FIRING 255 



make such desperate efforts to return to even its 

 solitary cells. 



It may be asked whether I take any pains to 

 keep my stables cool ? I answer, none, but those 

 which are within every man's reach. I open the 

 air-valves over the horses' heads ; take the case- 

 ments out of the windows, and darken the stable as 

 much as I can by placing old horse-cloths against the 

 windows, which latter method very much contributes 

 to keep flies from entering, as we know they will not 

 play in the dark. Another summer, however, I mean 

 to be provided with straw mats, to fit the open parts 

 of the windows, which, if made thin enough, will 

 sufficiently admit external air, and, by being dipped 

 three or four times a day in water, wiU, by evapora- 

 tion, greatly cool the internal air, as well as completely 

 defeat the flies. 



Owing to the multiplicity of stables which my 

 horses inhabit in the course of the winter, my object 

 has been to keep them as cool as I could ; conse- 

 quently I did not put the casements into my stable 

 windows until the 5th of September, when the 

 thermometer suddenly dropped to 52 in the shade ; 

 and I kept them naked tiU the nineteenth of that 

 month. 



When in Leicestershire last season, Sir Harry 

 Goodricke asked me my opinion of firing the hunter. 

 Now, although I intend to treat upon this part of 

 our stable discipline as I proceed with my subject, 

 I told Sir Harry that I scarcely felt myself justified 

 in giving a decided opinion on the effect of firing, as 



