404 ADDITIONAL 



employers) a very confiderable portion of their 

 earnings to gratify this ilrange infatuation. But 

 the evil does not reft here ; mifchievous inven- 

 tion has gone ftill further, and they frequently 

 apply oil of vitriol^ and even aquafortis ^w^^o^xk^t 

 iongueofth^ horfe, to prevent, as they fay, ** his 

 ^' taking cold by the ufe of the before-mentioned 

 ** ingredients/' However abfurd, inconfiftent, 

 cruel, or unnatural, this practice may appear, 

 to fuch as are unacquainted v^ith the low cun- 

 ning or ruftic iineffe of thofe employed in the 

 management of what are called "cart ftables," 

 I aver the fa6t, as repeatedly brought home to 

 perfonal knowledge and experience j afferting 

 likewife its having occafionaily coft me much 

 trouble in endeavouring to deter the parties 

 from fo injurious and deftrudlive a prad:ice, by 

 which alone many fine and valuable horfes 

 have been doomed to difquietude, difeafe, and 

 foinetilnes ^'eatb, the caufe remaining a matter 

 of myftery to all but the inhuman perpetrators. 

 So palpable a fad ftands in need of no farther 

 animadverfion, being introduced merely to 

 prove that *' fuch things are," and how evi- 

 dently neceflary the eye of circumfpedlion 

 becomes in the mafter, to counteradl the mif- 

 cliievous imprudence of the fervant. 



I We 



