98 



The Chase 



feu ! When I bestride him I soar, I am a hawk : 

 he trots the air : the earth sings when he touches 

 it : the basest horn of his hoof is more musical 

 than the pipe of Hermes. 



Oil He's of the colour of the nutmeg. 



Dau. And of the heat of the ginger. It is a 

 beast for Perseus : he is pure air and fire ; and the 

 dull elements of earth and water never appear in 

 him, but only in patient stillness while his rider 

 mounts him : he is indeed a horse ; and all other 

 jades you may call beasts. 



Con. Indeed, my lord, it is a most absolute and 

 excellent horse. 



Dau. It is the prince of palfreys ; his neigh is 

 like the bidding of a monarch, and his countenance 

 enforces homage. ... I once writ a sonnet in his 

 praise and began thus : " Wonder of Nature." 



^Shakespeare, '^ Henry ^," III. 7, 1 1. 



The Best Companion ^^ ^:> <::> 



""IT THEN you are a gentleman," said he, after 

 W a pause, "the first thing you must think 

 about is to provide yourself with a good horse for 

 your own particular riding ; you will perhaps keep 

 a coach and pair, but they will be less your own 

 than your lady's, should you have one, and your 

 young gentry, should you have any ; or, if you 

 have neither, for madam, your housekeeper, and 

 the upper female servants, so you need trouble your 

 head less about them, though, of course, you would 

 not like to pay away your money for screws ; but 

 be sure you get a good horse for your own riding ; 

 and that you may have a good chance of having a 

 good one, buy one that's young and has plenty of 

 belly — a little more than the one has that you now 



