156 THE ADVENTURES OF A GENTLEMAN 



put him sufficiently to the proof; a man who buys a 

 stanhope-horse, without first driving it himself, is a 

 fit subject for a commission of lunacy. It is not 

 enough to put him in the break ; he should be har- 

 nessed at once to the stanhope ; and it is prudent to 

 observe closely how he bears the ceremony of being 

 harnessed, and what kind of a start he makes. 

 Much may be predicted of his qualifications for 

 draught, or at all events of his familiarity with the 

 collar, by the degree of quiet with which he allows 

 himself to be put to. If the ostler runs along-side 

 of him at setting ofi", as is often the case, you may 

 be sure that the horse is distrusted : if you distrust 

 yourself, have nothing to do with him. 



One of the best horses which I ever had in my 

 life, as a gig-horse, was a little animal scarcely four- 

 teen hands and an inch high, which I bought of a 

 dealer named Thompson, an excellent judge of a 

 horse for harness, and who, I believe, now purchases 

 horses for Mr. Robinson, of Little Britain. His 

 case was in some respects peculiar, and worth men- 

 tioning. I bought him for a relative, of very little 

 weight, but a timid rider. He was just such a horse 

 as I have described ; about half-bred, and inclining 



