258 THE CONDITION OF HUNTERS 



Ethiops Mineral . . -4 ounces. "■ 



Diapente . . . .8 ounces. 



Balsam of Sulphur . . 8 ounces. 



To be made into sixteen balls. 



The above, the reader will observe, is one of the 

 old-fashioned recipes, but they may be assured of its 

 good effects. It was the favourite nostrum of the 

 noted Mr Perry Wentworth, and was given to me 

 by Mr Peacock of Basingstoke. 



I conclude my present letter with the following hint. 

 Last autumn twelvemonth I purchased a mare at 

 Messrs Tattersall's for thirty-nine guineas. She was 

 the property of Mr Payne, of Selby Hall, in North- 

 amptonshire, and, as I afterwards learnt, was sent up 

 to be sold for what she would fetch, being a tremendous 

 puller. On getting her home I tried her in all the 

 bridles I was possessed of, but could make nothing 

 of her, and was on the point of sending her back to the 

 hammer, to get what I could for her, when a thought 

 struck me that I could try what my saddlers could 

 do for me. Being a man of few words on these 

 occasions, I wrote them the following note : " Brown 

 mare versus Nimrod ; you know what I mean." They 

 immediately sent me down the facsimile of the bridle 

 Mr Lindo used to ride The Clipper in, which is in 

 the following form : the length of the cheek is nine 

 inches ; that of the port two inches and a half ; and 

 there are three players hanging down over the tongue, 

 which prevent the mouth from getting dead. When I 

 first rode her in it she attempted all her old tricks (Mr 

 Payne told me, in Leicestershire, that she ran away 

 with him over three gates before he got a puU at her), 



