146 HORSEMANSHIP. 



doctrine, one to which I heartily subscribe, he, out of hun- 

 dreds of cases, quotes two, which will bear repeating. The 

 Mr. John Tilbury referred to was as well-known in the horse 

 world as is I\lr. Edmund Tattersall to the present generation. 

 " At the time when John Tilbury, of Pinner, ]\Iiddlesex, 

 kept many first-class horses, an intimate friend of his, whose 

 town house was in Berners Street, Oxford Street, and his 

 country house at Richmond Hill, had a beautiful black horse; 

 he was a full-sized animal of splendid symmetry, and his 

 pace not amiss, as he always took the cab with his master, 

 mistress and tiger, without the use of the whip, from one 

 house to the other within the hour. He came to me, after 

 unsuccessfully trying all the bits ^Ir. Tilbury had ; and, by 

 Mr. Tilbury's recommendation, he told me the horse had 

 worked extremely well for some considerable time, but for 

 the last six or eight months had carried his head on one 

 side — so much so that he was sure he could not see his 

 way properly. I told him I thought the horse was over- 

 bitted ; he was quite sure he was not. I showed him an old 

 Stanhope bit, with a very easy mouthpiece, which I oftered 

 to lend him to try. It was very old-fashioned and of scarcely 

 any value. He said, ' Do you want to see my cab smashed 

 and one or more killed ? ' I asked him whether the horse 

 was a kicker. He said, ' No, he is not.' Then I offered 

 to get into the cab myself and drive ; but he said my life 

 was of more value to society than his, and it would appear 

 cowardly of him if anything were to occur ; so_, after an hour 

 or so, he consented to try the bit. I put it on, he drove 

 away, and in half-an-hour called to ask me to lend it to 

 him for a few days. I told him to keep it for a week or a 

 fortnight. He came in about a fortnight after and asked 

 me the price of the bit. I told him I would make one 

 for him with the cheeks to match his carriage bit, which 



