1 88 Hark Away, 



facilities for testing the jumping powers of the 

 animals, are the features of the Stockwell premises. 

 Here I found from thirty to forty high-class animals, 

 notably Wonderland, by Blair Athol, a remarkably 

 neat chesnut horse, as clever as a cat, looking all 

 over a hunter, to carry 12 stone to the fastest 

 hounds, and over the biggest fences in England. 



It is necessary to follow strictly, in case of a visit 

 to Stamford Street or Stockwell, the advice of 

 Shakespeare, " Put money in thy purse." If you 

 do so, and are not afraid to pull it out, there is 

 little doubt that you can provide yourself with a 

 stud that will carry you at the tail of the Quorn, a 

 team that you will not be ashamed to be seen with 

 on the banks of the Serpentine in due season, or a 

 hack that will make you the cynosure of every eye 

 when taking a quiet canter along the Row on a 

 brilliant June morning. Of course, if you do not 

 follow our national poet's recommendation, and 

 unless you are a good parter as well, you cannot 

 expect to fill your stables with first-class animals, 

 as you will ascertain from Mr. Cox or Messrs. 

 Blackman that they do not find them without 

 difficulty, or without paying a good round sum 

 for every clinker they add to their stud. 



In the event of the frost holding, it is my inten- 

 tion to visit some other of the most noble yards in 

 the metropolis, and to discourse of their merits, if 

 space should be allowed me for the ventilation of 

 my opinions in the columns of Belts Life in London^ 

 which has seen many and many a Christmas-tide, and 

 will, I hope, continue for many years to maintain its 

 position as the oldest and best of sporting papers. 



