BREEDING OF HUNTERS. 253 



short work of the Newmarket horses in the Audley 

 End. No wonder the Heath-men did not fancy him, 

 as he was a thick lumpy horse, and could not get a 

 real racer, with the exception of Sceptic, and he 

 came off Second-best so perpetually, that he was 

 generally known by that name. His stock were all 

 a thick style of horse, but not one of them are left 

 in the Ludlow hunt, or indeed anywhere else. Man- 

 fred, by Election, became Mr. Lechmere Charlton's 

 property about the time he bought Sam, who failed 

 at the stud as much as he did in his racing career 

 after the Derby, and, with the exception of rather 

 twisted fore-legs, a defect which was especially ob- 

 servable in Mr. Lindow's great Melton hunter The 

 Clipper (who always went to cover in boots, and led by 

 a man on a pony), a more gentlemanly blood-like style 

 of horse has been rarely seen, and his stock, although 

 not big, preserved all his quality. Brigliadoro was 

 also from the Ludlow side ; and Mr. Anderson, senior, 

 as well as George Underbill, had always a great no- 

 tion of his slashing but short-legged hunters. It is 

 on record of these two admirable judges of horseflesh, 

 that they agreed to price seventeen which the latter 

 had in his sale stables, and when they compared 

 their estimates, Mr. Anderson's was actually the 

 largest by 15, and he accordingly took to the horses 

 in a lot. This story is perfectly authentic, and has 

 scarcely a parallel in horse-dealing annals. "Old 

 George's " especial fancy, however, was his own 

 Strephon, by Reubens, and at one time this horse, 

 who was bought in the evening of his days by Lord 

 Hill, Champion by Selim, and Mr. Wheeler's Snow- 

 don, who latterly became quite white, were the great 

 county rivals. Strephon' s fame has lasted the longest, 

 and the hunting men still swear by his name, when 

 the sprig-tailed, light-quartered, and thin-thighed 

 Snowdonites are almost forgotten. The latter were 

 always over-rated, and the best of them, to our mind, 



