BREEDING OF HUNTERS. 237 



between Sir Harry Goodricke and Mr. George 

 Walker, a letter written with a skewer, as were all 

 " The Squire's," was put into Sir Harry's hands, and 

 its hieroglyphics deciphered as follows, amid immense 

 merriment : 



" Dear Goodricke : 



" I can scarcely believe that you Melton men know a 



horse from a jackass. Old offered to three of your noble lords 



the horse I bought from him, and I wish them to know that I am 

 prepared to run any one of them, or any other Melton man, or any 

 man in the world, four miles for 400 ! eight do. for 800 ! ! or ten 

 do. for 1,000 ! ! ! 12 stone each, over Leicestershire, or any other 

 county in England," &c., &c., &c. 



Eight years after, the horse was in Lord Howth's 

 stud at Melton, and went nearly as well at seventeen 

 as when he was the subject of this dashing challenge. 

 The great nurseries of English hunters are the 

 North and East Ridings of Yorkshire, more espe- 

 cially on the Wolds, and the whole of Lincolnshire 

 and Shropshire. The Lincolnshire hunters are still 

 first-rate, but they are bred in fewer numbers than 

 they were in Dick Burton's hunting prime, owing 

 principally to the improved system of cultivation, 

 which has caused much second-rate grass-land to be 

 ploughed up. Hence the number of brood-mares 

 is rather limited, and the farmers have to resort to 

 Howden Fair, which is the largest market in the 

 world for unmade hunters and carriage-horses. 

 Scarcely any of them are tied in rows, but they are 

 generally ridden or led about the town, whose long 

 High-street is for four or five days one surging sea 

 of animal life. Hosts of Lincolnshire farmers may 

 be found there each September, picking up four- 

 year-old hunters, at prices which once ranged from 

 to J100, but now more generally from ,100 to 

 The hunting dealers also attend, not to buy, 

 but to glean information about promising horses; 

 they learn where they go to, and occasionally, if 



