OF FARRIERY. 



491 



directed the stable, in which he and the object 

 of the experiment were, to be shut, with orders 

 not to open the door until a signal was given. 

 After a tete-a-tete of about half an hour, 

 during which little or no bustle was heard, 

 the signal was made, and, upon opening the 

 door, the Horse appeared lying down, and the 

 man by his side, playing with him like a child 

 with a puppy dog. From that time he was 

 found willing to submit to any discipline, how- 

 ever repugnant to his nature before." 



"I once," continues Mr. Townsend, "saw 

 his skill tried on a Horse, which could never 

 before be brought to stand for a smith to shoe 

 him. The day after Sullivan's half hour's 

 lecture, I went, not without some incredulity, 

 to the smith's shop, with many other curious 

 spectators, where we were eye-witnesses of 

 the complete success of his art. This, too, 

 had been a troop Horse, and it was supposed, 

 not without reason, that after regimental dis- 

 cipline had failed, no other would be found 

 availing. I observed that the animal appeared 

 terrified whenever Sullivan either spoke or 

 looked at him ; how that extraordinary ascend- 

 ancy could have been obtained, is difiicult to 

 conjecture." 



" In common cases this mysterious prepara- 

 tion was unnecessary. He seemed to passess 

 an instinctive power of inspiring awe, the re- 

 sult, perhaps, of natural intrepidity, in which, 

 I believe, a great part of his art consisted ; 

 though the circumstance of the tete-a-tete 

 shows that, on particular occasions, something- 

 more must have been added to it. A faculty 

 like this would in some hands have made a 

 fortune, and I understand that great offers 

 were made to him, for the exercise of his art 

 abroad. But hunting was his passion. He 

 lived at home in the style most agreeable to 



his disposition, and nothing could induce him 

 to quit Duhallow and the fox hounds." 



Mr. Castley witnessed the total failure of 

 the younger Sullivan. He says, " we have in 

 the regiment a remarkably nice Horse, called 

 Lancer, that has always been very difficult to 

 shoe, but seven or eight years ago, wlien we 

 first got him, he was do.vnright vicious in 

 that respect. When the regiment was sta- 

 tioned at Cork, the farrier-major sought out 

 the present Sullivan, the son of the celebrated 

 Whisperer, and brought him up to the barracks 

 in order to try his hand upon Lancer, and 

 make liim more peaceable to shoe ; but I must 

 say this person did not appear to possess any 

 particular controlling power over the animal, 

 more than any other man. Lancer seemed to 

 pay no attention whatever to his charm, and, 

 at last, fairly beat him out of the forge. Time, 

 however, and a long perseverance in kind and 

 gentle treatment, have effected what force 

 could not. The Horse is now pretty reason- 

 able to shoe." 



Mr. Townsend has said enouo-h of Sullivan, 

 to make us wish to know more about him. It 

 does seem almost incredible that a man being 

 left only one night in King Pippin's stable, 

 should have produced such an alteration in 

 that animal's ferocity, and partakes more of 

 the marvellous than we are in the habit 

 of giving credence to. Still the evidence 

 of the fact seems so overwhelming, that we 

 cannot but consider it one of those extraordi- 

 nary facts, for which we cannot account, 

 without the aid of admitting some unknown 

 and mysterious agency. It is said some have 

 the power of disarming the rage of the most 

 savage dogs ; and the " Whisperer" seems to 

 have found out the same charm for the vicious 

 Horse. 



