i64 THE CONDITION OF HUNTERS 



fifty may be traced to the want of it. Intemperance 

 is nowhere to be commended ; but " air, exercise, 

 and good nourishment, " said Sir Astley Cooper, in 

 his lecture on scrofula at St Thomas's Hospital, " are 

 the three great points to be attended to in the pre- 

 servation of health. There is no other specific," adds 

 he, " for the cure of this disorder, and he who says 

 there is, attempts to gull mankind by the assertion 

 of what is not true." For my own part, I have known 

 many water drinkers,^ but I never could find out that 

 they lived longer than wine drinkers, provided the 

 latter kept within the bounds of moderation, and 

 followed the sports of the field. " Drink no longer 

 water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake," 

 said Paul the Apostle, in his tender regard for his dear 

 friend Timothy.- As we are now, however, speaking 

 of horses in condition, I must confine myself to the 

 effects of high and not of low keep. 



To preserve health the blood must be kept as nearly 

 as possible in a state agreeably to the standard of 

 health. The great object of condition in horses being 



^ An excellent anecdote is on record of the great Chief Justice 

 Mansfield. Probably with a view to prolong his own days, he was 

 always anxious, when old witnesses were in Court, to know their 

 customary habits of life. It so happened that two very old men by 

 the name of Elm were one day the objects of his inquiry. " You 

 are a very old man," said his Lordship to the elder brother ; " I 

 suppose you have lived a very temperate life." — " Never drank any- 

 thing but water, my Lord," said Mr Elm. " Nor you neither, I 

 suppose," said the Judge, addressing himself to the younger brother. 

 " When I could get nothing else, my Lord," was the reply. " I 

 always took my glass with my friend." — " Well, then," replied his 

 Lordship, " all that we can say is, an elm will flourish, wet or dry." 



" I Tim. v. 23. 



