gradational
shades of progress, in a corresponding degree
with what is denominated scurvy in the frame of the
human species. In the first stage of what is professionally
deemed SURFEIT, the horse's coat partially
stares, and is in some parts nearly erect: under the
raised parts is perceived a kind of blue dusty hue,
which, not counteracted by medical means, or an
increase of good healthy provender, soon degenerates
to a palpable scurf; this continuing to extend
itself over the surface, so hardens by time, that each
becomes a pustule or eschar, which afterwards exfoliating,
leaves alternate appearances of the bare
skin and hair, somewhat similar to an advanced stage
of the mange, to which species of disease it is, in
fact, no very distant relation. Its progress to inveteracy
is not the same in all subjects, as it will
continue its ravages with fixed scales, or dry barky
scabs, in some, but will emit a sharp serous ichor
from others.




{385}


This discharge is generally of such a sharp and
acrid property, that the violent itching it occasions,
keeps the poor object in a state of incessant misery;
for when the disorder is far advanced, the time is so
constantly appropriated to the indispensible office of
rubbing, (for the attainment of temporary relief,)
that very little is afforded to the purpose of subsistence,
should pasture be furnished in plenty;
which, with such unfortunate and unprofitable subjects,
is very rarely the case. The first step to cure,
is to alter and enrich the property of the blood, by
altering the aliment to a more nutritious and invigorating
kind than it was before. In a week or ten
days, when the frame is in a perceptible degree improved,
a first bleeding may take place, followed
by such antimonial alteratives, as may be found best
adapted to the complexion of the case. Many instances
there are, where, from long standing, and
great malignancy, mercurial solutions, or vitriolic
lotions, become so indispensibly necessary, that a
cure cannot be perfectly insured without. When
the system is in a certain degree restored, and visibly
rising superior to the depredating effects of disease,
bleeding may be repeated, and antimonial powders
in mashes nightly administered, till indications of
certain recovery appear, when a course of mild
mercurial physic should be proceeded upon, that
no doubt of obliteration may be entertained.


{386}




SWAINMOTE
—is a peculiar court, appertaining
solely to the LAWS of a forest,
and held three
times within the year. In this court the Verderers
preside in the official capacity of Judges; for
although the Warden, or his deputy, may take their
seats in the court, they have no judicial authority
there. The court of Swainmote may enquire of
offences, receive informations, and proceed to conviction;
but judgment is not within the limits of
this court; their province extends no farther than
to hear and convict; judgment cannot be given but
from the judgment-seat, where the Justice in
Eyre
presides as chief officer; and all associated with him,
are called Justices of the Forest. This court being
a Court of Record,
can fine and imprison for offences
within the forest; and therefore if the judgment
is conceived erroneous, the record may be removed
by writ of error into the Court of King's
Bench.






SWEAT
—is the transpiration of perspirative
matter through the skin by the effect of an increased
circulation of the blood. This, in a moderate degree,
is so conducive to the promotion of HEALTH,
that those horses who regularly enjoy exercise to a
proper state of perspiration, occasionally, and at
proper times, are always in the highest condition;
provided they are taken care of in proportion to the
exercise each has had, or the work he has undergone.
By the appearance of a horse in a high perspiration,
{387}
immediate judgment may be formed of
the property of his blood; and in a collateral degree,
of the state of his health; for when a horse in good
condition is under a profuse perspiration, the sweat
is so congenially incorporated with the coat, (particularly
if the horse is well bred,) that the hair lays
so uniformly one way, that if the sun happens to
shine, it seems a covering of satin: on the contrary,
when a horse, after equal (or, in fact, much less)
exertion, bears a greasy kind of perspiration upon
the surface, with the coat turning in different directions,
bearing a gross matted appearance, and of a
faint fœtid effluvia, the blood is in an improper
state, and the horse in very bad condition. Sweating
a horse in the stable, by the administration of
medicine, is a practice, the propriety of which has
not hitherto been clearly ascertained; at least not
perfectly demonstrated upon the true principles of
science, uncontaminated by the obtrusive aid of deceptive
speculation. See "Tartar Emetic."






 SWEATING for the TURF
—is a sporting
ceremony with training-grooms, to which, in their
opinion, no small probable consequence is attached;
as is fully confirmed by the invariable punctuality
with which it is performed. The two reasons assigned
for the necessity of this operation, is to preserve
the WIND in its proper state of purity,
and to prevent
a superfluous and improper accumulation of FLESH.
Horses in training are (in strict conformity with
{388}
this intent) sweated at certain periods, or intervals,
of six, seven or eight days each; which are brought
nearer to, or delayed farther from each other, by
the increasing or reduced state of the subject so to
be sweated. The ceremony is performed in the
morning, soon after the dawn of day, under the ancient
superstitious opinion, that the AIR is then more
pure than at any other part of the twenty-four hours;
and with those whose department it is to execute the
office, as much imaginary consequence appertains
to it, as to making up the most important national
dispatches at the principal office of Administration.




The horse intended to be sweated, is previously
loaded with a profusion of sheets, quarter-pieces,
and horse-cloths; the number and weight judiciously
proportioned to the quantity of perspirative
matter it is intended he should lose: when all which
is completely fixed in the stable, he is then brought
to the exercise ground, with a light or feather weight
upon his back, where, after having been walked
time sufficient to afford ample opportunities of unloading
the carcase by excrementitious evacuation,
he is permitted to start for a sweat of two, three,
four or five miles, according to his age, his strength,
his state of flesh, and the kind of race (in respect to
distance) he is in training for; as well as the sort of
course he is intended to run over. It is a most judicious
and confirmed rule in sweating, that the
horse is to begin at a very slow rate, and so continue
{389}
till he has covered half the ground he is to go,
when he should have his speed moderately increased
during the third quarter, so that his fourth should
be at a degree of speed very little short of his rate
in racing.


Having ran his ground, and pulled up, he is
walked in hand for a few minutes, to give time (in
the language of the turf) for the sweat to come out,
which, when the cloths are taken off, follows in copious
streams that the animal seems to enjoy. At
this moment two assistants are ready with each a thin
wooden instrument, called a scraper, made of oak
or ash, in shape resembling half the blade of a mowing
scythe, (narrowed at the ends for the convenience
of the hands,) with which they scrape the
sweat from the neck, back, sides, belly, and quarters,
so long as the least moisture is observed to appear;
the moment which ceases, the scrapers are exchanged
for wisps of soft straw, or separated hay-bands,
'till the body, and every part, is perfectly
clean and refreshed. He is then furnished with dry
sheets, hood, &c. brought to the ground for the
purpose; when being led home to the stable, he is
supplied with the necessary quantity of soft water, a
little warm, previous to undergoing a regular and
complete dressing, with greater nicety, than in the
open air: when this is systematically gone through,
he has a farther moderate supply of water, which is
most commonly (though there are occasional deviations)
{390}
followed by a warm and comfortable mash;
upon depositing which in the manger, and setting the
stable fair, the door is closed for a double period of
the usual hours for going to stable when a horse has
not been sweated; and although he undergoes the
afternoon and evening routine of being fed, set fair,
&c. he is neither stripped, or goes to exercise, any
more on that day.




 SWEATING of JOCKIES
—is a ceremony
which every JOCKEY is under the necessity of going
through when engaged to ride, and the horse is to
carry less than his own natural weight. For the reduction
of weight, jockies are obliged to encounter
great inconveniencies, particularly when they have
much to lose, and a very short time to lose it in.
The means of reducing themselves to the weight
required are various, and depend upon the greater
or lesser quantity they wish to lose in a given time,
and have to waste themselves accordingly. If they
have but two or three pounds to lose, they will waste
that in a single day's abstinence, and a morning and
evening's walking: should four or five pounds be
required, a gentle laxative, followed by two or
three days extra walking, with an additional waistcoat
or two, will generally carry the point: if more
is necessary to be lost, it is sometimes a hazardous
reduction, and great exertions are made to effect it:
additional purgation, continued abstinence, increased
perspiration, and almost perpetual exercise, all
{391}
which, if persevered in to an extreme, tend to undermine
the natural stamen by which the frame is
supported, and absolutely saps the constitution. Instances
have been numerous, where JOCKIES have
undertaken to waste fourteen or sixteen pounds
against the day of running; which having been at
no great distance, they have, in addition to the
evacuations already described, submitted their bodies
to the debilitating FUMES of a hot-bed; and what
is still more extraordinary, to be immersed in the
stench and steam of a
DUNGHILL to effect their purpose,
which so completely relaxed the solids, and
deranged the system of the natural economy, that
consumption followed, and DEATH
soon closed the scene.






SWELLED LEGS
.—See Legs Swelled,
Humours, and Grease.






SWELLING in the Sheath or
Groin
,—of a
horse externally in good health, and without any
predominant symptoms of pain or disquietude, is
sometimes of little consequence; denoting no more
than a general plethora, or distension of the vessels,
which immediate bleeding, followed by gentle friction,
and moderate evacuants, may be expected to
remove: but if it makes its appearance at the crisis
of any inflammatory disorder, of either liver, lungs,
or kidnies, it may be considered a very unfavourable
prognostic, and the worst is yet to come;
{392}
though the writer has seen many cases of extreme
danger, where the patients have recovered by persevering
in the medical means which were previously
known to be right.






SWAN
.—The swan, as the most majestic and
distinguished of all water fowl, is honoured with
royal protection: those who disturb their nests, destroy
their eggs, or injure, wound, or cripple the
swans, are liable to imprisonment for twelve months,
and a fine at the pleasure of the King. The corporate
body of the City of London, as CONSERVATORS
of the River Thames, have an annual aquatic
excursion to Staines, (which is the western extremity
of their boundaries,) in the most pleasant and
most plentiful season of the year, with colours flying,
music playing, and all the appropriate parapharnalia
of the first and most opulent city in the
universe. All the swans upon the Thames, within
their district, are under the protection of the Conservators;
and this display of civic grandeur is perpetuated
from one generation to another, by the
appellation of "Swan-hopping day."




{393}


T.




TAIL
.—Upon the uniform shape and setting on
of a horse's tail, his good or ill appearance greatly
depends. When the spine is continued in a curvilinear
direction beyond the rump, and the basis of
the tail is formed too low in the quarters, the horse
is termed "goose-rumped;" and no nicking, or
setting, will ever give him the figure of a handsome
horse behind. It has been a long-standing maxim,
that "a good horse can't be of a bad colour;" and
there may probably be some who think a good
horse can't have a bad tail; but a little experience,
in buying and selling, will convince them, that the
difference between the two will be little less than
ten or fifteen pounds in a horse of no more than fifty
pounds value. Great losses are sometimes sustained
for want of a little circumspection at the moment of
making a purchase; and this may sometimes proceed
from the horse's having some peculiar points
of attraction, in the fascinating survey of which the
defects are totally absorbed; hence arises the pecuniary
deficiency when the subject becomes again to
be sold, particularly if to a more prudent and less
hasty purchaser. The old sportsman, when going
to buy, looks at the horse as if it was really his own,
and he was going to sell; in doing which, he estimates
his saleable value with an eye of greater accuracy,
{394}
makes a tolerably fair calculation what he
ought with consistency to bid, that he may sustain
no great loss, should he have future occasion to sell.






TARTAR
—was an excellent racer, and the
most celebrated stallion of his time. He was bred
by Mr. Leedes, foaled in 1743; was got by Partner,
out of Meliora, who was got by Fox, out of
Milkmaid. Tartar was sire of the famous King
Herod, Beaufremont, Miner, and Colonel O'Kelly's
mare the dam of Maria, Antiochus, Venus, Jupiter,
Mercury, Volunteer, &c. &c.




Tartar, called Wildman's Tartar, was a horse
of some note likewise; he was bred by Sir J.
Moore, foaled in 1758, and got by the above, out
of Miss Meredith, who was got by Cade out of the
little Hartley Mare.




TARTAR EMETIC
—is one of the most powerful,
and, in respect to horses, one of the most
prostituted medicines in the whole MATERIA MEDICA:
its name here is only introduced, and its properties
described, that the SPORTING WORLD,
as well as individuals,
may be sufficiently guarded against its
dangerous effects, if injudiciously administered, or
secretly brought into use, by practitioners of little
knowledge, and less celebrity, who, knowing no
more of its preparation than its name, know less of
{395}
its effects than its preparation. With farriers or veterinarians
of this description, it is become a favourite
medicine upon so many occasions, that it
stands entitled to a fair, candid, and unequivocal
investigation. Emetic tartar, when administered
to the human frame, with a design of producing the
forcible effect of a strong emetic, has never, by
professional men, of the most learned, distinguished,
and experienced ability, exceeded six or seven; and
in truly critical cases of dangerous emergency, eight
grains may have been given. Ten grains have been
known to operate so violently as to excite convulsions;
twelve, to occasion DEATH.




Amidst such incontrovertible facts, it naturally
becomes a serious consideration, that men, knowing
nothing of the property of medicine, should
have the unrestrained privilege and permission of
bringing into use articles of so much dangerous
magnitude, not only without knowing their basis,
preparation, and peculiar properties, but without
the power of prognosticating their probable effects.
It is a circumstance worthy the attention of those
possessing a number of horses for either business or
pleasure, (who must consequently have some occasionally
labouring under disease,) how far it may be
safe, proper, consistent, or discreet, to give a horse
half an ounce of TARTAR EMETIC
at one dose, which,
according to the above ascertained facts, will, if
divided accurately into equal proportions, (and the
{36}
experiments made,) take away the lives of twenty
men. Those who have ignorantly adopted this
practice, as ignorantly and obstinately assert the
impossibility of its doing any harm; without either
not possessing the knowledge, or not giving themselves
time to recollect, that if seven or eight grains
will distress and exhaust the human frame, by every
kind of violent and sensible evacuation, to the appearance
of, and in some cases to actual death;
what must be the internally destructive ravages of
twenty (or thirty) times that quantity, thrown into
the frame of an animal, who, not having, like the
human species, power to regurgitate, or throw off
the offending consequence by vomit, has no alternative,
but to stand a comparative barrel of combustibles,
ready to burst with the effervescent conflagration
raised within, and which must, in a variety
of cases, be evidently productive of certain
death. But such practitioners have no character to
support, no reputation to lose; and they likewise
well know, that dead horses, any more than dead
men, tell no tales.




TEAL
—is a well-known wild fowl, much
esteemed for the table. A teal is of the form, shape,
and make of the wild duck and widgeon, but a degree
smaller than the latter, which is equally so
from the former.




{397}




TEETH
—are the arrangement of small bones
in the mouth of a horse, for the particular purpose
of mastication; and by which the AGE also
may be ascertained. (See Colt.) The teeth are
of a much harder texture than any other bones in
the body, which seems to have been necessary for
the execution of the office they are assigned by Nature.
A horse come to maturity, is in possession of
forty teeth, (including the tushes,) which are thus
distinguished: four-and-twenty of these are called
grinders, and situate on the sides of the upper and
lower jaws above the tushes, and are of no use in
discovering the age. With respect to the other sixteen,
twelve of them are called colt's teeth till upwards
of two years old, (when they begin to shed;)
and the remaining four are denominated tushes;
but they never make the least appearance till rising,
or full five years old. The twelve colt's teeth are
six in front above, and the same below; four of
these (that is, two above, and two below) exfoliate
annually, beginning at the middle two, and
continue shedding the neighbouring two in succession
for the next two years, till they are succeeded
by the entire new set in front, when the horse is five
years old.




These new teeth, upon their appearance, are
distinguished by different appellations: the first
four are called nippers; the next, middle teeth;
and the last, corner teeth. The four nippers are
{398}
the centrical four, (that is, two above, and two
below:) these he sheds when about two years and a
half old, varying a little in the time, according as
he may have been an early or a backward colt.
The middle teeth, as they are called, one on each
side the nippers above and below, exfoliate, and
are followed by others about the same time the following
year, when the colt is three and a half,
(called, rising four:) in this state the teeth continue
till the decline of the following year, when the
corner teeth are shed likewise, and it is then said,
he has lost all his colt's teeth: when the successors
to the corner teeth are full shelled on both sides,
the horse has then completed his fifth year. It is a
practice with DEALERS in general, so soon as they
have purchased a four year old in a country fair, to
immediately wrench out the corner teeth with a key,
or some other convenient instrument, that its successor
may have the credit of spontaneous appearance,
upon which the horse is sold to an inexperienced
purchaser as a FIVE YEAR OLD, though, in
reality, no more than four.


The horse having completed his fifth year, will
have a black cavity in every tooth above and below:
but the inner edge of the five year old tooth at the
corners, is not completely grown up till the last
half of the sixth year, as may be seen by a reference
to the Plate, Fig. 3; "Rising Six." When the
horse is about four or five months beyond his sixth
{399}
year, which is called six off, the black mark in the
centrical teeth fill up by degrees; those standing
next, fill up next in the same way; and in faint
succession one pair to the other, till, at the seventh
year, (when the horse is said to be aged,) the mark
is fairly retained in only the corner teeth, which
continues to decline during the year, and is generally
obliterated by the time the horse is eight years
old. The tushes begin to appear about four, or
between that and the fifth year; they display themselves
one above and one below, on each side, at a
little distance from the corner teeth, without having
been preceded by any colt's teeth in that spot since
they were foaled. After a horse is eight years old,
his age can only be guessed at by the length, and
worn edges, of his teeth; which may always be
nearly ascertained by any person a little accustomed
to the examination.




TENDONS
—are the elastic covering of the
muscles, composed of an infinity of fibres, which,
in their aggregate, form a substance of great
strength, and appropriate contraction and elongation,
for all the purposes of expansion and flexibility.
The tendons in a horse most liable to injury
and accident, are those passing down the shank-bone
of the fore-legs, from nearly the back of the knee,
to their seat of insertion at the fetlock joint, which
are in general known by the name of the back sinews.
These, and the accidents to which they are liable,
{400}
have been so fully treated on under the heads of
Lameness and Sprains,
that enlarging here would
only prove a repetition superfluous and unnecessary.
A wounded or punctured tendon, by
thorn, stub, stable-prong, or with any other instrument,
is always attended with excruciating pain,
and violent inflammation, producing the most dangerous
symptoms. In such cases it has been too
much the practice to have immediate recourse to
turpentine, and other spirituous applications, which
is only adding fuel to the FIRE,
and rendering the
remedy worse than the DISEASE.
Warm, mild fomentations,
emollient poultices, gentle digestives
upon lint covered with tow, and recourse to the
most judicious and experienced practitioner to be
obtained, constitute the only sound basis upon
which even hope of recovery can be entertained; as
most cases of the kind, if serious and severe, have
a very unfavourable termination; those few subjects
who seem completely restored, being ever after
incapable of any work of consequence, ranking
only as invalids.






