BROOD MARES AND COLTS 217 



care of the black mare just taken out of a paddock, 

 and gave her too much com ; or in the ride to Ton- 

 bridge Wells in the month of April. " Ne sutor ultra 

 crepidam," said Apelles to the cobbler. 



X. B. argues strangely. When speaking of the 

 races between Match'em and Trajan, in which Trajan 

 was beaten twice, he says, " When I spoke of four 

 months being sufficient, was it not to enable Trajan 

 to run as he did, and that the extra training he after- 

 wards had did not mend the matter ? " Certainly, 

 I assert, it did not ; because Match'em, the horse he 

 was beaten by each time, had his extra training also. 

 Had he stood after the first race, Trajan might have 

 won the second ; but we may say of him, 



" He, like the hindermost chariot wheel, was curst. 

 Still to be near, but ne'er to be the first." 



X. B. accuses me of perverting the meaning of his 

 words. If he writes in allegory, he should tell me 

 so ; but when speaking to matters of fact, I must 

 take him literally. He could not but have seen that 

 I was writing in irony when I spoke of putting five 

 years' corn into a two-year-old ; though it would not 

 be the first nor the second time that an old one has 

 started as a young one. 



X. B. is rather happy in his allusion to what the 

 hunter did when he was a foal ; but perhaps it will 

 occur to himself that he has done some things when 

 he was a boy which it might be dangerous for him to 

 attempt now. Let us dismiss the subject, then, with 

 this request — that he will keep his pity for others, 



