200 THE POCKET AND THE STUD. 



latter by having his horses more or less neglected: 

 the medium will generally produce a proper line 

 of conduct in those to whom it is applied. 



There are many persons who are great advocates 

 for the abolition of all douceurs to servants. I 

 am not ; and can only say if a livery-stable-keeper 

 were to propose as a rule of his yard that no fees 

 or rewards were to be given to his men, his would 

 be the last stable I would send my horses to. True 

 I could, and most certainly should, under the rose, 

 break through his novel, and to some persons 

 perhaps tempting, regulation; but I should be 

 quite sure it would not be the best sort of stable- 

 men he would get under such a system, and with 

 horses, ignorance is as bad as roguery, in many 

 cases much worse ; a rogue we may in most cases 

 guard against, but a fool we cannot, as we never 

 can guess what he may take into his head to do ; 

 a clever rogue can be bribed into doing a little 

 extra for us ; so indeed may the fool if he knows 

 how ; if, however, he does the extra service wrong 

 we are in a worse predicament than ever, and if a 

 situation is such that a man can derive no advantage 

 by strenuously striving to please, we may fairly 

 reckon on meeting a very sorry workman, for 

 none but such would fill it. 



This much observation has taught me : Take a 

 hundred horses kept in the private stables of the 

 generality of persons, and a hundred kept in the 

 best livery stables more rough coats, impo- 



