WINTER IN THE SHIRES 331 



are decidedly more so than is agreeable. Even the 

 cover-hacks seem to have quicksilver in their heels, 

 which is all very well ; and the horses in the vehicles 

 of many fashions which are pressing forward to the 

 muster, are tossing the foam about their chests and 

 rattling their frothing curb-chains. Sober old hunters, 

 warranted steady when sold, and carrying certificates 

 of irreproachable character in their faces and ordinary 

 demeanour, are indulging in gay and unaccustomed 

 gambols ; while the giddier youngsters, although they 

 may " be free from vice," are showing themselves 

 playful as kittens, and as full of tricks as so many 

 monkeys. We think it is Mr. Benjamin Buckram, 

 who remarks in " Mr. Sponge's Tour," in discussing 

 the character of the redoubted Hercules, that if a 

 gentleman gets spilt, it does not much " argufy " 

 whether it is done from play or vice. And not a 

 few gentlemen now seem to be much of that way 

 of thinking, as their mounts, catching the contagion 

 of excitement in the crowd, disport themselves like 

 fresh-caught mustangs from the Texan prairies. Here 

 is a silken-coated young one on his muscular hind- 

 legs, gracefully improving on the antics of a dancing- 

 bear, and threatening to topple back upon a rider who 

 has scarcely nerve to bring him back to his bearings. 

 Another, arching his crest and tucking in his haunches, 

 shows an English edition of the Australian buck- 

 jumping trick ; while most of them are lightly laying 

 back their ears, or shooting flashes out of the corners 

 of their eyes, and not a few are unpleasantly ready 



