i68 S H E I N G. 



lated only for the foft and artificial floor- 

 ing of a French Riding School, we 

 come to fuch confiderations as are adapted 

 to the fiate of our own roads, the ciiftoms 

 of our country, and the intellediual faculties 

 of thofe to whofe fcientific Ikill the mallea- 

 bility of the metal, the important ufe of the 

 butteris, the judicious formation of the fhoe, 

 and the equally decifive direction of the nail, 

 are univerfally entrufted. Adverting for a 

 moment to the before-mentioned allufion to 

 OsMER'S obfervation upon thcfe men, who 

 fay, ** they do not want to be taught/' it 

 is very natural to fuppofe, from the profef- 

 lional knowledge they Jhould have acquired hy 

 ftrid: attention and fteady experience, that 

 they CANNOT ** want to be taught ;'' but 

 that their judgment, founded upon the bell 

 bafis, fnanual art^ and ocular infpcBion^ 

 OUGHT TO BE much fuperior to any theo- 

 retical inftrudlions that can be obtruded or 

 enforced. Under that perfuafion, and feel- 

 ing for thofe few who have induitrioufly 

 rendered themfclves adequate to all the diffi- 

 culties of the trade, I feel no furpnfe that 

 fuch fpirited expoftulations (hould be made, 

 as mull frequently happen in reply to many 



pedantic 



