290 ZACHARIAH SIMPSON, ESQ. 



day ; as did also Seclusion, who was bred there by 

 Tadmore out of Miss Sellon, winner of many races and 

 afterwards the dam of Hermit, winner of the Derby. 

 Furthermore, it may be said that Cast Off was the dam 

 of Robert the Devil, by Promised Land out of Wanona, 

 from the Diss stud. 



Mr. Simpson, in fact, dissipated his wealth in a bound- 

 less vanity, which, in his case, took the form of eccen- 

 tricities in the method in which he would conduct the 

 affairs he was engaged in. Everything he undertook he 

 did badly. His breeding establishment was one of the 

 largest in England, and must alone have cost him a great 

 fortune, whilst it could have afforded him little pleasure, 

 as he only saw his mares once a week, and that generally 

 on Sunday afternoon. He had more horses than he had 

 room for. His mares were badly bred and worse attended. 

 They were crammed into small paddocks which they 

 trod to a mud-pond in wet weather, whilst the sun made 

 them like brick-fields in dry. In some paddocks there 

 was no shelter at all ; but in others there were open 

 sheds to which the mares could retire in inclement 

 weather. But here, from overcrowding, many got kicked, 

 and sometimes fatally injured by the vicious propensities 

 of the others. In this way many a foal has been de- 

 stroyed or rendered useless for racing purposes. He had 

 cribs placed in most of the enclosures they could hardly 

 be called paddocks ranging from one to two acres each, 

 though it is true some were more extensive. He sepa- 

 rated the foaling from the barren mares as soon as he 

 knew, or thought that he knew, those that were in foal. 

 Their food in summer consisted of grass, vetches, or 

 trifolium in fact, they lived on soiling ; and in winter, 

 mangel wurzel and swedes, given whole in large quan- 

 tities, with field hay, mostly made on his own farm. 



