$6 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



juftice, liowever, which we owe to departed 

 merit, to the reputation of defunct, as well as 

 of living authors, requires that the merits of 

 Mr. Taplin's pretended original work fhould 

 be fairly and candidly difcufTed ; the reader 

 will find, bye and by, that I have indifpenfible 

 bufinefs with the Gentleman's Stable-Direc- 

 tory. 



Of the mere compilers, authors of Sportf- 

 mens' and Farriers' Dictionaries, and Difpen- 

 faries, retailers of infallible noftrums, hereditary 

 receipts, and fo forth ; we have had many more 

 than quant, fiiff. in the courfe of the prefent 

 century. Thefe worthy labourers in the vin- 

 yard may be chara&erifed as follows ; fome 

 of them had, perhaps, a fuperficial knowledge 

 of Horfes, but none at all, either of phyfic or 

 forgery ; others, had a [mattering of medicine, 

 without any knowledge of Horfes ; but the 

 greater part of them, feem to have known 

 nothing at all, of either the one or the other. 

 The irrevocable fentence of public opinion 

 has long fince palled upon thefe books ; their 

 very titles have been long forgotten. 



There are yet one or two compilations, 

 which I by no means intend to include in 

 this general cenfure. Mr. Topham's Book, 

 I have not yet had an opportunity to perufe. 

 Mr. Mill's Treatife on Cattle, is in fome re- 

 fpefts a ufeful compilation ; particularly as a 



book 



