24 Random RecoIvI^ections of the 



This again reminds me of the superiority 

 of high pedigree in the case of one Belatti, 

 who was a jeweller at Grantham, with a 

 partiality for driving something a bit above 

 the common. He had a thorough-bred chesnut 

 mare, with white legs, standing about 15.3, 

 all pinwire, as the hibernian expression has 

 it — " from the top o' the bridle to the tip 

 o' the last shoe.'^ In the prosecution of his 

 business Belatti had occasion to make period- 

 ical visits to the metropolis, and instead of 

 taking the coach preferred to drive the mare 

 in a light gig, accomplishing the distance — 

 one hundred and ten miles — within the same 

 day. But this was not all, for after remaining 

 one day in town he constantly drove home 

 again on the third. It will be admitted this 

 was a smart performance, but the mare had 

 legs and feet of iron, and was never known 

 to be an 3^ worse for the journeys. I may 

 add that after the jeweller's death the 

 mare came into my possession ; but I don't 

 suppose she had been much ridden, and I 

 didn't like her in the saddle, added to which 

 she had a trick of popping down her head 

 when you were thinking about something 

 else, kicking, and whipping round like a 



