THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 89 



at least, nineteen out of twenty hunters are the better for 

 it. It must not be made an excuse for idleness in grooms. 

 A horse, well groomed and properly dressed, ought to 

 carry a fine and bright coat, at all events till he is ex- 

 posed to the winds and storms, and the varieties of heat 

 and cold which he encounters in his vocation as a hunter. 

 But, when the coat is thick and long, it must not only 

 increase perspiration, but operate as a wet blanket, in 

 preventing the skin from becoming dry and warm. The 

 benefit of good, strong strapping at a horse, is not only 

 iu the cleansing of his coat, and thereby rendering the 

 pores of his skin more healthy, but it is (according to 

 the general principles of irritation upon the surface of 

 the body) in the promotion of the circulation which it 

 occasions. There must, therefore, be no lack of what, 

 in the vulgar parlance of the stable fraternity, is expres- 

 sively termed elbow-grease, because a clipped horse may 

 appear to require less than another. Good strapping 

 will have a double effect upon him, and make his coat 

 look like that of a race-horse in the highest condition. 

 The grand object, however, of clipping, and the principal 

 benefit derived from it, is this, that a horse, on his return 

 from hunting, will get comfortably dry in about fifteen 

 minutes, instead of remaining, for several hours, saturated 

 in sweat, which is not to be absorbed by manual labour. 

 There are many men, amongst which number I may 

 honestly include myself, who would infinitely prefer 

 going without dinner, rather than forego the luxury of 

 the toilet which precedes it ; and, if a horse could be 