 TERMS in SPORTING
—are, in general, the
same through every part of the kingdom; except
some few provincial deviations in distant districts,
remote from the centrical parts near the Metropolis.
When going out with hounds in the morning, and
reaching the place of meeting, we throw off (or cast
off) the hounds; we rouse a deer, unkennel a fox,
{401}
or start a hare. When a hound challenges who
can be relied upon, he has taken scent of a deer,
drag of a fox, or trail of a hare. If a hound
quests (that is, gives tongue) without a cause, he is
said to babble. After finding, if the scent lies well,
and the hounds run together, the scent is said to be
breast-high. When, during the chase, the hounds
(in consequence of bad, dry, or stormy weather)
are often at fault, and the huntsman is under the
necessity of adverting to whatever advantages and
assistance he can obtain, he has, perhaps, no other
alternative, than to avail himself of the track of
whatever GAME he has in pursuit; in either of
which chases, he slots a deer, he foots a fox, or he
pricks a hare.




It was formerly the custom to say a kennel of
hounds; of beagles a pack: it is now more usual to
call them indiscriminately a kennel of hounds,
when in the kennel; but all are equally called a
pack in the field. Of greyhounds, pointers, and
spaniels, when speaking of numbers, it is right to
say a brace, (for two;) a leash of greyhounds, a
brace and half of pointers and spaniels, (for three;)
and two brace of either, for four. When a deer,
during the chase, gets into the water, he is then
said to take soil: when so hard run, and so much
distrest, that he turns round, and faces the hounds,
he is then said to stand at bay. The head of the
fox, when killed, is called the front, (in some
{402}
parts, the scalp;) his feet, pads; and his tail, the
brush; which is the distinguishing trait of honour
for the day, that every fearless foxhunter rides for.
When the game leaves covert, it is said to have
gone away: when, in the heighth of the chase, the
game makes a short turn to the right or left, and
the hounds come to a fault, by having over-run the
scent, the game is then said to have headed: if that
is returned in a parallel line with the original chase,
it is called a double; and if it is brought again directly
into the old track, it is called running the
soil.


Hounds at the commencement of a season, after
so long a confinement and restraint, are inclined to
chase every thing they see, or scent from a pig to a
polecat, in all which cases they are said to run riot.
Hounds draw for a fox; they try for a hare. When
greyhounds are removed from one country to another,
they travel with collars; hounds in couples.
In shooting terms, we say, a brace of hares, a leash
of pheasants, and two brace of partridges; a brace
of snipes, a couple and half of woodcocks, and
two couple of rabbits.




TERRIER
.—The terrier may naturally be concluded
to have derived his name from the avidity
with which he takes the earth; particularly when
in pursuit of his own game, which is vermin of
every kind, without distinction. To the fox,
{403}
badger, polecat, weasel, rat, and even the poor
domestic cat, the terrier is a most implacable
enemy. For the purposes of BADGER BAITING, they
have, by the lower classes, been crossed, and bred
in and in with the bull-dog, which has enlarged the
produce of those crosses, and increased the natural
ferocity, as a greater stimulus to that particular
sport now so fashionable with the sons of the
cleaver, since the practice of BULL-BAITING has
been so happily upon the decline. The genuine
and lesser breed of terrier is employed in a business,
to which, by his size, his fortitude, persevering
strength, and invincible ardour, he seems more peculiarly
adapted, and may be most truly said "to
labour cheerfully in his vocation." This is, in his
subordinate attendance upon the chase, where, like
distinguished personages in a procession, though
last, he is not the least in consequence.




Terriers of even the best blood are now bred of
all colours; red, black, (with tan faces, flanks,
feet, and legs;) brindled sandy; some few, brown
pied, white pied, and pure white; as well as one
sort of each colour, rough and wire-haired; the
others, soft and smooth; and, what is rather extraordinary,
the latter not much deficient in courage
with the former; but the rough breed must be acknowledged
the most severe and invincible biter of
the two. Since fox-hunting is so deservedly and
universally popular in every county where it can
{404}
be enjoyed, these faithful little animals have become
so exceedingly fashionable, that few stables
of the independent are seen without them. Four
and five guineas is no great price for a handsome,
well-bred terrier; and a very short time since, seven
puppies were sold at the Running-horse livery-stables,
in Piccadilly, for one-and-twenty guineas;
and these, at this time, is as true a breed of the
small sort as any in England.


With every established pack of fox-hounds
there is seldom to be seen less than a brace of terriers;
and, for the best of reasons, one is generally
larger and stronger than the other; in a small earth,
where one cannot enter, the other may. With the
hounds, in endeavouring to find, as well as during
the chase, their exertions are incessant and indefatigable;
and although the fleet pack shall be carrying
the scent breast high at the top of their speed, these
instinctive devotees to the sport are seldom far behind
them. When a fox is run to earth, it is the
province of the terrier to follow, and lay at him;
as, by the baying of one at the other, the ear will
soon be informed, whether the fox lays deep, or
near the surface; and those who are employed in
digging him out, will be enabled and encouraged
to proceed accordingly. In fidelity, sagacity,
courage, as well as the most incredible endurance
of fatigue and hunger, they are inferior to no one
particular tribe of the canine species.


{405}




THRUSHES
—are defects in the centrical part
of the frogs, which having, by neglect, been permitted
to get into a rotten and decayed state, they
ooze from the middle a most offensive acrid ichor;
and this, unless it is properly cleansed and counteracted,
will continue to corrode the parts underneath,
till the foundation of the frog is totally destroyed.
It has been, and still is, too much the
practice with the ignorant and illiterate, to oppose
the efforts of Nature, instead of rendering her judicious
and necessary assistance. Vitriolic solutions,
VERDIGREASE, and ALUM,
are the favourite
infallibles with the common farrier, the coachman,
and the groom; but to those of more comprehensive
minds, and complying dispositions, perfect
cleansings, with sponge and water, followed by simple
white wine vinegar, and compound tincture of
myrrh, will be found sufficient, if properly persevered in.






TIRING
 is so bad a quality in any horse, in
fact, a circumstance so little likely to occur, that,
when it does happen, (unless by some improper,
cruel, or immoderate riding,) indisposition, or latent
internal defect, may be naturally looked to as
the particular cause. In all cases of this kind,
bleeding, a cordial ball, a malt mash, and a little
nursing, seem the only means most likely to promote
a speedy restoration of strength and spirits.




{406}




TOBY
—was a horse of much recent celebrity as
a RACER, and has since covered as a
STALLION in
some estimation. He was bred by Mr. Bullock;
was got by Highflyer, dam by Matchem. In 1789,
when three years old, he won 100 guineas at Newmarket,
200 guineas at Epsom, and 1100 guineas
at York, beating six others. In 1790, he beat
Euphrosyne across the flat at Newmarket for 500
guineas. The next Meeting he beat Sir W. Aston's
Marcia, the same Course, 200 guineas. In 1791,
he did not start. In 1792, Craven Meeting, Newmarket,
he again beat Euphrosyne the two year old
course, 200 guineas. The next day but one, he
won the great Oatlands Stakes of 100 guineas, fifty-six
subscribers, half forfeit; beating Coriander,
Asparagus, Eager, Precipitate, Stride,
Highlander,
Buzzard, Rhadamanthus, Vermin, Turnip-Top,
and nine others. The next Meeting he received
75 guineas forfeit from Alderman, and 50 guineas
from Exciseman; at the expiration of which season
he was withdrawn from the turf, and advertized as
a stallion, to cover racing mares gratis, and others
at two guineas, and half a crown.






TOILS
.—Park nets, of great strength and magnitude,
are so called. They are used in taking
deer alive, for removal from one park to another;
or from his Majesty's parks to the hunting paddocks
at Swinley Lodge, in Windsor Forest, for
the purposes of the chase.




{407}




TONGUE
.—The tongue of a horse is sometimes
lacerated by the bit of the bridle being too narrow
in the mouth-piece; as also by the frequent petulant
jerks of the rider. These, which are slight in the
first instance, are occasionally repeated, till they become
perfect cadaverous ulcers, with a slough (similar
to a sitfast) in the middle of each. In cases of
this description, the tongue should be held on one
side, while the part is daily touched with a strong
solution of borax in water, till the slough is fallen off;
when it may be soon cured with equal parts of honey
and tincture of myrrh, well incorporated with each other.






TRACK
—is the term used to imply the footmark
of either man or beast; but, in the language
of the field, it admits of some deviations. We
track a man, a horse, an ox, or an ass; we slot a
deer; we foot a fox; and we prick a hare.






TRAIL, or TRAILING
,—appertains solely to
HARE HUNTING; by which, in general, the hare is
found and started from her form. Soon after hounds
are thrown off, some one or more are quickly observed
to give tongue; this the old and best hounds
immediately attend to, and instantly join, which is
called taking trail: but whether such trail arises
from perspirative particles adhering to the line of
her works during the night from her feet only, or
whether it is produced from the lungs by transpiration,
{408}
and only partially exhaled, is a matter that
has never yet been satisfactorily ascertained. See
Scent.




When it was the custom formerly to take the
field so soon as the horsemen could see to ride, trail
was the sure and certain means by which the hare
was found: in a few minutes after the hounds were
thrown off, a general clamour of trail ensued, and
the inexpressible gratification of seeing all the clue
of her night-work unravelled to a view, was sport
much superior to a bad chase. Trail is of much
less import now, when harriers (at least, in the centrical
part of the kingdom) are seldom known to
take the field before ten or eleven o'clock in the
day, when the very slight and partial remains of
trail can be but of small avail: the sole reliance now
principally depends upon drawing over the ground
most likely, according to the season, with the chance
of having a hare found sitting, or the greater probability
of her jumping up before them. The paltry
custom of field money for hares found sitting, has
very considerably warped the judgment from the
sporting-like practice of finding the hare by trailing
up to her; for the huntsman and whipper-in having
caught the pecuniary infection, are poking and prying
in every bush, in a hope and eager expectation
of obtaining a few shillings, instead of attending to
their hounds.


{409}




TRAIN SCENTS
,—formerly so called, but
now more frequently termed drags, are means by
which young hounds may be first entered with old
hounds; a body of hounds exercised upon heaths or
commons, soon after dawn of day in the summer
season: or bets may be decided upon the speed of
either HOUNDS or HORSES,
by means of such drag or
train scent. They are of different kinds, and very
few hounds will refuse to hunt them: when the scent
lies well, the wind is still, and the atmosphere free
from variation by storms or rain, they will carry
it breast high. The skin of hare or fox, newly killed;
a slice of bacon, and a red herring firmly
united; or either, plentifully impregnated with oil
of aniseed; will lead hounds in full cry across any
country over which the drag is directed.






TRAINING
.—The process of training horses
for the TURF was formerly plain, simple, open, and
free from mystery or ambiguity. Circumstances,
however, are so altered, and fashions have so changed,
that a training-stable exceeds in secrecy the inmost
recesses of his Majesty's Councils, upon which
the prosperity and peace of so great a nation entirely
depend. A training-stable is, in the opinion of
those who conduct them, the very summit of earthly
dignity and imaginary consequence. The "insolence
of office," so emphatically alluded to by our
immortal bard, cannot with justice be better applied
than to this immaculate mart of integrity, this delectable
{410}
haven of sublime and unsullied perfection.
Those noblemen and gentlemen whose opulence and
liberality command respect, are entitled to insure
it; but it is frequently and publicly seen upon the
common race course, that they are gratefully treated
by their own pampered and subordinate harpies,
with the most consummate confidence, and upon
many occasions (if their own judgments are opposed,
or opinions thwarted) with the most contemptuous indifference.
Thus it is even with the great and independent,
who have no sooner relinquished their
horses to the superintendance of others, than they
have resigned their free agency also; and it becomes
almost a crime to offer an opinion, or to ask a question:
the etiquette of professional secresy must by
no means be assailed; and it is only as matter of favour,
that a man can get a sight of his own horse,
or obtain authentic information of the real state of
his condition: if the owner (unless he is of the family)
presumes to obtrude a question, he will not
be so likely to receive an unequivocal answer, as
one of the most deminutive stable-boys.




The morality and aggregate of virtues so peculiarly
appertaining to the profession, being placed
in the back-ground of the picture; admitting in
this, as in all others, that there are men of strict honor,
and unsullied integrity, who do not deviate
from the path of rectitude in private transactions;
yet the broad road of temptation is a dangerous
{411}
track, and very few there are who are able to withstand
it. It is a long-standing maxim, that "those who
play at bowls must expect rubs:" so those who make
the embarkation, must abide the consequence.
Certain it is, that the business (or rather art) of
TRAINING, was never before brought to its present
pitch of perfection; but the expence is (with the
collaterals attendant upon it) so enormous, that nothing
but an immensity of wealth can stand against
it. Training has of late years undergone many
changes, and much refinement; but in none more
than the early age at which COLTS
and FILLIES are
brought to the post. Very far within the knowledge
of the present generation, no colt was ever
taken in hand till he was three years old to be made
quiet for breaking; and he was never thought capable
of being brought to the post for a racing contest,
previous to some part of his fifth year. On the
contrary, many are now taken in hand at eighteen
months old; some few run a short match before
they have attained the second year; more run when
rising three: and plates, subscriptions, and sweepstakes,
are common for three year olds from one
extremity of the kingdom to the other.


This constantly increasing and invincible thirst
for racing popularity, by which so many of the
finest horses are crippled before they come to their
prime, has constituted such a sterility, or drawback,
upon the usual supplies for the chase, that the value
{412}
of even common hunting horses has increased beyond
all former example. The present system of
training is considered so truly scientific, that one
general jealousy is known to prevail amongst its
professors of every denomination: the same secresy
which pervades one establishment, is, by the spirit
of emulation, (or infection,) communicated to every
other; and the hour that stimulates one stable lad
to action, regulates the rest in every training-stable
through the kingdom. The serjeant or corporal's
guard in the best disciplined military garrison of his
Majesty's dominions, cannot be more precise, more
critically exact to time, than the training lads are
to stable hours. At the first dawn of day, every
somniferous sensation is shaken off, and each is in
his stable by the time he has day-light sufficient to
brush over his horse: this done, and the quantity
of corn he is allowed consumed, the ceremony of
exercise is proceeded upon, where his walking,
galloping before and after water, take place, in time
and distance, according to the age, state of flesh,
and his condition; all which are nicely attended to,
and his work proceeded upon in proportion. At
his return, the dressings, leg rubbing, and every
minute part of stable discipline, is regulated to a
degree of admiration; when which is completed,
the feeding over, and the stable set fair, silence
prevails; the door is closed, and firmly secured;
the horse being left free from every thing that can
possibly afford disturbance; and this as much before
{413}
six in the morning, as it can be accomplished according
to the season of the year. A short ceremony
of the same kind takes place about three
hours after. Twelve at
NOON, regular brushing
over, feeding, and setting all fair, again take place;
being then once more close locked till FOUR,
when the first ceremony of the morning, air, exercise,
and water, are again repeated; the regular routine
succeeds in the stable, which is closed as near to the
hour of six as possible. When the perpetual prompter
announces the hour of eight, it is the signal for
racking up: this neatly and expeditiously performed,
an early hour of rest is the invariable rule, that all
parties may be the better enabled to enter upon the
business of the morning.


Such is the diurnal ceremony of training; varying
the length and speed of the morning gallops by
the flesh, wind, substance and condition of the
horse; with such intervening Sweats (which see)
as circumstances may justify, or render necessary;
in all which, training grooms of the best judgment,
and most industrious observation, are liable to err.
Horses are seen to train on, others to train off; or,
in plainer terms, some horses have great speed at
three and four years old, who never make a display
of any after; and many have made no promise in
the first or second year of their running, who afterwards
became most capital racers. As a recent
instance of this, reference may be made to "Sir
{414}
Solomon," which see. No small degree of penetration
is necessary to ascertain when a horse is
trained the nearest to the utmost point of his
SPEED;
most horses are over trained, and are, of course,
the likeliest to be beaten, or lamed, whenever they
are brought into competition with a powerful opponent;
who, by having been less trained, is more
above his work; or, in other words, better adapted
to difficulty, and a severe struggle for victory,
should it happen to ensue.




TRAMMELS
—are a collection of side and cross-lines,
having leather loops at the ends, with which
horses are trammelled for the operations of nicking,
docking, cropping, &c.






TRAMEL-NET
—is a long and large net for
taking birds by night with lights; a practice occasionally
enjoyed by the lower class of rustics on a
winter evening.






TRAVELLER
—has been a name of so much
celebrity upon the TURF, that it cannot with propriety
be omitted. Old Traveller was a winner of
a great many plates, and afterwards proved himself
a stallion of much estimation: he was the sire of
Squirrel, Dainty Davy, the dam of Morwick Ball,
&c. &c. He was bred by Mr. Osbaldeston,
foaled in 1735, got by Partner, dam by Almanzor,
who was got by Darley's Arabian.




{415}


Young Traveller was bred by Mr. Coatsworth,
foaled in 1746, got by Old Traveller,
dam by Bartlet's Childers. The last Traveller was
bred by Mr. Hutchinson, foaled in 1785, and got
by Highflyer, dam by Henricus, who was got by
Black and all Black. In 1789, when four years old,
he beat a son of Orpheus over New Malton, one mile
and a half, for 100 guineas. Two days after, he
won a sweepstakes of 10 guineas each over Malton,
beating four others. The next day he won a 50l.
Plate, beating three others. At York he won the
Stand Plate of 50l. beating Cavendish, Spangle,
and a son of Orpheus. In the August York Meeting
he won the City Plate of 50l. added to a subscription
purse, beating Gustavus, and six others.
He was then purchased by His Royal Highness the
Prince of Wales; and in the Houghton Meeting at
Newmarket, beat the Duke of Bedford's Grey
Diomed over the Beacon Course for 500 guineas.


In 1790, Craven Meeting, Newmarket, he
walked over the Duke's Course for a subscription of
50 guineas each, eight Subscribers, half forfeit.
Second Spring Meeting, he beat Lord Grosvenor's
Meteor, over the Beacon Course, 500 guineas.
Newmarket first Spring Meeting, 1791, he received
400 guineas forfeit from Meteor, with whom he was
matched for 1000 guineas over the Beacon. After
which he was travelled long journies to the North,
where meeting the most celebrated horses fresh upon
{416}
their own training-ground, he was repeatedly beat,
but ran handsome. In 1792, first Spring Meeting,
he received 100 guineas forfeit from Cavendish, and
was withdrawn from the turf.




TREAD
—is an injury sustained by one foot
upon the other. See Over-reach.






TRESPASS
,—in its sporting signification, appertains
only to such trespasses as may be committed
in the pursuit of, or the attempt to, kill game.
It has been decided by law, and is upon record,
that a person, though qualified, cannot come upon
another man's ground to kill game, without being
liable to an action of trespass for so doing: and an
unqualified person for trespassing, shall pay full
costs: but if he is legally qualified to kill game,
and the damage shall be found under 40s. he shall
in such case pay no more COSTS than damages.






