RESTIFFNESS. 369 



remarks, that although the following circumstances appear 

 almost incredible, yet they are nevertheless true, as he was 

 an eye-witness to them : — " James Sullivan was a native of 

 the county of Cork, and an awkward, ignorant rustic of the 

 lowest class, generally known by the appellation of the 

 whisperer; and his profession was horse-breaking. The 

 credulity of the vulgar bestowed that epithet upon him 

 from an opinion that he communicated his wishes to the 

 animal by means of a whisper, and the singularity of his 

 method gave some colour to the superstitious belief. As far 

 as the sphere of his control extended, the boast of veni, 

 vidiy vici, was more justly claimed by James Sullivan than 

 by Caesar, or even Buonaparte himself. How his art was 

 acquired, or in what it consisted, is likely to remain for ever 

 unknown, as he has lately left the world without di\ailging 

 it. His son, who follows the same occupation, possesses but 

 a small portion of the art, having either never learned the 

 true secret, or being incapable of putting it in practice. 

 The wonder of his skill consisted in the short time requisite 

 to accomplish his design, which was performed in private, 

 and without any apparent means of coercion. Every de- 

 scription of horse, or even mule, whether previously broke 

 or unhandled, whatever their peculiar vices or ill habits 

 might have been, submitted without show of resistance to 

 the magical influence of his art, and, in the short space 

 of half-an-hour, became gentle and tractable. The effect, 

 although instantaneously produced, was generally durable. 

 Though more submissive to him than to others, yet they 

 seem to have acquired a docility unknown before. When 

 sent for to tame a vicious horse, he directed the stable in 

 which he and the object of his experiment were placed, to 

 be shut, with orders not to open the door until a signal was 

 given. After a tete-a-tete between him and the horse for 



3 B 



