236 THE POST AND THE PADDOCK. 



the horse then and there, and rode him in the first 

 flight for three or four seasons. The measure- 

 ment should, we think, be got as much as possible 

 by depth, as most hunting men like a horse thin 

 between their knees, which makes it nearly as diffi- 

 cult for him to get rid of them as to cast their own 

 skin. Big coffin-heads generally betoken a bad 

 mouth and a tendency to pull hard, and if they are 

 not accompanied by a bold eye, the majority of 

 hunting men will never look at them. Be the head 

 large or small, it must always have plenty of mean- 

 ing in it, or it is heavy odds that the purchase will 

 be a sorry one, as far as jumping goes, and the rider 

 be obliged to come out with a telescope in his pocket. 

 The measuring mania rather brought the Melton 

 men to grief in one instance, when a well known 

 Leicestershire sportsmen, whose portrait on " Old 

 Prince" appeared in the Royal Academy of 1844, 

 imported a little brown horse by Cannonball, and 

 marked exactly like his sire, out of Shropshire, to 

 Melton, where he was originally bred. He was first 

 offered to a noble earl for 200 guineas, but the reply 

 was that he was " a sweet park horse, but has not 

 length enough for Leicestershire." A similar answer 

 arrived from another lord, and he was offered thirdly 

 to the bearer of the white tape, who immediately 

 whipped it out, and expressed his astonishment that 

 so old a sportsman should recommend him " a mere 

 weed." However, an afternoon fox of the right sort 

 was found at Owston Wood, and the little fifteen-two 

 "weed" took six gates in succession in one lane. 

 Luckily, " The Squire" from the Pytchley had come 

 to the meet, and as soon as they killed, he called out 

 to his rider, "My man ! 1 50 for your horse." And so 

 the result was, that " the weed" had left for North- 

 amptonshire in less than twenty-four hours, with 200 

 guineas on his head. During the following Croxton 

 Park races, as a main of cocks was being fought 