TRIAL
.—It is a common and prudent custom
with those engaged upon the turf, to ascertain as near
as possible, some tolerable idea of the probable future
speed of their COLTS and
FILLIES, before they put
themselves to the expence of general training, or
too confidently presume to become SUBSCRIBERS to
large stakes, without at least a promising prospect
of adequate qualifications. To acquire information
so absolutely necessary for the regulation of
future proceedings, there is only one sure and certain
{417}
criterion (admitting of no alternative) upon
which reliance can be made to avoid deception.
This is to obtain a confidential trial against some
horse whose superiority upon the turf is established,
and who has given ample and repeated proofs of his
powers in public. Such trial obtained, a proper
opinion may then be formed, how far it will be
prudent and profitable to continue the horse so
tried in training, or discontinue the intent of his
appearance altogether.




Trials between horses of superior qualifications,
preparatory to their being engaged in matches or
stakes of magnitude, are always considered matters
of great consideration, and for which the most serious
preparations are made. Upon the issue of such
trials, engagements are sometimes entered into, upon
the termination of which, many thousands eventually
depend. It is therefore matter of indispensible
necessity, they should not only be run with
the most energetic opposition, but that the superiority
in speed should be fully and clearly ascertained.
Trials of this description are always conduced
with the utmost secresy; for the better preservation
of which, they generally take place at the
very dawn of day, so soon as the lads can see to
ride with safety; and these trials are considered of
so much consequence at Newmarket, that if any
feeder, rider, groom, stable-lad, or any other person
concerned, is known to discover the result, or
{418}
shall be detected in watching trials himself, or procuring
other persons so to do, he is dismissed the
service of his master with every stigma of disgrace,
and rendered incapable of being again employed by
a Member of the Jockey Club in any capacity
whatever. See Jockey Club.




TRIPPING
. A horse who goes near to the
ground, is always subject to tripping against every
little prominence or projection that happens to lie
in his way. Many well-bred horses, exceedingly
dull and indolent in a walk, overcome with ease all
those trifling impediments, when put into a more
enlivening and emulative action. This imperfection
always displays itself most in slow paces, which
is one predominant reason why a DEALER is invariably
anxious to let his horse, when shewn out, be
seen in a trot or a gallop. Horses excellent in their
fast paces, are sometimes bad walkers; but instances
are very rare, where a good walker is deficient in
superior qualifications. It is a remark justified
by long and attentive observation, that most thorough-bred
horses are sluggish stumbling walkers;
they are therefore almost proverbially considered
dull and dangerous roadsters.






TROTTING
—is one of the natural paces of a
horse, which, in respect to speed, is wonderfully to
be improved by constant practice; and it being a
favourite pace with almost every horse of common
{419}
description for the purposes of the road, they are observed
to enjoy it, in proportion as they excel their
companions or opponents, seemingly conscious of
their own improvements. The qualifying points for
a good trotter, are by no means precisely the same
as those requisite to form a speedy and successful
racer: the action in trotting greatly depends upon
the bend of the knee, and the pliability of the joint
above, and the joint below: racing is regulated by
the geometrical expansion of the limbs, more materially
dependent upon the shoulder, which is the
perceptible fulcrum from whence the velocity of the
animal is known to proceed.




Although trotting is admitted one of the natural
paces of a horse, yet it will admit of great improvement,
by the persevering exertions of art. It is a
long-standing remark, that "a butcher always rides
a trotter;" and why is it? because they invariably
make them so: they in general ride them no other
pace: they all know they have the credit of "making
trotters," and they are incessantly alive to the
preservation of their professional reputation. That
horses may be taught, by time and patience, to exceed
their original trotting, two or three miles an
hour, is as certain, as that blood horses exceed
their former speed a full distance in four miles by
training. It is within the memory of many, that
fourteen miles within an hour was thought excellent
trotting, and fifteen was considered a wonderful
{420}
performance, all which is long since buried in oblivion,
by the almost incredible exploits of the last
few years.


Famous trotters have undoubtedly been produced
from different parts of the kingdom; but
Essex, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, and Norfolk, are
said to have exceeded all others in their proportion;
and this may probably with justice be attributed to
those famous trotting stallions, "Old Shields,"
"Useful Cub," and "Hue and Cry," who principally
covered that scope of country. The celebrated
trotter Archer was descended from Old Shields; he
was a remarkably strong horse, master of fifteen
stone, and the fastest trotting horse of his time; but
was cruelly destroyed, by being inhumanly matched
to trot upon the road sixteen miles within the hour
in the midst of a very severe frost: the poor persevering
animal performed it in less than fifty five
minutes; but the violent concussions sustained by
the body, and the battering upon the feet by the
dreadfully hard state of the road, produced symptoms
which soon put a period to his existence.


A brown mare, the last proprietor of whom was
Mr. Bishop, trotted upon the Epsom road, sixteen
miles in fifty-eight minutes and a half, carrying
twelve stone; and it was then said to have been the
first time that distance had ever been trotted within
the hour. In 1791, being eighteen years old, she
{421}
trotted on the Essex road, sixteen miles in fifty-eight
minutes and some seconds, beating a famous
trotter of Mr. Green's for fifty pounds; and it was
the opinion of the sporting parties concerned, that
she would have trotted thirty miles within two
hours; a distance which was actually trotted in two
hours and ten minutes, by the celebrated chesnut
mare of Mr. Ogden's. A grey mare, called the
Locksmith's, trotted seventy-two miles in six hours.
In 1793, a grey mare, of Mr. Crocket's, trotted
one hundred miles in twelve hours, and had twenty
minutes to spare. A five year old, son of young
Pretender, (who was got by Hue and Cry,)
trotted in Lincolnshire, sixteen miles in fifty-nine
minutes, carrying fifteen stone.


In April, 1792, a bay gelding, called Spider,
and an old chesnut gelding, called Cartwright,
near thirty years old, trotted thirty-two miles in two
hours between Stilton and Cambridge. Spider
trotted the first twenty-four miles in one hour
twenty-eight minutes and a half, and the old horse
the remainder. It was supposed they could have
trotted thirty-four miles within the time agreed on.
In 1797, Mr. Dyson made a bet of 100 guineas with
Mr. Fagg, that he would produce a mare which
should trot upon the road between Cambridge and
Huntingdon seventeen miles within the hour: the
experiment was made on the 7th of August in that
year, and the mare lost by one minute and four seconds
{422}
only. On the 13th of June, 1799, a trotting
match was decided over Sunbury Common,
between Mr. Dixon's brown gelding and Mr.
Bishop's grey gelding, carrying twelve stone each,
which was won by the former, having trotted the
eight miles in twenty-seven minutes and ten seconds.
Extraordinary as these performances have been, no
less entitled to recital, is a bet made by Mr. Stevens,
which was decided on the 5th of October,
1796, that he would produce a pair of horses, his
own property, that should trot in a tandem from
Windsor to Hampton Court, a distance of sixteen
miles, within the hour: notwithstanding the cross
country road, and great number of turnings, they
performed it with ease in fifty-seven minutes and
thirteen seconds.




TRUMPATOR
,—the name of a horse whose
performances on the turf insured him infinite opportunities
of acquiring additional celebrity as a
STALLION, which he has now supported for twelve
years, and is announced for the present season,
1803, at Clermont Lodge, near Brandon, Norfolk,
at eight guineas each mare, and half a guinea
the groom. Trumpator was bred by Lord Clermont,
foaled in 1782; got by Conductor, out of
Brunette, who was got by Squirrel. The first of
his get started in 1790, at two years old, and were
both winners, under the names of Black Deuce, and
Young Peggy. In 1791, Trumpetta appeared at
{423}
only two years old, and won 200 guineas, and
100 guineas, at Newmarket; and Young Peggy, then
three years old, won seven stakes and matches at
Newmarket. In 1792, Trumpetta, then three years
old, won five prizes at Newmarket. Rally, only
two years old, won 100 guineas and 50l. at the same
place. This year appeared also Gipsey, Misenus,
and a chesnut colt, the winners of six stakes at Newmarket.
In 1793, nine of his get started, who
were the winners of twenty plates, matches and
sweepstakes. In 1794, Aimator, Paynator, Repeator,
and four others, were the winners of twenty-one
prizes, when his reputation as a stallion became
firmly established.




In 1795 appeared ten winners of twenty-two
prizes, amongst whom were Ploughator, Oateater,
and Trumpeter; the first and last of which were then
only two years old. In 1796, thirteen of his produce
started, and were the winners of thirty-eight
plates, matches, and sweepstakes. Of these, Aimator
won 500 guineas, 400 guineas, and 100 guineas,
at Newmarket. Didelot, the Prince's stakes, 100
guineas, six subscribers; and the Derby stakes of
50 guineas each, half forfeit, when eleven started;
the rest paid. Hornpipe won five times at Newmarket,
Epsom, Brighton, and Lewes. Paynator
won 50l. 100 guineas, the first class and main of
the Oatlands Stakes at Newmarket. Repeator, seven
plates, matches, and stakes, at Newmarket,
{424}
Ipswich, Brighton, and Lewes. Spinetta won 200
guineas, and 50 guineas, at Newmarket. Spoliator
won the King's Plate at Ipswich; 50l., 200 guineas,
and 100 guineas, at Newmarket. True Blue, 80
guineas at Epsom, and 50l. at Ludlow. Trumpeter,
three fifties, and 100 guineas, at Newmarket.


In 1797, ten of his get started, and were winners
of sixteen prizes. In 1798, fifteen appeared,
and were the winners of twenty-nine. In 1799,
eighteen of his get started, and were winners of
thirty three; amongst whom Chippenham, then three
years old, won 400 guineas, and 300 guineas, at
Newmarket. Sorcerer, three years old, 100 guineas
at Newmarket. Spoliator won six stakes and
matches, all at Newmarket! and Trumpeter won
three at Newmarket, and one at Lewes. In 1800,
nine started, who were the winners of twenty-five.
Sorcerer, then four years old, won 100 guineas,
150 guineas, 50l., 200 guineas, and the October
Oatlands, at Newmarket, and the King's Plate at
Ipswich. Thais, only two years old, won 400
guineas at Brighton, 60 guineas at Egham, and
100 guineas at Newmarket; and Tuneful, only three
years old, won twice at Newmarket, and twice at
Canterbury. In 1801 he seemed to have attained
the zenith of celebrity; thirteen of his produce
were the winners of forty-three plates, matches,
and sweepstakes. Sorcerer won six at Newmarket,
50l. at Oxford, the King's Plate at Burford, and
{425}
70 guineas at Lewes. Chippenham won six at
Newmarket, and 50l. at Shrewsbury. Penelope
only three years old, won five at Newmarket, and
the King's Plate at Ipswich. Rebel won 90 guineas
at Bibury, two fifties at the same place, and the
Petworth Stakes at Brighton. In 1802, twelve
were the winners of forty-one prizes of different
descriptions, of which Edgar won nine; Orange
Flower, eight; Chippenham, five; Rebel, four;
Pacificator, three; and the remainder two each;
under which repetition of success, through so great
a variety of channels, the blood of his progeny bids
fair to stand in no unfavourable degree of estimation.




TUMOURS
—are preternatural enlargements in
any part of the body or extremities of a horse, occasioned
by external injuries, or arising from internal
causes, requiring different modes of treatment,
according to appearances, or the means by
which they have been produced. Swellings proceeding
from blows, bruises, and other accidents,
are, in general, merely temporary, and submit to
such cool repellents, and mild astringents, as are
usually applied upon such occasions; but not submitting
in a few days, a formation of matter may be
suspected, and should expeditiously be promoted;
for which purpose, fomentations, poultices, and
patience, are the only aids required. See "Abcess,"
and "Strangles."
{426}






TUNNEL-NET
—is a net for the taking of partridges
by night, and principally in use with
poachers only for that purpose. This net is never
less than fifteen feet in length, and about twenty
inches deep; and is made with two wings; so that
when they are extended, and fixed to the ground by
the stakes prepared for the business, the net forms
an angle, with the tunnel or flue in the middle.
The covey of birds having been watched at the
time of calling together in the evening, and known
to be in the field, when the proper hour arrives,
(which is seldom before eleven or twelve at night,)
the net being previously and properly adjusted, a
horse is employed in the process, led in hand by
the principal of the firm, who has so nice an ear to
the chuckle of the partridges in running, that he is
very seldom foiled in his intent of securing the
whole in his net; and it is by this wholesale mode
of destruction, that even the most plentiful districts
are sometimes suddenly cleared.






TURF
.—The turf, when used in a sporting
sense, is intended to imply whatever appertains
solely to the pleasure of HORSE-RACING, without
any collateral signification whatever; custom having
established three concise terms, by which the
distinct sports may be fully comprehended, and the
intentional meaning perfectly understood. The
"SOD" is known to be fully expressive of cocking;
the "FIELD," of hunting;
and the "TURF," of
{427}
racing; these being the admitted technical terms of
the sporting world, to which none else make the
least pretensions. The emulative and inspiring pleasures
of the turf, like the ecstatic enjoyment of the
chase, are too great in their temptation and attractions
for the spirited part of mankind to resist. Replete
as it is with that great variety which tends to
diffuse a genial glow of conscious gratification in
every countenance, bespeaking a sense of inexpressible
happiness in those who engage in it as spectators
only, how much is it to be regretted, that the
speed and spirited endeavours of the most beautiful
animal in the creation should be prostituted to the
worst of purposes!




It can require no trumpet of fame to establish a
fact so universally known, that the TURF, with the
nocturnal amusement of hazard, (which invariably
follows it,) have, in conjunction, destroyed (or
rather alienated) more PROPERTY, in the last fifty
years, than all the hurricanes within the same given
time, from one extremity of the kingdom to the
other. Numbers there are at this moment in
existence, who formerly possessed their numerous
studs, their landed estates, their magnificent mansions,
with all the comforts, all the elegant gratifications
of life, some of whom are to be found in
prisons; others pining in obscurity, severely
wounded, even in spirit, by the barbed arrow of
adversity; and a third part (by far the most numerous)
{428}
living upon the liberality and hospitality of
their kind and commiserating friends. But that so
deep and desponding a shade may not cast too great
a gloom over the picture for want of contrast, let the
eye turn to an imaginary view of those likewise living,
who, during the last thirty years of the fifty already
alluded to, have risen from the very lowest classes of
society, to a degree of opulence beyond every moderate
conception; when a few moments of retrospection
may serve to convince the ruminative observer,
that, however largely the ARTS and
SCIENCES may
be admitted to have improved, they bear no proportion
to the pecuniary improvements of the arts
either upon the turf or at the gaming table. No
man of unsullied honour, and strict integrity, can
become successful, for any length of time, amidst
a horde of determined depredators; experience having
fully proved, that the most princely fortune
cannot sustain itself against the stratagems of such
villainous combinations.


The TURF, in respect to its pleasures,
pursued with prudence, and entered into with moderation, by those
whose immense property will admit of its support,
is certainly one of the most noble, exhilarating,
and amusing gratifications in the long catalogue of
human enjoyments; but, unfortunately, there is
the same insatiate infection in ambition as in wealth,
and neither one, more than the other, are ever to be
satisfied. From this inordinate thirst of fame, this
{429}
furor of fashion, this excess of inconsideracy, has
recently arisen RACING STUDS of such rapacious
enormity, that they have reduced to a degraded
state of necessity, many of the most opulent and
most dignified individuals in his Majesty's dominions;
to whom it must prove, upon the downy
pillow of repentant reflection, a most mortifying
retrospection, that, notwithstanding the thousands
upon thousands ingulphed within the vortex of the
TURF, there has been hardly an instance in which
they have been enabled to become the guardians of
their own honour, the protectors of their own property,
or barely thought worthy of being entrusted
with the secrets of their own stables; for the subordinates
in a training establishment have their cards
to play as well as their superiors; and having skill
enough, in the language of Tony Lumpkin in the
comedy, "to manage their own affairs by the rule
of thumb," they do not omit to recollect the ancient
axiom, that self-preservation is the first or most
predominant law in nature.


The noblemen and gentlemen of the Jockey
Club at Newmarket, have adopted every means,
that superior wisdom could possibly devise, to restrain
villainy, and reward integrity: but so long
as human depravity shall have power to retain a
seat within the heart; so long as the secret betting
emoluments of the subordinates may be more increased
by deceptively opposing, than by promoting
{430}
the interest of their EMPLOYERS; so long as a pail
of water, a nauseating ball, or half a peck of corn,
can be privately administered in the night, or a
horse rode on the wrong side of the post by day;
no man existing (however dignified his station,
however benevolent his heart, however expanded
his mind, and liberal his hand) must expect to see
the TURF rise from its late public and well-known
degradation, to a state of the so-much-wished-for
perfection.




TUSHES
.—The teeth so called in a horse, are
the two above, and the two below, standing single
behind the corner teeth of both the upper and the
under jaw: these seldom make their appearance till
the horse is four years old off, and attain their full
growth at six. If these are examined when the
horse is of that age, the inside will be found flat,
with two grooves or channels running down to the
gum; but when the horse is a few years older, those
two are reduced to one; and soon after he has
reached his twelfth year, even that is obliterated,
leaving no other remaining certainty respecting age
by the mouth. External appearances are, however,
so numerous, by which a tolerable opinion may be
formed, that good judges are seldom at a loss to
decide with some degree of precision.






TURNING-OUT
—is of two kinds; one called
a summer's, the other, a winter's run; a description
{431}
of which, with their expected and probable effects,
will be found under the heads Grass
and Soiling.




V.




VENOMOUS BITES
—are sometimes sustained
by horses and dogs; and become the more
perplexing, in consequence of not knowing from
whence the injury proceeds. Vipers, slow-worms,
efts, horse-stingers, hornets, and wasps, seem to be
nearly the whole tribe from which bites (or stings)
of this description are received. The effect of either
is much the same, as to inflammation, pain,
and tension; but that the symptoms are not equally
severe, being gradational in their degrees of violence,
according to the individual by which the
wound is inflicted. Of these the viper is by much
the worst; for the vesicle in which the poisonous
particles are contained, being seated upon the gum
close to the insertion of the tooth, in the very act
of biting, the vesicle is broken, and the venomous
fluid at the same moment communicated to the
wound. This is followed by excruciating pain, increasing
inflammation, and various violent symptoms,
in either man or beast. By way of immediate
relief, bleeding is first premised, to unload the
{432}
vessels, and take off the increasing stricture from
the part: this, followed by an early application of
the oil of vipers, is said to be infallible. Repeated
experiments have proved the finest olive oil to be
equally efficacious. The others, however painful
at first, soon submit to repeated bathings with the
strongest white wine vinegar, or a weak solution of
sugar of lead.






 VENERY, BEASTS of
,—are little heard or
spoken of, but in the code of FOREST LAWS originally
framed for the preservation of vert and
venison. Beasts of venery (alias, beasts of forest)
are the hart, hare, hind, boar, and wolf.






VERDERER
—is a judicial officer of the King's
Forest, elected (under his Majesty's writ) by a majority
of votes in a convened county court of the
shire in which the forest is; and there sworn before
the sheriff, to keep and maintain the assizes and
laws of the forest; and also to review, receive, and
enrol, all the attachments and presentments of all
manner of trespasses of the forest in respect to vert
and venison.




