222 NIMROD'S NORTHERN TOUR. 



Now there is a saying amongst horse-dealers — this horse belonged to 

 one of the fraternity — and one by no means at variance with the soundest 

 logic of the schools — namely, ** If we buy the devil, we must sell the 

 devil;" but who was the purchaser of this "devil" I know not. There 

 may be, however, some who have not in their *' mind's eye" a just com- 

 prehension of the sort of person who was on this occasion employed to 

 prove the value of this logical argument. In other words, they may 

 have never remarked the peculiar stamp and character of a horse-dealer's 

 man, of whom I will now give a sketch, taken on the day I am speaking 

 of, from the life : — 



He was a shortish man, not heavy of course, and what there was of 

 him lay chiefly in his carcase, for of legs he had anything but the Irish- 

 man's share. He had bloated cheeks and a round face, which perhaps 

 looked rounder than it really was, by the help of a sort of skimming- 

 dish-looking hat ; his nose had every appearance of having been formed 

 for the purpose of inhaling the fragrance of whiskey or gin. Neither 

 were his clothes a whit less in character. They consisted of a brown 

 frock coat, and black waistcoat, none the better for wear ; dark-coloured 

 corderoy breeches, made darker by town smoke and sundry other aids, 

 which, with small and very shallow cloth tops to a pair of very seedy 

 boots, and an old spotted cravat, made the toilette complete. How 

 admirably has Martial — barring the one eye — described a person of this 

 sort, and what may be expected of him : — 



" Crine ruber, niger ore, brevis pede, lumine laesus : 

 Rem magnam praestas, Zoile, si bonus es." 



I liked the appearance of things at the cover side this morning — a fine 

 gorse cover in a roomy country ; and Mr. Ramsay mounted me on a 



