74 THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 



the noble beast, in every way superior to the brute who 

 misuses him. Our errors, in this respect, are more of 

 omission than commission. We omit certain precautions, 

 not because they are not duly suggested by prudence, 

 but because they happen, at the moment, to be incom- 

 patible with our convenience. It is certainly the reverse 

 of what is agreeable, to be planted at some rural hostel 

 without any very ostensible means of reaching the 

 mahogany, where, possibly, your presence may be re- 

 quired before " the glasses sparkle on the board,'"' and 

 " the feast of reason and the flow of soul" will resume 

 dominion o'er the close of night ! You may have some 

 time to cool yourself before a hack or any conveyance 

 can be procured, but, if your horse is thoroughly tired, 

 you must not remove him from the first comfortable 

 asylum you can find. It is not necessary that it should 

 be particularly warm ; if you can obtain plenty of clothing 

 he will be better for plenty of air ; tranquil repose is what 

 he requires ; and, till you can send your own groom to 

 his assistance, you must leave him in charge of a veteri- 

 nary surgeon, a class of which there is now a respectable 

 sprinkling dotted here and thereabout most countries." 

 A man must be either a fool or a brute who kills his 



• I had a fine mare, a valuable hunter, tired in a long run, having been 

 brought out, not in condition. She was taken to the nearest stable, and, 

 in the course of an hour or two, appeared so far recovered that she was 

 supposed fit to return home, and was travelled fifteen miles that evening 

 tu her own stable ; returning, as they described her, in their ignorance, 

 fresh as a kitten. She was stone dead before morning. I have not the 

 slightest doubt that, had she remained undisturbed for twenty-four hours 

 when she first began to rally, she would have suffered no ill eftects from 

 fatigue or over exertiom 