The official department of a Verderer bears great
similitude to that of a coroner, and in this particular
respect; that as a coroner, upon the notice of a
sudden or accidental death, (if attended with circumstances
to render the inquisition necessary,) is to
{433}
take a personal view of the body, and to make inquiry,
upon the joint oaths of twelve men, how
and by what means the person came by his or her
death, and who and what was the occasion thereof;
so it is the official duty of the Verderer to look after
and view the beasts of the forest; for any of those
being found hurt, wounded, or slain, upon notice
given to the Verderer, he is to take a view of the
same, and to cause a jury of twelve men to be
summoned from the surrounding district, that an
inquisition may be made to discover (if possible)
how and by whom the said beast was hurt, wounded,
or killed. The office of the Verderer at the Court
of Attachments, is to sit there to see, hear and
examine the attachments of the forest, both in vert
and in venison, and to receive the same of the subordinate
officers, or those who may attend to present
them there, and then to enter them into their
own rolls. See Forest Laws.




VERMIN
—is a term of very extensive signification,
including a long list of noxious animals,
some of which contribute largely to the sports of
the field. The principal vermin of this country
consist of the fox, the badger, the martern, the
pole-cat, the weasel, the stoat, the rat, and the
mouse; of which a description of all the former
will be found under their distinct heads.




{434}




VERT
—is a term in the Forest Laws, meant to
include every plant growing within a forest or its
purlieus, bearing a green leaf, and of sufficient
magnitude to hide or cover a deer beneath its
branches; but it must be understood to signify such
plants as are either trees, woods, bushes, or underwood;
not descending to inferior shrubs, passing
under the denomination of plants, but affording
no cover. By vert is therefore implied those trees
of growth and size sufficient to be entitled conjunctively
to the appellation of covert; as well underwood,
as great woods; and overt-vert is all
sorts of high trees, as nether-vert includes every
kind of underwood.






VERTUMNUS
—was a horse of some racing
celebrity; and there is reason to believe he would
have been held in equal estimation with his cotemporaries
as a stallion, if he had enjoyed the run of
fashion in his favour. He was bred by the late
Colonel O'Kelly; foaled in 1775; got by
Eclipse, dam by Sweeper, out of an old Tartar
mare, the dam of Mercury and Volunteer. Vertumnus
got many tolerable runners as country plate
horses; but his merits as a stallion were never
known, till a circumstance occurred at a period of
life when it was generally considered too late to
bring his powers experimentally into action. Baronet
was got by Vertumnus, dam by Snap, out of an own
{435}
sister to Nabob. He was foaled in 1785; bred by Sir
W. Vavasour, and by him sold to his Royal Highness
the Prince of Wales, who brought him forward
from obscurity, at six years old, to start at Ascot
Heath for the great Oatlands Stakes of 100 guineas
each, half forfeit, two miles, forty-one subscribers,
for which nineteen started, (forming one of the
richest and most striking spectacles ever seen upon
the turf,) and was won by Baronet; beating Express,
Chanticleer, Escape, Coriander,
Toby, Skylark,
Precipitate, Minos, Pipator, Euphrosyne,
Competitor, Microscope, Crazy,
Turnip-Top, Buzzard,
Lambinos, and Vermin, who were concluded
the best horses in the kingdom. The sums betted
were immense, which were sported in the following
proportions. Three to one against Vermin; seven
to one against Precipitate; eight to one against
Buzzard; nine to one against Chanticleer; twenty
to one against Baronet; and one hundred to three
against Express, who was second. Vermin, who
was then the best three year old in the kingdom,
and carried only five stone, three pounds, was
universally expected to win easy; but the diminutive
juvenile who rode him, was so hemmed
in, and completely surrounded, by the rest at
starting, that those horses keeping their strokes,
and going well together, (or what is sportingly
termed all in a hustle,) they never afforded him
the least chance of extrication.




{436}




VETERINARY COLLEGE
.—The Veterinary
College is a national establishment for the general
improvement of farriery, situate at Camden
Town, in the parish of St. Pancras, at the northern
extremity of the Metropolis; and derived its origin
and institution from the following circumstance. In
January, 1789, issued from the press, a Treatise
upon Farriery, in an octavo volume, under the
title of "The Gentleman's Stable Directory," by
the present Writer; the popularity of which occasioned
it to pass through seven editions in the first
twelve months, which number has since been
exactly doubled. In the course of the work, it
was repeatedly regretted, that, amidst the infinity
of improvements for which the English were so remarkable,
the system of farriery should still remain
in its original state of barbarism. In a few months
after which, advertisements appeared in the different
prints, under sanction of the "Odiham Agriculture Society,"
proposing a public subscription
for sending a certain number of lads annually to
France to study farriery, (now called the veterinary
science.) The Author of the Stable Directory,
who was then preparing his second volume for the
press, availed himself of the opportunity to congratulate
the promoters of so laudable an undertaking;
at the same time obliquely observing, he
was concerned to see France was to have the reputation
of doing that for us, which we could not do
for ourselves.




{437}


Whether it was from the force of this admonition,
or the effect of chance, is not material; the
scene within a period of two or three months was
totally changed. With a grant from Parliament,
aided by public contributions, and private subscriptions,
the College was erected, and instituted
in February; and their propositions, rules, and
regulations, published April the 8th, 1791: the
principal purport of which were as follows. The
establishment to consist of a President, ten Vice-Presidents,
twenty Directors, Treasurer, Professor,
and Secretary. The Society and School to be
called the Veterinary College, London. The
President, Vice-Presidents, ten of the Directors,
and the Treasurer, to be chosen every year by
ballot. The President, Vice-Presidents, and Directors,
to form the Council, in which shall be
lodged the whole executive power of the College;
subject to the controul of the members (that is, the
annual or perpetual subscribers) at large, at four
quarterly meetings. The Council to meet the first
Tuesday in every month; from which Council a
Committee was to be elected, and called the Permanent
Committee, who were to meet the remaining
Tuesdays in each month: this Committee were to
act with the authority of the Council, but subject
to its controul.


After various regulations respecting meetings of
council, committees, and members, it proceeded
{438}
to state the annual election of a Medical Experimental
Committee, and a Committee of Transaction.
The former to meet occasionally, for the
purpose of suggesting and trying experiments, with
a view to throw additional light on the animal œconomy,
and to discover the effects of medicines upon
different animals, to be procured for that particular
purpose; and this Committee, from time to time,
were to make reports of their proceedings to the
Council. The Committee of Transaction to be
charged with the selection, compilation and arrangement
of the matter for the annual volume of
transactions, and the preparation of a prefatory
discourse. This annual volume was promised to
each subscriber gratis, in page the eighth of their
original Prospectus, dated 1791; but how many
volumes have appeared in the twelve years is not
publicly known.


Of the SCHOOL,
there shall be a Professor of
Veterinary Medicine, who is to continue superintendant
of the whole. The Professor to be elected
at a general meeting, and to have the sole arrangement
and direction of the studies and occupations
of the pupils of the school, of their matter and order,
of the distribution of his lectures, of the number
and nature of the subjects required for dissection.
He shall likewise judge of the kind and
quality of the forage to be used in the infirmary;
of the regulation of the cattle therein, and of the
{439}
remedies to be employed. The Professor to have
a yearly income, or salary, to increase proportionally
with the revenue of the College; but not
to exceed a certain sum per annum. There shall be
a Clerk to assist the Professor in keeping his books,
and to follow his directions in entering and registering
all the concerns of the school, infirmary, laboratory,
and forge.


Rules respecting the
PUPILS were these: Any
person desirous of becoming a resident pupil, must
be able to read and write well. The preference
shall be given to such youths as shall have received
the elements of a good education, and more especially
to those who have some knowledge of surgery
and pharmacy. Such candidate not being under
the age of fifteen years, nor more than twenty-two,
must apply to the Secretary, and deliver a paper,
containing his name, age, and place of abode; and
the Secretary shall refer the same to the next meeting
of the Council or Permanent Committee. The
resident pupils to be appointed by the Council, and
to be taken as much as possible from different
counties, for the better and more expeditious dissemination
of the art. Each perpetual member
(that is, a subscriber of not less than twenty guineas)
to have the privilege of sending a pupil to attend
a complete course of study. A library shall
be annexed to the College, comprehending all such
{440}
works as may contribute to enlarge and improve
the veterinary science.


The studies for the pupils were divided into eight
courses; after having regularly and diligently gone
through all which practically, as well as theoretically,
they were then to undergo a public examination
in the theory and practice of every branch of
the veterinary art; and those considered as perfectly
qualified, were to receive a certificate, signed
by the Professor, and confirmed by the Council.
It was concluded at the publication of these original
propositions, that the term for completing the
education would not exceed three years, provided
the pupils were equally capable, assiduous, and
well-inclined. An INFIRMARY was to be opened
for the reception of diseased animals belonging to
the members of the College, at a fixed sum for their
livery or subsistence, during the time they remained
under cure. The annual subscription was originally
not less than two guineas; and not less than twenty
at one payment to become a perpetual member.
These, however, may probably, amidst the many
improvements made, have undergone various alterations.


It was at first supposed, from the great prospect
of general utility, and universal accommodation,
that the establishment would soon have been enabled
to support itself upon the basis of public contribution
{441}
and private subscriptions: this, however, did
not prove to be the case; for in the month of April,
1795, precisely four years after its institution, a
petition was presented to the House of Commons,
praying pecuniary assistance for its support; which,
from a consideration of its promised advantages,
was soon unanimously complied with, and a large
sum voted to its service. This was followed by an
additional parliamentary grant of 1520l. in June
1797, since which it has also received farther national
assistance. Whether the number of annual
subscribers declining, or the aggregate not being
adequate to the unavoidable expenditure of the establishment,
and occasioned pecuniary deficiencies,
it is not necessary to ascertain; evident it is, the
establishment has been productive of one great and
substantial service to the country, not more in respect
to the general reformation and improvement
of farriery, than in affording to the military cavalry
scientific practitioners, of which they so very
palpably stood in need.


Notwithstanding the advantages already resulting
to the public at large, time alone can demonstrate
what emoluments will be derived by the numerous
individuals who were encouraged, by specious appearances,
to embark in the undertaking: one thing
seems at present incontrovertibly certain, that of
those who have entered into the profession, the
greater part did so with an intention (since confirmed)
{442}
of becoming MASTERS immediately upon
obtaining a certificate, and quitting the College;
and hence it is we have a veterinary surgeon in
every street and lane of the Metropolis, with as
great a scarcity of expert journeymen as before the
institution took place. Experience and attentive
observation must have convinced every enlightened,
humane, and liberal sportsman, that the shoeing-smith
has a life of labour and drudgery, for which
he is the least paid, and the worst looked upon, of
any tradesman in the numerous catalogue of those
who have a subsistence to obtain by the sweat of the
brow.


That the science of shoeing, and system of farriery,
has seldom or ever been undertaken or practised
in this kingdom, but by men of the lowest
order, and without the advantage of education,
must be candidly and clearly admitted; the reason
must be equally striking, and can stand in little or
no need of elucidation. Are there any attractions
(as they are now paid or compensated) beyond
drudgery, degradation, and impending indigence?
Incessant labour during the early part of life, and
inevitable poverty in old age, have, for century
upon century, been the hard-earned lot of nineteen
out of every twenty shoeing-smiths from one extremity
of the kingdom to the other. Can it be expected
that those of much mental brilliancy, or
manual dexterity, will prostitute both, and descend
{443}
to so dangerous, so laborious, and so degrading
an occupation, without even a chance of adequate
compensation? These, it is to be presumed, are
very fairly inferred reasons why the practice has
always remained in a state of uncultivated sterility;
from which even now it appears not to be permanently
rescued; for, exclusive of the palpable inconveniencies,
and discouraging prospects, already
described, which, to a man of spirit and emulation,
are sufficiently disgusting, when he adverts to the
inferior rank he is in future destined to hold in the
scale of society, he becomes conscious of his own
insignificance; and, whatever education he may
possess, or whatever knowledge he may have attained,
he feels but little probability of being held
in a degree of public estimation superior to the
parochial scavenger or nightman.


Whether the refinement of a college education
may give a more sublime complexion of respectability
to the practice, and divest it of the distinguished
appellation of "horse-doctor," with its collateral
indignities, time alone must ascertain; it
becoming here applicable only to consider the state
and condition of those who have hitherto voluntarily
placed their children to so laborious, so hazardous,
and so unprofitable an employment. The poor
most probably feel equal parental affection with
the RICH,
and would consequently venture as far to
prevent their offspring from embarking in a service
{444}
of danger: thus, then, it evidently is, the eyes of
the most indigent, and the most illiterate, are equally
open, and require not to be told, that the trade is a
trade of constant labour, some danger, and little
profit: they, of course, reject it with contempt;
and it has been very weakly supplied even from the
confines of a cottage, or the walls of a workhouse.
If there can possibly remain "a doubt to hang a
loop upon," let a moment's reflection solve the
question, whether it can with consistency be conceived,
that any man, in moderate circumstances,
who had given his son a tolerable education, and
had merely a few hundreds to give him, at the hour
of his own dissolution, would ever, for one hour,
indulge the idea or intent of placing him to a
blacksmith? According to the principles and facts
already laid down, it is to be presumed, that a
circumstance so truly paradoxical and heterogeneous,
has not often occurred, and, from present appearances,
is not likely to be often repeated.


It is certainly a matter of general good, "most
devoutly to be wished," that the present exertions
to promote an improvement in the veterinary
science may be ultimately successful, and that it
may also tend rapidly to remove the paltry stigma
of disgrace hitherto annexed to the practice; but to
do this, more stimulative means must be attempted,
than those already adopted, which have held out
nothing but a flattering glare of emulation, without
{445}
the least prospect of additional reward. There
needs no "ghost from the grave" to demonstrate
an incontrovertible fact, that the more the mind becomes
expanded by the sublunary rays of intellectual
refinement, the less it is disposed to encounter
the subservience of drudgery, and the mortifying
sensations of partial indifference and public contempt;
from the influence of which impressive contemplation,
it becomes conclusive, that very few,
if any, who become proficients (at the College or
elsewhere) in the study of PHYSIC,
ANATOMY, and
the peculiar property of medicine, will ever condescend
to blend those qualifications so industriously
acquired with the act of shoeing, but consider themselves
in a degree superior to the leathern apron,
the vulcanian sledge, the massy anvil, and such inferior
offices annexed to the operative department,
as will, in all human probability, continue it in the
same state of predestined subordination.


However repugnant it may prove to the wishes
and laudable endeavours of those patriotic, opulent,
and distinguished characters, the President,
Vice-Presidents, and Directors, as well as the great
body of original subscribers to the establishment
and support of the Veterinary College; it now seems
unequivocally to appear, that one mode must be
ultimately adopted, to produce the so much-desired
stamp of success. When the practice of the
VETERINARY SURGEON
(or equestrian physician) and
{446}
operative farrier (or shoeing-smith) become as distinct
as the dignified diploma, and the pharmaceutic
drudge; when the different pursuits necessary to
the attainment of adequate scientific knowledge,
are completed by the parties whose abilities are
adapted to the departments they are intended to
fill; and when both are much more amply rewarded
than at present for their professional assistance;
then, and not till then, will the practice become an
object of sufficient attraction to men of genius, and
intellectual capacity, capable of rendering its improvement
matter of national utility; and general
gratification to the inhabitants of a country where
it has so long continued a subject of almost indelible
disgrace.




VICE
.—The imperfections so called in a horse,
are the distinguishing traits of an innate bad temper,
or a habit mischievously inclined: these are very
different from the little airs of skittishness, and
proofs of playful spirit, which are displayed by
many horses, when brought from confinement to
enjoy the comforts and healthy advantages of air
and exercise; or others who afford the same indications
of pleasure during the ceremony of dressing in
the stable. Horses naturally vicious and untractable,
seldom keep that propensity long concealed;
it generally begins to appear early, and in most
cases, with colts, even before they are taken in
hand to break. This tendency in some is soon obliterated
{447}
by gentle treatment, and frequent attentions
of tenderness; but with others it continues invincible,
and occasionally shews itself during the
whole period of their existence. Some are constantly
disposed to kick or bite in the stable, who
have no one imperfection without; on the contrary,
others, who are most incorrigibly restive and unruly
without, shall be incredibly calm and quiet within.




Opinions opposite to each other have always
prevailed upon the treatment necessary and proper
with horses of this description. That authority
must be enforced, fortitude exerted, patience persevered
in, and submission obtained, are all positions
too firmly admitted, and acquiesced in, to admit
of contrariety; but experience has fully demonstrated,
that great points are sometimes effected by
the salutary interposition of equanimity and moderation,
that never could be accomplished by the
frequently destructive gusts of inconsiderate passion
and unmanly violence. If a horse, disposed to be
restive, is addicted to running backwards, the best
and only remedy is to continue backing him (if
there is room for the experiment) till he becomes
completely averse to his own undertaking; or procuring
a person to come suddenly upon him behind,
during his retrograde motion, with a complete
flagellation from a cart or hunting whip, which
seldom or ever fails to set such a one running from
{448}
the effect of fear, and to produce a complete eradication.


Horses rearing up on end, so as to stand nearly
perpendicular upon their hind legs, is the most
dangerous of any description, even to the most judicious,
expert, and experienced horseman; who
has, in such aukward predicament, (particularly
when a horse most viciously repeats it,) no alternative,
but to slacken his reins, and lean his body
close to the neck, the better to expedite so critical
a preponderation. Horses inclined to run away,
from an impetuosity of temper, and an eagerness to
get forward, frequently alarm their riders, if they
are exceedingly irritable upon the score of timidity,
or terrified upon the principle of inexperience; but
sportsmen mostly prefer horses who require the
curb, to those who want a spur, well knowing the
utility of moderately dropping the hand, and indulging
the loose occasionally; as a dead pull at a
hard-mouthed run-away horse, is the sure means of
making him endeavour to continue his career the
longer.




 VIPER, BITE of
.—See
Venomous Bites.






 VISCIDITY of the BLOOD
—is that state
in which the blood is frequently known, when, by
a collapsion of the pores, (from some of those
causes which produce colds, coughs, and inflammatory
{449}
diseases,) it acquires a preternatural consistence
from the external repulsion of the perspirative
matter, which, thrown upon the circulation,
constitutes a siziness of the blood: this, by its retention,
becomes so viscid and adhesive, (or tough,)
that, when it has been drawn off by bleeding, and
set by two or three hours to cool, it is with difficulty
separated upon the surface, even with the
sharpest penknife. Horses having their blood in a
state too sizy and viscid for the perfect purposes of
secretion and health, soon display it in some way
or other: a heaviness of the head, a dulness of the
eyes, a lassitude of the body, a husky tendency to
cough, a rough harshness in the coat, a swelling of
the legs, or cracks in the heels, (particularly if it
happens in the winter season,) are some of the indications
by which it may be readily known, and
should be speedily counteracted. Unloading the
vessels, by twice bleeding, about ten days apart,
attenuating the crassamentum of the blood by mild
diuretics, and altering its property by a short course
of alterative powders, will prove all that is necessary
to promote and ensure condition.






