132 THE POCKET AND THE STUD. 



priety or inconvenience of their doing so, as 

 ladies' stables are generally managed, they are 

 not the most agreeable places in the world. But 

 ladies have often honoured me and my stables by 

 walking into them without feeling any inclination 

 to use their smelling bottles, or finding a French 

 slipper soiled from the visit. We will presently 

 see whether a lady may not have her horses kept 

 in a proper atmosphere, and in proper condition, 

 though she does not go into their stable. 



The next reason to be assigned for the mis- 

 management and imposition practised in ladies' 

 stables, and in those of persons not knowing 

 much about them, is, they do not know what 

 their horses should consume. I know they do 

 not ; and one of the objects of this work is to tell 

 them so. Those who flatter me by reading it 

 now will know ; and a tolerably liberal share of 

 abuse I should get from their servants if they 

 knew 1 had told this. 



I must do servants the justice to say that many 

 really demand more provender for stable use than 

 is necessary, from a mistaken idea that they 

 cannot stuff horses too much. Now, the fact is, 

 it would do a mere park-riding horse as much 

 mischief to give him six feeds of corn a-day as it 

 would be detrimental to one doing full work to 

 allow him but three. Where a man, from mistaken 

 kindness, fights for what he conceives to be his 



