"NE CKEDE." 73 



dressed without a muzzle on. The man may 

 trust, and say the horse " won't bite him ; " but he 

 does, and then gets a thrashing (which is sure 

 to make him worse), merely from a little idleness 

 on the part of the man. 



Having said thus much of the middle part of 

 the stable, we will ascend into the loft ; and, on 

 returning, so soon as our feet touch the pavement, 

 we will cast our eyes on that. 



Lofts are very proper over stables, provided, 

 and, as in legal phrase, " be it always enacted," 

 that they are never used for the purposes to which 

 lofts are often from necessity appropriated ; that 

 is, a receptacle for hay ; or, what is worse, servants 

 and their families. I suppose I ought par excel- 

 lence to have given the latter precedence of the hay. 

 However, as an amende honorable, I will make my 

 remarks on them first. This I do for two reasons : 

 the one being by way of compliment to the lady 

 and her blooming ones though, in truth, when 

 brought up over a London stable the bloom is 

 apt to partake a good deal of the lily's hue : 

 my next reason for now giving them precedence 

 of the forage is, though said sotto voce, they are 

 by many degrees the greatest nuisance there. 

 If, however, it is thought proper to have a colony 

 over the horses' heads, disturbing them at all 

 hours, the ingress and egress should always be 

 from the outside : if a passage is allowed through 