VIVES
—is a disorder so similar to the strangles,
that the leading symptoms (at the commencement
of the attack) are nearly the same; with this difference
only, that in the strangles the tumefactions
are centrically situate in the concavity of the under
jaw, just below the gullet; and in the vives, the
{450}
swellings are seated at the roots of the ears, descending
more or less towards the neck. These differ in
different subjects, as in some they do not suppurate;
but by warmth, and emollient unguents, applied
twice or thrice a day, are absorbed into the circulation,
and are then to be taken out of the habit by
a gentle course of mercurial physic; but where the
swelling and inflammation are evidently too great
for repulsion and absorption, suppuration must be
promoted by the means described, and the case
treated as will be found under the head Strangles.






VIXEN
.—A bitch fox, or a female cub, is so called.






VOLUNTEER
—was a racer in high estimation,
and has long been a stallion of much repute. He
was bred by the late Colonel O'Kelly, foaled
in 1780; got by Eclipse, dam by Tartar; and is
own brother to Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Adonis,
and Queen Mab. He is the sire of many capital
racers, the most remarkable of which are the following.
In 1791, Portia, (the Duke of Bedford's,)
then three years old, won a sweepstakes of 100 guineas
each, six subscribers; 250 guineas forfeit from
five; both at Newmarket; the Oaks Stakes of
50 guineas each, thirty-eight subscribers, at Epsom;
and 200 guineas at Newmarket. Recruit, three
years old, won two fifties at Penrith. In 1792,
five of his get appeared with increasing reputation.
{451}
Nerissa, (Duke of Bedford's,) two years old, won
200 guineas at Newmarket. Scanderbeg, (Mr.
Fox's,) only two years old, won 200 guineas, 130
guineas, 100 guineas, 75 guineas, 100 guineas,
and 200 guineas, all at Newmarket. Hop-planter,
three years old, won 50l. at Epsom, 50l. at Guildford,
and 50l. at Stockbridge. Recruit won 50l. at
Stamford, 50l. at Grantham, 50l. at Worcester,
50l. at Penrith: and Fetters, (two years old,) 50
guineas at Newmarket.




In 1793 appeared Cælia, (Duke of Bedford's,)
who at three years won the Filly Stakes of 300 guineas,
1500 guineas, 50l. and 50 guineas, at Newmarket;
and the Oaks Stakes, of 50 guineas each,
thirty-seven subscribers, at Epsom. Nerissa won
400 guineas, 600 guineas, 250 guineas, and 100
guineas, at Newmarket. Scanderbeg won 800 guineas,
and 200 guineas, at Newmarket. Hillisberg
won 200 guineas at Newmarket. Hop-planter won
90 guineas, 180 guineas, and 50l. at Canterbury.
Hybla, 175 guineas at Litchfield. Isaline, 100
guineas; and Brimstone, 50l. both at Newmarket.
In 1794, the brother to Portia, then two years old,
won 135 guineas, 360 guineas, and the July Stakes
of 490 guineas, at Newmarket. Cockade won 100
guineas, and 100 guineas, at Newmarket. Jessica,
200 guineas at Ascot, and 50l. at Newmarket.
Cælia, the Fortescue Stakes of 90 guineas at Newmarket.
{452}
Stirling, 100 guineas at Ascot, and the
Magna Charta Stakes at Egham.


The merits of Volunteer, as a stallion, now became
so perceptible, that ten of his produce, in
1795, were repeatedly brought to the post: a three
year old of Mr. G. Bowes's won 50 guineas, 50
guineas, and 50 guineas, at Newmarket. Bonny
Kate, two years old, 100 guineas also. Miller, 25
guineas at Epsom, 50l. and 20 guineas at Lambourn.
Hop-planter, 50l. at Newmarket, and the
King's 100 guineas at Guildford. Stirling won
50l. and the Jockey Club Plate, at Newmarket;
75 guineas at Epsom; and the King's Plate at Ipswich.
A colt of Mr. O'Kelly's, 50l. at Epsom, and
50l. at Northampton. Spread Eagle, 450 guineas,
and 500 guineas, at Newmarket; and the Derby
Stakes of 50 guineas each, 45 subscribers, at
Epsom.


In 1796, Miss Whip, at three years old, won
50l. at Ascot; 60 guineas, and 100 guineas, at Canterbury;
200 guineas, 100 guineas, and 100 guineas,
at Newmarket. Pepper-pot, the same age,
won 25 guineas, and 50 guineas, at Newmarket;
76l. 5s. 0d. at Nottingham; 125 guineas, and 200
guineas, at Litchfield. Pleader, 50l. at Preston,
50l. at York, 50l. at Richmond, and the cup at
Northallerton. Miller, 50 guineas at Newmarket,
100 guineas, and 25 guineas, at Ascot, and 50l. at
{453}
Enfield. Hum, 100 guineas at Lambourn, and
25 guineas at Wantage. Spread Eagle, 450 guineas
at York. Recruit, 50 guineas, 50 guineas,
and 40 guineas, at Newmarket: and Stirling, 400
guineas, and 400 guineas, at Newmarket, and the
King's 100l. at Burford.


In 1797, a three year old of Lord Sackville's
won 50 guineas, 50 guineas, and 50 guineas, at
Newmarket, and 40 guineas at Lewes. Miss Whip,
100 guineas at Newmarket, 50l. at Ayr, and two
50's at Dumfries. Stirling, 300 guineas, 500 guineas,
and 400 guineas; and Pepper-pot, the Claret
Stakes of 600 guineas, at Newmarket.


In 1798, Commodore won 50l. and 50 guineas, at
Newmarket. Ironsides, 50l. and 100 guineas, at
Haverfordwest. Magic, (Lord Sackville's,) the
Petworth Stakes of 170 guineas at Brighton,
(beating Wrangler, Johnny, Bennington, Montezuma,
and Play or Pay;) 120 guineas at Lewes; the
King's Plate and 50l. at Canterbury. Split Pigeon,
800 guineas; and Spread Eagle, the King's 100
guineas; both at Newmarket.


In 1799, a three year old bay colt of Sir F.
Standish's won 85 guineas, 400 guineas, and 1800
guineas, at Newmarket. Split Pigeon, 50l. at Winchester,
50l. at Blandford, and 50l. at Taunton.
Rosalind, 50l. and 100 guineas, at Dumfries.
{454}
Magic, 240 guineas at Litchfield, and 50l. at Leicester.
Jemmy, 50l. at Ascot, and 30 guineas at
Abingdon. Commodore and Provisional, each 50
guineas at Newmarket.


In 1800, Brighton won 50l. at Lambourn. Eagle,
400 guineas at York. Rosalind, 1500 guineas,
and 300 guineas, at Ayr. Triumvir, 300 guineas,
and 250 guineas, at Newmarket: and Volonté, the
bowl at Salisbury.


In 1801, the brother to Recruit won 40 guineas
at Epsom; 50 guineas, and 20 guineas, at Newmarket.
Brighton, 50l. at Winchester, 50l. at
Blandford, and 50l. at Reading. Eagle, the Craven
Stakes of 110 guineas, and 200 guineas, at
Newmarket. Gaoler, 120 guineas at Stamford,
and 50 guineas at Newmarket: and Triumvir, 110
guineas at Canterbury; 15 guineas, and 25 guineas,
at Newmarket.


In 1802, Brighton won 50l. and 25 guineas, at
Ascot. Conscript, 50l. at Ayr. Eagle, 150 guineas,
at Newmarket. Fusileer, 50l. at Kingscote;
and Gaoler, 600 guineas, 100 guineas, 100 guineas,
and 42½ guineas, at Newmarket.


Volunteer, though now twenty-three years old, is
in good health, and covers at Cannons, near Edgware,
in Middlesex, at 10 guineas the mare, and
half a guinea the groom.


{455}




VOMITING
—is often a favourable relief to
the human frame, which advantage the horse does
not posses, in consequence of the peculiar construction
of the gullet. It therefore becomes a matter
of serious consideration, how far it may be proper
or prudent to administer to a horse, medicines
whose properties tend to excite a stimulus, and induce
the stomach to a regurgitation by vomit; an
operation which it is impossible can take place. See
Tartar Emetic.




U.




ULCER
.—An ulcer is a wound, which, from
long standing, and injudicious treatment, is become
virulent and inveterate; having acquired a
rigid callosity at the edges, and a discoloured, foul,
unhealthy slough in the middle. These conjunctive
appearances never submit to mere superficial digestive
applications, but must be subdued by superficial
scarification, and the milder class of corrosives
and escharotics.






UNGUENTS
—are ointments, of which there
are many different kinds. Blistering ointment, for
lameness in the back sinews, splents, spavins, and
curbs. Digestive ointment, strong and mild, for
dressing wounds in their different stages, and after
maturation. Elder ointment, to allay the pain of
{456}
inflammatory swellings, particularly when proceeding
from the stings or bites of animals or venomous
insects: and camphorated sperma-cæti ointment,
for cracks in the heels of horses during the severity
of the winter season.






UMBLES
—are the eatable part of a deer's entrails,
which being a perquisite of office, afford a
treat to the keeper and his friends.






URINE
—is that well known excrementitious
fluid secreted or separated by the kidnies from the
blood; the evacuation of which is sometimes partially
obstructed, or totally suppressed, by different
injuries sustained, or diseases particularly affecting
the kidnies, the bladder, or some of the
parts appropriated to the secretion and discharge of
urine. Internal inflammation, or a paralytic affection
of the kidnies, as well as external violence
there; spasmodic stricture upon the neck or
sphincter of the bladder; calculous concretions,
originating in the kidnies, and afterwards descending
the ureters, occasions sometimes a most painful
suppression of urine: having obtained a seat in the
bladder, they then lay the foundation of stone; and
many well-authenticated instances are extant, where
stones of considerable weight have been extracted
from the bladders of different horses after their
death.




{457}


Horses, on the contrary, from a debility of the
parts, or some remote causes, are subject to an immoderate
and involuntary flux of urine, and that
almost incessantly; so that, from a latent flaccidity,
it seems to come away immediately after its secretion.
This preternatural discharge may probably
be sometimes occasioned by a sharp, ferous and
acrimonious state of the blood; in young horses,
the being too severely and unreasonably overworked;
a weakness of the loins and kidnies,
brought on by drawing weights disproportioned to
the strength of the horse; standing long in the cold
and chilling rains of winter; or, what produces it
still more frequently, is the eating of ship oats,
which have been long upon their passage, and imbibed
a portion of saline particles, and effluvia,
from the sea. In all cases of the former description,
recourse must be had to medical assistance;
but in the latter, nutritive food, gelatinous clean-boiled
oatmeal gruel, with two or three ounces of
gum Arabic dissolved in water, and mixed with the
gruel for drink, will, in all slight and recent cases,
be productive of a speedy restoration.


{458}


W.




WALK
—is the slowest of a horse's natural paces,
upon the safety, excellence and ease of which, much
of his worth depends. Good walkers are always in
request, and will (if gentle and good tempered)
never fail of finding purchasers, even among the
aged and infirm. There are numbers to be seen
daily, who are admirable goers in the fast paces,
that cannot walk at all; but instances are very rare,
of a horse who is a good walker, not having a gift
of his other paces in proportion.






WALNUT
,—the name of a horse of much racing
reputation. He was bred by the present Duke
of Hamilton, foaled in 1786; got by Highflyer,
out of Maiden, (who was got by Matchem,) own
sister to Pumpkin. In 1790, then four years old,
Walnut started at York, and won a subscription of
25 guineas each, seven subscribers. The same
week he won the great subscription of 295l. beating
those excellent runners, Telescope, Enchanter, Toby,
Tickle Toby, and Camilla. At Doncaster he
walked over for the Doncaster Stakes of 10 guineas
each, six subscribers, with 20 guineas added by
the Corporation; and the next day won the 100l.
plate, beating Harold and Telescope. In 1791, he
again won the great subscription at York, beating
the Prince of Wales's Creeper, and Telescope.
{459}
At Doncaster he again won the Doncaster Stakes of
10 guineas each, with 20 guineas added by the
Corporation.




The first of his produce, as a stallion, appeared
in 1798. A bay filly (Duke of Hamilton's) won
200 guineas at Doncaster: and a bay colt (Mr.
Peirse's) 200 guineas at York, and 80 guineas at
Malton. In 1799, seven of his get started, who
were the winners of ten plates, matches, and stakes.
In 1800, nine appeared, and were the winners of
sixteen prizes. In 1801, twelve started, and won
twenty-five plates, matches, and sweepstakes, of
which Lord Strathmore's colt won seven; Lignum
Vitæ, five; Jack's Alive, three; and Richmond,
two. In 1802, the Duke of Hamilton's bay filly
won two sweepstakes at Ayr; 80 guineas, 50l. and
20 guineas, at Hamilton. Lord Strathmore's bay
horse, two fifties at Chester, and the King's Plate
at Newcastle. Risby, 150 guineas at Catterick,
and 86l. 15s. 0d. at Morpeth; and Lignum Vitæ
won the first class of the Oatlands Stakes, 450 guineas,
50l. and the King's Plate, at Newmarket;
120 guineas at Newton; 70 guineas at Stamford;
220 guineas, and the King's Plate, at Litchfield.




WARBLE
—is a small hard tumour, produced
upon the side or the back of a horse, by the heat
and friction of an ill-fitted saddle. It is sometimes
occasioned by the pad of the saddle's becoming exceedingly hard,
{460}
and inelastic, from its long and
constant absorption of perspirative matter; to prevent
which, the pads of saddles should be occasionally
inspected, beat with a stick, and the stuffing
restored to its elasticity, by the use of a proper awl,
or point of a packing-needle. Upon their first appearance,
if they are attended to before the injury
is repeated, they never fail of submitting to a plentiful
bathing of hot vinegar, followed by a gentle
friction with camphorated spirits, if twice or thrice
repeated; but if they are neglected in the first instance,
and the same saddle (or harness) persevered
in without alteration, the surface will become an
eschar, and ultimately a sitfast, (which see,) and
then can only be removed by instrumental extirpation.






WARRANTY
—is the personal assurance the
purchaser of a horse receives from the seller, at the
moment of terminating the bargain, if such purchase
absolutely takes place, that the horse in question is
no more than a certain number of years old, (as the
case may be;) that he is perfectly free from every
kind of vice, blemish, and defect; that he is completely
sound, "wind and limb"; or, in other
words, that he is in a state of perfection. Much
professional jargon has transpired during the last
half of a century in the courts of legal litigation
upon this subject: and a great law authority who
presided once (rather inadvertently, it is supposed)
{461}
presumed to declare in open court, "that paying
20l. for a horse, was a price sufficient to have the
SOUNDNESS implied by the sum paid,
and that he
should consider the warranty to extend to full three
months from the day of purchase." Whether this
assertion was merely a lapse of the tongue, or a
temporary deviation from sagacity and discretion,
is not now worthy disquisition; as it must certainly
be admitted to have been one of the most absurd,
unequitable and ridiculous opinions ever promulgated
in a court of judicial investigation.




In confirmation of which, let it be supposed, that
a horse is sold by either gentleman or dealer, known
and declared to be bona fide sound at the moment
of transfer, and absolutely never to have been
otherways; in equity, and in justice, what can the
late owner of such horse have to do with his state of
futurity? Is not a horse of this description, though
sound and perfect, as likely to become diseased, to
fall lame, or even to die, on that, or the following
day, as at any other period of his life? Where
then can be found the consistency, the equity, or,
indeed, the common honesty, of requiring or expecting
any man to warrant for weeks, or months,
what it is not within his power to insure for a single
hour? The equitable intent of a warranty, between
persons of mutual good intent and integrity,
cannot be reasonably expected to go beyond the
hour of purchase and sale; for as neither can explore,
{462}
with certainty, the abstruse pages of the
great volume of time yet to come, there cannot be
the least plea for a retrospective compensation. See
"Law Suits," and "Soundness."




WARREN
,—the name applied to a privileged
place, by prescription or grant from the King, in
which to keep beasts or fowls of WARREN. These
in ancient records were said to be the hare, the coney,
the pheasant, and the partridge; but the word
now principally applies to any particular district,
or tract of land, set aside entirely for, and appropriated
to, the breeding and preservation of rabbits
as private property. These become a most valuable
and profitable stock; paying a much greater
annual rent than can be expected from a light and
sandy soil, under any other mode of cultivation.
There is a distinction between a WARREN
and FREE WARREN,
(which see.) The franchise next in degree
to a park, is a free warren, and appertains
chiefly to the privilege of killing game within its
boundaries. A warren, in its general signification,
extends no farther than a peculiar spot, of much
magnitude for the infinitely numerous production
of conies, with which the neighbouring inhabitants,
and the markets of the Metropolis, are supplied;
and these invariably pass under the denomination of
rabbit warrens.




{463}




WARTER
—is the name of a horse of much celebrity,
whose performances upon the turf rendered
him of constantly increasing value, and insured him
a succession of different owners. He was bred by
Mr. G. Crompton, foaled in 1794; got by King
Fergus, dam by Highflyer. In the York spring
meeting, when three years old, he won a sweepstakes
of 20 guineas, six subscribers, beating Dapple,
and Telegraph. At Doncaster, in September,
he won the following extraordinary race, well worthy
a place in the cabinet of every sportsman in the
kingdom.




Thursday, September 28th, 1797. One hundred
pounds in specie for three year olds, 7st. 5lb.
and four year olds, 8st. 7lb. Maiden colts allowed
2lb. Maiden fillies allowed 3lb. The winner of
any subscription or sweepstakes carrying 4lb. extra.
Two mile heats.








    Heats.




Mr. G. Crompton's
b. c.
Warter,
5  0  5  1  0  1.




Sir C. Turner's
ch. c.
Pepper-Pot,
3  0  1  5  0  2.




Sir F. Standish's
br. c.
Stamford,
1  3  6  2  Dr.




Mr. Wentworth's
b. c.
Cardinal,
2  5  2  3.




Lord H. Hamilton's
b. c.
by Trumpator,
7  4  4  4.




Mr. T. Hutchinson's

Hipswell,
6  6  3  Dr.




Mr. Sitwell's
ch. c.
Commodore,
4  Dr.





{464}


The odds at starting were 5 to 2 against Stamford,
3 to 1 against Cardinal, and 5 to 1 against Warter:
during the different heats, and at the termination of
each, the bettings varied exceedingly.


