336 



Monthly Review of Literature, 



I^Sept. 



especially to name an instance oi two, the 

 Hoccos and Pauxis, which latter, or both, 

 are perhaps better known by tlie name of 

 Curassows. But we need not go so far 

 for them. The Dutch already, it seems, 

 have them, as frequent and familiar as 

 turkies. They are noble birds, with some- 

 thing considerable to eat upon them — beau- 

 tiful in feather, (but what's that ?) excellent 

 in flesh, and superior in flavour to the aris- 

 tocrat pheasant himself, and improveable by 

 cultivation. These birds, the hoccos and 

 paiaxis, in a state of domestication, have 

 very much the habits, it seems, of our com- 

 mon fowls. They are fond of being in the 

 neighbourhood of man — the reader wiU see 

 we are quoting — and seem, according to the 

 editor, to discover a peculiar relish for his 

 society — not the editor's, particularly, that 

 we k7iow of. They do not betake themselves 

 to solitary places for refuge (for laying ?), 

 but rather make use of nests, which man 

 provides for them, returning daily to lay 

 their eggs, and hatch there, in preference to 

 any other situation. Can any thing be more 

 accommodating ? The zoological " fellows" 

 talk large of what they will do. We hope 

 they will do something ; and in the way 

 we suggest — for we get heartily tired of 

 " toujours perdrijr." To bring these gen- 

 tlemen to action, — ^let them set about do- 

 mesticating the hoccos and pauxis forthwith : 

 they may find more euphonous names also, 

 though tliat is not perhaps exactly in their 

 way. 



The Horse, in all Ms Varieties and Uses, 

 ^c. (^c, by John Laxvrence ; 1829. — This 

 is not a book for the naturalist — though he 

 may and ought to benefit from it. John 

 Lawrence has nothing to do with theoretical 

 matters — he is thoroughly a practical man, 

 and studies the horse to find out what will 

 make him useful, and keep him so. John 

 claims the privileges of garrulity, and rattles 

 a*vay at a prodigious rate. He remembers 

 the total eclipse of the sun in 17C1 — that 

 memorable morning, when the famous 

 Eclipse was foaled, and thence named — 

 which total echpse was, he says, ' ominous 

 of his (the horse's) future glory and immor- 

 tality in the deathless annals of the Enghsh 

 Turf." He was himself, t'len, a groom-boy, 

 under the care of one of ttiose parsons made 

 by that triUy Right Honourable Richard 

 Rigby (the well-known whipper-in, else- 

 where,) with his tiventy wives. Indepen- 

 dently of the practical value of the book, 

 which we may come to presently — and it is 

 really and extensively valuable, because it 

 contains nothing but tlie free results of 

 downright experience, suggested to a sound 

 though rough and uncultivated understand- 

 ing — independently of this imcommon value, 

 the book is one of the most amusing the 

 reader will meet with in a thousand. The 

 very conceit and petulance of the old man 

 .^the consciousness and pride of being 

 something above the canaille among which 



he was born and bred — illustrated and en- 

 livened by his slip-slops, which are worth 

 all the merit, ten times told, of precision 

 and purity — are exquisitely comic. Tliey 

 do not in the least mar the authority and 

 use of liis doctrines, for he writes upon 

 nothing which has not fallen within his own 

 knowledge, and whicli he does not tho- 

 rouglily understand, and make the reader 

 comprehend. It is only the mode of com- 

 municating, which strikes as ridiculous, 

 though that is rather to be called amusing 

 than ridiculous — for tlie ridiculous involves 

 absurdity, and of that quality, at the bottom, 

 there is truly very little. The cheeiinessof the 

 old coxcomb puts the reader insensibly into 

 good humour, and leads him on to subjects 

 wliich he does not perhaps care a fig about, 

 and even interests him in them — some 

 whimsical association is sure to repay him 

 amply. 



The work is complete and unique — em- 

 bracing every possible subject that can be 

 connected with the horse — his breeding — 

 feeding — grooming — training — shoeing — 

 all his points — shapes, crosses and classes, 

 from the cart horse, through the roadster 

 and carriage horse, to the hunter and racer ; 

 and the whole interspersed witli anecdotes, 

 occasionally coarse, but always to the piur- 

 pose. The general humanity of the man 

 too, deserves a grateful notice — though, 

 after his manner, he parades it a little too 

 much for fastidious people, as if it were a 

 virtue that distinguished him from his fra- 

 ternity, and entitled him to commendation. 

 Nor will his exposure of acts of cruelty be 

 without their practical use — for his argu- 

 ments are bottomed on grounds to touch 

 the selfishness of the callous bosoms at 

 wliich they are levelled — for instance, gentle 

 treatment is urged as most effectual, and 

 shortest in the process, and moderate work- 

 ing as most jirojitahle in the long run. 

 Again, the abominable practices of grooms 

 and farriers are inveighed against, with a 

 sort of scorn most siue of stinging and 

 piercing their thick skins — inflicting upon 

 them the conviction of their overreaching 

 themselves by their own cunning — and of 

 John himself being more than their match in 

 their own way. 



We print a portion of honest John's 

 remarks on racing atrocities. 



My next topic is a dislicartening one ; it 13 the 

 horrible — and I have some right to know, as a 

 " bit of a jockey" — useless and needless practice 

 of butchering and cutting np racehorses alive, 

 with the whip and spur I In aggiavation and 

 countenance of this barbarism, the spectators of 

 the run in, even ladies, seem delighted with it, as 

 the very marrow and cream of the sport ; and we 

 often witness, in the accounts of races, the columns 

 of newspapers sullied with such tilth as — " a 

 slashing race, what whipping, cutting and spur- 

 ring I" Certainly there are stout and sluggish 

 horses which require to be reminded by the whip 

 and spnr, but even those, running against others, 

 their natural emulation is stimulated, and they 



