IN SEARCH OF A HORSE. 223 



He Had pitched head-foremost into one of those 

 luscious quagmires which heretofore our road makers 

 were wont to accumulate at the road-side. The mud 

 formed a rich pomatum for his curly mop. The pil- 

 lory could not have worked a more complete meta- 

 morphosis. " Carry the gemman to the pump !" was 

 the general cry, and certainly his folly deserved it. 

 I called a coach just in time to save him from friends 

 and foes, for on retracing my route, I encountered 

 orange-women, costermongers, gentlemen, and fish- 

 fags, all in full cry, like a pack of beagles ! 



There is no effectual cure for a restive horse. I 

 have once or twice succeeded in the case of bolting, 

 but it has only been by a severity of work that I can 

 not recommend — by urging him to exhaustion. For 

 a time it cures the horse, but it renders him unfit for 

 work, or sale; and when his condition is restored, 

 his vice returns with it : but prevention is easy ; the 

 groom should never be allowed to tease his horses. 

 A horse does not understand a jest; tickling or 

 pinching him, worrying him in the stall, sometimes 

 coaxing and then scolding him, dressing him while 

 feeding, pushing or striking him with the fork ; all 

 play of this kind leads to retort, which when it 