In 1798 he won 50l. at Preston, beating three
others. Two days after, at the same place, he won
50l. at four heats, beating the famous Patriot (by
Rockingham) and another; and 50l. at Doncaster.
In 1799, then Mr. Heathcoate's, he won the main
of the Oatlands, 100 guineas each, beating Oscar,
and the then celebrated Diamond; and 50 guineas
at Newmarket; the gold cup at Stamford; 50l.
at Oxford; and the King's Plates at Burford and
Litchfield. In 1800 he won 250 guineas, and 100
guineas, at Newmarket. In 1801, first Spring
Meeting, he beat Jack Andrews three miles over the
Beacon Course for 200 guineas each. The same
year, when Lord Sackville's, he won the King's
Plate at Guildford; the same at Winchester; and
200 guineas at Brighton. In 1802, in the Craven
Meeting at Newmarket, he won a sweepstakes of
100 guineas each, beating Cockfighter and Hippona.
At Bibury, a sweepstakes of 25 guineas each, seven
subscribers; and is since withdrawn from the turf,
and announced as a stallion at Cottesmore, in the
county of Rutland, at three guineas a mare, and
half a guinea the groom.


{465}




WARTS
—are spongy excrescences, sometimes
appearing upon different parts of the body, and in
great numbers: they are exceedingly difficult of instrumental
extirpation; for, from their being critically
seated, profuse bleeding might probably follow.
This mode of operation becomes the less necessary,
because a moistening of the surface once in
three days, with butter of Antimony, will effect
certain obliteration, without the least inconvenience,
even upon the eye-lids, which are of equal or superior
irritability with any other part of the body.






WASP
.—See "Venomous Bites."






WATERING
.—Upon the proper and confident
mode of watering a horse, his health in some degree
(but more particularly his condition) principally
depends. During a journey in the summer,
as well as in a stable in the winter, some attention
is necessary to both the quality and quantity of water
a horse is permitted to indulge in. There are fixed
rules with systematic sportsmen, from which there
is never the slighted deviation, but when circumstances
may compulsively occasion a temporary variation:
the most important of these are, never to
let a horse drink cold water when he is hot; or to
give him pump or well water, when river or rain
water can be obtained. The difference of effect
between the two may (particularly in the winter
months) be immediately observed by those who
{466}
chuse to make the experiment: hard spring water
is frequently known, from its chilling frigidity, to
occasion severe and dangerous fits of the cholic;
and when it has not that effect, it never fails to
check the circulation; producing such an instantaneous
collapsion of the pores, that the coat, though
fine a few minutes before, becomes as rough and
staring, as if the horse had been exposed to the inclemency
of the winter season. Horses kept for the
sports of the field, and in a state of condition superior
to those employed on more common occasions,
are usually watered with a pail in the stable; but
this should never be done till hay has been previously
placed in the rack; and the act of watering
should be instantly followed by the usual ceremony
of substantial dressing, wisping, and brushing over,
to prevent either of the two inconveniencies before
described. The old and ridiculous custom of
taking a horse to a pond, that he may have a gallop
"to warm the water in his belly," seems to be nearly
abolished with the more enlightened part of the
world; and although the practice is persevered in
upon the turf, it is to be observed, that those horses
are restricted in quantity; and that they are walked
for some time after drinking, previous to what is
termed their watering gallop.






WATTLES
—are the gills hanging from below
the under beak of a cock: these are taken from a
stag (young game cock) at the same time with his
{467}
comb, so soon as they are sufficiently grown for
the operation, which is performed before they are
turned down to a master walk. The little finger
is insinuated into the throat of the cock, when which
is properly distended, the wattles are cut off close
all round with the scissars; and, lastly, the comb;
the whole being slightly washed with a little weak
salt and water.






WAXY
—is a horse of recent reputation upon
the turf, whose performances promise to render him
a stallion high in estimation. He was bred by Sir
F. Poole; foaled in 1790; got by Pot8o's out of
Maria, a daughter of Herod. In 1793, when three
years old, he won the Derby Stakes (at Epsom) of
50 guineas each, half forfeit, (50 subscribers,)
beating twelve; the remainder paying forfeit. The
odds twelve to one against him at starting. At Lewes
he won a sweepstakes of 10 guineas each, (nine
subscribers,) carrying 7lb. extra. At Abingdon he
won a sweepstakes of 10 guineas each, 5 subscribers.
In 1794, he won the Jockey Club Plate at
Newmarket; the King's 100 guineas at Ipswich;
a 50l. plate, and 60 guineas, at Lewes. In 1795,
the King's Plate at Salisbury. In 1796, the King's
Plate at Guildford; a subscription of 10 guineas
each, (13 subscribers,) at Lewes; and the King's
Plate at Salisbury. In 1797, he broke down in
running for the gold cup at Oxford. The following
season he was announced as a stallion at 10 guineas
{468}
a mare, and half a guinea the groom, at Lewes,
in Sussex. Two of his produce, each three years
old, were brought to the Post last year, 1802; one
called Miss Newland, who won two 50l. plates at
Canterbury; and Shock, who won 100 guineas at
Brighton, and 50 guineas at Newmarket.






WEANING
—is the act of separating a colt or
filly from its dam, that it may no longer derive support
from suction, but be compelled to collect its
own subsistence from such proper articles of aliment
as present themselves according to the season of the
year, at which such weaning may be found convenient
to take place. This must always become dependent
upon circumstances, in respect to the kind
of country in which the colt is produced, as well
as the purpose for which he is bred, and the late or
early part of the season in which he was foaled. A
foal produced at the latter end of April, or the beginning
of May, will better bear weaning in the
early part of October, than a foal dropt in June
will in two months after; and this is readily accounted
for by the great length of summer the former
enjoys in respect to growth, strength, and expansion,
over the latter. Where the foal, from
having fallen late in the year, or any other cause,
is observed to be weak in body and constitution, or
stinted in growth, great advantage may be obtained
by letting him run in an unrestrained state with the
dam during the remainder of the winter.




{469}


It is in general the custom, particularly with
colts and fillies bred for the turf, to wean the latter
end of September, or during the month of October;
the reason of which is, that as the dam is then again
in a state of gestation, it is by no means proper, nor
can it be consistent, that a subsistence for the colt
should be extracted from the dam, which nature requires
to be absorbed for the nutritious support of
the fœtus in embryo. At whatever time weaning
may be determined on, the transition from one food
to another so exceedingly opposite, should not be
too suddenly made; the salutary interposition of
mashes, made from ground malt and bran, equal
parts, and thin in consistence, from which the fluid
may be sucked, will prove a pleasing and consolatory
assistance for the loss the foal has sustained.




WEASEL
.—The weasel, though little seen in
the environs of towns, is an animal very well known
in most parts of the country: it varies in no great
degree from the stoat, either in shape, make, or
propensity. Its favourite alimentary enjoyment
seems the destruction of eggs by suction; although
it pursues and destroys poultry and game with equal
avidity. By some instinctive impulse of scent or
sagacity, the weasel is enabled to follow a hare,
which it pursues with a kind of energetic phrensy;
and whenever the hare unsuspectingly squats, if this
inveterate enemy happens to get up, it immediately
makes a spring, seizes the hare near the poll, and
{470}
never quits its hold till the animal (though running
in a state of distraction, and with the most piteous
cries) is deprived of existence. The weasel may
justly rank in the list of venomous animals, for its
bite is almost universally fatal: a hare, rabbit, or
any other object, bit by the weasel, is never known
to recover, but continues in a lingering state till
death.




In its pursuits, it has several points much in its
favour: its activity, and the peculiar formation of
its claws, enable it to scale walls with so much
ease, that no spot is secure from its depredations.
By way of compensation to the farmer for its
luxurious repasts upon eggs and young poultry, it
makes some amends by its inveteracy to rats and
mice; having a spice of the ferret in its nature, it
is to those an inveterate enemy, and pursues them
with a most implacable hatred to certain destruction.
It is a more successful invader than any other to
these smaller animals, as, from its diminutive circumference,
it can follow them into their inmost recesses,
and destroy with very little ineffectual opposition.
To young pigeons it is likewise a destructive
depredator; and when it has young, is more bold
and indefatigable in its researches. In the dusk of
the evening, and by moonlight, it may frequently
be seen stealing from its lurking place, under faggot
piles or corn ricks, near the farm-house, taking
the barns, stables, pig-sties, and poultry-house, in
{471}
search of prey; which, when they have killed, if
not too large, they carry or drag to the place of
their retreat. In the summer season, the weasel
will venture a great distance from its usual haunts,
and the spot which has afforded it winter protection;
it is then very frequently found by the sides
of rivulets; and is particularly fond of a situation
near a mill, and that is concluded to be from the
plenty of rats with which they are invariably surrounded.




 WEIGHT for AGE.
—In racing advertisements,
propositions of different kinds appear, in
respect to the weights which are to be carried by the
horses who are a year younger or a year older than
each other. Such announcements vary, in some
degree, between the weights of one place of sport
and another; but as the GOLD CUP weights at Oxford
are considered a fair criterion of equity, they
are here introduced in explanation.








st.
lb.




Four year olds carry
7
7




Five year olds
8
7




Six year olds
9
0




And aged
9
4







 WEIGHT for INCHES
.—When a plate is advertised
to be run for by horses "to carry weight
for inches," it is then called a Give and Take Plate,
which see.




{472}




 WEIGHT to the SCALE
.—Bringing the proper
weight to the scale immediately after each heat,
is in racing a very important consideration. Whatever
weight by the conditions, in either plate,
match, sweepstakes, or subscription, a horse is appointed
to carry, the rider or jockey must have ascertained
before the Stewards, or Clerk of the
Course, by the scales and weights publicly affixed
to the starting-post of every race ground for that
purpose. So soon as each and every heat is ended,
such rider or jockey is to ride his horse up to the
scales, there to be weighed in immediate succession;
and any rider or jockey neglecting so to do, dismounting
before he reaches the scale, or not bringing
his full weight when there, the horse in either
case is deemed equally distanced, and can start no
more for that plate or prize, whatever may be its
denomination.






WENS
—are enlargements which may appear
upon any of the soft or fleshy parts of a horse's body,
and are technically termed encysted tumours;
but divided into different kinds, which are thus distinguished.
One, upon separation, is found to
contain a substance somewhat similar to boiled rice,
curds, or a bread poultice; a second, a glutinous
adhesive coagulum, nearly resembling honey when
not in a state of absolute fluidity; a third, in which
the substance has every appearance of suet in its
progress from the butcher's to the tallow chandlers;
{473}
and a fourth, with the contents a little like
half-melted grease. The only mode of extirpation
(where it can with safety be ventured upon) is by
the knife; but if, in performing the operation,
every part of the cyst or bag is not completely removed,
it will always be liable to enlarge again,
and render abortive all that may have been done
before. Whenever the tumour is so extirpated,
the wound is to be dressed in the usual way, and a
favourable incarnation and union of parts will soon
be obtained.






WHEEZING
—is that seeming difficulty of respiration
through the nostrils of a horse, which is by
some attributed to a wrong cause; suspecting it to
be a contraction or narrowness between the bones
and cartilages of the nose. This, to a more nice or
accurate observer, does not appear to be the case;
on the contrary, attentively investigated, it appears
there is very little, if any, doubt to be entertained
of its being a defect in the natural inflation of the
lungs. Admitting this, it is then a gradational relative
to the asthmatic and thick-winded tribe, where
some of the finer vessels are obstructed, become impervious,
or tubercles formed. In the latter, cure
cannot be expected; alleviation may be obtained
by a patient perseverance in mild mercurial alteratives;
and in all the different shades of these affections
of the lungs, originating in plethora and a
viscid sizy state of the blood, frequently unloading
{474}
the vessels of their contents by bleeding, attenuating
the blood by antimonials, and enlivening the circulation
by pectoral cordial detergents, are the only
means upon which an expectation of permanent relief
can be entertained.






WHIM PLATE
,—in the language of the TURF,
is where the horses who run carry weight for age,
and weight for inches.






WHIP
.—Sporting whips are of two kinds; one
of which, having a handle with a hook, and a long
thong, is called a hunting-whip; being useful in assisting
to manage the hounds. A light straight
single-stem whip, is called a jockey whip, being the
sort used on the turf.






WHIP
—is the name of a horse of some reputation
as a racer, but was withdrawn from the turf,
and announced as a stallion, at five years old. He
was bred by Mr. Durand; foaled in 1794; got by
Saltram, dam by King Herod, and was the favourite
for the Derby in 1797, and expected
to win it easy, had he been well enough to have
started. He was tried to have so much speed, as
to be able to give many colts of the same year from
twenty to thirty pounds. The first time he started,
he won a sweepstakes of 20 guineas each, the New
Mile at Ascot, beating three others; and afterwards
a 50l. plate for three year olds at Reading. In
{475}
1798 he won 50l. at Ascot Heath. In running for
the gold cup at Oxford, against Diamond, Stickler,
Johnny, and Oatlands, he ran out of the Course,
when supposed to be winning to a certainty. At
Brighton he won a 50l. plate, beating Combatant,
who had the day before won a sweepstakes of 10
guineas each, (17 subscribers,) beating seven others.
At Canterbury he won a sweepstakes of 20 guineas
each, (five subscribers,) which was the last time he
started; having since been advertised to cover at
five guineas a mare, and five shillings the groom.






WHIPPER-IN
—is an assistant subordinate to
the huntsman in every hunting establishment,
which, if upon a well-regulated scale of any magnitude,
is never considered complete with less than
two. One of these has a shade of superiority, and
is called the first; the other, the second, whipper-in.
The first, upon all and every occasion, is considered
as a second huntsman, empowered to act
with his authority upon every emergency, and at
all times during temporary separation in the chase,
or unavoidable absence. Notwithstanding this delegation
of power, it is his duty to remain strictly
obedient to the huntsman, and to execute all his
injunctions with the most cheerful alacrity; and
however largely he may be qualified in other respects,
it is impossible he can ever become a good
whipper-in, if he is in possession of a bad temper.
It is absolutely indispensible that he should be a natural
{476}
philosopher in respect to patience and self-denial,
as it is so peculiarly his province to act an
inferior part, unless when circumstances occur to
bring him more forward upon the canvass; the moment
which cease, he must contentedly retire again
from the front, to his former station in the background
of the picture.




Mr. Beckford, after a profusion of the most
observant experience, admitted an excellent whipper-in
to be preferable to an excellent huntsman; and
as the opinion he believed was entirely new, he felt
himself in some degree called upon to explain it.
He had no doubt but he should have better sport,
and kill more foxes, with a moderate huntsman,
and an excellent whipper-in, than with the best of
huntsmen without such assistance. For he considered,
that, in general sporting acceptation, it
might probably be conceived, that a good huntsman
might always make a good whipper-in; not
such, however, as he meant; his talent must be
born with him. His reasons were, that good hounds
(and bad he would not keep) oftener need the one
than the other; and genius, which, in a whipper-in,
if attended by obedience, (his first distinguishing
requisite,) can be productive of no ill, is, in a
huntsman, a dangerous though a desirable quality;
and if not accompanied with a large share of prudence,
blended with humility, will oftentimes retard
and spoil the sport, as well as tend materially
to hurt the hounds.


{477}


It has been erroneously conceived, by some
theoretic and newly-entered sportsmen, that it is the
business of a whipper-in to attend closely upon the
huntsman, to receive his commands, and execute
his orders; which is by no means the case. If he is
on the opposite side of the covert to the huntsman,
he is in his proper place; and if within hearing of
his halloo, he is near enough; for that is the signal
it is the province of the whipper-in to obey. The
second whipper-in may occasionally attend upon the
huntsman, to act as a field aid de camp, when he is
not required by circumstances to be active elsewhere.
The first whipper-in should of course be
qualified to hunt the hounds, if necessary: nothing
can be better calculated to keep a huntsman within
the bounds of decency and good manners; as they
in general are by no means deficient in the assumption
of imaginary consequence, when once they
have imbibed an opinion of their own superiority.


When hounds are taken from the kennel, it is
the place of the first whipper-in to go before, and
of the second to come at some distance behind them.
If permitted to follow too near, however great the
necessity may be, the poor animals will never be
allowed time to empty themselves; for these juvenile
whippers-in, upon their initiation, conceive it
their proper element to be always in a gallop, and
incessantly whipping the hounds whenever they can
get at them. The first whipper-in should be of
{478}
light weight, great agility, quick conception, of
much personal fortitude, and an excellent horseman.
With these qualifications, he has it always
in his power to exert and display his ability to advantage.
While the huntsman slicks close to his
headmost hounds, the whipper-in can give proof of
his judgment in various ways: he can clap forward
to any great earth that may be open; he may sink
the wind, to view and halloo a fox when the scent
fails, or keep him off his soil: he may avail himself
of the first opportunity to stop the tail hounds,
and get them forward; and he has it constantly in
his power to assist the hounds, if he has penetration
to discover where, and at what time, it is most
wanted. The making and keeping a pack steady, depend
entirely upon him; as it is not the province of
a huntsman either to rate or flog a hound, if it can
consistently be avoided.


During the chase, whenever it may be necessary
to stop the hounds, the whipper-in should always be
at their head before he begins to make the attempt.
Rating behind can effect but little; and if they are
running riot in covert, it may prevent him from
knowing which are the aggressors. Whippers-in
are frequently in the extreme, and continue rating
long after they find that rating will not avail: a
hound should never be struck, unless he is first
made sensible what it is for: if they were a little
less hasty, and more disposed to reflection, they
{479}
would never strike a hound that did not deserve it,
and would strike those hard who do. In fact, the
experience of every additional season affords ample
conviction, that a whipper-in seldom distinguishes
sufficiently the degrees of offence which a dog may
have committed, to proportion his punishment
accordingly; and such is the prevalence of custom,
that when only riding a hound, to turn him after
the huntsman, he is rated (if not flogged) as severely
as if he had been guilty of the greatest possible
offence.


A whipper-in is generally so exceedingly pleased
with his own powers of vociferation, that he is incessantly
rating some one hound or another, and
then as industriously endeavours to flog him; without
asking himself the question, whether it is likely
a hound thus rated will not naturally feel inclined
to avoid the whip. It is certainly the most consistent,
whenever a hound may deserve correction,
to whip him first, and to rate him afterwards. The
getting forward the tail hounds is a material and
necessary part of the chase, in which a whipper-in,
of energy and judgment, can always give proof of
his ability. Where there are two whippers-in, the
first is often justified in getting forward, when the
huntsman, from accident, or unforeseen and unavoidable
obstructions, may be prevented from
being up with the hounds; but the second has no
right whatever to be forward, so long as a single
{480}
hound is known to have been left behind. Most
huntsmen cast an eye of jaundiced jealousy at a
whipper-in, particularly if his merits have attracted
the attention of his employer; upon a presumption
he may have a rival in his subordinate, who may,
upon any indiscretion or disobedience of his own,
have a fair chance of becoming his successor; a
circumstance that sometimes a little cankers the
basis of unanimity. After these accumulated remarks
upon the personal qualifications and official
efforts of a whipper-in, it may with truth be affirmed,
if he is innately bold, active, and energetic;
a prudent, careful, and steady horseman,
with a quick ear, and clear voice; with attentive
knowledge, and observation to distinguish where
he can be the most useful; not possessing the simple
conceit of killing a fox without the huntsman, but,
on the contrary, feel disposed to assist him all he
can; such a one may be considered completely perfect
in his department, and will seldom or ever be
long out of employment.




