1803. • Duties of Man fow.irds t/jf Brule' Ci<'ation. 327 



ledge in the veterinary art : But we confulcr it our duty to In- 

 form our readers of every publication that comes In our way, fo 

 nearly connected with agriculture. 



Having never feen the firlt edition of this bock, we know not 

 how far the fecond, now before us, may have been improved or 

 enlarged : Ikit the book certainly handles a number of very ufe- 

 ful topics, in a moll facetious and pleafnig way, though often 

 rather whimfical and paradoxical in the expreflions and the fen- 

 tlments which it inculcates. 



In the very outfet of our obfervatlons, we muft take leave 

 to dillent from the ftrange account our author has been pleafed 

 to give of himfelf and his work. Were we to believe him 

 implicitly, we muft of neceffity have thrown away his vo- 

 lumes, as the offspring of imbecility : For in his preface, he 

 apologizes * for the weak, defective, prolix, and tedious execu- 

 tion ; as the offspring of a mind not naturally brilliant, but en- 

 feebled, confufed, and Irritable, from chronic bodily weaknefs ; 

 and of a memory, at intei.vals, fcarce fufficiently retentive for 

 the ordinary purpofes of life. * 



That his mind is irritable, we certainly have flrong- proofs. 

 Ml the fevere manner in which he reprehends the unacknow- 

 ledged plagiarlim of Taplin, his competitor for veterinary fame: 

 ]3ut he gives fo many inftances of good fenfe and found rea- 

 foning, interfperfed indeed with what we confider as miftakes 

 in principle, thoug,h not numerous, that we are under the ne- 

 cefiity of queftioning his accurate knowledge or defcription of 

 his powers In oth^r refpefts. 



In the introduftory chapter to the firfl volume, a critical ac- 

 count of veterinary writers affords fome very curious fpeclmens 

 of the ingenuity of ancient horfe-doclors for poifoning their pa- 

 tients i and fome methods of torture, that no man above the 

 level of a bullock-hunter can conceive without horror. One 

 expreffion, in an innocent receipt of old Markham, we ihall en- 

 able our author to comprehend, and help him out at a dead lift, 

 to ufe his own words. A moldy^iuarpy he may pleafe to inform 

 the old wives of his acquaintance, is very nearly the German 

 and Scotlfli name for a inch. 



After a chrQnologlcal axount of v.'riters on horfes, fronj 

 Blundevill in Chieen Elizabeth's reign, through Morgan, Mai- 

 cal, Martin, Clifford, and others now forgotten, and the re^ 

 doubtable Gervafe Markham j who, he fays, * was the oracle of 

 fapient grooms, the fiddle of old wives, and the glory of book- 

 fellers ; though only a mere vulgar and illiterate compiler of 

 works, fluffed with all the execrable trafh ever invented by 

 writers; or pra<5tifed by farriers j ' he flops a little to confider 



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