182 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 



On May-day, in particular, it was the custom for 

 everybody who owned a coach to go abroad in it with 

 such display as his means and taste would permit. 

 The first time when Pepys took part in this fashion- 

 able amusement was in the year 1669. Shortly be- 

 fore, he had purchased a fine coach, and had it painted 

 in yellow and silver, and he had also paid a visit to 

 the horse-market at Smithfield of which he wrote, — 

 and there is nothing archaic in the remark, — " Here 

 do I see instances of a piece of craft and cunning that 

 I never dreamed of concerning the buying and choos- 

 ing of horses." 



Pepys had defended himself against the wiles of 

 the jockeys by taking along one Mr. Ned Pickering, 

 a gentleman whose counterpart might easily be found 

 at the present day. Mr. Pickering, younger son of 

 Sir Gilbert Pickering, was bred to the law, but seems 

 never to have followed that or any other profession, 

 having picked up a living m devious ways. Koger 

 Xorth speaks of him as "a subtle fellow," — the very 

 description of a successful Jock. And this subtlety 

 appears to have grown upon Mr. Pickering with years, 

 — perhaps by reason of too frequent visits to Smith- 

 field, — for toward the close of his life he tampered 

 with a will made by Sir John Cutts, and, being 

 detected, narrowly escaped imprisonment for the 

 offence. 



By advice of this connoisseur, Pepys bought a pair 

 of fine black horses at a cost of £50, and the bargain 

 seems to have been a good one, for the Diary there- 

 after records nothing but satisfaction with the steeds, 

 and in due course Pep}'s made Mr. Pickering a slight 

 present in recognition of his services. 