WHELPS
.—The produce of hounds during
their first months are termed whelps; the young of
other sporting dogs are in general called puppies.
Those who are intent upon forming a hunting establishment,
will, in laying the foundation, recollect,
that hounds are very frequently to be purchased for
considerably less money than they can be bred.
The pack once obtained, breeding then becomes
{481}
indispensibly necessary for the proper support of
the stock, and the acquisition of superior excellence;
by possessing the annual convenience of entering
young, and rejecting old, till the body become
perfectly complete. The business of breeding
is considered so very material to the sporting
reputation of the establishment, that, by amateurs
and professed sportsmen, it is conducted with a
systematic circumspection, and most judicious discrimination.
Uniformity in size, shape, make,
colour, speed, and constitution, are leading perfections,
which should never be lost sight of. Mr. Beckford,
who seems to have understood the
chase much better than any writer that has ever
promulgated an opinion upon the subject, has laid
down some precautionary rules, from which the
emulous and the prudent will seldom deviate.




In a well-regulated and extensive hunting establishment,
no less than nine or ten couple of whelps
should be annually bred to keep up a regular supply:
the distemper sometimes making dreadful
havoc amongst the whelps, as well as age and infirmities
amongst the old hounds, if a proper number
of recruits were not always ready, much mortifying
disappointment might probably ensue. Whenever
it can be so contrived, the whelps should appear
between the second or third week in February, and
the middle of the month of March; they have then
nothing to encounter from the cold severity of the
winter season, and the ensuing summer to bask,
{482}
expand, and grow in. It is on all hands admitted
injudicious to breed from hounds with palpable
imperfections: weak hounds, babblers, skirters,
slow, and tardy-tongued hounds, should always be
rejected. An old dog should never be put to an
old bitch; nor should either dog or bitch be in an
unhealthy state, lest the offspring should be eventually
affected.




WHISKEY
,—the name of a most excellent
runner, whose recent performances on the turf laid
the foundation of his present celebrity as a stallion
of much promised reputation. He was bred by his
Royal Highness the Prince of Wales; foaled in
1780, and got by Saltram out of Calash, (who was
got by Herod;) her dam (Teresa) by Matchem.
In 1792, when three years old, in the July Meeting
at Newmarket, he won a sweepstakes of 200
guineas, eight subscribers; and 50l. at Bedford.
First October Meeting, a post sweepstakes of 1000
guineas each, three subscribers. The next day a
subscription of 200 guineas each, eleven subscribers.
Second October Meeting, a subscription of
20 guineas each, six subscribers. In the Houghton
Meeting, he beat Sir F. Standish's Sir John across
the flat, staking 150 to 100 guineas. In 1793
(then Mr. Durand's) he won the Jockey Stakes of
100 guineas each, half forfeit, twelve subscribers.
The next Meeting he beat Halbert a match over
the Beacon for 200 guineas. At Winchester he
walked over the Course for a 50l. plate; and won
{483}
a sweepstakes of 10 guineas each, six subscribers.
He was then withdrawn from the turf, and announced
as a stallion at five guineas a mare, and
half a guinea the groom. Two of his get started at
only two years, and were both winners. In 1799,
Clarissa appeared, and at two years old won 150
guineas, and 120 guineas, at Brighton. Pamela,
three years old, 50l. at Brocket Hall; 200 guineas
at Epsom; and 50l. at Ipswich. In 1800, two
others appeared, each two years old, both winners
at Newmarket. In 1801, Eleanor started, and
won 250 guineas, 700 guineas, and 200 guineas,
at Newmarket; and the Derby and Oaks Stakes,
both at Epsom, amounting to 1475 guineas. Julia
won the July Stakes, 40 guineas, and 450 guineas,
at Newmarket; and Whiskerandos won three prizes
at Newmarket, Brighton, and Egham. In 1802,
Whirligig won seven prizes; Julia, six; Eleanor,
three; Gig, two; and Orlando, 100 guineas, at
Newmarket. Under the increasing merits of which
progeny, his price as a stallion is advanced to
double the original sum; standing announced to
cover for 10 guineas a mare the present season,
1803, at Great Barton, near Bury St. Edmund's.






WHITE-FOOTED HORSE
—is always considered
an indication of future weakness in the feet;
such horses, in general, having hoofs which become
soon brittle and battered; or an outer sole so thin
at the bottom, that it compulsively submits to the
propulsive force of the membranous mass within,
{484}
and soon forms a preternatural prominence upon
the surface, rendering the foot not only weak, but
exceedingly difficult to shoe, without pressing upon
the part requiring to be protected.






WHITE HOUND
.—A hound perfectly white
is hardly ever bred up for the chase; not more on
account of their being considered weaker in constitution
than hounds of a variegated description,
than their contributing less to the uniformity of the
pack. The hounds in the highest estimation to
constitute beauty, are brown, liver-coloured, or
yellow pied; either of those having a proportional
participation with the white, and of these the most
are now bred. There are, however, some instances,
where hounds entirely of a black, or sandy tan, are
admitted, and prove the crack or leading hound of
the pack.






WIDGEON
—is a species of wild fowl, inferior
in size to the wild duck, but considerably larger
than the teal. They afford little or no sport to the
gunner, being but rarely found, except in the
utmost severity of the winter, and then only in certain
particular fens and marshes in some few different
parts of the kingdom. Those with which the
markets of the Metropolis are supplied, are caught
in the same manner as wild-ducks. See Decoy.






WILD BOAR
.—This animal was formerly a
native of Britain, and held in such high estimation,
{485}
that those convicted of killing or maiming them in
the time of William the Conqueror, were punished
with the loss of their eyes. Charles the First procured
wild boars from the continent, and had them
turned down in the New Forest to promote the
breed; but they were entirely destroyed in the
civil wars that ensued. Hunting the wild boar is
considered a magnanimous sport with the grandees
of those countries in which they abound; but it
partakes in no degree of comparison with the exhilarating
sport, and enlivening scenes, displayed
in the different kinds of chase in our own country.
Wild boars are sought after, and tried for, in the
largest and thickest woods and coverts, (having angular
and cross rides cut through them for the
purpose of the chase,) in the same way by which
stags are roused, or foxes unkenneled, in this
country. The dogs used for the sport, are slow
and heavy, much more like a cross between a mastiff
and a wire-haired lurcher, than any species of the
hound kind. When the boar is once roused, more
by the incessant noise and clamour of the multitude
than any peculiar property of the dogs, he goes
moderately off, not much alarmed at, or seemingly
afraid of, the exultations of his pursuers. During
the chase (if it is worthy to be termed so) he frequently
turns round to face the dogs, and offers to
attack them; again proceeds; again turns; and
they for a while keep each other at bay: the same
ceremony is renewed, till at length the boar becomes
completely tired, refusing to go any farther.
{486}
The serious conflict then begins in earnest. His
defence being strong, and wonderfully powerful,
before, the dogs (particularly the young ones) endeavour
to attack him behind, in which attempt
some lives are frequently lost; but during the struggle,
the hunters get up, and put a period to his
existence with their spears.






WILD DUCK
.—See Decoy.






WILD-GOOSE CHASE
,—is neither more or
less than a metaphorical allusion to the uncertainty
of its termination. This originated in a kind of
chase (more properly match) formerly decided in
the following way. Two horses having started at
the place appointed, continued to race by the side
of each other, till one having obtained the lead,
was entitled to proceed in whatever direction the
rider pleased, (either by shortening or prolonging
the distance to the winning spot previously agreed
on,) according to the qualifications of his horse.
This kind of chase so frequently terminated in tired
or spoiled horses, without a decision, that it was
long since changed to a train scent, (that is, a drag
across the country;) better known by the denomination
of a steeple chase.






WIND BROKEN
.—The disorder or malady so
called, is (with the most experienced) discovered
by a quick and irregular heaving of the flanks, accompanied
by a great and palpable difficulty of respiration
{487}
after brisk exertion. The usual mode of
examination with dealers, is to try the perfect or
imperfect state of the wind, by a cough compulsively
excited: this is effected by forcibly pressing
the gullet, just below the under jaw, at the junction
of the head with the neck; from which pressure,
if a strong, clear, healthy cough immediately proceeds,
the wind may be considered sound, and naturally
good; but, on the contrary, should it prove
a wheezing husky attempt to cough, terminating
with a kind of distant moan, or groan, the horse is
asthmatic, and unsound, if not completely broken-winded;
in which state most horses may be discovered,
from the noise they make in their difficulty
of respiration during either a sharp trot or moderate
canter; from which they have acquired the
common appellation of roarers, which is understood
to imply a certainty of Broken Wind; which see.






WINDGALLS
—are soft and flatulent or fluctuating
tumours, seated on one or both sides the
back sinews, above the fetlock-joint of a horse, and
principally upon the fore-legs; but with horses who
have been immoderately worked, they frequently
appear upon the hind-legs also. They generally
make their appearance upon subjects who have
been brought into labour too young, and before the
vessels have acquired a proper strength and elasticity.
Permitted to continue long, without counteraction,
they soon possess a rigid inflexibility,
which is never to be subdued. Whenever they are
{488}
first perceived, early means should be adopted, to
prevent a farther protrusion of the integument.
Plentiful impregnations of the best white wine vinegar,
followed by powerful repellents of camphorated
spirits, incorporated with a sixth part of
saturnine extract; or a strong solution of alum in
water, assisted by a moderate woollen bandage;
will sometimes obliterate them entirely, provided
they are attacked in their infancy, and the mode
thus adopted patiently persevered in.






WITHERS
.—The part of a horse so called, is
the superior point of the shoulders, situate above
the blades, precisely at the termination of the mane,
from whence the back begins. Upon the good or
ill formation of the withers, the symmetry, strength
and value of the horse materially depend. If the
subject is well made in the withers, with a gradually
advancing forehand, long and proportionally erect,
it produces a commanding majestic dignity in the
fore quarters, generally accompanied with a corresponding
uniformity behind. A horse of this
description is almost invariably sure-footed, and an
admirable goer in all his paces: on the contrary, if
he is defective in this particular point, he is lower
before than behind, and is proportionally reduced in
estimation and intrinsic worth. A horse low in the
withers, is mostly short in the forehand also; forcible
indications of a deficiency in speedy action, an
habitual tendency to the perfection of stumbling, and
the equally mortifying memento of not being able
{489}
to carry a saddle in its proper place, without the
pleasing appendage called a crupper.




The withers are constantly liable to injury, from
saddles being wide in the tree, or coming too far
forward, which letting the internal part of the pummel
come into contact with the projecting point of
the withers, mischief (from the pinching, pressure,
or friction) frequently ensues, terminating in inflammation,
laceration, tumefaction, maturation,
and sometimes fistula, which see. Injuries sustained
in this part by either of the means before mentioned,
should never remain unattended to: a repetition
of the cause, from neglect or inattention, is likely
to render that serious and severe, which might, by a
contrary conduct, have proved only a slight and
temporary inconvenience. When such a circumstance
has unluckily taken place, and is attended to
without delay, cool repellents, and mild astringents,
will generally effect an early obliteration; but it
should be retained in memory, that the part once
bruised acquires an additional degree of tenderness
and irritability, which will render the cure more
tedious and difficult, should the bruise be inconsiderately
or inattentively repeated.




WITHER-WRUNG
.—A horse is said to be
wither-wrung, when he sustained the origin of the
injuries described under the last head.




{490}




WOLF
.—The wolf, although not now to be
found among us, was once a very destructive native
of this country, and the whole were ultimately
destroyed by mandate from the Crown. Naturalists
universally agree in an opinion, that the wolf and
dog were originally of the same class; and argue,
from its external form, that it is in every respect
what the dog was in its natural state of freedom.
Although completely annihilated in this country,
they are to be found in great abundance in every
other, from whence they are speculatively imported,
and may be seen in the menageries of those by
whom they are established for the sole purpose of
public exhibition. In respect to the degree of similitude
between the two, impartial inspection must
admit the perceptible shades of difference: the
shape of the head differs materially; and the eyes
being more obliquely seated, affords an aspect of
the most savage ferocity. The ears of the wolf are
sharp and erect; the tail long, bushy, and bending
inwards from its hind legs; its body is of stronger
formation than the body of any species of dog; its
jaws and teeth evidently larger, and more powerful;
and its hair both coarser and thicker. The
internal structure of the dog and wolf is precisely
the same in every particular; the latter copulate in
the same manner, and their sudden separation prevented
by the same means. The time of gestation
also varies but little, if any; and, from the various
experiments recited by the late celebrated Dr.
Hunter, there is left no room to doubt, that the
{491}
wolf and dog will copulate, and produce an intermediate
species, capable of subsequent propagation.




In all ages, the wolf has been considered the most
savage enemy of mankind; and at most times, and
in all countries, rewards have been offered for its
destruction. When pressed with hunger, from repeated
disappointments, the wolf becomes doubly
courageous from necessity; braves every danger,
and will attack the very animals under the protection
of the human species. The horse alone seems
to possess the power of superiority; all inferior animals
have no alternative to unconditional submission,
and inevitable destruction. Even man himself
has frequently fallen a victim to its rapacity; and it
is said, upon the best authorities, that when once
they have feasted upon human blood, they become
the more incessantly rapacious in the pursuit of it.
The wolf, from his muscular strength, is enabled to
carry off a sheep in his mouth, and even run with
it in that manner: his bite is dreadfully severe,
and the keener, the less it meets with opposition;
but when powerfully refilled, he is exceedingly
cautious and circumspect, never fighting when
nearly upon an equality, but under the most absolute
necessity. The wolf is hardier, and more robust,
than the dog, but less alive to the powers of
intellectual discrimination: he is almost incessantly
prowling in search of prey, and is himself, of all
animals, the most difficult to conquer in the chase.


{492}


Every possible means were adopted, many centuries
since, to rid this country of so rapacious a
despoiler. King Edgar attempted to effect it in
England, by remitting the punishment of certain
crimes on producing a certain number of wolves'
tongues: and in Wales, the tax of gold and silver
was commuted for an annual tribute of their heads.
Some centuries after which, they had increased to
such a destructive infinity, as to become again an
object of royal attention, and great rewards were
once more held forth for their destruction. Edward
the First issued his royal mandate to Peter Corbet,
to superintend and assist in the destruction of them
in the several counties of Gloucester, Worcester,
Hereford, Salop, and Stafford. In other counties,
certain persons held their lands upon condition of
hunting, taking, and destroying, a number of
wolves annually, in proportion to the quantity of
land so held. They were so numerous in Scotland
about the middle of the fifteenth century, that they
completely overrun the country, to the incessant
destruction of the flocks, and the immense losses of
the community; nor were they, with every indefatigable
exertion of the natives, extirpated till the
year 1680, when the last wolf is recorded to have
fallen by the hand of the then famous Sir Ewen
Cameron. Ireland in those times suffered by their
immense numbers in an equal degree with England,
Scotland, and Wales, and for a much longer duration,
as they were not perfectly annihilated in that
country till the earlier part of the last century.


{493}




WOLVES' TEETH
.—Those so called, are the
natural teeth of the horse, enlarged by a preternatural
growth, so as to lacerate the fleshy internal
part of the cheek by the prominence of their ragged
edges, or by the upper grinders overhanging the
lower; they catch the wrinkled parts (called flaps)
between them in the act of mastication, occasioning
so much pain, that some horses are considerably reduced
in flesh by a compulsive abstinence, eating
no more than merely sufficient to keep the frame in
a state of subsistence. With horses labouring under
such infirmity or imperfection, there is no relief to
be obtained, but from a proper file, and the hand of
a steady operator.






WOODCOCK
.—This is a bird of passage, with
a simply variegated plumage, having a long bill,
peculiarly appropriated to the purposes of insertion
and suction, from which its subsistence is principally
derived: it is rather inferior in size to the
partridge, varying in weight, according to the condition
it may be in, and the season in which it is
killed, being rarely less than eight, or more than
eleven ounces in the scale. They arrive in this
country some time in the month of October; but
whether early or late, depends entirely upon the prevalence
of the winds by which they are brought
over. The east and north-easterly winds (particularly
when accompanied by fogs) are the most favourable
for their arrival: reaching our shores fatigued
with flight, they drop under any tree, shrub,
{494}
or bush, bearing the appearance of covert: after
rest and refreshment, they in longer flights disperse
themselves in the different woods, copses, shaws,
and hedge-rows, in various parts of the country,
selecting chiefly such parts as seem best calculated
for the singularity of their accommodation. They
are by no means remarkable for remaining long in
one place, or even in the same neighbourhood; on
the contrary, they never continue more than ten or
twelve days in any particular spot, though favourably
adapted to their reception.




The woodcock is a very clumsy waddling walker,
as is the case with every kind of fowl having short
legs and long wings: when flushed, he rises heavily
from the ground, and makes a considerable noise
before he can gather wind sufficient for flight. If
found in a rushy spot, a ditch, or a hedge-row,
from whence he is obliged to present an open mark,
he frequently slowly skims over the ground, and is
very easily shot; as, indeed, is the case elsewhere,
provided any obstruction does not arise from intervening
branches of trees, and boughs of underwood,
which, in cock and covert shooting, must
always be expected. After a plentiful arrival, they
afford excellent sport, and may be found as well
with pointers as with spaniels, (the pointers being
hunted in the covert with bells:) but cock shooting,
with spaniels is almost universally preferred, as it is
more enlivening and exhilarating to hear the spaniels
occasionally in quest, rather than pursue so
{495}
pleasing a scene with the solemnity of a general
silence.




WOODPECKER
—was a horse whose blood
and performances rendered him, as a racer, and
stallion, of the most distinguished celebrity. He
was bred by Sir C. Davers; foaled in 1773; got
by Herod, dam (Miss Ramsden) by Old Cade,
grand-dam by Lord Lonsdale's Bay Arabian. His
winnings are now become too remote to give in the
detail. As a stallion, his progeny are infinite;
amongst the principal of which the following have
been the most conspicuous. In 1789, Bullfinch
won 300 guineas, 100 guineas, 20 guineas, 100
guineas, 100 guineas, and 50 guineas, at Newmarket.
Chanticleer, 650 guineas, 500 guineas,
and 400 guineas, at Newmarket. Cormorant, 135
guineas, 62 guineas, 40 guineas, 200 guineas, 300
guineas, 62½ guineas, 300 guineas, and 75 guineas,
at Newmarket. Hawk, 100 guineas, 150
guineas, and 50 guineas, at Newmarket. Seagull,
35 guineas, and 800 guineas, 200 guineas, 100
guineas, 62 guineas, 250 guineas, 200 guineas, 20
guineas, 200 guineas, 400 guineas, 160 guineas,
and 300 guineas, at Newmarket. Swallow, 100
guineas, and 100 guineas, at Newmarket. Woodlark,
50l. at Stockbridge, and the King's Hundred
Guineas, at Winchester, and Salisbury.




In 1790, twenty-seven of his get started, and
were the winners of seventy-eight subscriptions,
{496}
sweepstakes, matches, and plates. Bat won 100
guineas, 50 guineas, 100 guineas, 100 guineas, and
100 guineas, at Newmarket. A bay filly out of Camilla,
200 guineas, 143 guineas, and 200 guineas,
at the same. Buzzard, 100 guineas, 50 guineas,
200 guineas, and 200 guineas, at Newmarket. Chanticleer,
300 guineas, 200 guineas, 100 guineas, and
152 guineas, at Newmarket. Cormorant, 50l. 100
guineas, 200 guineas, 400 guineas, 200 guineas,
and 60 guineas, at Newmarket. Dragon, 200 guineas,
200 guineas, 200 guineas, 450 guineas, 100
guineas, 88 guineas, 45 guineas, 200 guineas, and
200 guineas, at the same. Griffin, 300 guineas,
120 guineas, and 125 guineas, at Newmarket.
Isabel, 50l. 100 guineas, 300 guineas, and 150 guineas,
at Newmarket. Mrs. Candour, 50 guineas,
50 guineas, 100 guineas, and 100 guineas, at the
same. Pecker, 100 guineas, 100 guineas, 100 guineas,
100 guineas, 200 guineas, 100 guineas, and
100 guineas, at Newmarket. Seagull, 200 guineas,
500 guineas, and the Grosvenor Stakes, at Newmarket;
the Oatlands Stakes, of 100 guineas each,
nineteen subscribers, and 500 guineas, at Ascot
Heath; 60 guineas, 250 guineas, 200 guineas, and
300 guineas, at Newmarket; and Tom Tit, 50l.
at Stamford, 97l. 5s. 0d. at Nottingham, and 50l.
at Derby.


In 1791, twenty-two of his produce started, and
were winners of fifty-eight prizes. Buzzard won
250 guineas, 200 guineas, 120 guineas, and 300
{497}
guineas, at Newmarket, and two fifties at Chesterfield.
Chanticleer, 150 guineas, 200 guineas, the
Grosvenor Stakes, 100 guineas, and 200 guineas, at
Newmarket. Cormorant, 100 guineas, 100 guineas,
300 guineas, 100 guineas, and 80 guineas, at Newmarket.
Dancing Master, 200 guineas, 100 guineas,
and 130 guineas, at Newmarket. Dragon,
the Claret and Fortescue Stakes, the Jockey Club
Plate, the 140 guineas, 50l. 1000 guineas, the
Prince's Plate, and 70 guineas, at Newmarket.
Hawk, 100 guineas, 100 guineas, 100 guineas, and
150 guineas, at Stockbridge. Isabel, the Queen's
100 guineas at Chelmsford, and the King's Plate
at Lincoln. Pecker, 200 guineas, 100 guineas,
and the Give and Take Plate, at Newmarket. Seagull,
600 guineas at Newmarket; and Tree Creeper,
200 guineas, 50 guineas, 60 guineas, and 50l.
all at Newmarket. In 1792, Bustard won 200
guineas, 100 guineas, 100 guineas, 50l. and 100
guineas, at Newmarket, and 200 guineas, 37½
guineas, 200 guineas, 100 guineas, and 50 guineas,
at the same. Chanticleer, 100 guineas, 500 guineas,
500 guineas, 500 guineas, and 400 guineas,
at Newmarket. Dragon, 275 guineas, the Whip
(with 400 guineas,) and 300 guineas, at Newmarket.
Hawk, 100 guineas at Newmarket, and the
Bowl at Salisbury. Ostrich, 80 guineas at Newmarket,
50l. at Brighton, and the King's Plate at
Canterbury. Rover, 50 guineas, and 90 guineas,
at Exeter; and 50l. at Dorchester. Tree Creeper,
100 guineas, the second class and main of the Filly
{498}
Stakes, and 200 guineas, at Newmarket; and the
Prince's Stakes of 50 guineas each, half forfeit, seventeen
subscribers, at Brighton.


In 1793, Buzzard won the Craven Stakes, 200
guineas, 200 guineas, 60 guineas, 100 guineas,
and 60 guineas, at Newmarket; and a two year old
bay filly of Lord Grosvenor's, the July Filly Stakes
at Newmarket, and the Orleans Stakes at Brighton.
In 1794, Buzzard won the Craven Stakes, 50
guineas, the Jockey Club Plate, 200 guineas, 50l.
and 100 guineas, at Newmarket. Jack of Newbury,
50l. at Bath, 40 guineas at Tewksbury, and
60 guineas at Abingdon. Paroquet, 300 guineas
at Newmarket; and Seagull, 50 guineas, 100 guineas,
and 105 guineas, at the same. In 1795,
Atropa (at two years old) won 400 guineas at
Newmarket. Colibri, (two years old,) 50 guineas,
and 75 guineas, at Brighton; 200 guineas, 100 guineas,
100 guineas, 80 guineas, and 100 guineas,
at Newmarket. Ida, 100 guineas at Ascot Heath,
50l. and 50 guineas at Brighton, and 50l. at Lewes.
Shoveller, 150 guineas at Ascot; and Pecker, 500
guineas at Newmarket. In 1796, nine of his get
started, and received nineteen prizes. In 1797,
six were the winners of ten. In 1798, three only
started, and were winners of five. In 1799, Vivalde,
three years old, won 300 guineas, 200 guineas,
100 guineas, and 100 guineas, at Newmarket,
and 100 guineas at Stamford; and Thrush, only
two years old, 100 guineas, 50 guineas, and 45
{499}
guineas, at Newmarket. In 1800, Ephemera won
the Oaks Stakes, of 50 guineas each, (twenty-four
subscribers,) at Epsom, and 50l. at Newmarket.
Sophia, 100 guineas at Brighton. Thrush, 100
guineas, and 20 guineas, at Newmarket. Vivalde,
200 guineas, and 45 guineas, at Newmarket; 50l.
at Epsom; and 50l. at Reading. In 1801, Crazy
Poetess won 100 guineas at Lewes. Cocoa-Tree,
the Brocket Stakes of 100 guineas at Brocket Hall;
100 guineas, 75 guineas, and 50 guineas, at Newmarket;
and Anna Maria, 60 guineas at Epsom.
In 1802, Mystery won 60 guineas, and 50l. at
Goodwood, and 50 guineas at Epsom; Paulo winning
a 50l. plate at Northampton. So that, upon
a review of Woodpecker's progeny, he has proved
himself inferior to but very few of his predecessors.




WORMS
—are known to be of different kinds;
and when any one particular species has taken possession
of the stomach, or any part of the intestinal
canal, in a horse, they not only occasion extreme
pain, or perpetual disquietude, but become inveterate
opponents to health, and constant enemies to
flesh and condition. Some horses, of strong constitution,
will bear their persecuting pinchings for a
great length of time, before they give external proof
of internal depredation; others, from less patience,
or greater irritability, are very early in their indications.
Symptoms of worms are various, and not
unfrequently deceptive: those most relied upon are
a largeness of the belly, with a leanness of the flesh;
{500}
an unkind and hollow slaring of the coat, a flaccidity
of the skin, a dryness of the mouth, a fœtidity
of the breath, an occasional looking towards the
flank on either side, or stamping with one hind foot
or the other when in pain. A kind of straw-coloured
sulphureous scurfy stain at the sphincter of
the anus, is considered a certain and invariable sign;
but ocular demonstration (which very frequently
happens) removes the matter beyond all present
doubt, and subsequent disappointment.




The sorts with which horses are most commonly
afflicted, are as follow: Botts, a short circular
worm, with a shelly kind of coat, picked at one end,
and nearly round at the other, not unlike the silk-worm
in its dormant state: these adhere closely to
the internal coat of the stomach, causing the most
excruciating pains as they increase in numbers, and
are sometimes so numerous and destructive as to occasion
the loss of life; instances of which have been
proved by an examination of the viscera after death;
of which a case is described in Page 132 of "A
Compendium of Farriery," by the present Author,
published in 1796. These take their seat also in
the rectum, (the large intestine nearest the anus,)
where they are seen adhering to the interstices as
close to each other, during the moments of evacuation,
as a swarm of bees; and five or six may be
twitched off at a time with the fingers and thumb,
just at the critical contraction of the sphincter.


{501}


There is also a large dark worm comes from horses,
having a black head, and in its formation precisely
the same as the grub-worm, so destructive to
the roots of strawberries in certain dry seasons; but
that these are of a cream coloured white, and the
former of a brownish yellow, which tinge may
probably be derived from the excrements in which
they have been ingulfed. A third is the long white
worm, from six or seven to fourteen inches long,
equally picked at both ends, but larger in circumference
towards one end than the other; these are
prolific in the body beyond description, and when
completely dislodged by medical specifics, are evacuated
in putrified masses exceeding credibility.
The fourth are a greenish small worm, with a perpetual
vermicular motion, which, by its continual
twisting and twirling in the intestinal canal, so irritates
the animal, that he sometimes evacuates suddenly,
and in a state so lax, that these worms are
frequently expelled with the dung in great numbers,
and seen working in all directions upon its surface,
exactly similar to the exertions of an eel when
thrown upon the grass from its native element.


Numerous are the quackeries and nostrums recommended
by the il-literati, from old books, and
unenlightened practice, long since buried in oblivion;
but more particularly since the discovery of
those grand specifics, MERCURY and
ANTIMONY, which
may be comparatively said to contain an equal
degree of merit with the remaining conjunctive
{502}
parts of the whole Materia Medica. After all the
various experiments made, and minute observations
collected, it does not appear that any mode, but
mercurial purgation, will be productive of actual and
infallible extirpation. Instances are numerous,
where they have been evacuated in large quantities
(and in many cases completely eradicated) by the
advertised Antimonial Alterative Powders of the
Author; but MERCURIALS are certainly entitled to
priority, upon the well-founded plea of infallibity.
Worms are as common with dogs as with horses,
and may as certainly be cured by the same proportional
means.




 WORMING of DOGS
,—when whelps, or
puppies, is believed by some to prevent their wanton
and destructive propensity in play when young;
and by others, to render unnecessary any fear of
their receiving the canine infection of madness during
their lives: the latter, however, is too slender
a foundation for any decisive opinion to be erected
upon. The operation of worming is simply this;
underneath the tongue is a frænum (or bridle) by
which the motion of the tongue is regulated; the
exterior skin of this is to be delicately slit superficially
with a lancet, when a tendinous substance, called
the worm, will be perceived: the point of a small
probe, awl, or large needle, should then be insinuated
beneath its center, to raise it up, when, with
very little force, one end will come away; this
taken hold of, with a linen cloth, or handkerchief,
{503}
the other end will soon come away under gentle extraction.
Too sudden force, or violence, must not
be used, lest the worm should be broken, and a
part left behind in the attempt.






WORMWOOD
.—This plant is of two sorts,
distinguished by the names of Roman and Common
Wormwood: both have their properties of utility;
but the former is esteemed the most efficacious of
the two. It has a strong but fragrant smell, and is
intensely bitter to the taste: it powerfully resists
putrefaction, and is highly useful in antiseptic and
emollient fomentations; consequently well worthy
a place in the garden of every rural sportsman, to
be ready upon unexpected emergencies. Experiments
have been made with this article dried, powdered,
and given to horses in balls, for the cure of
worms; but it does not appear to have acquired reputation
for any specific or infallible effect in their
extirpation.






WOUNDS
—are well known to be occasioned
by various means; and, in the strictest signification,
imply an accidental separation of parts, or solution
of continuity, by some sharp instrument, suddenly
and accidentally, or wilfully introduced. In all
recent wounds casually encountered, and in a
bleeding state, (if not deeply seated,) little more is
required, or can indeed be effected by the most expert
practitioner, than to absorb the flux of blood,
and then to bring the edges of the wound as nearly
{504}
into contact with each other as circumstances will
admit, either by suture or bandage, where the seat
of injury will admit of such process; which is not
always the case; wounds sometimes happening
where the edges of the separated parts cannot be
brought into any degree of union, and the cure can
only be effected by incarnation. In some circumstances,
wounds are sustained in such singular situations,
and across such large muscles, that the insertion
of stitches, to secure the edges, would prove of
no effect, as the whole would inevitably rupture
upon every exertion of the horse, in either laying
down or getting up.




Wounds of magnitude vary so much in appearance,
as influenced by the healthy or morbid state
of the body, the proper or improper mode of treatment,
or even the changes in the weather, that no
precise and invariable plan can be derived from
books, or inculcated by the pen, but what must necessarily
become subject to such alterations as prudence
may prompt, or the judicious practitioner
point out. In all wounds of the smaller kind, and
where neither the arteries or the tendinous parts
are affected, dressings of mild digestive or other
emollient unguents, upon pledgets of lint, with a
soft bed of tow, and proper covering for the
whole, will promote a speedy incarnation, when
cicatrization will follow of course. Wounds of
other kinds are produced by different means, and
require modes of treatment in a degree adapted to
{505}
their magnitude, and the causes by which they have
been occasioned. See Abscess,
Fistula, and
Strangles.


Y.




YARD-FALLEN
—is what some horses are
constitutionally subject to, and frequently display
it in a state of weariness, or bodily lassitude, denoting
no indisposition, and to which no ill appertains.
If the yard is seen to drop, and continue so
any length of time, in a state of flaccid debility,
(the horse being in other respects healthy, and free
from pain,) it indicates a previous injury, sustained
by pinch, pressure, or some other means,
upon that part in the groins; or by slip, strain,
stroke, or bruise upon the back, by which the internal
organs are severely affected. From whatever
cause such debility may have been derived, the restorative
and invigorating system is the only rational
plan to be adopted; nursing in all such cases is preferable
to a paltry and unnecessary profusion of
medicines: the latter may be proper for an interested
individual to recommend, but is too inconsistent
for a man of sense to adopt. Good mashes, prepared
of malt and bran, equal parts, solutions of
gum arabic in oatmeal gruel and water, for common
drink thrice a day, and a cordial ball night and
morning, for two or three days in succession, are
the best and simplest means that can be brought
into use upon such an occasion.




{506}




YARD FOUL
.—A foulness within the sheath
is what happens with most geldings; but some generate
or form much more filth than others. This
collection, for want of being occasionally relieved,
and cleaned out, so nearly plugs up the orifice,
that the yard, in its vapid state, has not the power
to protrude itself for the purpose of evacuation,
and the urine falls dribbling from the sheath; a
circumstance that in itself points out the necessity
of occasional cleansings, to prevent so unpleasant
an obstruction.






YELLOWS
—is a disorder in horned cattle, denominated
the yellows; but in horses, as well as in
the human species, it is distinguished by the appellation
of Jaundice, which see.






YEOMAN-PRICKER
—is a part of the royal
retinue annexed to his Majesty's hunting establishment.
Of these there are SIX, whose official department
it is to be subordinate to the huntsman,
and execute his orders in all matters relative to the
STAG HOUNDS, whether at their exercise and airings,
or during the chase; full and explanatory particulars
of which will be found under the separate and
distinct heads of King's Hounds, and
Stag Hunting.




THE END.


Printed by T. Maiden, Sherbourn Lane.




ADVERTISEMENT




TAPLIN,

   VETERINARY SURGEON,


AUTHOR OF

The Gentleman's Stable Directory;

(2 VOLS.)

"A Compendium of Farriery," and "Multum in Parvo;"


REMOVED FROM EDGEWARE ROAD, TO

SLOANE SQUARE,




BEGS to make his most grateful Acknowledgements to those Noblemen
and Gentlemen, who have continued to honour him with their
Patronage during the fourteen years he has been energetically employed
in endeavouring to promote a Reform in the former cruel and erroneous
System of Farriery. It is the greatest ambition of his life to have
seen that endeavour fully accomplished. Since the original Publication
of his "Gentleman's Stable Directory," he has exultingly
surveyed, not only the Institution, the Erection and the Establishment
of the Veterinary College, but the almost incredible increase
of Veterinary Surgeons in every Town; and Veterinary
Druggists in every Street of the Metropolis. Many of these, with a
certain degree of Professional Fertility, not only do him the honour to
imitate his long-established Horse Medicines; but others, with a
degree of Liberality peculiar to themselves, offer to supply the Public
with "cheap and efficacious" Horse Medicines, for even half what
Mr. Taplin's GENUINE Ingredients can be obtained at the first Commercial
Houses in the City of London. To the judicious and enlightened
this Mystery will sufficiently explain itself. Mr. Taplin, so
long honoured by the Countenance and Support of the most distinguished
and opulent Characters, never indulged a momentary Idea of dispensing
Cheap Medicines, because his Principles would never permit him to put
his Hand dishonourably into the Pockets of his best Friends; nor would
his well-known Attachment to the Animal, allow him to prepare a
single Article upon the genuine Property and expected probable Efficacy
of which, he is not only ready at all times to pledge his Reputation,
but his Existence. The honour of supplying near six hundred
Gentlemen, (a List of whom may be seen,) exclusive of his different
Agents, preclude the necessity of pestering the Public with perpetual
Advertisements; rendering it at the Commencement of every Season,
only necessary to communicate respectful Information, that Gentlemen
residing in any part of the Kingdom, addressing their Commands to
Mr. Taplin, Sloane-Square, London, shall have their Medicines
immediately dispatched by whatever Conveyance they may please
to appoint.


List of Medicines, with their Prices.






s.
d.





Mild Purging Balls
1
6
each.




Stronger ditto
2
0





Mild Mercurial Purging Balls
2
0





Stronger ditto
2
6





Cordial Rhubarb Purging Balls
2
6





Purging Balls for Worms
2
6





Mild Diuretic Balls for Cracks, Scratches, Surfeit, Hide-bound, or fluctuating Humours
9
0
per doz.




Stronger ditto, for perceptible Foulness, Defects of the Eyes, Swelled Legs, and Grease
12
0





Pectoral Cordial Balls for recent Colds or Coughs, and to be given after severe chases and long journies
12
0





Pectoral Detergent Balls, for Obstinate Coughs, or Asthmatic and Thick Winded Horses
12
0





Fever Balls
1
6
each.




Balls for Looseness or Scouring
1
6





Ditto for the Strangury, or Suppression of Urine
1
6





Ditto for the Flatulent Cholic, or Fret
2
0





Ditto for the Inflammatory Cholic or Gripes
2
0





Blistering Ointment for Lameness, Spavins, Splents, or Curbs
4
0
per pot.




Embrocation for Lameness or Strains
3
6
per bottle.




Alterative Powders, for Cracks, Scratches, Surfeit, Hide-bound, Mange, Grease, or Worms
8
0
per doz.




Camphorated Sperma-cæti Liniment, for Cracks
3
0
per pot.




Saturnine Solvent, for Splents
5
0
per bottle.




An Efficacious Collyrium for all Defects and Defluxions of the Eyes
3
6
per pint.




Mercurial Purging Balls for Dogs
4s. & 6
0
per doz.





Mr. Taplin continues to give Advice upon the
DEFECTS and
DISEASES of
HORSES, and to render
Assistance in all Cases of difficulty
and DANGER,
within TEN MILES of the
METROPOLIS, upon
the most moderate Terms.